A TWISTED VIEW OF MARRIAGE

A TWISTED VIEW OF MARRIAGE<br /> <br /> People will see a man washing his clothes and instead of minding their business,they'll say "Ahh Oga Ejike,go and marry so you'll stop washing".<br /> <br /> They'll see a man cooking and be like "Bro Ade,you need to get married so you can stop cooking".<br /> <br /> A mother will look at his 35years old son who cannot wash his own boxers,boil water for tea or even make his own bed....a 35years old that cannot take his plates to the kitchen after eating and tell him "James,you need to settle down....get a woman to take care of you".<br /> <br /> In different ways,the society subconsciously tell men that they don't marry women for any reason other than cleaning,cooking and childbearing.<br /> I begin to wonder,does the average Nigerian man need a wife or a glorified maid?<br /> Many women look 3times their age because of stress and exhaustion.<br /> You sit down in front of the TV with your phone a d watch your wife work until she's about to pass out.<br /> <br /> Men, who told you that it is wrong to wash your own plates?<br /> Who told you that it is wrong to wash your own clothes?<br /> Who told you that it is wrong to dress your bed when you wake up?<br /> What will it take to help your partner with chores in the house?<br /> If a man wanted to be adopted as a child to be pet,pampered, fed and nursed. Then,he need not to seek marriage, he should rather offer himself up for an adoption at a motherless home to be pick up.<br /> If you want a wife.....then get wife.<br /> But if you are getting married because you feel you're becoming too old to do your own chores then get a maid.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZoGkP1Ktm7mdvh00bMQMMoSlpJa6dBoRKc03OiIt-sfTZH9acMaK57EO0lD_p9wCwhCjNfJuFF0FegpJHqCA5nI_0RPe124qzE6PLtZn-aZvSj8mfRya_bLfVAIZ3im_tHuLo2P1YNc/s1600/IMG-20170111-WA0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOZoGkP1Ktm7mdvh00bMQMMoSlpJa6dBoRKc03OiIt-sfTZH9acMaK57EO0lD_p9wCwhCjNfJuFF0FegpJHqCA5nI_0RPe124qzE6PLtZn-aZvSj8mfRya_bLfVAIZ3im_tHuLo2P1YNc/s320/IMG-20170111-WA0000.jpg" width="213" /></a></div> <br />

Entertainment Relationships Wedding A TWISTED VIEW OF MARRIAGE

A TWISTED VIEW OF MARRIAGE People will see a man washing his clothes and instead of minding their business,they'll say "Ahh Oga E...

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House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics watchdog after Donald Trump tweet

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7T4MdoX6GHVgpRtWXMnn78aUHW1tyTWlHUcxFTMvXFLKNyooiT3uaapWtYcejJgfh-zUp2fnV1SLQwFRL-u6NvIF0vfA2vOu5qFDMKM4QW1VZUjqbPcEf8W_7p1rxOblkzhHIg5UzKBg/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7T4MdoX6GHVgpRtWXMnn78aUHW1tyTWlHUcxFTMvXFLKNyooiT3uaapWtYcejJgfh-zUp2fnV1SLQwFRL-u6NvIF0vfA2vOu5qFDMKM4QW1VZUjqbPcEf8W_7p1rxOblkzhHIg5UzKBg/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">The US Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, US, December 20, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The US House of Representatives has been forced to drop a plan to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the move.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">On Monday, House Republicans voted to weaken the OCE, an independent ethics watchdog established to investigate allegations of misconduct by legislators in the lower chamber of Congress.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Under the change, which provoked a fierce backlash from Democrats and transparency activists, the OCE would come under the control of the House of Representatives Ethics Committee.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The Republicans secretly decided to rename the OCE as “the Office of Congressional Complaint Review,” which would have curbed the office’s influence.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">However, they were forced to abandon their plans when Trump intervened, an indication of the powerful influence he appears to be wielding over his party lawmakers.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS [Drain The Swamp].”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Also, his incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters that “he says their focus should be on tax reform and healthcare. It’s not a question of strengthening or weakening, it’s a question of priorities.”</div><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ND_dN4rFnmjYMUEdtXvjQuWat6J9X9rIapAUYsPU3C0NwToyBmIUPoq_4pPqFAyFQcRi1DVhXwhhkEvYXYtj9O9jm2T-U0_o2Cs3prrdrW-lgdvjLEpRcSmv-1ySn55fSzKJjXHaAX8/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ND_dN4rFnmjYMUEdtXvjQuWat6J9X9rIapAUYsPU3C0NwToyBmIUPoq_4pPqFAyFQcRi1DVhXwhhkEvYXYtj9O9jm2T-U0_o2Cs3prrdrW-lgdvjLEpRcSmv-1ySn55fSzKJjXHaAX8/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Trump answers questions from the media after a day of meetings on December 28, 2016 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Before Trump’s tweet, some House Republicans, including top leaders, had already opposed the measure, expressing concern about its ramifications.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“People didn’t want this story on opening day,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a Republican.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, Democrats said that Trump had not criticized the move to scale back ethics oversight in Congress, but rather his argument was about the timing of the change.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The OCE was created in March 2008 following a series of criminal violations, including bribery allegations against Representatives Duke Cunningham, Republican of California, Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio and William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, as well as disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">All four were ultimately convicted and served time in jail.</div></div>

Donald Trump General News International Politics News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics watchdog after Donald Trump tweet

The US Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, US, December 20, 2016. (Photo by Reuters) The US House of Representatives has been f...

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Russia warships dock in Philippines, signal new era

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FXXla4nkrXvRM1ZSxdq3FauvHmJyYwXdupi_Wvrb2VMAUOVxhUkwgqkOr3AXO5LAeMlDhLXWIzvb-aw9k_s3tuF8VeFX2VUbyfCmBPYt9c8JH2WFDzg3A8s5_VS4hWNpfKx9Nl_nvq4/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-FXXla4nkrXvRM1ZSxdq3FauvHmJyYwXdupi_Wvrb2VMAUOVxhUkwgqkOr3AXO5LAeMlDhLXWIzvb-aw9k_s3tuF8VeFX2VUbyfCmBPYt9c8JH2WFDzg3A8s5_VS4hWNpfKx9Nl_nvq4/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Russian navy vessel Admiral Tributs is seen as it docks at the south harbor port area in metro Manila, the Philippines, January 3, 2017. (Photo by Reuters)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Two Russian warships have docked at a port in the Philippines, potentially foreshadowing an era of enhanced military ties between Manila and Moscow as a gap widens between the Philippines and the United States.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Russia’s anti-submarine destroyer Admiral Tributs and sea tanker Boris Butoma docked at Manila’s South Harbor on Tuesday for a week-long visit.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">During the stay, the military authorities of the two countries intend to discuss joint measures to combat terrorism and piracy in the region, RT reported on Wednesday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Moscow has also expressed willingness to conduct joint military drills in the region with Philippine forces in the future.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“In the future, maybe we can have military exercises so we can help you and share with you our knowledge to deal or solve the problem with piracy and terrorism,” said Rear Admiral Eduard Mikhailov, the Russian Navy’s Pacific Fleet deputy commander, at a Tuesday press briefing.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Mikhailov, who is leading the Russian naval delegation to Manila, said Russia can be instrumental in developing the Philippines’ naval capabilities in the future.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“The Russian Navy can help with different equipment, which we can demonstrate to you right here, or in the future in the sea during the military exercises, and also at exhibitions,” he said. “From our side, we can help you in every way which you need.”</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Shifting winds</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The Russian official hoped for regional military collaboration also involving China and Malaysia.</div><blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;">“We really hope that in a few years, the military exercises, for example in your region, in the South China Sea, will [involve] for example, not only Russia and Philippines, but Russia, Philippines, China, and maybe Malaysia together.”</div></blockquote><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Ties between the Philippines and its long-term military partner and ally the US have deteriorated considerably in recent months. Under President Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines has downgraded military ties with the US over American criticism of the president’s trademark war on drugs. For its part, the US has been withholding aid to the Philippines — financial and otherwise — further angering a fiery Duterte.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The Tuesday docking of the Russian warships was the third time overall that a naval group was visiting from Russia. It was the first time, however, that such a contingent was paying a visit during Duterte’s term.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In a state visit to China last October, the Philippine president said he planned to forge closer ties with Russia and China.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">New alliances in Asia, once full-blown, are most likely to mean less room for American maneuvering in the region, a staple of US foreign policy over the past decades. The US has been seeking to keep a foothold in the region by, among other things, inserting itself into regional disputes — including a row in the South China Sea that involves the Philippines and China — and conducting patrols away from American mainland.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">That prospect would be particularly significant for a US that attempted a “pivot” to Asia, where it stressed American strategic interests lay.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In November last year, the Philippines’ Defense Minister Delfin Lorenzana paid a state visit to Russia in a bid to explore prospects for bilateral military-technical cooperation. During that visit, both countries expressed willingness to finalize a joint agreement on defense cooperation.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">On Monday, the Philippines’s incoming ambassador to China said his country planned to move away from its long-time ally, Washington, toward Beijing.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Reacting to the news of the Russian navy’s arrival in Manila, meanwhile, US State Department spokesman John Kirby claimed the “defense relationship between the United States and the Philippines remains very, very strong.”</div></div>

Asia Asia-Pacific region General News News Republic of the Philippines Society Spotlight World News Russia warships dock in Philippines, signal new era

Russian navy vessel Admiral Tributs is seen as it docks at the south harbor port area in metro Manila, the Philippines, January 3, 2017. (Ph...

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House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics watchdog after Donald Trump tweet

<figure class="item-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7T4MdoX6GHVgpRtWXMnn78aUHW1tyTWlHUcxFTMvXFLKNyooiT3uaapWtYcejJgfh-zUp2fnV1SLQwFRL-u6NvIF0vfA2vOu5qFDMKM4QW1VZUjqbPcEf8W_7p1rxOblkzhHIg5UzKBg/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7T4MdoX6GHVgpRtWXMnn78aUHW1tyTWlHUcxFTMvXFLKNyooiT3uaapWtYcejJgfh-zUp2fnV1SLQwFRL-u6NvIF0vfA2vOu5qFDMKM4QW1VZUjqbPcEf8W_7p1rxOblkzhHIg5UzKBg/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">The US Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, US, December 20, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 564.986px; word-spacing: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The US House of Representatives has been forced to drop a plan to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) after President-elect Donald Trump criticized the move.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> On Monday, House Republicans voted to weaken the OCE, an independent ethics watchdog established to investigate allegations of misconduct by legislators in the lower chamber of Congress.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Under the change, which provoked a fierce backlash from Democrats and transparency activists, the OCE would come under the control of the House of Representatives Ethics Committee.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> The Republicans secretly decided to rename the OCE as “the Office of Congressional Complaint Review,” which would have curbed the office’s influence.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> However, they were forced to abandon their plans when Trump intervened, an indication of the powerful influence he appears to be wielding over his party lawmakers.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> “With all that Congress has to work on, do they really have to make the weakening of the Independent Ethics Watchdog, as unfair as it may be, their number one act and priority,” Trump tweeted on Tuesday. “Focus on tax reform, healthcare and so many other things of far greater importance! #DTS [Drain The Swamp].”</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Also, his incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, told reporters that “he says their focus should be on tax reform and healthcare. It’s not a question of strengthening or weakening, it’s a question of priorities.”</div> <figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ND_dN4rFnmjYMUEdtXvjQuWat6J9X9rIapAUYsPU3C0NwToyBmIUPoq_4pPqFAyFQcRi1DVhXwhhkEvYXYtj9O9jm2T-U0_o2Cs3prrdrW-lgdvjLEpRcSmv-1ySn55fSzKJjXHaAX8/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ND_dN4rFnmjYMUEdtXvjQuWat6J9X9rIapAUYsPU3C0NwToyBmIUPoq_4pPqFAyFQcRi1DVhXwhhkEvYXYtj9O9jm2T-U0_o2Cs3prrdrW-lgdvjLEpRcSmv-1ySn55fSzKJjXHaAX8/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Trump answers questions from the media after a day of meetings on December 28, 2016 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Before Trump’s tweet, some House Republicans, including top leaders, had already opposed the measure, expressing concern about its ramifications.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> “People didn’t want this story on opening day,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a Republican.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Meanwhile, Democrats said that Trump had not criticized the move to scale back ethics oversight in Congress, but rather his argument was about the timing of the change.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> The OCE was created in March 2008 following a series of criminal violations, including bribery allegations against Representatives Duke Cunningham, Republican of California, Bob Ney, Republican of Ohio and William J. Jefferson, Democrat of Louisiana, as well as disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> All four were ultimately convicted and served time in jail.</div> </div>

Donald Trump General News International Politics News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News House Republicans drop plan to gut ethics watchdog after Donald Trump tweet

The US Capitol Building is lit at sunset in Washington, US, December 20, 2016. (Photo by Reuters) The US House of Representatives has be...

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Daesh-affiliated terrorist in Istanbul club attack entered Turkey via Syria: Hurriyet Daily News

<br /><br /><figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTxaBTeijiQSC1OuUqM0UBLpqBTTjMXt1gzgKyjjg7svKQ_nBJU2C9kF3ldN5Z-n2Lb7GwRMmNWNRVQ66o28lBBnsG4YI-xWNB2NtwFFi7aPJlG7FwevYDXvDvk02qNWSUJezsc5A6Bg/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTxaBTeijiQSC1OuUqM0UBLpqBTTjMXt1gzgKyjjg7svKQ_nBJU2C9kF3ldN5Z-n2Lb7GwRMmNWNRVQ66o28lBBnsG4YI-xWNB2NtwFFi7aPJlG7FwevYDXvDvk02qNWSUJezsc5A6Bg/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">The photo shows the main suspect in a deadly shooting at a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey.</figcaption></figure><br /><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The Daesh-affiliated terrorist, who slew 39 people at an upscale Istanbul nightclub hours into the New Year, had reportedly entered Turkey via Syrian soil.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Turkey’s <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hurriyet Daily News</em> said fresh details show the would-be attacker had settled down together with his wife and two children in the west-central Turkish province of Konya after arriving from neighboring Syria in November.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">CCTV footage obtained by a Turkish news agency showed the suspect walking into a bus terminal in the province’s capital of the same name last month.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Early on Sunday, the unidentified assailant stormed the Reina nightclub, where some 700 people were celebrating New Year. Nearly 70 people were also injured in the shooting spree, which was later claimed by the Takfiri Daesh terror group.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Turkish authorities have made dozens of arrests in connection with the bloody assault.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">On Wednesday, the Turkish Dogan news agency said 27 people had been arrested by police as part of the  investigation into the attack in the western city of Izmir.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Turkish media said 14 suspects were also detained on Tuesday. Most of the detainees are said to be Uzbek and Kyrgyz citizens.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the identity of the gunman had been established, without giving more details, the Anadolu news agency reported.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The main suspect remains at large. His family members, whose identities have not been released, are also in police custody, according to <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Hurriyet</em>.</div><blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;">The report cited his wife as saying in her testimony, “I learned about the attack from the TV. I didn’t know that my husband was an ISIL (Daesh) militant, let alone a sympathizer.”</div></blockquote><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">According to the daily, the assailant knew the secret exits out of the Reina club, whereby he escaped and took a taxi. While on his way away from the club, he asked to use the driver’s cell phone, and told him he could not pay for the ride after getting off.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Several video recordings have emerged following the attack, including one taken by the assailant himself prior to the incident, which shows him filming himself and his surroundings at Istanbul’s Taqsim Square.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The attack was carried out using a long-barreled assault weapon alongside a stun grenade, used to facilitate the massacre.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The gunman is suspected to have known in advance that the guards at the club were not allowed to carry weapons.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Turkey has come under many similar acts of terror over the past year, mostly claimed by Daesh and Kurdish militants.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The country has long been viewed as a safe transit route for Takfiri militants, including Daesh terrorists, into Syria. <span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Ankara stands widely accused of providing support to the militant groups operating against the government in Damascus.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In another development on Tuesday, the leader of Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Kemal Kilicdaroglu held the Ankara government responsible for the rise in terror attacks in the country.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">He also blamed the administration for “ideological affiliation” with terrorist organizations.</div><blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;">“You are a government that aids and abets terrorist organizations,” he said on Tuesday. “They [the government] sent arms [to Syria] in trailers. Now all those arms are returning back to Turkey,” he added.</div></blockquote><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Last August, the German government likewise said Turkey had worked with extremist groups and supported militant organizations in the Middle East for years.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The German Interior Ministry made the remarks in a statement based on information from Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND), adding that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has actively supported cooperation with Islamist and terrorist organizations.</div></div>

General News Istanbul Middle East News Society Spotlight Syria Turkey World News Daesh-affiliated terrorist in Istanbul club attack entered Turkey via Syria: Hurriyet Daily News

The photo shows the main suspect in a deadly shooting at a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey. The Daesh-affiliated terrorist, who slew 39 people...

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Activists, professors protest Sessions’ nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2910LI2djwAawA9z2ZVFIDB2lkX_w0z9_JTisErbQdgKDJJTnzdnJniHbBoDOj3mISeJKTT_W6iGelVhBo_7EVCSjFlcIkWemrjgMCY27-EprR5SBFmwwx66nxy7KWmsTlfmobr-BPkE/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2910LI2djwAawA9z2ZVFIDB2lkX_w0z9_JTisErbQdgKDJJTnzdnJniHbBoDOj3mISeJKTT_W6iGelVhBo_7EVCSjFlcIkWemrjgMCY27-EprR5SBFmwwx66nxy7KWmsTlfmobr-BPkE/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">US Senator Jeff Sessions (file photo)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">African American civil rights activists and law school professors have expressed their intense opposition to US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Senator Jeff Sessions for attorney general.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) held a sit-in at the Alabama office of Sessions on Tuesday, condemning his history of controversial positions on race, immigration and criminal justice.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The protesters said they would occupy his office in Mobile until the 70-year-old Republican lawmaker withdrew as a candidate or they were arrested.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"Senator Sessions has callously ignored the reality of voter suppression but zealously prosecuted innocent civil rights leaders on trumped-up charges of voter fraud," NAACP President and CEO Cornell William Brooks said in a news release. "As an opponent of the vote, he can't be trusted to be the chief law enforcement officer for voting rights."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, over 1,100 law school professors from around the country sent a letter to Congress on Tuesday, calling on the Senate to dismiss Sessions’ nomination.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“We are convinced that Jeff Sessions will not fairly enforce our nation’s laws and promote justice and equality in the United States,” read the letter, signed by professors from 170 law schools in 48 states.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Among those who signed the letter are prominent scholars such as Laurence H. Tribe of Harvard Law School, Geoffrey R. Stone of the University of Chicago Law School, Pamela S. Karlan of Stanford Law School and Erwin Chemerinsky of the University of California at Irvine School of Law.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">“Clearly, there are many, many law professors who are very uneasy with the prospect of Attorney General Sessions, and they are willing to take a public stand in opposition to his nomination,” Robin Walker Sterling of the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, one of the organizers of the letter, said.</div><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3K04YZ7P4Uz2zoPStLIqvsDttMx6o0jpRXCVja9NUJUnWnNxsTfIGH005RwT1-HhmCoKSXhQDsctHBcmDzmE5PBXTSkzVef6nnowBAAh59emB8F6bvA9KBPaoeacH_LO6lpQSLwA_gw/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq3K04YZ7P4Uz2zoPStLIqvsDttMx6o0jpRXCVja9NUJUnWnNxsTfIGH005RwT1-HhmCoKSXhQDsctHBcmDzmE5PBXTSkzVef6nnowBAAh59emB8F6bvA9KBPaoeacH_LO6lpQSLwA_gw/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Trump greets Sessions during a thank you rally in Ladd-Peebles Stadium on Dec. 17 in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In November, Trump’s transition team announced that the business mogul had nominated Sessions who had accepted the offer.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Sessions is a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and formerly served as US attorney as well as attorney general in the state of Alabama.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Sessions’ hard-line and at times inflammatory statements on immigration are similar to those of Trump. He has already expressed opposition to any path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In 1986, Sessions served as a federal prosecutor and it was in the same year when he became only the second nominee in 50 years to be denied confirmation as a federal judge.</div></div>

General News International Politics Jeff Sessions News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News Activists, professors protest Sessions’ nomination of Senator Jeff Sessions as Attorney General

US Senator Jeff Sessions (file photo) African American civil rights activists and law school professors have expressed their intense opposit...

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British Airways cabin crew to stage walkout next week

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1SJ6_0jhDH9O85v0pJgEixovOayJUjnKrQkvu3JVfPyt4dE9vzFZbw9bP92veq5pFj6REh6Ev89hsqNxgOs_CP1EbRcobzQZHw05fLzi7klp2V2aEs3Mu1Lrx0jkaQh_8Tr_WLusiMM/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL1SJ6_0jhDH9O85v0pJgEixovOayJUjnKrQkvu3JVfPyt4dE9vzFZbw9bP92veq5pFj6REh6Ev89hsqNxgOs_CP1EbRcobzQZHw05fLzi7klp2V2aEs3Mu1Lrx0jkaQh_8Tr_WLusiMM/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">An aircraft with the British Airways undergoes maintenance checks at UK Heathrow Airport. (File photo)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The British Airways (BA) cabin crew have planned to stage a 48-hour strike over low payments after rejecting a deal proposed by the airline last month.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">UNITE Trade Union made the announcement on Tuesday, saying that about 2,500 members of BA’s mixed fleet will hold the walkout next week from January 10, threatening to disrupt flights.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The action came after the cabin crew rejected a 2-percent raise in their salaries, which Unite said were supposed to be between £21,000 and £25,000 annually but, in reality, started at just over £12,000 plus £3 an hour flying pay.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The strike had been initially planned for Christmas Day and December 26 but it was postponed after the airline made the pay offer. However, 70 percent of the union members voted the offer down later.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">“British Airways is needlessly provoking strike action by refusing to extend the mandate of the strike ballot,” Unite national officer Oliver Richardson said.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">“Instead of listening to why its mixed fleet cabin crew rejected the offer, British Airways has sought instead to try and bully a workforce of young men and women who are trying to eke out a living on poverty pay,” he added.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"Unite remains hopeful that a negotiated settlement which meets our members' aspirations can be achieved and would urge British Airways to engage constructively in meaningful talks to address poverty pay," Richardson concluded.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">In response, a BA spokesman said the airline was "extremely disappointed" that the trade union had "once again chosen to target our customers".</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">“Our proposal for our mixed fleet cabin crew reflects pay awards given by other companies in the UK and will ensure their reward levels remain in line with cabin crew at our airline competitors. It is also consistent with pay deals agreed with Unite for other British Airways colleagues," he noted.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Calling the walkout completely unjustified, BA said in a statement that it would give more details on January 6 once it had finalized the contingency plan.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The mixed fleet crew, who have joined the airline in recent years, have poorer terms and conditions than some longer-serving staff. They account for about 15% of BA’s total cabin personnel.</span></div></div>

Aviation Britain Europe General News News Society Spotlight UK United Kingdom World News British Airways cabin crew to stage walkout next week

An aircraft with the British Airways undergoes maintenance checks at UK Heathrow Airport. (File photo) The British Airways (BA) cabin crew h...

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warns of opponents faking Baghdad blast news

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZFrWe0K7_fx_r7uKDLf5rYW9ql8oiCIyA3M7NrXGxatuOAaHHM5qFB2kXCmSzFv9TzMNVhkh-HtIG2zMkFH_o8Vy2iFcwRaA4VFkD1gdweQkWH0tmo-mcQnGtoJ0L21r3mpxubhp6FA/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcZFrWe0K7_fx_r7uKDLf5rYW9ql8oiCIyA3M7NrXGxatuOAaHHM5qFB2kXCmSzFv9TzMNVhkh-HtIG2zMkFH_o8Vy2iFcwRaA4VFkD1gdweQkWH0tmo-mcQnGtoJ0L21r3mpxubhp6FA/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Iraqis inspect a charred vehicle on the site of a bomb attack in Sadr City, a majority Shia neighborhood in the northeast of the capital Baghdad, on January 2, 2017. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has warned that some of his political opponents are faking reports of bombings in Baghdad to undermine him.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"There are parties exaggerating the situation... I always say that one fallen martyr is one too many, but spreading fear among the people, that's called a fifth column," he said during a press conference in Baghdad on Tuesday.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">On Monday, at least 39 people were killed and 57 more injured after a terrorist car bomb attack, claimed by Daesh, rocked a busy square in Sadr City, a Shia-populated suburban district of Baghdad.  </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">A number of smaller bombing attacks across the city were reported by local media outlets on the same day. Abadi stressed that these smaller incidents were all fabrications.  </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">“Look at the series of bombings announced in Baghdad…You are journalists - go to the alleged spots in Baghdad. Were there victims there, were there really bombs there, were there any martyrs?" he said.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvPztpT7MTYXZRJ79MYvE1Bq8Rd7chNcBI9QkoPz3G3-uEFPKO0HY8RzfQukmH4v_HnegzsqXVSLObtZ4AvtPT4f7ShFUaDj27V2XlZOC9dCDaS4KmuAmtEhetxyrSfQsUvWtGJ9u9mg/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvPztpT7MTYXZRJ79MYvE1Bq8Rd7chNcBI9QkoPz3G3-uEFPKO0HY8RzfQukmH4v_HnegzsqXVSLObtZ4AvtPT4f7ShFUaDj27V2XlZOC9dCDaS4KmuAmtEhetxyrSfQsUvWtGJ9u9mg/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 22, 2016. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Abadi, without referring to names, went on to accuse his opponents of intentionally attempting to show the security situation in Iraq worse than it actually is.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"They claim that they back the security forces on the front lines and then they stab them in the back," Abadi said. "Using innocent blood for the sake of a political feud is not right."</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Gruesome violence has plagued parts of Iraq ever since Daesh terrorists mounted an offensive and took control of portions of the Iraqi territory more than two years ago.</span></div></div>

General News Iraq Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Middle East News Society Spotlight World News Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warns of opponents faking Baghdad blast news

Iraqis inspect a charred vehicle on the site of a bomb attack in Sadr City, a majority Shia neighborhood in the northeast of the capital Bag...

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Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu worried over further UNSC resolutions

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DFirDxaHnkN7sAzBMrsBg3Iu-egDscfwIwJ-pwVYC8HzC8gt74K0MckKpTBckHYgT4ekyDvMFC3mrAPekLbIgXQCd4a9afQW5VcWdGyrRQgqq-7W35FPvJAhPPtziNavuppHcnNb2nc/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2DFirDxaHnkN7sAzBMrsBg3Iu-egDscfwIwJ-pwVYC8HzC8gt74K0MckKpTBckHYgT4ekyDvMFC3mrAPekLbIgXQCd4a9afQW5VcWdGyrRQgqq-7W35FPvJAhPPtziNavuppHcnNb2nc/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">In this image released by the UN, members of the Security Council vote on December 23, 2016, on a resolution to stop Israeli settlements.</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that an upcoming Middle East peace conference in Paris may lead to fresh anti-Israel UN resolutions.</span></span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"There are signs that they will try to turn decisions made there into another decision in the Security Council," said Netanyahu during a meeting with Israeli ambassadors in East Jerusalem al-Quds on Tuesday.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">On December 23, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2334, which demands an immediate end to “all Israeli settlement activities” in the occupied Palestinian territories.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">It also states that building settlements by Israel has “no legal validity and constitutes a flagrant violation under international law.”</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">In a move that Netanyahu has referred to as "futile," France plans to hold a conference on January 17 with the presence of around 70 countries to discuss the so-called Israeli-Palestinian peace process.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"Therefore our primary effort for now is to prevent another UN decision, another decision by the Security Council,” he said, adding that “we are investing a great diplomatic effort in this."</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The resolution was adopted after the administration of US President Barack Obama refused to veto it, reversing Washington's longstanding policy of shielding Israel from condemnatory measures at the world body.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_JQuy8QMPbHlknGyrUAp_iG2hcNoRuuH8V-VvyhT1f_I59U5qbXqwnCbV0RVP1fg0T-bT0fZwqCUbfNOaS23vVVfVFEjMVkzIgpfjiLX1mOu_jYQXlj_NE8aDdATeeUhQynulcWPe44/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9_JQuy8QMPbHlknGyrUAp_iG2hcNoRuuH8V-VvyhT1f_I59U5qbXqwnCbV0RVP1fg0T-bT0fZwqCUbfNOaS23vVVfVFEjMVkzIgpfjiLX1mOu_jYQXlj_NE8aDdATeeUhQynulcWPe44/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gestures during a Likud party meeting at the Israeli parliament in East Jerusalem al-Quds, January 2, 2017. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Israel has defied international calls to stop its illegal construction activities, with its settlement expansion being among the main reasons behind the collapse of the last round of the so-called Middle East peace talks in 2014.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Over half a million Israelis live in more than 230 illegal settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem al-Quds.</span></div></div>

Benjamin Netanyahu General News Israel (country) Middle East News Palestine Society Spotlight UN United Nations World News Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu worried over further UNSC resolutions

In this image released by the UN, members of the Security Council vote on December 23, 2016, on a resolution to stop Israeli settlements. Is...

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Turkish parliament extends state of emergency for three months

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIkG5AvTfiawVnbB6-VUq0RhvE5439pBm1NlV8eis22dE3e5Xtfh3pzuOZCJAZsBMYkiK8a9RircPZoNopd46FnyHHGLutL0wSNF1eq0vubEdtAb_FyD24ic1CrcWhhJwzIQBlNNSk7y4/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIkG5AvTfiawVnbB6-VUq0RhvE5439pBm1NlV8eis22dE3e5Xtfh3pzuOZCJAZsBMYkiK8a9RircPZoNopd46FnyHHGLutL0wSNF1eq0vubEdtAb_FyD24ic1CrcWhhJwzIQBlNNSk7y4/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Policemen stand on a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The Turkish parliament has approved the three-month extension of the country’s state of emergency, which was initially implemented after a failed July coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Ahead of the voting on Tuesday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus stressed government's determination "to fight against all terrorist organizations."</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"With the attack in Ortakoy, they wanted to give different messages comparing to other terrorist attacks. One of these messages is: 'We will continue to cause trouble to people in 2017'. Our reply is clear. Regardless of which terrorist organization they are, regardless of by whom they are supported, and regardless of their motivation, we are determined to fight all terrorist organizations in 2017 and we will fight till the end," he said in reference to the New Year’s Eve terrorist attack on a nightclub that killed 39 people.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">It also increases the time that suspects can be detained without charges being issued.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">It was imposed in Turkey a few days after the July 15 abortive putsch that began when a faction of the Turkish army declared that it had seized control of the country and the government of President Erdogan was no more in charge.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Over 240 people were killed on all sides in the attempted coup d’état that was blamed on the movement led by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen. The Pennsylvania-based cleric denies the allegation.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The Turkish government claims the state of emergency is required to eliminate the traces of Gulen’s influence in Turkish institutions. Ankara has launched a crackdown on those believed to have played a role in the failed coup, in a move that has sparked criticisms from human rights groups and the EU.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Over 41,000 people have been arrested for suspected links to Gulen since the investigation was launched, while more than 103,000 people have been investigated over suspected ties to the cleric.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; text-align: center;"><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9-cX3Eq4UsqaYCPAgkClxTuMZSXWBxOdhTrGp9YJ3qbKtUQ_QuxYw5GaR5N-l1_DfdB-frF7Q60NDx7X3T_r24t2z7H0pBpC3DQlmR66FCfRjGQHl8G1kjrT4OT_UMsNHJVf_fCCShg/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl9-cX3Eq4UsqaYCPAgkClxTuMZSXWBxOdhTrGp9YJ3qbKtUQ_QuxYw5GaR5N-l1_DfdB-frF7Q60NDx7X3T_r24t2z7H0pBpC3DQlmR66FCfRjGQHl8G1kjrT4OT_UMsNHJVf_fCCShg/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech to mukhtars during the "32nd Mukhtars (local administrators) meeting" on December 14, 2016 at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by AFP) </figcaption></figure></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The move to extend the state of emergency was hinted in November by Erdogan while he was reacting to the European Parliament’s censure over the emergency powers it granted the government and their support for freezing membership talks with Turkey.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"What's it to you?...Is the European Parliament in charge of this country or is the government in charge of this country?" he said.</span></div></div>

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Policemen stand on a tank after troops involved in the coup surrendered on Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2016. (Photo by Re...

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Donald Trump: No more detainee releases from Guantanamo Bay prison

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcBuZVw5h-MPmC2_OTg4dLmgxR7RRX2k73Vem21XTfi-2mtizErdAPtGXjrVvw4RFnOEUIRdjT9EFyJMwUTsyq57TuAB7pveb7SzlLh9UZVtZNtGpbAgir9J10Dp_LAp0d_BdCr0d3Xs/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKcBuZVw5h-MPmC2_OTg4dLmgxR7RRX2k73Vem21XTfi-2mtizErdAPtGXjrVvw4RFnOEUIRdjT9EFyJMwUTsyq57TuAB7pveb7SzlLh9UZVtZNtGpbAgir9J10Dp_LAp0d_BdCr0d3Xs/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">A detainee is carried by military police after being interrogated by officials at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (File photo)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">US President-elect Donald Trump has called for an end to the transfer of detainees from the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">In a statement on Tuesday, Trump spoke against closing the Cuban-based military prison and said the US government should avoid releasing any more prisoners from the detention center in order to stop them from committing more crimes.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"There should be no further releases from Gitmo," the president-elect said via Twitter, using the abbreviated name for the prison. "These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.”</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The warning comes as the administration of outgoing US President Barack Obama prepares to release another 19 detainees from the facility before the president leaves office.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">In December 2016, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said he expected additional transfers to be announced before Obama’s farewell on January 20.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The detainees will reportedly be bound for Italy, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">In his last security speech in the US state of Florida early last month, the outgoing president expressed disappointment over failure to close the notorious prison during his tenure, saying it was a disgrace and a waste of money.</span></div><blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">"We are wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to keep fewer than 60 people in a detention facility in Cuba,” Obama said. “That’s not strength … And I will continue to do all that I can to remove this blot on our national honor."</span></div></blockquote><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Obama had pledged during his 2008 presidential campaign to close the military prison, which is located on Cuba’s southeastern coast, before he leaves office. However, he has been unable to fulfill his promise in the face of stiff opposition from the US Congress.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The Obama administration has transferred most of the detainees to other countries, but there is a small number of detainees who the administration says it would like to keep at a US facility for national security reasons.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">A Senate report in December 2014 revealed that the CIA had used a wide array of sexual abuse and other forms of torture as part of its interrogation methods against the prisoners at Guantanamo.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The so-called interrogation methods included placing detainees in stress positions, stripping them, holding them isolated for extended periods of time and exposing them to extreme heat and cold.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">About 780 men have passed through the facility since it was opened following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to hold terrorism suspects.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">Washington says the prisoners are terror suspects, but has not pressed charges against most of them in any court.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; color: black;">The US military has been criticized for force-feeding Guantanamo prisoners who have been engaged in hunger strikes for years to protest their confinement.</span></div></div>

Donald Trump General News International Politics News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News Donald Trump: No more detainee releases from Guantanamo Bay prison

A detainee is carried by military police after being interrogated by officials at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (File photo) US...

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Clintons, Bushes will partake in Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MBZgJmOpJZYOIUHYXqxjZoKiaqZ9jk0pmh6dbOIdTQrF8adeFWctBV60hQoAxRYmyth3nT_ldk7QgoOyS5ndd21xH7xOECSPJYrU8DZG79nyVxjDpqfzaNH_5BKXj9f41F1rpon9clc/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0MBZgJmOpJZYOIUHYXqxjZoKiaqZ9jk0pmh6dbOIdTQrF8adeFWctBV60hQoAxRYmyth3nT_ldk7QgoOyS5ndd21xH7xOECSPJYrU8DZG79nyVxjDpqfzaNH_5BKXj9f41F1rpon9clc/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Former US President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The opponent of US President–elect Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton, has decided to take part in his inauguration along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as well as former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The two couples released statements Tuesday, saying they would participate in the ceremony on January 20th.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The decision was specifically hard on Clinton following a bitter campaign that ended with her loss, but the former secretary of state, New York senator, and first lady is apparently opting to support a peaceful transition despite ongoing allegations that Russians were behind Trump’s victory.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The Bushes will be "pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power - a hallmark of American democracy - and swearing-in of President Trump and Vice President Pence," former President Bush's office said in a statement.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Bush’s decision was also a little unexpected, given the way his brother, Jeb, was treated by Trump in the GOP primaries in the run-up to the 2016 vote.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Bush and his wife have previously made it public that they voted for "none of the above" option rather than their party’s nominee, Trump, on November 8.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, will also be there for the ceremony but former President George H.W. Bush, 92, and his wife, Barbara, will not, apparently due to the former president’s age and health condition.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">January 20th will mark the first time since the 2016 campaigning that Trump and Hillary would share the same platform.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, protests have been scheduled against the former real estate tycoon and reality TV star’s presidency, gained despite having nearly three million fewer votes than the Democratic candidate.</div></div>

Donald Trump General News International Politics News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News Clintons, Bushes will partake in Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20

Former US President George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton The opponent of US President–elect Donald Trump in the 2016...

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America cannot afford ‘Twitter presidency,’ Donald Trump should face ‘real challenges’

<figure class="item-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PFng-isOdVADfpOCEKZCNGKr4CWZpnHJLYR3B_FxzjQK1mepPUbPKeuqs1xjZLNAoHNYPblizyINa6__uhnLZzWRp826eCMJHiHKl-GY0fNl-2cwthf1iRb2XGijwueURITeb-qrmQ0/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0PFng-isOdVADfpOCEKZCNGKr4CWZpnHJLYR3B_FxzjQK1mepPUbPKeuqs1xjZLNAoHNYPblizyINa6__uhnLZzWRp826eCMJHiHKl-GY0fNl-2cwthf1iRb2XGijwueURITeb-qrmQ0/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">US President–elect Donald Trump holding a Twitter logo (Photo-Illustration via Vanity Fair)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 564.986px; word-spacing: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">US Senate new Minority Leader Chuck Schumer takes aim at President–elect Donald Trump’s penchant for Twitter, asserting that it cannot address the “real challenges,” the United States faces.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> "Making America great requires more than just 140 characters per issue," he said in his first speech as the chamber's top Democratic leader on the Senate floor late on Tuesday. “With all due respect, America cannot afford a Twitter presidency.”  </div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> “The issues facing this country are many… Each one takes serious thought and action. These issues are too important for mere words, our challenges too entrenched for mere tweeting.”</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnRUdZUefAKxYyrTIjq12y6HLyBXAjddJfm5vZ0Jg32bU3ggkOXrfdMRQDKITNHU4jsEPEA_u4WrS2r61avpxuyGq0kYe_5dHC-1JTNUFNf9D8KZHy2jxVA7Lkf6bmW_p8p_jEd-Juh6Q/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnRUdZUefAKxYyrTIjq12y6HLyBXAjddJfm5vZ0Jg32bU3ggkOXrfdMRQDKITNHU4jsEPEA_u4WrS2r61avpxuyGq0kYe_5dHC-1JTNUFNf9D8KZHy2jxVA7Lkf6bmW_p8p_jEd-Juh6Q/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Many in the US are worried that “instead of rolling up your sleeves and forging serious policies, for you Twitter suffices,” added the New York senator.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> The 66-year-old lawmaker further argued that it is not wrong to use modern media, “but these issues are complex and demand both careful consideration and action.”</div> <blockquote style="border-left: 5px solid rgb(235, 235, 235); box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 17.5px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; text-align: justify;"> “We cannot tweet them away,” stated the long-time Brooklyn politician (pictured below).</div> </blockquote> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlct65x3DJEzRkP8_ax7h1mK8yLxM0Lj_gYrbAlECpfwsxhlgXsfJt3odEnd_1XzBPBu2KYQmF7WhWKBh_7s8XcNrQxEm3uLnlFqEefh066szo-TDKyIwZyVs9jXO6OcWhm5wCvdO6jI/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidlct65x3DJEzRkP8_ax7h1mK8yLxM0Lj_gYrbAlECpfwsxhlgXsfJt3odEnd_1XzBPBu2KYQmF7WhWKBh_7s8XcNrQxEm3uLnlFqEefh066szo-TDKyIwZyVs9jXO6OcWhm5wCvdO6jI/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Schumer’s rebuke of the president-elect followed earlier reports claiming that Trump favors him to fellow Republicans in control of both chambers of the Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> “He likes Schumer more than Ryan and McConnell because they both wanted him to lose,” a source close to the president-elect’s transition team told the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">New York Post</em> Sunday.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Trump, a former real estate mogul and reality TV star, has described his relations with Schumer as “very good” and “close” in interviews.</div> </div>

Chuck Schumer Donald Trump General News International Politics News Politics Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News America cannot afford ‘Twitter presidency,’ Donald Trump should face ‘real challenges’

US President–elect Donald Trump holding a Twitter logo (Photo-Illustration via Vanity Fair) US Senate new Minority Leader Chuck Schumer ...

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Ford cancels $1.6 billion Mexican plant to invest in Michigan

<figure class="item-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pVcMCUOV9za4vY1g6qpeiLAMqSrp0ycwwmU88Woq2HUg9mLgYIupC1wQHclEdVClia5J-oeidl_udfeZKoHiISnTUcCR9OWvLcXwf5MsNcWez25XvLTi64apScS00abGeIhe63EFLMc/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0pVcMCUOV9za4vY1g6qpeiLAMqSrp0ycwwmU88Woq2HUg9mLgYIupC1wQHclEdVClia5J-oeidl_udfeZKoHiISnTUcCR9OWvLcXwf5MsNcWez25XvLTi64apScS00abGeIhe63EFLMc/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Ford cancels $1.6 billion Mexican plant</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 564.986px; word-spacing: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The second largest US automaker has decided to cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico and  invest $700 million at a Michigan factory.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> The decision was made after Ford Motor Co come under harsh criticism from President-elect Donald Trump for its Mexican investment plans.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> "In addition to the 4.5 billion dollars that we've committed to new electrified vehicles today we today are announcing 700 million dollars to transform and expand this Flat Rock assembly plant creating a new manufacturing innovations center," Ford Chief Executive Mark Fields said.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnFUTipd0YXi23DRYZ-rou0hF6xGi0wVt-FENsLzxM9_9oaoHFgxUTw71ukb8Goc2WEZ0ww9ljES5wZ2WjMU5WNYd4q6AfBIusGG6Zy3g-nZT8CK2tRu3CNzshTnDiDJ35YQMZCk2Y1Y/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnFUTipd0YXi23DRYZ-rou0hF6xGi0wVt-FENsLzxM9_9oaoHFgxUTw71ukb8Goc2WEZ0ww9ljES5wZ2WjMU5WNYd4q6AfBIusGG6Zy3g-nZT8CK2tRu3CNzshTnDiDJ35YQMZCk2Y1Y/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> He went further adding that the decision to cancel the new plant in Mexico was in part related to the need to "fully utilize capacity at existing facilities" amid declining sales of small and medium sized cars.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Fields also endorsed "pro growth" tax and regulatory policies advocated by Trump and the Republican led Congress.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Trump repeatedly announced during his election campaign that if elected he would not allow Ford to open the new plant in Mexico and would slap hefty tariffs taxes on imported Ford vehicles.</div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-b-ro_FDQogyW4ozZrWjlHYj40M5D0XmUzG-rM9CnNih_W_8sTn_0dQvXJ7f04OidCWBJ8EUwT7Pwy2dWeidYOqboOCDQEHatE_nrfHR5HNQsbNc69F8oChYfzGdURuEx1tCTOP2MOJY/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-b-ro_FDQogyW4ozZrWjlHYj40M5D0XmUzG-rM9CnNih_W_8sTn_0dQvXJ7f04OidCWBJ8EUwT7Pwy2dWeidYOqboOCDQEHatE_nrfHR5HNQsbNc69F8oChYfzGdURuEx1tCTOP2MOJY/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Earlier, Trump threatened to impose a "big border tax" on General Motors Co for making some of its Chevrolet Cruze cars in Mexico.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Ford in April announced it would invest $1.6 billion to build a new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico to build small cars.</div> </div>

Business Economics And business Economy General News News Society Spotlight the United States United States United States (Overview) US World News Ford cancels $1.6 billion Mexican plant to invest in Michigan

Ford cancels $1.6 billion Mexican plant The second largest US automaker has decided to cancel a planned $1.6 billion factory in Mexico a...

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Refugees protest in Italy after woman dies in swarming camp

<figure class="item-image" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px 0px 20px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwc_xHqLjBr_li4jBlOx5mmdjbUNEN0BupLCNbDbWVti6vbjFTIU3hSQuR08KHY9m7bf8mcRzqOa4RGsle469_JXUHpvZWs2j2JL1GX6IXyLHRLK00gO-dA2jb_5tfCcteliIiq-4yKGQ/s1600/a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwc_xHqLjBr_li4jBlOx5mmdjbUNEN0BupLCNbDbWVti6vbjFTIU3hSQuR08KHY9m7bf8mcRzqOa4RGsle469_JXUHpvZWs2j2JL1GX6IXyLHRLK00gO-dA2jb_5tfCcteliIiq-4yKGQ/s1600/a.jpg" style="cursor: move;" /></a></div> <figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">The undated photo shows refugees in a port in southern Italy. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; width: 564.986px; word-spacing: 0px;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The death of an African refugee woman in a camp north of Italy has sparked a mutiny as people protest harsh living conditions in the swarming facility.</span></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> The riot erupted on Tuesday at the reception center in Cona, near Venice, after fellow refugees reacted angrily to the death of a 25-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast, who reportedly died of natural causes a day earlier.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Local media said the refugees barricaded 25 staff members inside the facility after they cut off the electricity supply, started fires and blocked the exit.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Local police chief Angelo Sanna said the protesters were persuaded to open the gates shortly after midnight on Monday and let the staff leave. The electricity was also restored to the camp, where some 1,500 refugees have been placed in a facility originally meant for 15.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Cona’s Mayor Alberto Panfilio denied earlier media reports that the protest had been caused by a delay in ambulance arriving to treat the ill woman, saying the vehicle had arrived promptly. He also denied that the high number of refugees in the relatively small place played a role but urged an evacuation.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> "This death is not directly linked to the high concentration (of people) but I hope it can be useful to change a situation that is no longer sustainable," Panfilio said, adding that calm had been restored at the center.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> More than 136,000 people are housed in temporary refugee reception centers across Italy, most of them Africans who have come from the south through the Mediterranean. The center in Cona, a town with just 190 residents, opened in 2015 but saw a surge in arrivals last year.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: justify;"> Italy has reported over half a million refugee arrivals since a flow began in early 2015. More than a million also hit Europe’s eastern coasts on Greece in the same period, many fleeing conflicts in the Middle East. European governments first began to welcome the refugees as a humanitarian gesture but then revised rules and increased restrictions to stop the flow.</div> </div>

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The undated photo shows refugees in a port in southern Italy. (Photo by AFP) The death of an African refugee woman in a camp north of It...

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Refugees protest in Italy after woman dies in swarming camp

<br /><figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwc_xHqLjBr_li4jBlOx5mmdjbUNEN0BupLCNbDbWVti6vbjFTIU3hSQuR08KHY9m7bf8mcRzqOa4RGsle469_JXUHpvZWs2j2JL1GX6IXyLHRLK00gO-dA2jb_5tfCcteliIiq-4yKGQ/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwc_xHqLjBr_li4jBlOx5mmdjbUNEN0BupLCNbDbWVti6vbjFTIU3hSQuR08KHY9m7bf8mcRzqOa4RGsle469_JXUHpvZWs2j2JL1GX6IXyLHRLK00gO-dA2jb_5tfCcteliIiq-4yKGQ/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">The undated photo shows refugees in a port in southern Italy. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><br /><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">The death of an African refugee woman in a camp north of Italy has sparked a mutiny as people protest harsh living conditions in the swarming facility.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The riot erupted on Tuesday at the reception center in Cona, near Venice, after fellow refugees reacted angrily to the death of a 25-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast, who reportedly died of natural causes a day earlier.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Local media said the refugees barricaded 25 staff members inside the facility after they cut off the electricity supply, started fires and blocked the exit.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Local police chief Angelo Sanna said the protesters were persuaded to open the gates shortly after midnight on Monday and let the staff leave. The electricity was also restored to the camp, where some 1,500 refugees have been placed in a facility originally meant for 15.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Cona’s Mayor Alberto Panfilio denied earlier media reports that the protest had been caused by a delay in ambulance arriving to treat the ill woman, saying the vehicle had arrived promptly. He also denied that the high number of refugees in the relatively small place played a role but urged an evacuation.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"This death is not directly linked to the high concentration (of people) but I hope it can be useful to change a situation that is no longer sustainable," Panfilio said, adding that calm had been restored at the center.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">More than 136,000 people are housed in temporary refugee reception centers across Italy, most of them Africans who have come from the south through the Mediterranean. The center in Cona, a town with just 190 residents, opened in 2015 but saw a surge in arrivals last year.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Italy has reported over half a million refugee arrivals since a flow began in early 2015. More than a million also hit Europe’s eastern coasts on Greece in the same period, many fleeing conflicts in the Middle East. European governments first began to welcome the refugees as a humanitarian gesture but then revised rules and increased restrictions to stop the flow.</div></div>

Europe General News Italy News protesting Society Spotlight World News Refugees protest in Italy after woman dies in swarming camp

The undated photo shows refugees in a port in southern Italy. (Photo by AFP) The death of an African refugee woman in a camp north of Italy ...

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Kazakhstan's new measure to boost tourism, investment

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mWs73eGbIqQAMIy825GRFwKm9XdbtxltAWoFQe5FTz0KoJx9mK7D5ATztAQoWofnYKUNoe1uTDZdtmGy-dv9npdp_cKjoaVz1ykRHxtq_I9VI4dTaA6kdh1b_YcpcxXyaHwLEN_Y2lw/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4mWs73eGbIqQAMIy825GRFwKm9XdbtxltAWoFQe5FTz0KoJx9mK7D5ATztAQoWofnYKUNoe1uTDZdtmGy-dv9npdp_cKjoaVz1ykRHxtq_I9VI4dTaA6kdh1b_YcpcxXyaHwLEN_Y2lw/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Kazakhstan adopts new measure to boost tourism</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Kazakhstan has lifted visa requirements for citizens of the European Union, OECD countries and a number of other states as part of efforts to boost investment and tourism.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The measure adopted earlier by neighboring Uzbekistan comes as Kazakhstan as Central Asia's largest economy has been battered by low oil prices and financial distress in neighboring Russia.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">According to Kazakhstan’s foreign ministry, since the beginning of 2017, citizens of EU and OECD countries, as well as Malaysia, Monaco, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, could travel to Kazakhstan for up to 30 days without a visa.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In a statement, the ministry said the initiative was meant to "promote an even more favorable investment climate" and "develop the country's tourism potential."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjP0KrgZ-SUHFsfltivkVcE9QalcGfime6VAIpTxKp4W3dI4vYp7l1hqonUwSWpyubsKbJY-vJmnweqb9c3X6GumjWS6wSsoLVzv5K3af0FX9pZ5_hyphenhyphena3n-EVXG5njaCoz5W_Ng72_DN0/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjP0KrgZ-SUHFsfltivkVcE9QalcGfime6VAIpTxKp4W3dI4vYp7l1hqonUwSWpyubsKbJY-vJmnweqb9c3X6GumjWS6wSsoLVzv5K3af0FX9pZ5_hyphenhyphena3n-EVXG5njaCoz5W_Ng72_DN0/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"The move will open up additional opportunities to the business community for cooperation with the outside world and facilitate international contacts in different spheres," the statement said.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Kazakhstan's landscape is dotted with mountains, lakes and desert, and the glitzy capital Astana is home to futuristic architecture.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Back in December, neighboring Uzbekistan announced plans to roll back its highly restrictive tourism regime by cancelling visa requirements for 15 countries. That move followed the election of interim leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev, who succeeded the late Islam Karimov.</div></div>

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Kazakhstan adopts new measure to boost tourism Kazakhstan has lifted visa requirements for citizens of the European Union, OECD countries an...

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Britain's ambassador to EU resigns ahead of Brexit talks

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EAmOw-bigv6Ro9tOw4uf2ezqlJ2zpsn5qQnvupenlxYLCJE6dDA-hutxVfV9WYscTde8fcl6eC8J4Nf3nuYoXcOIATg0rV8J84Bkz-OZKb78UoRaSmOVoHjMD2IeITkq2-WGmNtCi6k/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3EAmOw-bigv6Ro9tOw4uf2ezqlJ2zpsn5qQnvupenlxYLCJE6dDA-hutxVfV9WYscTde8fcl6eC8J4Nf3nuYoXcOIATg0rV8J84Bkz-OZKb78UoRaSmOVoHjMD2IeITkq2-WGmNtCi6k/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Former British prime minister David Cameron (L) and Britain's ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers (file photo)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Britain's ambassador to the European Union has unexpectedly resigned weeks after he stated that Brexit could take longer than expected to sign off.  </span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Sir Ivan Rogers told staff on Tuesday afternoon that he would quit his post early, but did not explain the reason for his decision.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">He was appointed to the role of permanent representative by former prime minister David Cameron in November 2013.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Rogers, one of Britain's most experienced diplomats on EU affairs, had been expected to play a key role in Brexit negotiations.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">His resignation, just months before Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to start the formal talks, has stirred concerns that the UK will get a worse Brexit deal than it would have otherwise negotiated.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"Ivan Rogers' resignation makes a good deal on Brexit less likely. One of the very few people at top of British government who understands EU," said Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Nick Clegg, former leader of the UK's Liberal Democrats who once worked for Rogers in Brussels, said the resignation was a "body blow to the government's Brexit plans."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Labour MP Hilary Benn, chairman of the Brexit select committee, said the news came at a "crucial" point and called on the government to urgently appoint someone to the post.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"> "It couldn't be a more difficult time to organize a handover," he added.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Last month, the BBC reported that Rogers had privately told ministers a UK-EU trade deal might not be done until the early to mid-2020s and that national parliaments of EU states could still reject it.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">He was slammed for "pessimism" after his warning to ministers on the negotiating timescale was leaded in a secret memo.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Prime Minister May has vowed to trigger Article 50 - the step required to officially begin the Brexit negotiations - by March. Her critics, however, accuse her of having no precise plan to start the negotiations.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In a referendum on June 23, nearly 52 percent of British voters voted to leave the EU, a decision that sent shock waves throughout the world.</div></div>

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Former British prime minister David Cameron (L) and Britain's ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers (file photo) Britain's ambassador to...

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Afghans protest against Daesh brutality against Shias

<figure class="item-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkbTZaK-I1GIoe-rp_zNgi594UGFlBXCHbd7L_v226uRYPU0qhZ2qbnFqSh4s43YQwyp_FYYpgG4SZZ8L9TAHHvFHee4Lcy0xegT2vcs0yCFd1x2NvHmdDFEL4bD4LuprKW3xpSYjmco/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUkbTZaK-I1GIoe-rp_zNgi594UGFlBXCHbd7L_v226uRYPU0qhZ2qbnFqSh4s43YQwyp_FYYpgG4SZZ8L9TAHHvFHee4Lcy0xegT2vcs0yCFd1x2NvHmdDFEL4bD4LuprKW3xpSYjmco/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption id="mainFigCap" style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Afghan Shia Muslims hold posters and chant slogans during a demonstration in Herat on January 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div class="item-text" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #333333; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; width: 564.986px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">People in western Afghanistan have staged a massive protest against growing sectarian attacks on Shia Muslims by the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.</span></div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">About 2,000 demonstrators, holding pictures of Shia Muslims killed in recent terrorist attacks, marched on the governor's office in the city of Herat on Tuesday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The protesters chanted slogans such as "Death to the enemies of Afghanistan!" and "Death to Daesh!"</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Herat recently witnessed a surge in attacks on mosques belonging to Shia Muslims. A prayer leader was killed and five others wounded in one such attack on Sunday.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Qurban Ali, a 40-year-old demonstrator, said Daesh terrorists were desperately attempting to fuel sectarian strife by mounting attacks on Shia religious sites.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"Daesh attacks on our mosques are increasing every day. They want to create a rift between Shias and Sunnis," Ali said, adding, "This is a dangerous trend and we want the government to protect us."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Jawad, another protester who was identified by one name, said, "We will not allow Daesh to make Afghanistan another Syria. The government must come up with a plan to protect Shias."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Until a few months ago, Daesh was largely confined to the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan. The group has earned notoriety for brutality including beheadings across the volatile region.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Afghan government officials recently warned that the group had expanded its foothold into some other provinces as well.</div><figure class="image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bSph2lHZlq6DaWdAkFeTJfxD33ck5S__5o5t_W_rSvtQVnFTupUXeEy3255xZ-Z9iVekKa_FjNf2jvEEyaCdErkh-vawwFX7QP9AzbZoM1CBJdIrJ-y6H_D5qvOJ5kgWgpoG9ByZqgg/s1600/a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7bSph2lHZlq6DaWdAkFeTJfxD33ck5S__5o5t_W_rSvtQVnFTupUXeEy3255xZ-Z9iVekKa_FjNf2jvEEyaCdErkh-vawwFX7QP9AzbZoM1CBJdIrJ-y6H_D5qvOJ5kgWgpoG9ByZqgg/s1600/a.jpg" /></a></div><figcaption style="background: rgb(240, 240, 240); box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-size: 12px; padding: 10px;">Afghan Shia Muslims hold posters and chant slogans during a demonstration in Herat on January 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP)</figcaption></figure><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Najeebullah Mani, the head of counter-terrorism at the Afghan Interior Ministry, told reporters in Herat this week that the group was steadily expanding into other provinces.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">"Our initial information shows Daesh is behind the recent attacks in Herat. They are expanding and are always looking for new geographical areas," Mani said, adding, "They are present in at least 11 (of Afghanistan's 34 provinces). Their main goal is to create sectarian divisions between Shias and Sunnis."</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Over the past months, Afghanistan has witnessed a surge in terror activities by Daesh.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In October 2016, at least 14 Shia Muslims lost their lives in a powerful blast at a mosque in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The attack was carried out hours after gunmen targeted worshippers at a shrine in the capital, Kabul, and killed 18 people.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">In August, Daesh claimed responsibility for a bombing during a demonstration held by the Shia Hazara community in Kabul, where at least 85 people were killed.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">The rise of Daesh in Afghanistan has triggered concerns in a country that has already been torn apart by decades of Taliban-led militancy and the 2001 invasion of the United States and its allies.</div><div style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; text-align: justify;">Daesh, mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has reportedly managed to take recruits from Taliban defectors in Afghanistan.</div></div>

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Afghan Shia Muslims hold posters and chant slogans during a demonstration in Herat on January 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP) People in western Afgh...

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