Russia Launches Airstrikes In Northern Syria, Senior Military Official Says

Russian warplanes began bombarding Syrian opposition targets in the war-torn nation's north Wednesday, following a terse meeting at which a Russian general asked Pentagon officials to clear out of Syrian air space and was rebuffed, Fox News has learned.

A U.S. official said Russian airstrikes targeted fighters in the vicinity of Homs, located roughly 60 miles east of a Russian naval facility in Tartus, and were carried out by a "couple" of Russian bombers. The strikes hit targets in Homs and Hama, but there is no presence of ISIS in those areas, a senior U.S. defense official said. These planes are hitting areas where Free Syrian Army and other anti-Assad groups are located, the official said.

Activists and a rebel commander on the ground said the Russian airstrikes have mostly hit moderate rebel positions and civilians. In a video released by the U.S.-backed rebel group Tajamu Alezzah, jets are seen hitting a building claimed to be a location of the group in the town of Latamna in the central Hama province.

The group commander Jameel al-Saleh told a local Syrian news website that the group's location was hit by Russian jets but didn't specify the damage.

A group of local activists in the town of Talbiseh in Homs province recorded at least 16 civilians killed, including two children.

According to a U.S. senior official, Presidents Obama and Putin agreed on a process to "deconflict" military operations. The Russians on Wednesday "bypassed that process," the official said. [source]

Kerry: If Russia Targets ISIS, "We Are Prepared To Welcome" Help

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to the United Nations Security Council about Russian military actions happening right now in Syria.

Kerry said that U.S. forces had launched "a number of strikes [in Syria] over the past 24 hours, including some just an hour ago... And these strikes will continue," even though Russian forces are also active in the area.


"We must not and we will not be confused in our fight against ISIL," Kerry said, before repeating assurances made by President Obama to Vladimir Putin earlier this week: "If Russia’s recent actions and those now ongoing reflect a genuine commitment to defeat [the Islamic State], we are prepared to welcome those efforts and find a way to deconflict and therefore multiply our efforts."

However, he said that any Russian actions that "should strike targets where ISIL and affiliated targets are not operating," would raise "grave concerns," for the U.S.


"My colleague," Kerry said, referring to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, "has said we must support Assad to defeat ISIL. The reality is that Assad himself has rarely chosen himself to fight ISIL….Instead, it has focused all of its military power on moderate opposition groups who are fighting for a voice in Syria."

"The answer cannot be found in a military alliance with Assad."[source]

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: Execution Videos by ISIS Are Now Banned

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi

ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has banned any more execution videos by the Islamic State, but the orders reportedly have created a division with the organization's ranks.

ARA News reported that, according to sources, al-Baghdadi was responding to the feelings of Muslims who regarded the videos as "disgusting and scary to children."

The video ban has upset some within ISIS who see the execution videos as an extension of terrorism activities.

"Some of IS militants supported Baghdadi's decision, taking into consideration criticism of the public that describes scenes of beheadings as barbaric," wrote ARA News' Jan Nasro. "While other militants rejected the decision saying that such scenes are meant to intimidate their enemies, represented by western powers, and not the common folk."

According to the website Middle East Eye.net, a number of Arabic-language news agencies said on Friday that Baghdadi explained his decision in a statement delivered to media offices in Syria and Iraq.

The website said Baghdadi ordered that his followers don't include scenes of the actual executions in their videos and limit them to moments before or after the act.

ISIS execution videos often show men in orange jumpsuits kneeling, heads bowed, with a black-clad masked gunman behind each one, with the ISIS flag in the background, noted Middle East Eye.net.

Past videos of executions of hostages – which have included non-combatants such as journalists and aid workers – had sparked anger not only in the United States, but in other parts of the Middle East.

In February, an ISIS video showing a Jordan pilot being burned alive, sparked Jordanians to call for acts of revenge against the organization, according to CBS News.

"(The video ban) won't eliminate the IS-led horrors that have been seen by people around the world over the past couple of years," Ferid Hisso, a Syrian politician and lawyer, told ARA News. "Instead of banning the release of such videos, Baghdadi should have rather banned the crimes behind the scenes. But he has already justified the barbarism of his followers, and his decision makes no sense."[source]

Hillary Clinton Sent Classified Information Over Email While at State Department, Review Finds

WASHINGTON — Two inspectors general have asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether sensitive government information was mishandled in connection with the personal email account Hillary Rodham Clinton used as secretary of state, senior government officials said Thursday.

The request follows an assessment in a June 29 memo by the inspectors general for the State Department and the intelligence agencies that Mrs. Clinton’s private account contained “hundreds of potentially classified emails.” The memo was written to Patrick F. Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management.

It is not clear if any of the information in the emails was marked as classified by the State Department when Mrs. Clinton sent or received them.

But since her use of a private email account for official State Department business was revealed in March, she has repeatedly said that she had no classified information on the account.

The Justice Department has not decided if it will open an investigation, senior officials said. A spokesman for Mrs. Clinton’s campaign released a statement on Twitter on Friday morning. “Any released emails deemed classified by the administration have been done so after the fact, and not at the time they were transmitted,” it read.

At issue are thousands of pages of State Department emails from Mrs. Clinton’s private account. Mrs. Clinton has said she used the account because it was more convenient, but it also shielded her correspondence from congressional and Freedom of Information Act requests.

She faced sharp criticism after her use of the account became public, and subsequently said she would ask the State Department to release her emails.

The department is now reviewing some 55,000 pages of emails. A first batch of 3,000 pages was made public on June 30.

In the course of the email review, State Department officials determined that some information in the messages should be retroactively classified. In the 3,000 pages that were released, for example, portions of two dozen emails were redacted because they were upgraded to “classified status.” But none of those were marked as classified at the time Mrs. Clinton handled them.

In a second memo to Mr. Kennedy, sent on July 17, the inspectors general said that at least one email made public by the State Department contained classified information. The inspectors general did not identify the email or reveal its substance.

The memos were provided to The New York Times by a senior government official.

The inspectors general also criticized the State Department for its handling of sensitive information, particularly its reliance on retired senior Foreign Service officers to decide if information should be classified, and for not consulting with the intelligence agencies about its determinations.

In March, Mrs. Clinton insisted that she was careful in her handling of information on her private account. “I did not email any classified material to anyone on my email,” she said. “There is no classified material. So I’m certainly well aware of the classification requirements and did not send classified material.”

In May, the F.B.I. asked the State Department to classify a section of Mrs. Clinton’s emails that related to suspects who may have been arrested in connection with the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya. The information was not classified at the time Mrs. Clinton received it.

The revelations about how Mrs. Clinton handled her email have been an embarrassment for the State Department, which has been repeatedly criticized over its handling of documents related to Mrs. Clinton and her advisers.

On Monday, a federal judge sharply questioned State Department lawyers at a hearing in Washington about why they had not responded to Freedom of Information Act requests from The Associated Press, some of which were four years old.

“I want to find out what’s been going on over there — I should say, what’s not been going on over there,” said Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court, according to a transcript obtained by Politico. The judge said that “for reasons known only to itself,” the State Department “has been, to say the least, recalcitrant in responding.”

Two days later, lawmakers on the Republican-led House committee investigating the Benghazi attacks said they planned to summon Secretary of State John Kerry’s chief of staff to Capitol Hill to answer questions about why the department has not produced documents that the panel subpoenaed. That hearing is set for next Wednesday.

“The State Department has used every excuse to avoid complying with fundamental requests for documents,” said the chairman of the House committee, Representative Trey Gowdy, Republican of South Carolina.

Mr. Gowdy said that while the committee has used an array of measures to try to get the State Department to hand over documents, the results have been the same. “Our committee is not in possession of all documents needed to do the work assigned to us,” he said.

The State Department has sought to delay the hearing, citing continuing efforts to brief members of Congress on the details of the nuclear accord with Iran. It is not clear why the State Department has struggled with the classification issues and document production. Republicans have said the department is trying to use those processes to protect Mrs. Clinton.

State Department officials say they simply do not have the resources or infrastructure to properly comply with all the requests. Since March, requests for documents have significantly increased.

Some State Department officials said they believe that many senior officials did not initially take the House committee seriously, which slowed document production and created an appearance of stonewalling.

State Department officials also said that Mr. Kerry is concerned about the toll the criticism has had on the department and has urged his deputies to comply with the requests quickly.

Correction: July 25, 2015
An article and a headline in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state misstated the nature of the request, using information from senior government officials. It addressed the potential compromise of classified information in connection with that email account. It did not specifically request an investigation into Mrs. Clinton.

Correction: July 26, 2015
An article in some editions on Friday about a request to the Justice Department for an investigation regarding Hillary Clinton’s personal email account while she was secretary of state referred incorrectly, using information from senior government officials, to the request. It was a “security referral,” pertaining to possible mishandling of classified information, officials said, not a “criminal referral.”[source]

Obama Collecting Personal Data For A Secret Race Database

A key part of President Obama’s legacy will be the fed’s unprecedented collection of sensitive data on Americans by race. The government is prying into our most personal information at the most local levels, all for the purpose of “racial and economic justice.”
Unbeknown to most Americans, Obama’s racial bean counters are furiously mining data on their health, home loans, credit cards, places of work, neighborhoods, even how their kids are disciplined in school — all to document “inequalities” between minorities and whites.
This Orwellian-style stockpile of statistics includes a vast and permanent network of discrimination databases, which Obama already is using to make “disparate impact” cases against: banks that don’t make enough prime loans to minorities; schools that suspend too many blacks; cities that don’t offer enough Section 8 and other low-income housing for minorities; and employers who turn down African-Americans for jobs due to criminal backgrounds.
Big Brother Barack wants the databases operational before he leaves office, and much of the data in them will be posted online.
So civil-rights attorneys and urban activist groups will be able to exploit them to show patterns of “racial disparities” and “segregation,” even if no other evidence of discrimination exists.

Housing database

The granddaddy of them all is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing database, which the Department of Housing and Urban Development rolled out earlier this month to racially balance the nation, ZIP code by ZIP code. It will map every US neighborhood by four racial groups — white, Asian, black or African-American, and Hispanic/Latino — and publish “geospatial data” pinpointing racial imbalances.
The agency proposes using nonwhite populations of 50% or higher as the threshold for classifying segregated areas.
Federally funded cities deemed overly segregated will be pressured to change their zoning laws to allow construction of more subsidized housing in affluent areas in the suburbs, and relocate inner-city minorities to those predominantly white areas. HUD’s maps, which use dots to show the racial distribution or density in residential areas, will be used to select affordable-housing sites.
HUD plans to drill down to an even more granular level, detailing the proximity of black residents to transportation sites, good schools, parks and even supermarkets. If the agency’s social engineers rule the distance between blacks and these suburban “amenities” is too far, municipalities must find ways to close the gap or forfeit federal grant money and face possible lawsuits for housing discrimination.
Civil-rights groups will have access to the agency’s sophisticated mapping software, and will participate in city plans to re-engineer neighborhoods under new community outreach requirements.
“By opening this data to everybody, everyone in a community can weigh in,” Obama said. “If you want affordable housing nearby, now you’ll have the data you need to make your case.”

Mortgage database

Meanwhile, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, headed by former Congressional Black Caucus leader Mel Watt, is building its own database for racially balancing home loans. The so-called National Mortgage Database Project will compile 16 years of lending data, broken down by race, and hold everything from individual credit scores and employment records.
Mortgage contracts won’t be the only financial records vacuumed up by the database. According to federal documents, the repository will include “all credit lines,” from credit cards to student loans to car loans — anything reported to credit bureaus. This is even more information than the IRS collects.
The FHFA will also pry into your personal assets and debts and whether you have any bankruptcies. The agency even wants to know the square footage and lot size of your home, as well as your interest rate.
FHFA will share the info with Obama’s brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which acts more like a civil-rights agency, aggressively investigating lenders for racial bias.
The FHFA has offered no clear explanation as to why the government wants to sweep up so much sensitive information on Americans, other than stating it’s for “research” and “policymaking.”
However, CFPB Director Richard Cordray was more forthcoming, explaining in a recent talk to the radical California-based Greenlining Institute: “We will be better able to identify possible discriminatory lending patterns.”

Credit database

CFPB is separately amassing a database to monitor ordinary citizens’ credit-card transactions. It hopes to vacuum up some 900 million credit-card accounts — all sorted by race — representing roughly 85% of the US credit-card market. Why? To sniff out “disparities” in interest rates, charge-offs and collections.

Employment database

CFPB also just finalized a rule requiring all regulated banks to report data on minority hiring to an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. It will collect reams of employment data, broken down by race, to police diversity on Wall Street as part of yet another fishing expedition.

School database

Through its mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection project, the Education Department is gathering information on student suspensions and expulsions, by race, from every public school district in the country. Districts that show disparities in discipline will be targeted for reform.
Those that don’t comply will be punished. Several already have been forced to revise their discipline policies, which has led to violent disruptions in classrooms.
Obama’s educrats want to know how many blacks versus whites are enrolled in gifted-and-talented and advanced placement classes.
Schools that show blacks and Latinos under-enrolled in such curricula, to an undefined “statistically significant degree,” could open themselves up to investigation and lawsuits by the department’s Civil Rights Office.
Count on a flood of private lawsuits to piggyback federal discrimination claims, as civil-rights lawyers use the new federal discipline data in their legal strategies against the supposedly racist US school system.
Even if no one has complained about discrimination, even if there is no other evidence of racism, the numbers themselves will “prove” that things are unfair.
Such databases have never before existed. Obama is presiding over the largest consolidation of personal data in US history. He is creating a diversity police state where government race cops and civil-rights lawyers will micromanage demographic outcomes in virtually every aspect of society.
The first black president, quite brilliantly, has built a quasi-reparations infrastructure perpetually fed by racial data that will outlast his administration.[source]

Paul Sperry is a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of “The Great American Bank Robbery,” which exposes the racial politics behind the mortgage bust.

Scuttling Iran Deal Might Not Be Easy For Next President

By JULIE PACE
AP White House Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Unhappy with President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran? Republicans running for the White House are vowing to rescind the agreement, some on their first day in office.

But it may not be that easy.

If Iran lives up to its obligations, a new president could face big obstacles in turning that campaign promise into U.S. policy. Among them: resistance from longtime American allies, an unraveling of the carefully crafted international sanctions, and damage to U.S. standing with the rest of the world, according to foreign policy experts.

"The president does not have infinite ability to get other countries to go along with them," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "One of the consequences is the United States would be increasingly isolated at a time when Iran is increasingly integrated with the rest of the world."

Both Obama and Republicans know firsthand the difficulties of dismantling major policies, a task that only gets harder the longer a policy has been in place.

After more than six years in office, Obama has failed to achieve his promise to shutter the Guantanamo Bay prison, despite signing an executive order authorizing its closure on his first day in office. And more than five years after Obama's health care overhaul became law, Republicans have been unable to find a legal or legislative means for repealing the sweeping measure.

While some elements of the nuclear accord don't go into effect immediately, the centerpiece of the agreement is expected to be implemented quickly. If Iran curbs its nuclear program as promised, it will receive billions of dollars in relief from international sanctions.

To Republican presidential candidates, rolling back that quid pro quo would be a top priority if they were to win the White House.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he would "terminate the bad deal with Iran on day one" and work to persuade allies to reinstate economic sanctions lifted under the deal. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry concurred, saying one of his first actions in office would be to "invalidate the president's Iran agreement."

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, said that while he would consult with allies about the deal on his first day in office, he was inclined to "move toward the abrogation of it." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio told The Associated Press he would withdraw from a deal even if allies objected.

The next president has no legal obligation to implement the nuclear agreement, which is a political document, not a binding treaty.

But if there's no sign Iran is cheating, it's unlikely the European allies, who spent nearly two years negotiating alongside the U.S., would be compelled to walk away and reinstate sanctions. And it's nearly impossible to imagine Russia and China, which partnered with the U.S, Britain, France and Germany in the talks, following a GOP president's lead.

"Shattering something like this with the British and the French and the Germans - that has consequences," said Ilan Goldenberg, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and former Obama State Department official. "A new president isn't going to want to lead off like that."

To be sure, a U.S. president with a friendly Congress could unilaterally reinstate American sanctions on Iran. But the economic impact would be far less if other countries didn't follow Washington's lead.

Beyond Europe's interests, the White House says U.S. partners in Asia, including Japan and South Korea, will also likely have boosted their financial ties and oil purchases with Iran by the time a new president takes office in January 2017.

A wealthier, more globally integrated Iran is a scary prospect to opponents of the deal. Republicans contend Obama signed off on a weak deal with Iran, leaving the Islamic republic on the brink of building a bomb. Some say the president should have left the negotiating table, increased economic pressure on Iran, then resumed talks with greater leverage.

The president says the only realistic alternative to the diplomatic agreement is war.

Congress has 60 days to review the Iran deal. While lawmakers can't block the agreement itself, they can try to pass new sanctions on Iran or block the president from waiving existing penalties.

Some Republicans say the White House is trying to pre-empt congressional actions by seeking an endorsement of the nuclear deal at the United Nations Security Council next week. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, wrote Obama a letter urging him to postpone the U.N. vote until after Congress considers the agreement.

The White House says the U.N. vote has no bearing on the status of unilateral American sanctions on Iran.

But Michael Hayden, who served as CIA director under former President George W. Bush, says the White House's push for quick U.N. action seems to have a longer-term goal than circumventing this Congress. Seeking the United Nations' stamp of approval for the deal, Hayden said, appears to be "for the express purpose of locking in the next president of the United States."[source]

Iranian Nuclear Deal: 'Iran have been given a licence to kill'

Major powers agree historic accord after a decade of on-off negotiations
Lead negotiator John Kerry says U.S. got 'the good deal that we sought'
United States, European Union and the UN agree to lift sanctions on Iran
Tehran accepts long-term curbs on its nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating an atomic bomb
Israel reacts angrily to deal and vows to stop the agreement being ratified
Global oil prices plunge over possibility Iranian supply will return to market

Israel today launched a blistering attack on Western powers for agreeing a controversial atomic deal with Iran, warning that it gave Tehran 'a sure path to nuclear weapons'.

Under the accord, sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and United Nations will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on a nuclear programme that the West has suspected was aimed at creating an atomic bomb.

The European Union called it a 'sign of hope for the entire world', while President Barack Obama insisted the deal meant 'every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off'.

His views were echoed by David Cameron who said it was a deal 'that will help to make our world a safer place'.

But this was angrily rejected by Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branding the deal 'a bad mistake of historic proportions'.

‘One cannot prevent an agreement when the negotiators are willing to make more and more concessions to those who, even during the talks, keep chanting: “Death to America”,’ he said.

‘Our concern is that the militant Islamic state of Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons.’ He added that Iran would receive a ‘cash bonanza of hundreds of billions of dollars’.

Miri Regev, a former military spokeswoman who serves as Israel's culture and sports minister, said it gave Iran a 'licence to kill', adding that it was 'bad for the free world (and) bad for humanity.'

Naftali Bennett, a member of Israel's Inner Security Cabinet, said the nuclear deal with Iran marked 'a new dark and sinister era for the world.'

Speaking to CNN's Chris Cuomo, Bennett said that '20 years down, if a nuclear bomb explodes in London or New York, we'll know that we can trace it down to July 14, 2015.'

'We're preparing for everything we need to do to defend ourselves', Bennett added.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the deal 'a historic surrender by the West to the axis of evil headed by Iran.'

She said that Israel would 'act with all means to try and stop the agreement being ratified', a clear threat to try to use its influence to block it in the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress.

After long, fractious negotiations, world powers and Iran struck the historic deal earlier today - an agreement aimed at averting the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran and another U.S. military intervention in the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who spent the last 19 days leading the talks in Vienna, hailed the accord as 'the good deal that we sought'.

'We were determined to get this right and I believe our persistence paid off,' he told reporters, adding that the agreement marked a historic day.

Amid celebrations on streets of Iranian cities, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani claimed the agreement hammered out in Vienna between his team of negotiators and foreign ministers of six world powers, opened a ‘new chapter in his country’s relations with the world’.

A highly selective breakdown of Iran’s gains and few of its concessions were highlighted on state-controlled TV.

Iran was also congratulated by Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad, who has been backed by Tehran throughout his country's four-year conflict.

He said the coming days will witness a 'strengthening of the constructive role played by Iran in supporting the rights of nations.'

Meanwhile, the prospect of a deal has already helped push down global oil prices because of the possibility that Iranian supply could return to the market.

The agreement is a major political victory for both Mr Obama and President Rouhani, a pragmatist elected two years ago on a vow to reduce the diplomatic isolation of a country of 77 million people.

But both leaders face scepticism from powerful hardliners at home after decades of enmity between nations that referred to each other as 'the Great Satan' and a member of the 'Axis of Evil'.

Rouhani was quick to present the deal as a step on the road towards a wider goal of international cooperation.

The deal 'shows constructive engagement works', he tweeted. 'With this unnecessary crisis resolved, new horizons emerge with a focus on shared challenges.'

For Obama, the diplomacy with Iran, begun in secret more than two years ago, ranks alongside his normalisation of ties with Cuba as landmarks in a legacy of reaching out to enemies that tormented his predecessors for decades.

While the main negotiations were between the United States and Iran, the four other U.N. Security Council permanent members, Britain, China, France and Russia, are also parties to the deal, as is Germany.

Prime Minister David Cameron the deal with Iran as 'historic', saying it will 'keep Iran from developing a nuclear weapon and help to make our world a safer place'.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond added: 'We hope, and expect, that this agreement will herald a step-change in Iran's relations with its neighbours and with the international community.'


Congress has 60 days for a review, though if it rejects the deal, Obama can use his veto.

It would require two-thirds of lawmakers to override such a veto, which means some of Obama's fellow Democrats would have to rebel against one of their president's signature achievements in order to kill the deal. 

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Lindsey Graham said the nuclear agreement is 'a possible death sentence for Israel' and will 'make everything worse.'

In an interview on MSNBC, the U.S. senator called the deal 'terrible.'

'This is most dangerous, irresponsible step I've ever seen in the history of watching the Mideast,' he said.

'Barack Obama and John Kerry have been dangerously naive about the Mideast in general.

'They've taken it to a new level and any senator who votes for this is voting for a nuclear arms race in the Mideast, voting to give the largest state sponsor of terrorism $18billion.'

Speaker John Boehner said Obama had abandoned his own goals and the deal would likely fuel a nuclear arms race around the world.

Kerry said he does not expect it to be definitively rejected, telling reporters: 'I really don't believe that people will turn their backs on an agreement which has such extraordinary steps in it with respect to Iran's program as well as access and verification.'

Iran is not likely to receive many of the benefits from the lifting of sanctions until next year because of the need to ratify the deal and verify its implementation.

'Celebrating too early can send a bad signal to the enemy,' Iranian conservative lawmaker Alireza Zakani was quoted as saying in parliament by Fars News agency.

He noted that Iran's National Security Council would also review the deal 'and if they think it is against our national interests, we will not have a deal', he said.

'The Islamic Republic will not sign a bad deal.'

The final round of talks in Vienna involved nearly three weeks of intense negotiation between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

It was something that would until recently have been unthinkable for two countries that have been bitter enemies since 1979, when Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

'I believe this is an historic moment,' Zarif, who was educated in the United States and developed a warm rapport with Kerry, told a news conference.

'Today could have been the end of hope on this issue, but now we are starting a new chapter of hope. Let's build on that.'

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, who acted as coordinator for the powers, said: 'It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations and show that diplomacy, co-ordination, cooperation can overcome decades of tensions and confrontations.

'I think this is a sign of hope for the entire world.'

Hatred of the United States has been a defining trait of Iran's ruling system, on display last week when it marked the last Friday of the Ramadan fasting month with an annual day of protests, crowds chanting 'Death to Israel!' and 'Death to America!'.

Obama first reached out to Iranians with an address in 2008, only weeks into his presidency, offering a 'new beginning'.

Iran has long denied it is seeking a nuclear weapon and has insisted on the right to nuclear technology for peaceful means, although Western powers feared the enriched uranium that it was stockpiling could be used to make a bomb.

Obama never ruled out using military force if negotiations failed.

Iran's IRNA news agency said billions of dollars in frozen funds would be released under the deal, and sanctions on its central bank, national oil company, shipping and airlines would now be lifted.

Western diplomats said Iran had accepted a 'snapback' mechanism, under which some sanctions could be reinstated in 65 days if it violated the deal.

The breakthrough came after several key compromises.

Iran retains right to conduct research into enriching uranium for 10 years, without stockpiling it

Iran agreed to the continuation of a UN arms embargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency definitively clears Iran of any current work on nuclear weapons.

A similar condition was put on U.N. restrictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years, according to diplomats.

Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic Republic flush with cash from the nuclear deal would expand its military assistance for Assad's government, Yemen's Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America's Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Iranian leaders insisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat regional scourges such as the Islamic State.

And they got some support from China and particularly Russia, which wants to expand military cooperation and arms sales to Tehran, including the long-delayed transfer of S-300 advanced air defense systems - a move long opposed by the United States.

Another significant agreement will allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties, something the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long vowed to oppose.

However, access isn't guaranteed and could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on as possibly giving Tehran time to cover up any illicit activity.

Under the accord, which runs almost 100 pages, Tehran would have the right to challenge the UN request and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers would then decide on the issue.

The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran, and the U.S. says Iranian cooperation is needed for all economic sanctions to be lifted.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday his agency and Iran had signed a 'roadmap' to resolve outstanding concerns, hopefully by mid-December.

The economic benefits for Iran are potentially massive.

It stands to receive more than $100 billion in assets frozen overseas, and an end to a European oil embargo and various financial restrictions on Iranian banks.

The deal comes after nearly a decade of international, intercontinental diplomacy that until recently was defined by failure.

Breaks in the talks sometimes lasted for months, and Iran's nascent nuclear program expanded into one that Western intelligence agencies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity.

The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses.

The disputes are likely to continue, however.

In a foreshadowing of the public relations battle ahead, Iranian state TV released a fact sheet of elements it claimed were in the final agreement - a highly selective list that highlighted Iranian gains and minimised its concessions.

Among them was an assertion that all sanctions-related U.N. resolutions will be lifted at once.

While a new UN resolution will revoke previous sanctions, it will also re-impose restrictions in a number of categories.

Beyond the parties to the pact, spoilers abound.

In the United States, Congress has a 60-day review period during which Obama cannot make good on any concessions to the Iranians.

U.S. lawmakers could hold a vote of disapproval and take further action.

Iranian hardliners oppose dismantling a nuclear program the country has spent hundreds of billions of dollars developing.

Khamenei, while supportive of his negotiators thus far, has issued a series of defiant red lines that may be impossible to reconcile in a deal with the West.

And further afield, Israel will strongly oppose the outcome. It sees the acceptance of extensive Iranian nuclear infrastructure and continued nuclear activity as a mortal threat, and has warned that it could take military action on its own, if necessary.

Sunni Arab rivals of Shi'ite Iran are none too happy, either, with Saudi Arabia in particularly issuing veiled threats to develop its own nuclear program.

FROM COVERT NUKE PROGRAM TO FINAL DEAL, A DECADE OF TALKS

August 2002 - Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal a covert nuclear site at the eastern city of Natanz.

An inspection by the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency reveals it was used to enrich uranium, a process for producing fuel or nuclear warheads.

June 2003 - Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations. Washington refuses to join.

October 2003 - Iran suspends uranium enrichment.

February 2006 - Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a critical Iran report by the IAEA to the UN Security Council, and after Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations.

June 2006 - The United States, Russia and China join Britain, France and Germany to form the P5+1 group of nations trying to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program. Washington initially stays away from the negotiating table.

December 2006 - The U.N. Security Council imposes the first set of sanctions on Iran, banning the sale of sensitive nuclear technology. Five more Security Council resolutions are passed by 2010, tightening the sanctions vise on the Islamic Republic.

November 2007 - The number of uranium-enriching centrifuges assembled by Iran reaches about 3,000 from just a few hundred in 2002. Its stockpile of low-enriched uranium also grows, giving Tehran a theoretical ability to make enough-weapons grade uranium for a bomb within a year.

July 2008 - Under President George W. Bush, the United States joins the nuclear talks for the first time.

September 2009 - Western leaders announce that Iran has dug a covert enrichment site into a mountain, escalating concerns because the facility may be impervious to air attack.

October 2009 - Under President Barack Obama, a senior U.S. diplomat meets one-on-one with Iran's top nuclear negotiator. The talks are some of the most extensive between Washington and Tehran in three decades.

February 2010 - Iran announces it has started to enrich uranium to near 20 percent, a technical step away from weapons-grade material.

May 2010 - Brazil and Turkey announce their own nuclear deal with Iran, to America's great dismay. The arrangement quickly falls apart.

January 2011 - Negotiations between Iran and the six world powers break off for what proves a 15-month hiatus. Iran refuses to make deep cuts in its nuclear program.

November 2011 - The IAEA outlines the possible military dimension to Iran's nuclear activities. Iran denies the allegations, saying they're based on falsified Israeli and U.S. evidence.

January 2012 - The IAEA says Iran is enriching to 20 per cent at its mountain facility near Fordo. The European Union freezes the assets of Iran's central bank and halts Iranian oil imports.

April 2012 - Negotiations restart between Iran and the six world powers but go nowhere.

July 2012 - U.S. and Iranian officials meet secretly in Oman to see if diplomatic progress is possible. Talks gain speed the following year, particularly when Ahmadinejad's presidency ends.

August 2013 - Hassan Rouhani defeats several hardline candidates to become Iran's president, declaring his country ready for serious nuclear talks.

By now, Iran has about 20,000 centrifuges and the U.S. estimates the country is only a few months away from nuclear weapons capability.

September 2013 - Rouhani and Obama speak by telephone, the highest-level exchange between the two countries since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif begin their diplomatic exchanges.

November 2013 - Iran and the six powers announce an interim agreement that temporarily curbs Tehran's nuclear program and unfreezes some Iranian assets. The deal sets the stage for extended negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear accord.

July 2014 - Talks miss the deadline for a final pact. A four-month extension is agreed.

November 2014 - The final pact remains elusive. Talks are extended a further seven months.

April 2015 - A framework deal is announced, outlining long-term restrictions on Iran's nuclear program and the removal of many international sanctions. Much remains unresolved, however.

July 14, 2015 - World powers and Iran announce long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement.[source]

CNN's Paul Begala Asked The State Department For Talking Points On Hillary Clinton

Unfortunately, real life never turns out to be as interesting as it appears on TV. Digging through Hillary Clinton's emails, for example, The New York Times turned up that she's — pretty normal? Boring, even? Only two dozen correspondences were flagged as confidential, with the rest of this month's batch relating mostly to logistics, scheduling, and calendar rearrangements. Who'd have thought that behind the scenes was so dull?
The emails did reveal, though, that Paul Begala — a CNN political commentator and former advisor to Bill Clinton — needed a couple talking points about Hillary before he went on air to rate her:

Mr. Begala [asked] for talking points before he went on CNN to rate Mrs. Clinton's early performance. Ms. Marshall referred him to several State Department aides. After his appearance, Mr. Begala emailed back: "I gave Sec. Clinton an A+ in our dopey CNN report card last night." Ms. Mills forwarded that to Mrs. Clinton with an "FYI." [The New York Times]

An A+! You go, Hill. Jeva Lange [source]

Major Powers, Iran Extend Interim Deal To July 7 For More Talks

VIENNA (Reuters) - Six major powers and Iran have decided to extend an interim nuclear agreement until July 7 to allow more time for negotiations on a final deal, the United States said on Tuesday the deadline for a long-term accord.

"The P5+1 and Iran have decided to extend the measures under the Joint Plan of Action until July 7 to allow more time for negotiations to reach a long-term solution ... on the Iran nuclear issue," Marie Harf, senior adviser for strategic communications at the U.S. State Department, said,

The so-called "P5+1" are the six major powers negotiating with Iran - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.[source]

A College Balks At Hillary Clinton’s Fee, So Books Chelsea For $65,000 Instead

 

Chelsea Clinton, left, answered questions posed by former Kansas City mayor Kay Barnes during a paid appearance last year at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

When the University of Missouri at Kansas City was looking for a celebrity speaker to headline its gala luncheon marking the opening of a women’s hall of fame, one name came to mind: Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But when the former secretary of state’s representatives quoted a fee of $275,000, officials at the public university balked. “Yikes!” one e-mailed another.
So the school turned to the next best option: her daughter, Chelsea.
The university paid $65,000 for Chelsea Clinton’s brief appearance Feb. 24, 2014, a demonstration of the celebrity appeal and marketability that the former and possibly second-time first daughter employs on behalf of her mother’s presidential campaign and family’s global charitable empire.
More than 500 pages of e-mails, contracts and other internal documents obtained by The Washington Post from the university under Missouri public record laws detail the school’s long courtship of the Clintons.
They also show the meticulous efforts by Chelsea Clinton’s image-makers to exert tight control over the visit, ranging from close editing of marketing materials and the introductory remarks of a high school student to limits on the amount of time she spent on campus.
The schedule she negotiated called for her to speak for 10 minutes, participate in a 20-minute, moderated question-and-answer session and spend a half-hour posing for pictures with VIPs offstage.
As with Hillary Clinton’s paid speeches at universities, Chelsea Clinton made no personal income from the appearance, her spokesman said, and directed her fee to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation.
“Chelsea is grateful to have the opportunity to speak at events like this while also supporting the work of the Clinton Foundation,” said the spokesman, Kamyl Bazbaz. He said she was happy to “celebrate the legacy of women in their community.”[source]

 

Ex-Advisers Warn Obama That Iran Nuclear Deal ‘May Fall Short’ of Standards

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, shown in March, appeared to undercut several agreements his negotiators have reached with the West. Credit Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader, via Associated Press

By DAVID E. SANGERJUNE 24, 2015

Five former members of President Obama’s inner circle of Iran advisers have written an open letter expressing concern that a pending accord to stem Iran’s nuclear program “may fall short of meeting the administration’s own standard of a ‘good’ agreement” and laying out a series of minimum requirements that Iran must agree to in coming days for them to support a final deal.

Several of the senior officials said the letter was prompted by concern that Mr. Obama’s negotiators were headed toward concessions that would weaken international inspection of Iran’s facilities, back away from forcing Tehran to reveal its suspected past work on weapons, and allow Iranian research and development that would put it on a course to resuming intensive production of nuclear fuel as soon as the accord expires

The public nature of the announcement by some of Mr. Obama’s best-known former advisers, all of whom had central roles in the diplomatic, intelligence and military efforts to counter Iran’s program, adds to the challenge facing Secretary of State John Kerry as the negotiations head toward a deadline of next Tuesday.

The letter was given to the White House and State Department on Wednesday. A senior administration official, asked about the contents, said that it “in large part tracks with the U.S. negotiating position inside the negotiating room.”

Just a day ago Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, heightened the pressure facing negotiators by appearing to back away from several preliminary understandings reached between Iran and the West in early April, including in areas where Mr. Obama’s former advisers urged a hardening of the American position.

For the White House, the letter may raise the level of political risk in seeking approval of any final agreement. A judgment from Mr. Obama’s own former advisers that the final accord falls short would provide ammunition for Republican critics who have already said they will try to kill it when it is submitted to Congress for review.

But it creates an opportunity for Mr. Obama as well. The letter was also signed by a number of prominent Republicans from President George W. Bush’s administration. A determination by them that the standards set out in the letter have been achieved would undercut the Republican critique.

“Most of us would have preferred a stronger agreement,” the letter begins, going on to assess the proposed accord as useful for delaying Iran’s program, but not a long-term solution to the problem of a nuclear Iran.

“The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability,” it continues. “It will not require the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment infrastructure. It will however reduce that infrastructure for the next 10 to 15 years. And it will impose a transparency, inspection, and consequences regime with the goal of deterring and dissuading Iran from actually building a nuclear weapon.”

The substance of the letter is less notable for what it says — the positions were frequent talking points for the Obama administration before it faced the inevitable compromises involved in negotiations — than for the influence of its signatories.

Among them is Dennis B. Ross, a longtime Middle East negotiator who oversaw Iran policy at the White House during the first Obama term; David H. Petraeus, the former C.I.A. director who oversaw covert operations against Iran until he resigned two years ago; and Robert Einhorn, a longtime State Department proliferation expert who helped devise and enforce the sanctions against Iran.

Also signing the letter were Gary Samore, Mr. Obama’s former chief adviser on nuclear policy who is now the president of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran, and Gen. James E. Cartwright, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and an architect of Mr. Obama’s effort to build up military forces in the region.

Among Republicans, the most notable signatory is Stephen J. Hadley, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser in his second term, who presided over efforts to slow Iran’s progress.

At the core of the letter are what Mr. Einhorn, now at the Brookings Institution, called “required elements that have not yet been achieved.” He said that all the signatories supported a negotiated settlement, and “there is no poison pill here” intended to undercut the chance of an agreement.

All five of the Obama advisers had joined in hours of Situation Room meetings during the president’s first term, and some into the second, to devise both the strategy to bring Iran to the negotiating table — a mix of sanctions, sabotage of the nuclear program and the prospect of a broader relationship with the West — and the negotiating objectives.

But as often happens in negotiations, the mechanics of the trade-offs to get a deal often conflict with the negotiating objectives. Inside the White House of late, there has been what one senior official called “vigorous debate” over the risks of walking away — which would free Iran to return to full-scale production — versus accepting a deal whose specifics still leave some officials uncomfortable.

The letter gets to the heart of some of those areas, all of which are still under negotiation and, in some cases, in bitter dispute. For example, the negotiations that ended in April resulted in vague statements about how inspections would work, beyond an understanding that Iran would sign an International Atomic Energy Agency convention giving inspectors broad rights to investigate suspicious sites. But Ayatollah Khamenei, along with his commanders, immediately ruled out allowing foreigners to visit military sites.

The letter, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said inspections “must include military (including I.R.G.C.) and other sensitive facilities. Iran must not be able to deny or delay timely access to any site anywhere in the country.”

Similarly, while Mr. Kerry said last week that it was not necessary to make Iran account for evidence of past effort to work on weapons designs, because the United States and its allies already had “absolute knowledge” of those activities, the former advisers view the long-sought answers to those questions as vital.

The inspectors, they write, must be able “to take samples, to interview scientists and government officials, to inspect sites, and to review and copy documents as required for their investigation of Iran’s past and any ongoing nuclear weaponization activities.” The letter adds, “This work needs to be accomplished before any significant sanctions relief.”

On another delicate issue in the talks, the letter calls for “strict limits on advanced centrifuge R&D, testing, and deployment in the first 10 years,” and for measures to prevent “rapid technical upgrade” when those limits expire.

Some limits were negotiated in April, but the details remain to be resolved.

Perhaps the hardest part from an Iranian perspective is the insistence in the letter that the United States publicly declare — with congressional assent — that even after the expiration of the agreement Iran will not be permitted to possess enough nuclear fuel to make a single weapon.

The letter continued, “Precisely because Iran will be left as a nuclear threshold state (and has clearly preserved the option of becoming a nuclear weapon state), the United States must go on record now that it is committed to using all means necessary, including military force, to prevent this.”

Iran has always insisted that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes, and has argued that after the agreement expires it should be treated like any other nuclear state, free to produce as much fuel as it desires.

The letter emerged from a study group on nuclear issues organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a policy institute. Because only members of the group worked on the statement, it omits some former major players in the Obama administration’s Iran policy, notably Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will have to decide whether to embrace any final deal.

For Mrs. Clinton, a presidential candidate who has recently separated herself from some of Mr. Obama’s policies, it will not be an easy decision: As secretary of state, she sent two of her most trusted aides, Jake Sullivan and William Burns, to begin the secret negotiations with Iran that set the negotiations in motion.[source]

KUWAIT ATTACK: Renews Scrutiny of Terror Support Within Gulf States

Mourners carry a shrouded body in Kuwait City on Saturday at a funeral for victims of the suicide bombing of a Shiite mosque a day earlier. Photo: raed qutena/European Pressphoto Agency

 

By

Maria Abi-Habib in Beirut and

Rory Jones in Dubai

Updated June 28, 2015 6:41 p.m. ET 

 

For years, Washington has warned Kuwait and other Gulf monarchies that they weren’t doing enough to stop their own citizens from supporting extremist groups.
The targeting of Kuwait in a deadly suicide bombing on Friday claimed by Islamic State has renewed scrutiny of such support and affirmed fears of a blowback.
Western and Arab officials said both before and after the attack that Kuwait is among Gulf states where extremist ideology goes largely unchecked and is generously funded, in part because the Sunni monarchies and Sunni extremist groups share a hatred of Shiite Iran, their regional rival.
As a result, Western officials have struggled to get Kuwait and other Gulf Arab allies to halt private donations to jihadist groups. Those donations often provided seed money to get groups such as Islamic State off the ground before they became big enough to control swaths of territory, exact taxes and tolls and launch terror attacks in Gulf countries, according to Western officials.
“After 9/11, we thought they understood that this was no longer acceptable,” said a State Department official in Washington who focuses on the Middle East. “It seems they didn’t get the message.”
Officials in Kuwait, however, said they’ve tried to choke off capital to extremist groups. Following years of U.S. pressure, Kuwait—a base for American counterterror activities—in 2013 made it illegal to finance terrorist groups, though implementation has been a challenge. Some of the main financiers in recent years, including civil servants and a top government official, were only penalized at home after a public outcry from the West.
“Kuwait is committed to all laws criminalizing the funding of terrorism,” said a government official. The Ministry of Interior didn’t respond to requests for comment.
A Western diplomat based in the Middle East agreed that the Kuwaiti government has tried to clamp down on the financing of terrorist groups over the past year, although private citizens have been some of the major financiers of jihadist groups in Syria since 2012. Individuals can still use informal networks and channels to raise money for terrorist causes, but the diplomat said this wasn’t a uniquely Kuwaiti problem.
“Public institutions are not channeling funds to known terrorist groups. There has been a very clear response. Financial institutions have tightened things up considerably,” the diplomat said.
Kuwait, a small desert monarchy nestled between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, had until now managed to steer almost entirely free of the extremist violence flaring elsewhere in the region.
But in Friday’s attack, a Saudi national identified as Fahad Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Qabaa entered the country at dawn via Kuwait City’s airport, strapped a belt of explosives to his body and blew himself up at one of the country’s largest Shiite mosques, officials told state-run Kuwait News Agency, or KUNA. The bombing—which killed 27 and injured more than 200—was one of the bloodiest assaults in the country’s history.
As thousands turned out in Kuwait City on Saturday for funerals for the victims, Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah vowed the attack wouldn’t ignite violence among Kuwait’s political and religious factions.
Long before the attack, Kuwaitis were under scrutiny for suspected aid to extremist groups. In August last year, the United Nations Security Council and the U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted two Kuwaiti citizens suspected of financing terrorism.
One of them was Shafi al-Ajami, a professor at state-run University of Kuwait who has publicly rallied for the killing of Shiites—who belong to a sect Sunni extremists deem heretical.
The sanctions came just a few months after Kuwait’s minister of justice and Islamic affairs, Nayef al-Ajmi, resigned in May. The Treasury Department had accused him of promoting the funding of extremist groups in Syria, a charge Mr. Ajmi denied.
As Washington assembled its anti-Islamic State coalition in September last year, Secretary of State John Kerry flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to demand regional allies crack down on the ideological and financial support given to extremist groups. He argued military action alone couldn’t defeat extremists after some two decades fighting the war on terror.
Mr. Kerry met with 10 Arab allies, including all six Gulf states. Together they vowed to counter the “financing of [Islamic State] and other violent extremists, repudiating their hateful ideology, ending impunity and bringing perpetrators to justice.”
Despite the promises made in Jeddah, the Treasury Department issued a rebuke just one month later in October to Kuwait and another Gulf nation, Qatar. The countries had allowed “permissive jurisdictions for terrorist financing,” said David Cohen, then undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Some critics say they weren’t surprised by the attack, largely because of the country’s slow response to halting financing of terror networks.
“I was sure that terrorism will reach Kuwait,” said Khalid Al Shatti, a Shiite lawyer and former parliamentarian in the country. “As expected, these terrorist groups switched their loyalties and are now attacking funding nations.”
Friday’s attack came at a time of rising sectarian tensions within Kuwait. Earlier this year, two prominent Shiite leaders in Kuwait including Mr. Shatti were arrested for criticizing the Saudi-led war against pro-Iranian rebels in Yemen.
The bombing has renewed focus on combating sectarian violence in Gulf States such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, oil-rich Sunni monarchies that have supported the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The assault came in the wake of a series of bombings at Shiite mosques in neighboring Saudi Arabia, also claimed by Islamic State.
Between 1,500 to 2,500 Saudi fighters have joined extremists groups in Syria since the beginning of the conflict, according to a report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization published earlier this year. Meanwhile, 70 fighters have been recruited from Kuwait, the report said.
In Saudi Arabia, the fighters are typically arrested when they return home and sentenced to jail before undergoing a de-radicalization program. That program has had questionable success — jihadists in that program went on to form and join al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, considered the most deadly terrorist organization by U.S. officials.
In addition to the arrests, Saudi authorities have also tried in recent months to crack down on recruiting by intensifying surveillance on extremists activities on social media and urging parents to report their sons if they show signs of extremism.
At the same time, the government has continued its efforts to cut funding for extremist groups by asking citizens to ensure that their donations go to officially licensed Islamic charities only.
Kuwait faces its own domestic challenges. The marginalization of the country’s patchwork of religious and social groups, such as the Bidun or stateless citizens, could make it a fertile recruitment ground for Islamic State, leading to homegrown attacks, said Anwar Al Rasheed, head of Kuwait’s Gulf Forum for Civil Societies.
“All this lack of democracy encourages terrorists,” Mr. Rasheed said.
The man who drove the bomber to the site of Friday’s attack was stateless, authorities said, and Bidun political activists said in April that some support Islamic State but have yet to act on their beliefs. In a sign of growing fears, the government established a gun amnesty earlier this year to encourage Kuwaitis to hand in their firearms.

—Asa Fitch in Dubai, Ahmed Al Omran in Riyadh, Dahlia Kholaif in Cairo and Dana Ballout in Beirut contributed to this article.[source]

  

TUNISIAN ATTACK: British And Irish Tourists Die In Beach Horror

Friday 26 June 2015: Tunisian shop window after terrorist attack on Friday.

The gunman, disguised as a tourist, pulled out a Kalashnikov hidden in an umbrella before firing at holidaymakers on the beach.

A gunman disguised as a holidaymaker has killed at least 38 people, including eight Britons, in an attack on a popular tourist resort.
Terrified sunbathers ran for their lives as the attacker, dressed in shorts and hiding his Kalashnikov inside an umbrella, opened fire on the beach in Port el Kantaoui on the outskirts of Sousse, Tunisia.
He then entered the Imperial Marhaba hotel through the swimming pool area, shooting people as he went and also threw an explosive, witnesses said.
Tourists in the sea and on the sand ran and barricaded themselves in their hotel rooms after gunfire erupted, while medics used sunloungers to carry victims still in their swimming costumes.
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond confirmed at least five Britons had died and warned the number could rise.
He said a "high proportion" of the casualties were expected to be British "because of the nature of the resort".
Irish mother-of-two Lorna Carty, from Robinstown, Co Meath, was also killed. Family friends said she had taken her husband on holiday to help him recover from heart surgery.
And the nurse, who was aged in her 50s, was believed to have gone to the beach by herself when the gunman went on the rampage.
Tunisia's health ministry said British, German, Belgian and Tunisian nationals were among the dead.
At least 36 people were injured in the assault, which happened just hours after a man was decapitated by an attacker brandishing Islamist flags at a French factory.
The US State Department said there was no evidence the atrocities were co-ordinated.
Earlier this week, Islamic State (IS) called on its supporters to increase attacks during Ramadan and "be keen on waging invasion in this eminent month and commit martyrdom".
The gunman in Tunisia was a young student from the city of Kairouan who was reportedly unknown to authorities. He was later shot dead by police.
Twitter accounts that support IS released three photos of someone they said was the gunman.
Speaking about how the country's worst attack in recent history unfolded, Tunisian security official Rafik Chelli said the gunman "had a parasol (umbrella) in his hand".
"He went down to put it in the sand and then he took out his Kalashnikov and began shooting wildly."
A photo has emerged of a dead man wearing black shorts, face down in the street with an automatic weapon next to him and surrounded by police.
The interior ministry had previously said two attackers were involved, including one who had fled the scene.
Local radio said police captured a second gunman, but officials did not confirm the arrest or his role in the attack.

British tourists have been describing what happened. Gary Pine said: "We thought fire crackers were going off but you could see quite quickly what was going on.
"There was a mass exodus off the beach. My son was in the sea at the time and myself and my wife were shouting at him to get out and as he ran up he said I’ve just saw someone get shot.
Holidaymaker Susan Ricketts said: "It sounded like a machine gun going off. There are people crying and going hysterical. We just came up to our room."
Another tourist John Yeoman, who barricaded himself inside his hotel room using a bed and chair, said: "People are running around the hotel. No-one has really been told what to do."
Prime Minister David Cameron said: "The people who do this do it in the name of a twisted perverted ideology."
A British embassy crisis team is being sent to Tunisia after a COBRA meeting took place to co-ordinate a response.
Travel companies have offered tourists the chance to change their holiday bookings to Tunisia in light of the attack.
Thomas Cook said customers due to travel between Friday and Sunday can cancel their holidays free of charge, while those flying out from Monday up to July 24 can amend bookings for holidays to Tunisia free of charge.
People booked through Monarch or Cosmos Holidays in the next seven days can also choose not to travel and instead change their destination.
Tui, which runs Thomson and First Choice, could not confirm whether it operated tours through the hotel.
Back in March Sky's Sherine Tadros reported that the bulk of foreign fighters who have joined the ranks of IS come from Tunisia.
Meanwhile, deadly explosions have hit a Shiite mosque in Kuwait's capital after Friday prayers. Dozens of people were killed and many others wounded in the attack.
Following the day of violence, British police are putting extra security measures in place for events this weekend, including Armed Forces Day and Pride London.[source]

ATTACK ON FRANCE: Man Decapitated in Terror Attack

French police have been on the scene since Friday morning. Photo: AFP

A man was decapitated in a terrorist attack at a gas factory near Lyon, eastern France, on Friday. The attacker, who had links to an extremist movement, has been arrested.

Main events: 

• One dead, two hurt in attack on French factory
• Attacker on French gas factory named Air Products reportedly carrying Isis flags
• Attacker named as Yassin Salhi (spelling unconfirmed) who was known for links to extremists
• Decapitated body found nearby with inscriptions scrawled on
• Suggestions a second person was in vehicle

17:54 - Recap

We are wrapping up our live blog after what has been another emotional day in France's history.

Click here to read the latest wrap from the AFP news agency, or scroll down to read it as it happened.

17:42 - Israeli minister urges French Jews to flee

"I call on the Jews of France - come home! Anti-Semitism is rising, terror is increasing," immigration minister Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party, said in a statement.

   

"This is a national mission of the highest priority."

   

Netanyahu sparked controversy by encouraging French Jews to move to Israel in the wake of January's Paris attacks that left 17 dead, including four at a Jewish supermarket.

17:18 - The suspect and victim arrived together

French media is reporting that both men arrived at the factory in the same vehicle - likely in order to get through security. The suspect then beheaded his victim inside the van in factory grounds, then left the vehicle to pin the man's head to the factory gates.

Salhi then went back to the car, removed the body, and proceeded to drive the vehicle directly into the gas canisters.

Though access to the facility is restricted because it contains dangerous substances, the delivery company had clearance to enter.

17:01 - CCTV attack footage seen

The AFP news agency has reportly had access to CCTV footage from the moment of the explosion.  

"The victim's head (...) was put on the fence by his presumed assassin," the agency reported.

Salhi then "took over the wheel of the truck and crashed into the gas cylinders, causing an explosion".

A team of firefighters who were called to help were then accosted by Salhi who screamed 'Allahou Akbar', which means "God is greatest" in Arabic.

"The firefighters then managed to contain the scene until the police arrived," the AFP reported. 

16:45 - Hollande puts security alert at highest level

The security operation known as Vigipirate will be raised to the maximum level in Rhône-Alpes for the next three days, President Hollande has announced. 

The operation was put into place nationwide after the January terror attacks in Paris, and sees soldiers and police standing guard at sensitive sites across the country.

16:32 - Attacker was a supplier to gas factory
Reports on French TV are claiming that the attacker Yassin Salhi, a delivery driver, was a regular supplier to the factory and therefore was able to gain access to the site.
The attack was carried out using one his delivery vans. It is believed his own boss was the man he decapitated before attempting to carry out an apparent suicide attack by causing an explosion at the factory.
16:24 - Terror expert says another attack is 'probable'

Jean-Charles Brisard, the chairman at the Paris-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorism, has told The Local that the French should expect another terror attack. 

"I think what's happened was unfortunately something we were expecting. We knew there would be more attacks," he said. 

"This was the first time in France that we have had an attempt to commit a suicide bombing, the first time the target is a sensitive facility." 

He added that the choice of target was an "interesting" one.

"It would have got major media attention if they hadn't failed in their attempt, which was trying to commit a suicide attack as far as I can understand. Their intention was to target a sensitive facility which would have resulted in many casualties."

He added that it was "probable" that France would be attacked again, and that the French public are aware their country is a target that is often mentioned in Isis propaganda.

16:16 - Victim was suspect's boss: reports
BFM TV are reporting that the victim was actually the Yassin Salhi's boss. This has not been confirmed. The origin of the report is AFP who are quoting a source close to the probe.
16:14 - PM - "Blind threat and terror spare no nation"
16:10 - So what exactly is a "fiche S"?

Authorities were keeping an eye on the terrorist for two years from 2006, opening a "fiche S" against him.

A "fiche S" - for which the S stands for "Sûreté d'etat" - has a lifespan of two years, meaning authorities renew them if they consider the person in question to be still dangerous.

While having one of the files doesn't warrant any kind of arrest certain individuals can be put under extra surveillance.

15:57 - What we don't know so far...

There's still several gaps in the story of what happened at 10 am on Friday at the Air Products factory near Lyon.
We know that there was one victim, who was decapitated and had his head stuck on a post on the fence around the factory. We don't know the connection of the victim to the suspect and at one point they came across each other.
If it's true that the victim's vehicle was used to crash through the factory gates, it's possible that he was car-jacked by the attacker and beheaded in the car before he drove in to the factory.
The fact he was arrested so soon after crashing into the factory suggests police and fire fighters were already on the scene.
Had they been following the attacker in the vehicle or had they been called out or perhaps they were simply on the site because of the nature of the products produced by the factory?
Attention will also be placed on why in 2008 anti-terror police decided not to keep open a file on suspected attacker Yassin Salhi, despite knowing he had links to Islamist extremism.
15:50 - Wife of suspect held
Confirmation that the wife of the terror suspect Yassin Salhi has been held by police, who are currently in the process of carrying out a search at the family property in the Lyon suburb of Saint-Priest.
Police are currently also holding her husband, Yassin Salhi, 35, and another person who was seen driving up and down the gas site in a suspicious manner but has not been formally linked to the attack.
15:37 - Why Air Products factory?
There’s been plenty of speculation over why the attacker targeted the Air Products factory on the industrial estate not far from Lyon.
Most have focused on the fact that Air Products is American owned, based in Allentown, Pennsylvania, although it is not clear whether this was the reason by Yassin Salhi targeted it.
But given that the factory is the third largest producer of atmospheric gases in France, another motive may have been simply to cause a devastating explosion.
In a statement, it said: “Our priority at this stage is to take care of our employees, who have been evacuated from the site and all accounted for.
“Emergency services are on site and have contained the situation. The site is secure. Our crisis and emergency response teams have been activated and are working closely with all relevant authorities.”
15:30 - More on the victim
A man whose decapitated head was pinned to the gates of a French factory in a grisly attack has been identified as a local businessman from eastern France, a source close to the investigation said Friday.
It is believed the victim's van was actually used by suspect Yassin Sahli to crash in to the factory.
It was not clear whether the businessman was killed on the site of the attack, where a suspected Islamist drove a vehicle into an Air Products factory around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Lyon before setting off several explosive devices.
  15:23 - Anti- terror operation at suspect's apartment
Anti-terror police from the RAID unit are currently carrying out an operation at the apartment of the suspect, where several people have been led out by masked officers.
They are believed to be the suspect's three children and wife.
One other person close to suspected attacker Yassin Salhi has been arrested.
15:18 - More calls for "unity"
Almost six months after the Paris terror attacks which shock France to the core the country's politicians are once again calling for unity.
President François Hollande has already said France must not give in to fear and its PM Manuel Valls said the attack showed the terrorist threat was "extremely high".
Minister for Education Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said France must remain "mobilised and united."
15:15 - Decapitated victim identified as local businessman
Details are emerging of the victim, who has not been named, but apparently identified as a local business from the region. Earlier BFM TV reported that he was a delivery driver, but latest reports suggest he was involved in transport.
It is believed that his vehicle was used by the terrorist to carry out the attack.
15:00 - What we know of the terror attacker so far
Here's what we know about Yassin Salhi, the man who is suspected of carrying out a new terror attack on French soil.
14:53 - More from the suspects partner
The suspect's wife has been speaking to Europe 1 radio. 

"My heart is going to stop. I do not know what happened. Have they arrested him?" she asks.

"He went to work this morning at 7am. He does deliveries. He did not return between noon and two, I expect him this afternoon.

"My sister  said turn on the television. She was crying," said the young woman.

"I know my husband. We have a normal family life. He goes to work, he comes back," she explains.

"We are normal Muslims. We do Ramadan. We have three children and a normal family life," says the wife of the suspect. 

14:44 - "He went to work as normal"
The partner of the terror suspect has spoken to Europe1 radio.
"I don't know what happened, he left to go to work as normal," said the partner.
14:26 - Victim believed to be delivery driver
According to reports on French TV the victim is believed to be the manager of a local delivery service.

14:26 - France's PM returns home after attack

France's prime minister said an attack on a factory Friday was "Islamist terrorism," announcing he was cutting short a visit to South America to deal with the crisis.

   

"Islamist terrorism has hit France again," Manuel Valls told a press conference in Colombia's capital Bogota, adding that he would take part by telephone in an emergency meeting called by President Francois Hollande, then rush back to France.

14:20 - Le Pen calls for firm action against Islamist extremists
Marine Le Pen has released a statement calling for strong measures against Islamists.
"Big declarations must now stop. The marches, slogans and emotional speech must now give way to action. Nothing has been done to stop Islamic fundamentalism for years," said the leader of the far-right National Front.
14:17 - False photo of terrorist circulating on social media
French newspaper Le Figaro has published a tweet that was being passed around social media in France that alleged to be the terrorist Yassin Sahli.
However it appears the photo is definitely not that of the attacker.
14:02 -  Minister says attack victim was 'abjectly decapitated'

Details of how and at what point the victim was decapitated are still unclear. Initial reports suggested the man's head was placed on a fence that surrounds the factory.
French president François Hollande confirmed that "inscriptions" were written on the victim's head, but did not confirm reports that they were written in Arabic.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve simply said he was "abjectly decapitated".
13:58 - Courage of security forces commended
Barnard Cazeneuve has been giving a few more details of the moment the attacker was arrested. It seems he was apprehended thanks to an policeman or fireman who was able "to keep a cool head".
"After the crime was committed, the suspected culprit was neutralised by someone from the security forces of Isere who had arrived at the scene and who had a lot of courage and kept his cool and proceeded to put the individual out of action," said Cazeneuve.
13:51  - More reaction from around Europe
Germany stands united with France against "terror's blind hate" and in defence of "free society", Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after a deadly attack Friday at a factory near Lyon.
Steinmeier said he was appalled by the "shocking news of a heinous murder and an assault with several injured", calling it an "act of terror and fanaticism which we condemn in the strongest terms".
13:48 - Attack is new test for France
Bernard Cazeneuve, the interior minister is at the scene and has described the terrorist attack as a "new test for France". "Our country will be stronger," he said.
13:47 - Suspected terror attack in Tunisia
As France tries to digest the latest terror attack on its soil, reports are coming through of a terror attack on a beach in Tunisia, that has left several dead.
13:44 - Authorities are still trying to identify the victim
There is still no word about who the victim was. Initial reports suggested he was not an employee at the factory. This has not been confirmed with government minister Bernard Cazeneuve simply saying they are still trying to identify the dead person.
13:42 - Hollande calls for unity 
Hollande tweets: "Our response is action, prevention, dissuasion, and the necessity to hold on to our values and to never give in to fear".
13:39  - Several arrests made 
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve confirms that several people close to the attacker have been arrested. These are presumed to be Yacine Salhi's family members.
13;37 - Spanish PM condemns attack

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has "firmly condemned" the attack

13:33 - Salafist link revealed

The suspect had a 'link' to Salafist movement, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve but was not implicated in any terrorist activities. The Salafi movement is a group within Sunni Islam, which is often associated with literalist approaches to Islam.
13:25 - Authorities opened file on attacker in 2006
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a "fiche S" was opened on the attacker in 2006 for radicalisation. A "fiche S" for which the S stands for "Sûreté d'etat" basically means he had been identified as a possible danger and should be watched.
The file was not renewed in 2008, however, meaning authorities no longer considered him a risk. Cazeneuve also said the man named as Yacine Salhi (spelling unconfirmed) had no criminal record.
13:18 - Attacker named and was known to police
French interior minister has just named the attacker as Yacine Sahi (unconfirmed spelling) who is believed to be father of three children.
Cazeneuve said he was known to anti-terror police for radicalisation. A file was opened on him in 2006 but not "renewed in 2008".
He was known for links to extremism but not identified as a high risk who would carry out an attack, says Cazeneuve.
13:12 - Victim still not identified


13:08 - Confusion over presence of "second attacker"
French President Francois Hollande said a man who launched a "terrorist" assault on a gas factory Friday has been identified and that there may have been a second attacker.
"This attack was in a vehicle driven by one person, perhaps accompanied by another," Hollande said at an EU summit in Brussels. "The individual suspected of committing this attack has been arrested and identified."
But there's no suggestion that police are hunting another attacker. Reports in the French press suggest the second man in the car may have acted under duress.
12:53 - "We must not cede to fear"
The president says "there is emotion but emotion cannot be the only response. We need action and dissuasion. We must not cede to fear."
"The intent was without doubt to cause an explosion. It was a terrorist attack," Hollande told reporters as he cut short his stay at a European summit.



(Photos: AFP)
12:50 - More from Hollande
The French president has confirmed that "one person was driving the car perhaps accompanied by another".
Hollande says he drove into the gas canisters "without doubt to provoke an explosion". He confirms a victim was decapitated and the head did have inscriptions written on it.

"We express our solidarity with the victim," he added.
The president says the suspect has been arrested and has been identified. Sensitive sites near the attack location have had their security reinforced and "all necessary measures will be taken".
12:48 - Hollande says the attack was "of a terrorist nature"
President Francois Hollande is addressing the nation, referring to the incident as an "attack of a terrorist nature".
12: 42 - More images and video from the scene:
Police are on the scene, on foot and in helicopters.



12:39 - Defence council called in Paris
French president François Hollande is returning to Paris to hold a meeting of his Defence Council - with chief ministers and military chiefs. He is expected to make a statement to the media shortly as is Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve who has arrived at the scene.
12:33 - More details emerging of attack
Details of how the attack unfolded are still emerging. The latest reports say the attacker crashed through the gates to the factory and drove into gas canisters which set off the explosion. He then tried to open the gas canisters himself before being arrested by police and firemen.
Details of the dead man who was decapitated are also conflicting, with more reports claiming the head was pinned on to a fence and had Arabic writing scrawled on it. Other reports now suggest the man may have been decapitated in the explosion.

12:31 - A closer look at the area

A few videos appearing online showing the scene in the wake of the attacks. 

12:17 - Bordeaux mayor condemns attack

The Mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppé, took to Twitter to condemn the attacks.

"The terrorist threat is at a maximum", he wrote, adding that France "must make every effort to protect its citizens".

12:15 - Hollande returning to France
French president François Hollande is returning to France from Brussels where he was due to attend a summit of EU leaders.
12:10 - Suspect not speaking
According to BFM TV reporters the suspect who has been arrested is being questioned by anti-terror police, but has so far refused to talk. He has no ID papers with him so police are not in a position to identify him.
12:03 - Suspicious activity seen before attack

A man was seen driving back and forth in front of the target building this morning, before the attack, reported Le Dauphiné Libéré.

A security source told the paper that they had been in a "code red" situation in recent weeks, and were prepared for "an attack of this nature".

11:57 - More images of the factory where the attack took place
11:54 - The latest write through from AFP on what happened  this morning
An attacker carrying an Islamist flag killed one person and injured several others Friday at a gas factory in eastern France, according to a legal source.
The suspected attacker entered the factory and set off several small explosive devices, the source said. A decapitated body was found nearby the factory, another source said.
"According to the initial findings of the enquiry, one or several individuals on board a vehicle, drove into the factory. An explosion then took place," said one of the sources.
"The decapitated body of a person was found nearby the factory but we do not yet know whether the body was transported to the place or not," added this source, adding that a "flag with Arabic writing on it was found on the scene."
A man thought to be the person who carried out the attack has been arrested, according to sources close to the enquiry.
Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said he would go "immediately" to the scene, his office said.
The attack occurred around 10:00 am local time (0800 GMT), according to local media.
The attack came nearly six months after the Islamist attacks in and around Paris that killed 17 people in January that started with a shooting at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
Two Islamist brothers attacked the satirical magazine, killing 12. A policewoman and four hostages in a Jewish supermarket were also killed during the three-day attacks.
The attacks drew record crowds out on the streets of Paris days in a historic "march against terrorism".
11:50 - 'Can't believe it happened here'
The Local spoke to a businessman Eric Coquet, from Vege France, a company located near the scene of the attack.
"We didn't see anything, but we heard the explosion. It was like a lorry backfiring. People here are not really scared, but they are shocked that something like this could happen just round the corner.
"The police are everywhere it looks like they are still searching for people. The anti-terror unit is also here and the interior minister is on his way.
"We haven't been told that we have to stay inside."

11:48 - France's PM ramps up security

France's Prime Minister Manual Valls has tightened security measures on 'sensitive' sites in response to the attacks, reports the AFP.

Here's a closer look at the scene where the attack took place.

(Photo: GoogleMaps)

11:43 - Arabic writing scrawled on victim's head
According to AFP's legal source Arabic writing was also scrawled on the decapitated head of the victim that was found hanging on the fence of the company grounds.
11:40 - Victim's head 'found on fence of company enclosure'
Local media is reporting that the head of the victim was found "hanging on the fence" of the factory.
11:38 - EU leaders meeting begins without Hollande
The French president is in Brussels to attend a crucial summit of EU leaders. The meeting has begun however without the presence of France's head of state. It is unclear whether he will return to France.
11:35 - Arrested man known to French intelligence services
Reports from regional paper Le Dauphiné say the arrested man was known to France's anti-terrorist police (DGSI). He is believed to be aged in his 30s.
11:30 - Workers told to remain inside
Workers in neighbouring businesses have been told to remain inside while police and France's military police descend on the scene. The latest reports are saying one dead and at least ten people injured in the attack, that occurred at a factory around 25 kilometres to the south of Lyon
11:29 - Suspected attacker arrested
Legal sources have told AFP that the man arrested at the scene is indeed the suspected attacker.
11:24 - Victim not an employee
According to reports the victim in the attack, a man who was decapitated, was not an employee at the factory. Around 40 employees at the factory are being kept inside, fearing there may be further attacks.

This image shows an aerial view of the factory where the attack took place on Friday.
11:22 - One person 'has been arrested'
Local newspaper Le Dauphiné Liberé is reporting that a man has been arrested at the scene. There's been no confirmation whether the arrested man is the attacker.

11:14 - Interior Minister heads to the scene
Details of the incident are still sketchy but the man is reported to have attacked the factory at around 10am. France's specialist anti-terror police have been called in and the country's interior minister is on his way to the scene.
11:10 - Attack was at a gas factory in Isere
Here's the latest from AFP:
An attacker carrying an Islamist flag killed one person and injured several others Friday at a gas factory in eastern France, according to a legal source.
The suspected attacker entered the factory and set off several small explosive devices, the source said. A decapitated body was found nearby the factory, another source said.
11:00 - Reports of one dead and several injured in attack

One man has died and several people were hurt after an attack on a French factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier on Friday. 

The man's head was found dozens of metres from his body, Le Dauphine newspaper reported. [source]