From The Independent
Isis: Up to 5,000 jihadists could be in Europe after returning from terror training camps abroad
A picture taken on October 30, 2015 shows the passports of members of a family who drowned after the boat transporting them sank, on a beach on the Greek island of Lesbos. AFP/Getty Images
From Ynet News
Clinton victorious in Nevada, Bush drops out of race
Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders by five percentage points in Nevada, while Trump came out ahead over Rubio and Cruz by ten percentage points.
COLUMBIA – Hillary Clinton pulled out a crucial win in Nevada’s Democratic caucuses, while Donald Trump claimed a big victory in South Carolina’s Republican primary Saturday, deepening his hold on the party’s presidential field as the contest moved into the South.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has done poorly in the first three early Republican contests, suspended his campaign.
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From Russia Today
Kiev protesters demand resignations & early elections, mull forming ‘popular government’
Published time: 22 Feb, 2016 00:23
People attend an anti-government rally at Independence Square in central Kiev, Ukraine, February 21, 2016. © Gleb Garanich / Reuters
Protesters who gathered for a mass rally in central Kiev announced the creation of their own “popular government” and demanded the immediate ouster of the Ukrainian cabinet and president, as well as the resignation of traitors and the dissolution of the parliament.
Hundreds of people joined the protest on the Kiev’s central Maidan square on Sunday on the second anniversary of the bloody Euromaidan riots that led to an overthrow of the government in 2014 and major unrest in the country.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
John Kerry and Mahmoud Abbas meet in Jordan
(JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Jordan called on the United States to ensure the viability of the two-state solution.
The two leaders met Sunday in Amman, according to Palestinian reports.
Kerry was in Amman to meet with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh ahead of a meeting scheduled for later this month between King Abdullah and President Barack Obama in Washington. Kerry was not scheduled to travel to Israel or receive Israeli officials in Amman during his visit to Jordan, according to Israeli media reports.
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From Russia Today
US rejected peace talks, demanded Pyongyang’s denuclearization before latest nuclear test
Published time: 22 Feb, 2016 01:13
A N. Korean long-range rocket is launched from Sohae rocket launch site. Released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on February 7, 2016. © KCNA / Reuters
Washington has rejected reports claiming that the US was ready to drop Pyongyang’s denuclearization as a precondition for talks over a peace treaty to officially end the Korean War, and said the talks failed because of the North’s nuclear posturing.
The United States and North Korea held secret negotiations to end the 50-year-old conflict, a report by The Wall Street Journal claimed. Citing US officials, the publication said that the Obama administration was willing to drop its longstanding precondition that Pyongyang must first take steps to curtail its nuclear activities.
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From Russia Today
Ukraine-EU agreement a ‘George Soros road to nowhere’ – Keiser
Published time: 21 Feb, 2016 18:45
Max Keiser speaking with Pirate Party activist Ancilla Tilia in Amsterdam / RT
Financial analyst and RT host Max Keiser blasted the Dutch Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement referendum, branding it a “George Soros road to nowhere” that will flood the EU with Monsanto’s GM “food”.
Keiser was in Amsterdam this weekend where he spoke with Pirate Party activist Ancilla Tilia in an attempt to dive deeper into the treaty’s details.
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From Russia Today
Turkey has right to conduct ops in Syria, elsewhere to protect itself from terrorists – Erdogan
Published time: 21 Feb, 2016 14:38
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. © Murat Cetinmuhurdar / Reuters
Turkey has the right to carry out military operations not only in Syria, but in any other country, which is hosting terror groups that threaten the Turkish state, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
“Turkey has every right to conduct operations in Syria and the places where terror organizations are nested with regards to the struggle against the threats that Turkey faces,” Erdogan was cited as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper.
Ankara’s stance has “absolutely nothing to do with the sovereignty rights of the states that can’t take control of their territorial integrity,” the president insisted.
“On the contrary, this has to do with the will Turkey shows to protect its sovereignty rights,” he added.
The Turkish president’s used an unexpected platform to make his hawkish remarks. On Saturday, he was visiting an event celebrating the inclusion of Turkey’s southeastern province of Gaziantep on the list of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network in the gastronomy category.
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From Russia Today
EU won’t go to war against ISIS in Libya uninvited – Mogherini
Published time: 21 Feb, 2016 11:40
© Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
The EU will only intervene against the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Libya if it receives an official invitation from the legitimate government of the country, the union’s top diplomat said.
“Defeating Daesh effectively can only happen through a legitimate Libyan government in charge of its own security,” Frederica Mogherini told Journal du Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday.
Mogherini called Islamic State by the Arabic language acronym of the organization. IS has been gaining ground in Libya, seizing the city of Sirte and advancing on the oil-rich regions in the east of the country, which remains split between rival groups in the wake of the toppling of its leader Muammar Gaddafi by a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
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From The Daily Mail
Schoolboy error, Mr Mayor: German worthy embarrassed when he posts a screenshot of his internet browser to make a political point – but forgets to shut down all the porn site tabs
- Mayor Thomas Köppl posted a picture of German constitution on screen
- Also revealed other tabs for ‘Punishment porn’ and ‘German slut punished’
- Readers noticed other tabs on newspaper website, making political point
- Mayor of Quickborn, near Hamburg, claimed he was researching subject
A German mayor was left embarrassed after a screenshot of his computer he used to make a political point revealed his penchant for ‘punishment’ pornography.
Mayor Thomas Köppl posted a picture of the German Constitution to back up points he was making in a debate about the Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which is anti-Euro and immigration.
He wrote: ‘The AfD isn’t a party just like the others any longer. After pushing [party founder Bernd] Lucke and his democratic friends, this party no longer stands on the foundation of our Constitution.’
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
France names Jewish woman as new culture minister
(JTA) — France has named a Jewish woman as its new culture minister.
Audrey Azoulay was named last week during a Cabinet reshuffle.
She is the daughter of Andre Azoulay, an adviser to Moroccan King Mohammed VI, and writer Katia Brami. She is a native of Morocco.
In 2014, Azoulay, 43, was named culture and communications adviser to President Francois Hollande, after serving as a civil administrator and in leadership positions in France’s National Center of Cinema.
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Company to remove Chicago billboard calling for Israel boycott
(JTA) — A billboard in Chicago calling for a boycott of Israel will be removed following a public outcry.
Lamar Advertising, which leases billboards throughout the country, announced in a Facebook post on Friday that it would remove the billboard “as soon as possible.” Earlier in the day, also in a statement on Facebook, the company said it had received a “large number” of social media comments and hundreds of telephone calls protesting the billboard located on a major highway about five miles from O’Hare Airport.
The billboard sponsored by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign, or SEAMAC, is part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel. It reads: “Boycott Israel until Palestinians have equal rights.”
Lamar had written earlier that over its more than 100 years in business, the firm has “developed a strong commitment to supporting the First Amendment right of advertisers who wish to use our medium to promote legal products and services or to convey noncommercial messages such as the one in Chicago.”
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From Russia Today
Nuclear reactor in Japan leaking radioactive water amid nationwide restart
Published time: 21 Feb, 2016 07:42
Kansai Electric Power Co.’s Takahama nuclear power plant. © Issei Kato / Reuters
A nuclear power station in Japan is leaking, this time the Takahama plant, about 380km west of Tokyo. The radioactive water leak comes amid a nationwide push to restart reactors after the catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima five years ago.
The reactor would have been the fourth to come on after the shutdown. The push by the government and utility companies came amid protests across Japan against the continued reliance on nuclear energy, prompted by failures to get the Fukushima crisis under control.
Now Kansai Electric Power says about 34 liters of radioactive water have escaped the plant’s reactor No. 4. An investigation is underway.
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