From The Independent
Isis nuclear attack in Europe is a real threat, say experts
International think-tank on proliferation warns that a possible ‘dirty-bomb’ attack on a Western capital is ‘high’
- Kim Sengupta Amsterdam
From The Independent
Euroscepticism on the rise across Europe as analysis finds increasing opposition to the EU in France, Germany and Spain
However, study reveals the vast majority of voters in most other European countries – with the exception of France – do not want Britain to vote for Brexit
From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
British Jewish leaders condemn Trump rhetoric ahead of visit
Donald Trump waving after a news conference at the Trump Tower in New York, May 31, 2016. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)
(JTA) — Ahead of Donald Trump’s planned visit to Britain, leaders of that country’s Jewish community condemned what they said was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s “divisive and troubling” rhetoric.
Trump, who is scheduled to visit Britain on June 22, told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month that an Indiana-born judge with Mexican heritage who is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University has an “inherent conflict of interest” given Trump’s stance against immigration from that country.
Trump is coming to Britain for the opening of a new hotel he owns in Scotland.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Who pays for Birthright? The free Israel trip by the numbers
Birthright Israel participants at an event held at the International Conference Center in Jerusalem, January 7, 2013. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
There may be no such thing as a free lunch. But there is a free 10-day trip to Israel.
For 17 years now, the Birthright Israel Foundation has been giving away guided tours of the country to young people from around the world. The goal is to strengthen participants’ Jewish identity and connection to Israel. Tens of thousands of 18-26 year-olds sign up every year to see the highlights with a group of peers.
Someone is paying for all those trips. But who?
Inside Philanthropy, a website that investigates charities, delves into the program’s funding in an article published Tuesday.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Analysis
America First: Trump doubles down on a term that makes many Jews queasy
Charles Lindbergh, wearing a helmet with goggles up, in the cockpit of an airplane at Lambert Field in St Louis, Mo., 1923. (Underwood Archives/Getty Images)
Donald Trump is doubling down on his America First policy.
After Trump used the term “America First” in late April to describe his policies, the Anti-Defamation League sent him a letter urging him to drop the historically tainted slogan — speaking for Jews and others who remember it as the name of the isolationist movement championed by a notorious anti-Semite to keep the United States out of World War II.
But in a speech Tuesday night following his victories in the last six state primaries, the presumptive Republican nominee for president made clear he’s not about to take the ADL’s advice and abandon the slogan.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
David Duke blames Trump U controversy on ‘Jewish manipulation of the media’
David Duke, former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, during a debate with Joe Hicks at Cal State University, Sept. 25, 1996. (Brian Vander Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(JTA) — White supremacist David Duke blamed the current controversy over Donald Trump’s now defunct unaccredited university on “Jewish manipulation of the American media.”
Duke said Tuesday on his radio show that media coverage of the Trump University case is “very illustrative of the Jewish tribal nature.” Duke also said: “They’re like a pack of wild dogs when they go after someone who they see as a threat to the Jewish agenda, as the neocons see Trump as a threat as a non-interventionist.”
According to Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, an “overwhelmingly Jewish” firm is behind a fraud lawsuit against Trump University. Trump has been slammed for saying he does not believe the judge in the case, an Indiana native of Mexican descent, can be impartial due to Trump’s stated views about building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
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From Russia Today
Record low number of asylum seekers coming to increasingly ‘less attractive’ Norway
Published time: 9 Jun, 2016 04:31
© Fyodor Porokhin / Reuters
Norway is not attracting as many migrants as the government had feared and was expecting to receive this year. The country’s Integration minister has attributed the trend to lower appeal of the country due to its harsh asylum policies.
“When I ask [migrants I spoke with in Greece and Italy] about their opinions of Norway, they say that Norway has become strict and less attractive and not a country that they want to travel to,” Norway’s Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug told VG.
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From Russia Today
UN report ‘deliberately ignores’ Russia’s anti-ISIS efforts in Syria – Churkin
Published time: 9 Jun, 2016 02:07
Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin © Brendan McDermid / Reuters
Russia’s envoy to the United Nations has criticized the latest UN report which singled out the US coalition efforts in fighting ISIS, overlooking the game-changing role of Russia as well as other countries’ achievements in battling terrorism in Syria. TrendsGlobal terrorism, Islamic State, Russian anti-terror op in Syria, Syria unrest, Syria-Turkey
Sharing his assessment of the circulated Report of the Secretary-General in the Security Council on the threat of terrorism in Syria, envoy Vitaly Churkin noted that Russian-led contribution is being neglected, while all the successes are being attributed to the “international coalition forces” led by Washington.
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From Russia Today
2nd US aircraft carrier group deployed in Mediterranean for ‘national security interests’
Published time: 9 Jun, 2016 02:00
Tug boats assist the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower © Ryan D. McLearnon / Reuters
The US military presence in Europe has been boosted even further ahead of NATO summit in Warsaw with yet another aircraft carrier strike group having entered the Mediterranean Sea allegedly to support “US national security interests in Europe.”
“The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (IKE CSG) entered the US 6th Fleet area of operations today in support of US national security interests in Europe,” the US European Command (EUCOM) has announced.
The Eisenhower’s strike group also includes its air wing, guided-missile cruisers San Jacinto and Monterey and a destroyer squadron with associated guided-missile destroyers Roosevelt, Mason, Nitze and Stout.
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From Russia Today
French Senate supports resolution to lift EU sanctions against Russia
Published time: 8 Jun, 2016 18:37
FILE PHOTO © Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
The French Senate has voted in favor of a resolution designed to lift EU-imposed sanctions slapped on Russia in 2014 over the crisis in eastern Ukraine and reunification with Crimea. The proposal calls for a “gradual relief” of restrictive measures imposed by the West.
The vast majority – 302 senators – voted for the move, with only 16 being against the lifting of anti-Russia sanctions. In all, 335 politicians were present at the meeting in the Luxembourg Palace.
The motion is non-binding, however.
The initiatives of deputies and senators, aimed at pressuring the government, have “no binding force because the renewal of the embargo is made in Brussels and requires unanimity of the 28 Member States,” Le Figaro reported.
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From Russia Today
Migrants involved in 70,000 potential & actual crimes in 1st quarter of 2016 – German police
Published time: 8 Jun, 2016 05:40
© Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters
Migrants in Germany either committed or planned to carry out nearly 70,000 crimes in the first three months of 2016, according to a police report that noted “disproportionately low” numbers of Syrians among perpetrators and the innocence of most refugees.
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From PressTV
Militants distribute Israeli products in militant-held areas in Syria: Locals
Terrorist groups have distributed Israeli foodstuff among their families in the areas under their control in the Syrian province of Quneitra, local sources say.
The sources, who asked not to be named, said the Israeli products are distributed as aid to the terrorists’ families, which proves the level of coordination between Israel and the terrorists of al-Nusra Front in the Arab country’s southern region, Syria’s official News Agency, SANA, reported.
The sources also noted that the distribution process occurs almost every month, highlighting that the Israeli products are spread in terrorist-held areas.
Syria says Israel and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri militant groups operating inside the Arab country.
The Syrian army has repeatedly seized huge quantities of Israeli-made weapons and advanced military equipment from the foreign-backed militants in Syria.
Late last year, British media released footage showing Israeli forces treating a wounded Takfiri terrorist in the occupied Golan Heights.
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From PressTV
Daesh blows up ancient monuments in Iraq
A recent video, purportedly released by the Daesh Takfiri terrorists, shows the destruction of several ancient monuments in northern Iraq by the terrorist group.
In the video, a militant dressed in black vows to destroy the 2,500-year-old temple of Nabu in the Daesh-held Iraqi ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud before a massive blast reduces a building to rubble. Information signs on the Nabu temple wall before the explosion are also shown from a number of different angles.
It is not known when the Daesh terrorists targeted the Nabu temple.
The footage also shows the destruction of the reconstructed Adad and Mashki Gates and a large portion of Nineveh’s fortification wall.
Takfiri militants have demolished several holy shrines and mosques belonging to Shia and Sunni Muslims in the militancy-riddled regions of Nineveh province.
Daesh has destroyed several ancient monuments in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
New anti-Semitism definition replaced scrapped EU version, US official says
(JTA) — The new international definition of anti-Semitism that mentions Israel hatred was adopted in part to replace a similar one scrapped by the European Union, an initiator of the new text said.
Robert Williams, a delegate of the United States at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, or IHRA, told JTA on Tuesday that his intergovernmental agency of 31 Western nations adopted its new definition of anti-Semitism last month partly as a response to the 2013 removal from the website of the EU’s anti-racism agency of a definition that also mentioned the demonization of Israel as an example of anti-Semitism.
“After that happened, we decided at IHRA to have discussions about adopting a definition, and the result was the adoption of a text very similar to the definition abandoned” by the European Union,” Williams said.
Manifestations of anti-Semitism, the new definition reads, “might include the targeting of the State of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity,” though “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
JDate closes its Israel offices
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Jewish matchmaking website JDate has closed its offices in Israel.
Spark Network, which operates the site, recently laid off its 25 employees in Israel and closed its offices in Herzliya, the Israeli business daily Calcalist reported this week.
The Israeli JDate website will continue to be maintained from the United States and include Hebrew-language content, according to Calcalist.
The closure of the Israel offices is part of a reduction in the company’s operations worldwide, according to Calcalist, following declining revenues over at least the last year.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Israel unsure how many Palestinians live in West Bank areas it controls
Palestinian vendors selling goods ahead of the holy month of Ramadan in the old city of the West Bank city of Hebron, June 5, 2016. (Wisam Hashlamoun/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel does not know how many Palestinians are living in Area C, the part of the West Bank under Israeli civil and military control, the Civil Administration told a Knesset committee.
The Civil Administration relies on figures provided by the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, which does not break down the figures by area. On Wednesday, its representative told the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s subgroup on Judea and Samaria that the Palestinian figures could be inflated in order to maximize the amount of international aid the Palestinian Authority receives.
The Palestinian Bureau of Statistics listed some 2.9 million Palestinians listed as living in all of the West Bank, not including eastern Jerusalem, as of April, the representative said. Most of them live in Areas A and B of the West Bank, which is under Palestinian civil control.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Iowa state senator quits GOP over Trump, wonders if he’ll target Jews
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An Iowa state legislator who quit the Republican Party because of Donald Trump wondered if the candidate’s next target would be Jews.
David Johnson, a state senator, told The Guardian on Tuesday that his breaking point was Trump’s racially tinged attacks on a judge of Mexican parentage presiding over a lawsuit alleging that a defunct Trump enterprise, Trump University, defrauded clients.
“I haven’t supported Mr. Trump at any point along the way, but what I am calling his racist remarks and judicial jihad is the last straw,” said Johnson, who said he would now register as not having a party.
Johnson, who said his father was among the first soldiers to liberate Nazi prison camps at the end of World War II, said he also was offended by Trump’s call to keep Muslims out of the United States and wondered whether Jews were next.
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From Russia Today
Bilderberg 2016: World’s top brass meets in Dresden to talk migrants, Brexit and US elections
Published time: 8 Jun, 2016 22:32
A police car passes in front of the Hotel Taschenbergpalais Kempinski, Dresden © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The world’s most intriguing gathering, the Bilderberg Group, is being held in Dresden this week, with the West’s rich and powerful among other things set to meditate on the migrant crisis, the next US president and UK’s referendum on leaving the EU.
Some 126 high-powered figures from 20 countries have made it to the guest list, which the Group made public, along with the agenda of this year’s event. Combined, the two documents give a rather detailed scope on what exactly the attendees of the 64th Bilderberg conference will be mulling over during the upcoming four days.
One of the conference habitués, British Chancellor George Osborne, will pass on this year’s event. Instead, the meeting will have to make do with Irishman Michael O’Leary, the billionaire “bully” boss of the Ryanair airline, as well as 9 high-ups from the UK.
The gathering will be chaired by a French count, Henri de Castries, who is also the CEO of the global insurance and investment giant AXA.
Routinely, this year’s agenda can hardly be called detailed, yet the main points of focus are outlined as European unity, migration, US political landscape, China, the Middle East, Russia and the “precariat and middle class.”
The European migrant crisis, which has been gradually worsening during the past year, is up for discussion, and might become a number one priority for attendees, as with hundreds of thousands of newcomers Europe has gained yet another problem – the voters’ defection to nationalist parties.
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From Russia Today
‘Revolving door’: Google and EU govts’ cross-hiring revealed in new report
Published time: 8 Jun, 2016 18:45
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
A new report has raised concerns about Google’s influence in European politics, revealing a “revolving door” between the tech giant and politicians. It follows research which proved a similar relationship between Google and Washington.
The study, conducted by the Google Transparency Project (GPT), found at least 80 “revolving door” moves over the past decade, finding instances in which Google hired government employees and European governments hired Google staff.
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From The Times of Israel
Thousands flee IS Syria stronghold as coalition closes in
Kurdish troops close in on Manbij, with US air support; Russian-backed Syrian fighters approach from the southwest
BEIRUT (AFP) — Thousands of civilians have fled a stronghold of the Islamic State group in northern Syria almost surrounded by US-backed fighters seeking to cut a key supply lifeline for the jihadists.
The Arab-Kurdish offensive on the town of Manbij is one of two major assaults on the route IS uses to send in more fighters, weapons and money from the Turkish border to its main Syrian bastion of Raqqa.
“We have surrounded Manbij from three sides and operations are progressing well,” Sherfan Darwish, who is leading the offensive of the Syrian Democratic Forces launched just over a week ago, said on Tuesday.
“Every day, we are liberating villages and the only route open to IS now is towards Aleppo city” to the west, Darwish told AFP by phone.
The SDF is now within five kilometers (three miles) of Manbij from the north, two kilometers from the south and about seven kilometers from the east, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
From The Times of Israel
Netanyahu vows ‘decisive’ response to Tel Aviv attack
Prime minister promises ‘determined action’ to locate ‘collaborators’ in deadly shooting at crowded shopping center
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday vowed a “decisive” response to Wednesday’s deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv, and said Israel’s security services would track down any who may have aided the shooters.
Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan visited the Sarona Market in central Tel Aviv, site of Wednesday night’s shooting attack, following an emergency briefing at IDF headquarters, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Netanyahu landed in Israel from an official visit to Moscow shortly after the attack.
“This was a difficult event, a cold-blooded murder by criminal terrorists,” the prime minister said in a statement. “I want first of all to send condolences to the families whose worlds were decimated at this moment, and of course wishes for the swift healing of the wounded.”
CCTV footage from June 8’s terror attack in Tel Aviv (Channel 2 screenshot)
From The Times of Israel
4 killed, 3 badly injured, in central Tel Aviv shooting terror attack
2 Palestinian terrorists, dressed in suits, open fire in restaurant at popular Sarona center; arrested gunmen are cousins from Hebron area
Four people were killed in a shooting terror attack in Tel Aviv’s popular Sarona Market Wednesday evening.
Three others were seriously hurt.
Police said two Palestinian gunmen were involved in the terror attack. They sat in the Max Brenner inside the Sarona complex and then began a shooting spree. They were seen using Carl Gustav-style guns, and according to Israel Radio they also had knives.
Officials said one gunman was arrested in the Sarona complex, but the other fled the scene, and carried on shooting before he too was stopped. Both were in custody Wednesday night. One of them, who was shot by security forces, was taken to Ichilov hospital in police custody. Police later confirmed they are Palestinian relatives, 21-year-old cousins, from the Hebron area in the West Bank.
From PressTV
Iraqi forces retake more areas near Fallujah in Anbar
Iraqi forces have managed to liberate more areas near the strategic city of Fallujah in Anbar province from the control of the Daesh terrorist group, tightening noose around the militants in the city.
Iraq’s counter-terrorism forces regained control of the neighborhood of al-Shuhada al-Thaniya to the south of the Fallujah on Wednesday, according to the Arabic-language al-Sumaria news website.
According to the report, the forces raised the Iraqi flag over the buildings of the district and are continuing to advance towards other areas.
The development comes as Lieutenant General Abdelwahab al-Saadi, the commander of Fallujah Liberation Operations, said on Tuesday that government forces, together with fighters from the allied Popular Mobilization Units, are poised to liberate Fallujah from Daesh within the next few days.
On May 22, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced the start of the liberation operation of the Daesh-held Fallujah. Nearly 70 kilometers west of the capital Baghdad, the strategic city in the Anbar province has been under the Takfiris’ control since 2014.
Daesh oil depot hit in Mosul
Meanwhile, Iraq’s air raids destroyed an oil depot of Daesh terrorists in the center of Mosul city in the province of Nineveh on Wednesday.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Austrian Jewish leaders deny normalization plan with far-right party
(JTA) — Jewish leaders in Austria denied a report in Israel that the community had prepared a program for normalizing ties with the far-right Freedom Party, which it now shuns.
The Israeli Hebrew-language news website NRG on June 3 reported that the Jewish Community in Vienna had a roadmap for the Freedom Party to follow if it was to have formal ties. The report said the plan included disassociating from neo-Nazis and neo-Nazi events frequented by Freedom Party members, including lawmakers.
But Oskar Deutsch, the community’s president, said no such plan exists and that he merely spoke hypothetically with the NRG journalist about the possibility of following such a plan.
“The Jewish community did not have any contacts with the Freedom Party and does not intend to initiate such contacts in the future,” Deutsch said in a statement Wednesday.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Both Jewish 25-year-olds bidding to be youngest member of Congress come up short
Erin Schrode, an environmentalist and entrepreneur, lost her House bid in Northern California to a two-term incumbent. (Josh LaCunha)
(JTA) — Erin Schrode and Alex Law, Jewish 25-year-olds running to become the youngest lawmakers in Congress, both lost to incumbents in their respective Democratic primary races Tuesday for a House of Representatives seat.
Schrode, an environmentalist and entrepreneur, garnered 7 percent of the vote in Northern California’s 2nd District in falling to two-term incumbent Jared Huffman, who had nearly 75 percent.
Days before the election, Schrode was flooded with anti-Semitic social media and cellphone messages. The progressive activist called the messages “pure evil” and told Buzzfeed that people contacted the FBI on her behalf.
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From Russia Today
Merkel dismisses Erdogan’s ‘incomprehensible’ criticism of Armenian genocide resolution
Published time: 8 Jun, 2016 03:29
German Chancellor Angela Merkel © Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
German chancellor has denounced Turkish government rants against Germany’s position on the Armenian genocide, calling the Turkish leader’s comments “incomprehensible” after he claimed that “hypocritical” German MPs of Turkish origin had “tainted” blood.
“The lawmakers in Germany’s lower house of parliament are freely elected without exception and the accusations and statements which have been made by the Turkish side are incomprehensible,” Merkel told a news conference on Tuesday. “It was clear with the passing of the resolution that there is a difference of views between the majority of the Bundestag and the Turkish side.”
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From Russia Today
US Navy accused of ‘disappearing’ cats in Spain
Published time: 7 Jun, 2016 17:47
© Alex Grimm / Reuters
A US Navy base in Spain has been accused of capturing stray cats in cages and has drawn suspicion for failing to explain the missing felines.
The Rota base in Spain’s Cadiz province has been luring feral cats into “cage traps,” according to a local animal shelter Siempre Contigo.
According to images shared online by the organization, the traps have signs which read, “US government property. Tampering or destruction is unlawful, under both Spanish and American law.”
Siempre Contigo’s Carmen de los Santos told the Local, “People who tried to open the cages to let the cats out were told there would be consequences… and the workers are outraged.”
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From The Times of Israel
Take your wall and shove it, Democratic congressman tells Trump
Filemon Vela writes in open letter that presumptive GOP nominee’s ‘ignorant anti-immigrant opinions’ are ‘despicable’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump’s criticism of a Latino judge overseeing a lawsuit involving Trump University shows that the presumptive Republican nominee for president is a racist, a Democratic congressman said Monday, and he told Trump to take his proposed border wall and “shove it up your ass.”
Rep. Filemon Vela of Texas said in an open letter that Trump’s “ignorant anti-immigrant opinions,” border wall rhetoric and continued attacks on the judge “are just plain despicable.”
Vela, who represents a district in southern Texas along the US-Mexico border, called Trump a racist, adding, “You can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.”
In the Senate, top Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada lobbed a blistering fusillade at Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for failing to denounce Trump’s attacks on the federal judge presiding in a lawsuit in which Trump is the defendant.
US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Billings, Montana, May 26, 2016. (AP/Brennan Linsley, File)
From PressTV
UN blacklist U-turn bearing fruit for Saudis: 24 US gunships by month-end
Saudi Arabia’s remaining on the UN’s violators of children rights blacklist would have jeopardized the delivery of 24 US AH-6i Little Bird attack helicopters to Riyadh.
On Wednesday, American multinational corporation Boeing announced that it would start delivering the choppers, being built at a production plant in Mesa, Arizona, to Riyadh by the end of the month.
The AH-6is are capable of being armed with Hellfire missiles, rocket launchers, miniguns, and machine guns.
Boeing was given the $234-million military contract in August 2014 by the US army.
The delivery of the attack copters was thrown into uncertainty last week as the UN released the Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report which said the Saudi coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child casualties in Yemen last year, when it killed 510 children and injured 667 others.
According to the Leahy Law, the US Department of State and Department of Defense are prohibited from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.
However, on Monday, the UN removed Saudi Arabia from the blacklist, drawing fire from multiple human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch.
Following the move, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric noted that a final decision has not been made and that the kingdom had been removed from the list pending an upcoming review. “I don’t think it’s a reversal of policy,” he told reporters. “We will see what the review is and we will adjust the list as needed.”
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