David,
a French nurse who delivered first aid to a suicide attacker who blew
himself up at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe during last week's Paris
attacks, poses during an interview with Reuters in Paris, France,
November 20, 2015. FRANCE-SHOOTING/NURSE-BOMBER
Reuters/Eric Gaillard
In
the chaos of the explosion at the Comptoir Voltaire cafe, one of
several targets hit in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks, nurse David
instinctively sought to help the wounded.
Among them was a man
lying amid overturned chairs and tables. David, who asked to be called
just by his first name, lay him down. The man did not look to have
massive injuries, but appeared unconscious, so David began CPR, the
cardiopulmonary resuscitation he'd been trained for.
When he tore
open the man's t-shirt, David quickly realized that what he initially
thought was a gas explosion at the cafe close to the Bataclan music hall
where gunmen killed 89, was actually something far worse.
"There
were wires; one white, one black, one red and one orange. Four different
colors," he told Reuters. "I knew then he was a suicide bomber."
The
man David was trying to resuscitate was Brahim Abdeslam, one of those
involved in a series of deadly attacks that killed 130 people at bars,
restaurants, a soccer stadium and a music hall. No one other than
Abdeslam died at the cafe.
100
said killed in Paris theater alone as attackers tossed explosives at
hostages; police kill at least 2 gunmen in raid; gunman said to shout
‘Allahu Akbar’; French capital terrorized by attacks in 7 locales
Victims
lay on the pavement outside a Paris restaurant, Friday, Nov. 13, 2015.
Police officials in France on Friday reported multiple terror incidents,
leaving many dead. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
France's
President Hollande declares a state of emergency amid multiple attacks
in Paris, November 13, 2015 (France 24 screenshot)
Fans
leave the Stade de France amid a stream of fatal attacks in Paris,
including explosions near the stadium, November 13, 2015. (Foto
AP/Michel Euler)
The Times of Israel is live blogging events as they unfold late Friday and into Saturday.
1,500 extra soldiers deployed to Paris after attacks
The
office of the French President Francois Hollande says that at least
1,500 extra soldiers have been deployed to Paris after the deadly
attacks tonight.
A
French police official says top government officials including
President Francois Hollande were headed to the Bataclan concert hall
where hostages were taken.
According to police, at least 100
people were killed in the theater. A police assault on the venue
finished earlier tonight, leaving at least two attackers dead, officials
say.
Facebook activates ‘safety check’ feature after Paris attacks
Facebook
has activated its Safety Check feature — allowing users to alert
friends and others that they are safe — following the deadly terror
attacks in Paris which have claimed the lives of at least 140 people
tonight.
Screenshot from Facebook’s ‘Safety Check’ feature allowing users to report that they are safe.
Netanyahu: Israel stands shoulder to shoulder with France against terror
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel stands “shoulder to shoulder”
with France in the “war against terrorism” after a deadly string of
attacks in Paris left at least 140 dead tonight.
“Israel stands
shoulder to shoulder with President Francois Hollande and with the
French people in the war against terrorism,” Netanyahu said as he
offered his condolences to the families of the victims.
Police say 100 dead inside Paris theater; total death toll up to 140
French
police say that about 100 people were killed inside the Bataclan
theater in Paris tonight, bringing the total death toll from the
multiple terror attacks across the French capital to 140.
‘Dozens’ killed in Paris theater as attackers tossed explosives at hostages
Dozens
of people are dead inside Paris’ famous Bataclan theater where a
terrorist attack took place earlier tonight, and some 100 people were
taken hostage. The death toll is expected to rise as the situation
becomes clearer.
Police launched a raid and killed two attackers a short while ago.
One Paris official described “carnage” inside the building, saying the attackers had tossed explosives at the hostages.
The
re-enserfment of Western peoples is taking place on several levels. One
about which I have been writing for more than a decade comes from the
offshoring of jobs. Americans, for example, have a shrinking
participation in the production of the goods and services that are
marketed to them.
On
another level we are experiencing the financialization of the Western
economy about which Michael Hudson is the leading expert (Killing The Host).
Financialization is the process of removing any public presence in the
economy and converting the economic surplus into interest payments
to the financial sector.
These two
developments deprive people of economic prospects. A third development
deprives them of political rights. The Trans-Pacific and Trans-Atlantic
Partnerships eliminate political sovereignty and turn governance
over to global corporations.
These
so called "trade partnerships" have nothing to do with trade. These
agreements negotiated in secrecy grant immunity to corporations from the
laws of the countries in which they do business. This is achieved
by declaring any interference by existing and prospective laws and
regulations on corporate profits as restraints on trade for which
corporations can sue and fine "sovereign"
governments. For example, the
ban in France and other counries on GMO products would be negated by the
Trans-Atlantic Partnership. Democracy is simply replaced by corporate
rule.I have been meaning to write about this at length. However, others,
such as Chris Hedges, are doing a good job of explaining the power grab that eliminates representative government.
All
passengers on the Russian flight from Egypt died when the plane crashed
in the Sinai peninsula Saturday, the Russian embassy said in a
statement
Egypt PM Sherif Ismail (R) at the site of the wreckage of a crashed Russian airliner in HassanaImage Credit: AFP
Emergency workers unload bodies of victims from the crash of a Russian aircraft from a police helicopter.Image Credit: AP
Relatives react at Pulkovo international airport outside Saint Petersburg after a Russian plane with 224 peoplImage Credit: AFP
Relatives react after a Russian airliner crashed, as people gather at an information desk in Russia.Image Credit: AP
Paris:
Air France and Lufthansa said Saturday they will stop flying over
Egypt's Sinai peninsula after a Russian passenger plane went down in the
area with the loss of all 224 people on board.
The airlines said they were taking the measure as a precaution while the cause of the Russian crash was investigated.
The
Daesh affiliate in Egypt has said it downed the plane, without saying
how, but Russia's transport minister said the claim "cannot be
considered accurate" and an Egyptian security official said the plane
did not crash because of an attack.
An Air France spokesperson
told AFP they would not fly over Sinai until further notice, "as a
precaution" while "clarification" was sought over why the Russian
charter plane crashed.
Lufthansa told the German newspaper Die Welt it was taking the same measure for the same reason.
Military
experts have told AFP that Daesh terrorists in Sinai do not have
weapons capable of hitting an aircraft at 30,000 feet (9,000 metres),
the altitude of the airliner when it lost contact.
But they have
not ruled out a bomb on board or the possibility that the plane was hit
by a rocket as it descended because of technical problems.
A
senior Egyptian air traffic control official said the pilot of the
Airbus A321 told him in their last communication that he had radio
trouble.
Moscow, Cairo refute Daesh claim on downing Russian plane
Sat Oct 31, 2015 6:43PM
Egypt's
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail looks at the remains of a Russian airliner
after it crashed in central Sinai near El Arish city, north Egypt,
October 31, 2015. (Reuters Photo)
Moscow and
Cairo have denied claims by the Daesh Takfiri group's Egyptian
affiliate to have downed a Russian aircraft that crashed in North Sinai
with more than 200 passengers on board.
“Now in various
media there is assorted information that the Russian passenger
(plane)... was supposedly shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, fired
by terrorists. This information can’t be considered accurate,” Russian
Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said on Saturday.
“We are in
close contact with our Egyptian colleagues and aviation authorities in
the country. At present, they have no information that would confirm
such insinuations,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Samir, Egypt’s
army spokesman, also refuted the claim by the Takfiri group, saying that
“the army sees no authenticity” to the terrorists claims or videos.
“They
can put out whatever statements they want but there is no proof at this
point that terrorists were responsible for this plane crash” he said.
“We
will know the true reasons when the civil aviation authority in
coordination with Russian authorities completes its investigation,” he
added.
An
Egyptian soldier and rescue crew transfer the body of a victim of a
plane crash, from a civil police helicopter to an ambulance at Kabrit
airport in Suez, east of Cairo, Egypt, October 31, 2015. (Photo by
Reuters)
Terrorists, non-state actors had no capacity to down Russian plane, security & aviation experts say
Published time: 1 Nov, 2015 01:34
84175
While
the investigation into the causes of the Russian passenger jet crash
over the Sinai Peninsula continues, civil aviation and security experts
agree that theories that the plane was downed by a militant group can be
ruled out, despite terrorists making such claims.
All
224 people on board the Kolavia airline’s flight from resort area Sharm
El-Sheikh to Russia’s St. Petersburg died after the aircraft crashed in
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. Experts are still decoding the
flight recorders, and the Russian Air Transport Agency has said that
there is no point in hypothesizing about the cause of the crash until
there is reliable data on the circumstances.
While
Islamic State jihadist group allegedly claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying it downed the Airbus A321 as retaliation for Russia’s
airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria, aviation and security
experts believe it to be highly unlikely.
“As far as it’s
known, Islamic State and its affiliate groups don’t have the capability
to bring down aircraft flying at the height that this aircraft
reportedly was, which is something around 10,000 meters,” security analyst and former UK counter-terrorism officer Charles Shoebridge told RT.
Click to Open Overlay Gallery PlatonAs winter approaches in Moscow, Snowden may have new hope of a safe haven in a warmer expatriate climate: The European Union.
On
Thursday the EU parliament voted by a narrow margin of 285-281 to
protect Snowden from extradition if he were to reside in Europe, a step
toward allowing the NSA leaker to leave Moscow and safely live or travel
on the continent. The motion, according to a statement from the parliament,
will “drop any criminal charges against Edward Snowden, grant him
protection and consequently prevent extradition or rendition by third
parties, in recognition of his status as whistle-blower and
international human rights defender.”
Snowden himself reacted with excitement to the news, calling it “extraordinary” and a “game-changer” on his Twitter feed—a strong sign that he may take the EU up on its offer.
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel says Syrian president Bashar Assad should play
a role in any talks aimed at ending the Syrian civil war. Her statement
marks a softening in the stance of Western leaders towards the Syria's
current president.
“We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well,” Angela Merkel said at a press-conference following the EU emergency summit on the migration crisis.
This
constitutes a marked departure from previous positions of most Western
powers, which had consistently insisted that the Syrian leader’s
resignation was an essential prerequisite for the conflict in the Arab
country to be resolved.
“Not only with the United States of
America, Russia, but with important regional partners, Iran, and Sunni
countries such as Saudi Arabia,” she added.
Defeating terrorism must be top priority, Syrian FM tells RT (Op-Edge) http://on.rt.com/6ry1
Earlier
this month, the German Chancellor also stressed the need for Russia’s
involvement in reconciling the Syrian crisis, German Deutsche Welle
reports.
On August 31, she welcomed Iran’s potential participation in negotiations aimed at putting an end to the Syrian conflict.
“I
think Iran has a lot of influence over what happens in Syria. And
everyone is welcome to participate constructively in the negotiations,” she said at a news conference in Berlin at that time.
From demanding Assad go…
The
US has repeatedly blamed Bashar Assad for the outbreak of violence in
Syria as well as for its civil war, claiming that it was he who
facilitated the rise of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL). “He
[Assad] is the reason ISIL, and other terrorist groups, have been
allowed to fester and grow and sustain themselves inside Syria. Assad
regime has allowed groups like ISIL to fester and grow inside the
country,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing on September 16.
Saudi air raids kill dozens of Yemeni civilians amid humanitarian crisis
1.6K293
The
latest Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen have left dozens of civilians dead
and nearly 160 injured at a time that sees medical facilities
struggling to provide even the most basic services. The country is
suffering from a shortage of vital supplies due to the ongoing blockade.
The
coalition air raids against Houthi forces in Sanaa overnight on Friday
killed at least 40 civilians and injured at least another 130 people,
Yemen News Agency (SABA) reported.
One
strike leveled an apartment building in the center of the city killing a
family of nine, while another strike killed a man who had been
searching for his family in the rubble, AP reported. The coalition has
even managed to attack Yemen’s interior ministry in the capital,
launching about 10 strikes at the building as well as at a police camp
and a military building close to it.
The airstrikes also hit the residence of Oman’s ambassador in Sanaa.
The
particular cluster munition systems HRW said were used are CBU-105
Sensor Fuzed Weapons, which are guided bombs intended to take out tanks
and other armored vehicles with a flurry of explosions spread out over
an area.
If the cluster bombs fail to
detect their target, they are designed to self-destruct in the air, or
if that fails, to deactivate themselves after a short time. But
sometimes those mechanisms don't work, posing a lethal danger for those
who later encounter them.
UN condemns ‘virtual silence’ on civilian casualties in Yemeni conflict
248317.
UN
officials have openly criticized the “the virtual silence” with regards
to civilian suffering in the Yemeni conflict from the world community,
warning that unless violence on the ground is stopped via political
compromise more people will suffer.
Adama
Dieng, the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, and Jennifer
Welsh, the Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect, “expressed
concern at the ever increasing impact on civilians of the ongoing
conflict in Yemen, and the virtual silence of the international
community about the threat to populations.”
'ISIS among the refugees' - Prelude to another European "terror attack"?
Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Fri, 11 Sep 2015 22:35 UTC
The iconic image of 3-year-old refugee Aylan Kurdi's lifeless body on a beach on the Turkish coast went 'viral' recently and brought the two-year-long European 'refugee crisis' to widespread public attention. EU nations are now facing an influx of potentially hundreds of thousands of migrants feeling their NATO-war-torn countries in search of safety and stability. Whether or not they'll find it is still an open question.
This 'refugee' problem is, of course, not new, and Aylan was not the first tragic death directly related to the problem. Consider the hundreds of thousands of deaths in Syria alone that have resulted from the U.S. government-manipulated 'revolution' in that country 4 years ago. Or think of the unprovoked attacks on and invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan or the NATO bombardment of Libya and subsequent installation of a fundamentalist 'Jihadi' regime there. Then consider that 2,600 people, or more, have already died attempting to cross the Mediterranean into Europe. The 'refugee crisis' has been brew for over two years, but it took Aylan's body to make many people sit up and taking notice.
The
plight of the refugees could become the perfect excuse to precipitate a
new R2P (responsibility to protect) war; Libya remixed, with fighting
ISIL barely disguising the real agenda: regime change in Damascus.
So
Europe has suddenly, miraculously "discovered" that the civil war/proxy
war raging in Syria since early 2011 has hemorrhaged into an extremely
serious refugee crisis.
European Sturm und Drang on what
to do about the refugee drama is unprecedented in modern times.
Bitterness permeates the fault lines separating fear and intolerance
from generosity and solidarity.
Among quite a few progressive
circles, there are widespread fears that the current Western media
campaign centered on the plight of refugees may be a catalyst to prepare
European-wide public opinion for an all-out war in Syria before the end
of 2015.
The United Nations is now estimating at least 850,000 people are expected to cross the Mediterranean this year and next, seeking refuge in Europe to escape violence and unrest in Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, sub-Saharan Africa and other regions. Already 366,000 people have arrived in Europe this year. Earlier today, the president of the European Commission called on European Union member states to accept a total of 160,000 asylum seekers from war-torn countries. We speak to Annette Groth, member of the German Parliament and spokeswoman for human rights for the Left Party. She just returned last week from a trip to Hungary, where she saw thousands of migrants stranded at the Budapest train station. "What is the root for this massive migration?" Groth asks. "It is war, it is terror, and it is the former U.S. government who is accountable for it."
Democracynow.org - Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,300+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9am ET:
Ukraine’s
security forces have seized ‘potentially radioactive’ material from a
group in the country’s west. Quoting a spokesperson for the Security
Service of Urkaine (SBU), The Kiev Post reported that the SBU had seized
a “potentially radioactive” substance weighing 1.5 kilograms in
Chernivtsi Oblast. It added there was speculation that separatists may
have been preparing to detonate a “dirty bomb.” The SBU arrested 10
people in the operation, including one who is a citizen of the Russian
Federation, according to the report.
.....
Interior Ministry: Four Ukrainian soldiers killed, 30 wounded in anti-terrorist operation in Sloviansk (LIVE UPDATES)
Ukraine's
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stands at a checkpoint near the eastern
Ukrainian city of Slavyansk on May 5, 2014. Four Ukrainian troops were
killed and 30 wounded in intense fighting around the rebel-held town of
Slavyansk on May 5, the interior ministry said. The ministry added that
the pro-Russian gunmen controlling the town were using civilians as
human shields and were shooting from houses, some of which were on fire.
It said there were civilian casualties but did not provide a toll. AFP
PHOTO / SERGEY BOBOK
...
SBU: Sniper nests discovered in Donetsk Oblast 2:14 p.m. -- A
spokesperson for the Security Service of Urkaine (SBU) said in a
briefing on May 5 that members from the elite "Alpha" special forces
team discovered and neutralized a sniper nest in a television tower in
Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, on May 3.
Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the operation, Marina Ostapenko, the SBU spokesperson, reported.
Ostapenko
told reporters that the SBU has identified similar sniper nests in
other parts of Donetsk Oblast, but has yet to clear them.
She also
said that the SBU had seized a "potentially radioactive" substance
weighing 1.5 kilograms in Chernivtsi Oblast, speculating that
separatists may have been preparing to detonate a "dirty bomb." The SBU
arrested 10 people in the operation, including one who is a citizen of
the Russian Federation. -- Isaac Webb
Internationally recognized symbol. by 
