Missing Russian Metrojet Airliner Crashed in Sinai, Confirmed Egypt

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Missing Russian Metrojet Airliner Crashed in Sinai, Confirmed Egypt.



CAIRO:  Egyptian military has spotted the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane that crashed today in the Sinai Peninsula with 224 people on board, the government said.



"Military planes have discovered the wreckage of the plane... in a mountainous area, and 45 ambulances have been directed to the site to evacuate dead and wounded," a cabinet statement said.



A "Russian civilian plane... crashed in the central Sinai," a statement from the office of Prime Minister Sharif Ismail said.



News agency Reuters quoted a security officer at the crash site saying that the aircraft was completely destroyed.



The Metrojet (formerly Kolavia Airlines) flight had 217 passengers and seven crew members on board. A senior aviation official said it was a charter flight operated by a Russian company.





The Kolavia/Metrojet aircraft lost contact with air traffic control over Sinai in Egypt



According to reports, Flight 7K9268 flying to Russia from Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt went off radar 23 minutes after taking off.



Sergei Lzvolsky, an official with the Russian aviation agency Rosaviatsia told Interfax news agency that the plane had departed Egypt's Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh at 5:51 am local time (03:51 GMT).



He said the aircraft did not make contact as expected with air traffic controllers in Cyprus.



Earlier, there was confusion on the fate of the plane, while some reports said it had crashed in Sinai, others said the aircraft had made contact with air traffic control.



Most passengers on the flight are believed to be Russian tourists.

Syria War- 57 Killed in Missile Attack in a Douma Damascus Market

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Syria War-  57 Killed in Missile Attack in a Douma- Damascus Market

BEIRUT:  At least 57 people were killed and dozens wounded when Syrian government forces fired missiles into a marketplace in a town near Damascus, a conflict monitor said on Friday.



The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the war through a network of sources on the ground, said government forces fired 12 missiles at Douma, 10 miles (15 km) northeast of Damascus. It earlier said 47 had been killed.



It also said that at least 20 people were killed in the northern city of Aleppo when warplanes struck several parts of the northern city of Aleppo. It was not immediately clear which country carried out the attacks.



Douma has suffered intense bombardment in recent months in a wave of strikes the Syrian army has said targets insurgents that have launched attacks on government-held areas.



Syrian Civil Defence, a local humanitarian rescue group that operates in rebel-held areas, posted a picture on its Facebook page of about a dozen bloodied bodies laid on the ground on plastic sheeting and said more than 45 had died in the attack, which it said used guided missiles.



"Utterly heinous that while world leaders meet for peace in Vienna, attack(s) against civilians continue in Syria," the group said on Twitter.



It linked to a video showing people tending to survivors in a chaotic scene of blackened rubble and fire. Footage showed bodies on the ground of the market place, where stalls had been blown to pieces. Reuters was unable to independently verify the events shown.



Many of Douma's residents have fled the four-year conflict, moving to nearby rural areas. Medics say they have struggled to cope with large numbers of wounded in the intensified strikes.



Syria's civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and driven more than 10 million from their homes. International diplomats were meeting on Friday at a peace conference in Vienna, the first to be attended by President Bashar al-Assad's main ally Iran.

U.S. Special Forces Reaching Syria

The White House announced that U.S. Special Forces will be sent to help with operations in Syria Friday morning. Almost at the same time, Vladimir Putin said Russia is making progress in their bombing campaign against ISIS.



A reluctant President Obama has authorized the first sustained deployment of U.S. Special Forces to Syria, officials said Friday, which goes against his campaign promises not to put boots on the ground. According to the AFP, the first deployment to Syria would be composed of “fewer than 50” Special Operation forces to the north of the war-torn country. Administration officials described the operation as an intensified effort to combat the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL).





“They will help coordinate local ground forces and coalition efforts to counter ISIL,” said a senior administration official.



U.S. Special Forces deployed to aid Kurdish forces battling ISIS

U.S. Special Forces deployed to aid Kurdish forces battling ISIS [Photo by Stringer/Getty Images]

In a related report by the Inquisitr, earlier this month, U.S. Special Forces working alongside Kurdish forces raided an ISIS prison in Iraq in what was described as a daring pre-dawn operation and extracted 70 prisoners. However, they lost Master Sergeant Joshua Wheeler, who was killed during the operation.



The first contingent of U.S. Special Forces will “advise and assist” Kurdish guerrillas and other groups fighting the ruthless Islamic State, the Telegraph reports. They will work with the Syrian Arab Coalition along the Syrian border, which will include helping to coordinate air strikes.



It is not expected these troops will engage in fighting on the frontlines but will instead provide “training, assistance, and advice” in a similar way to what the U.S. is doing in Iraq. In following Obama’s previous stance on putting boots on the ground, a U.S. official said there is “no intention of engaging in long-term, large-scale combat operations” in Syria.



Conveniently, Russian President Vladimir Putin had his own announcement about his country’s operations against ISIS in Syria. According to Sputnik News, since the campaign against ISIS in Syria started on September 30, Russian Aerospace Forces have carried out 1,391 sorties and destroyed a total of 1,623 terrorist targets, the Russian General Staff said Friday.



Russian warplanes destroyed 249 Islamic State command posts, 51 training camps, and 131 depots, Andrey Kartapolov, head of the Russian General Staff Main Operations Directorate, claimed Friday.



“It is too early to speak about complete victory over terrorists in Syria. Despite heavy losses and mass desertion, militants continue to resist the government troops. Importantly, the Syrian armed forces have promptly repelled all of their counterattacks.”



On Friday, Press Secretary Josh Earnest was questioned during the White House briefing and made remarks on the number of U.S. Special Forces deployed.



“I wouldn’t underestimate U.S. Special Forces and the President expects they will have an effect in the campaign of building the capacity of the Iraqi forces on the ground.



“Syria is different because there is no central govt to partner with. The U.S. is enhancing the capacity of modern opposition forces in Syria and carrying out military airstrikes in support of those forces to make progress against ISIL.”



Earlier on Friday, the Associated Press reported a senior Russian diplomat has warned the U.S. against sending Special Forces to Syria. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday, according to Russian news agencies, that Moscow considers the use of U.S. forces without coordination with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government unacceptable.



U.S. Special Forces to Syria while Vladimir Putin claims progress against ISIS

U.S. Special Forces to Syria while Vladimir Putin claims progress against ISIS [Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

Despite the escalation of Russian involvement in Syria, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, told CNN Thursday in an exclusive interview that he believes Vladimir Putin is “winging this” and described the Russian leader as “very impulsive and opportunistic.”



“I personally question whether he has some long-term strategy or whether he is being very opportunistic on a day-to-day basis and I think his intervention into Syria is another manifestation of that.



“What his long-term plan is, I’m not sure he has one. I think he is kind of winging this day-to-day.”



Earnest defended the president’s decision to send U.S. Special Forces when questioned whether Obama had broken his promise not to put boots on the ground, insisting these troops will not be in the frontlines. One of the goals of this mission is to aid Iraqi in the push to reclaim Ramadi, which has fallen into ISIS’ hands.

South China Sea- China Warns US of War Over Provocative Acts in SCS

China disturbed by US Destroyers sailing through disputed waters in South China Sea has warned Americans that it could spark war with 'provocative acts' in South China Sea

Beijing’s top Navy man issues the warning during teleconference talks with his US counterpart aimed at defusing tension in the region

China has warned the US that its “dangerous and provocative acts” in the South China Sea could lead to “a minor incident that sparks war”.



China’s naval commander, Admiral Wu Shengli, issued the warning to his American counterpart Admiral John Richardson during video conference talks on Thursday aimed at defusing tension in the region, according to a Chinese naval statement.

 “If the United States continues with these kinds of dangerous, provocative acts, there could well be a seriously pressing situation between frontline forces from both sides on the sea and in the air, or even a minor incident that sparks war,” the statement paraphrased Wu as saying.



“I hope the US side cherishes the good situation between the Chinese and US navies that has not come easily and avoids these kinds of incidents from happening again,” Wu said.



The high-level talks followed mounting international alarm in the wake of the decision by Washington to send a US destroyer close to artificial islands built by Beijing in the South China Sea.



According to the Pentagon, however, the hour-long talks had been “productive”.



The admirals discussed “freedom of navigation operations, the relationship between the two navies including pending port visits, senior leader engagement and the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue”, a Pentagon spokesman said.



Navy spokesman Lieutenant Tim Hawkins said the conversation on Thursday had been “professional and productive”.



The USS Lassen guided-missile destroyer sailed within 12 nautical miles of at least one of the land formations claimed by China in the disputed Spratly Islands chain on Tuesday.



The move prompted the Chinese government to summon the US ambassador in Beijing and denounce what it called a threat to its sovereignty.



The US said after Thursday’s talks that the Chinese had expressed no desire to cancel scheduled visits by Chinese ships to a Florida port next week and that an upcoming visit to China by the commander of the US Pacific Command would still take place.



“We look forward to continue this dialogue,” an official said.



Wu and Richardson, the US navy operations chief, had agreed to speak again via video conference later this year.



Tensions have mounted since China transformed reefs in the area – also claimed by several neighbouring countries – into small islands capable of supporting military facilities, a move the US says threatens freedom of navigation.



Washington has repeatedly said it does not recognise Chinese claims to territorial waters around the artificial islands and reiterated that it would send more warships to sail close to the controversial islets.



But in a move that is likely to trigger fury in Beijing and reignite tension in the region, an international tribunal ruled on Thursday that it had the power to hear a case brought by the Philippines over the disputed seas.



Manila has insisted the UN convention on the law of the sea, which the Philippines and China have both ratified, should be used to resolve the bitter territorial row over isolated reefs and islets.



China has refused to participate in the proceedings, arguing the Permanent Court of Arbitration – which is more than a century old and based in The Hague – had no jurisdiction over the case.



“Reviewing the claims submitted by the Philippines, the tribunal has rejected the argument” by China that the “dispute is actually about sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and therefore beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction”, the court said in a statement.



Instead, the court ruled the case reflects “disputes between the two states concerning the interpretation or application of the convention” - something which falls within its remit.



A senior Chinese diplomat said on Friday that China would neither participate in nor accept the case. Vice foreign minister Liu Zhenmin added that the case would not affect China’s sovereign claims in the seas.



China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which about a third of all the world’s traded oil passes.



Following a stand-off between Chinese ships and the weak Filipino navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.



China has also undertaken giant reclamation activities, raising fears it will use artificial islands to build new military outposts close to the Philippines and other claimants.



 The tribunal – set up in 1899 to resolve international disputes between countries – stressed on Thursday its ruling did not yet go to the heart of the merits of Manila’s case, which was first filed in 2013.



A new hearing will now be held behind closed doors in The Hague, and a final ruling is not expected until next year.



The tribunal agreed it would take up seven of the 15 submissions made by Manila, in particular whether Scarborough Shoal and low-tide areas like Mischief Reef can be considered islands, as China contends.



It will also consider whether China has interfered with Philippine fishing activities at Scarborough Shoal.



But it set aside seven more pointed claims, mainly accusing Beijing of acting unlawfully, to be considered at the next hearing on the actual merits of Manila’s case.



In a July hearing in the Hague, Philippine foreign secretary Albert del Rosario warned the integrity of UN maritime laws was at stake.



China’s behaviour had become increasingly “aggressive” and negotiations had proved futile, del Rosario said.



But the court on Thursday also directed Manila to narrow down the scope of its final request that it should order that “China shall desist from further unlawful claims and activities.”



In Washington, a senior US defense official hailed the tribunal’s decision as victory for international law.



“We of course welcome the decision of the panel. This demonstrates the relevance of international law to the territorial conflicts in the South China Sea,” the defense official said.

Russian Helicopter Dropped Barrel Bomb in Darayya, Syria Filmed by Amateur

Russian Helicopter Dropped Barrel Bomb in Darayya, Syria Filmed by Amateur

Russian Forces Strike Syria's Southern Rebels In Preparation For Pro-Regime Ground Offensive

BEIRUT -- Russian warplanes in Syria reportedly hit the southern province of Daraa Thursday, the first time the rebel-held province, the birthplace of the Syrian revolution, has been targeted since Moscow began its air campaign in the war-torn country. Russia has been hitting Syrian opposition and Islamic State group targets in Syria’s northern provinces to aid forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad in making territorial gains.



The strategy suggests Russia’s unprecedented attacks in the south are a precursor to a large-scale ground operation to retake a strategic area that borders both Jordan and Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Russia began its military campaign in Syria targeting terrorist groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, but Moscow’s airstrikes in Daraa make clear all opposition forces are targets.



“The Russian strikes … have confirmed that the quadripartite coalition [sees] everyone bearing arms [against the Syrian regime] as an enemy of the Syrian state,” the pro-Syrian regime and Lebanese Hezbollah-linked newspaper Al-Akhbar reported Thursday.



Among the various rebel groups operating in Syria’s southern province are moderate opposition forces that were part of the United States’ defunct train-and-equip program who received TOW missiles. Rebel groups belonging to the Free Syrian Army seized the area last year, and since then pro-regime forces have made numerous attempts to regain the strategic territory.



On Wednesday, Russian planes struck the Tal Hara, Tal Antar, Kafr Nasaj and Aqraba neighborhoods of northern Daraa, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Iran's state-run news agency claimed Russia’s targets were al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra militants.



Syrian Civil Defence, a volunteer rescue organization in Daraa, said airstrikes targeted civilian and rebel-held positions. One strike targeted the main road in Daraa city and hit a civilian vehicle, injuring four men and killing one, the Daraa media liaison for SCD told International Business Times.







New Offensive



Russian airstrikes indicate a pro-regime ground offensive could take place in coming weeks and is likely to draw in foreign troops from Lebanon and Iran. Earlier this month IBT reported Iran was planning to send roughly 1,000 fighters from its IRGC Quds Force to be stationed in Daraa.



“All indications [suggest foreign forces] will come down. You will see Russian troops and Iranian troops,” a senior Hezbollah official told IBT.



Regime ground forces and their allies are massing in the area in preparation to retake the Daraa triangle, an area of roughly 60 square kilometers that stretches southwest of the Syrian capital Damascus to southern Daraa city and back up to Quneitra in the Golan Heights.



Troops from the Syrian army’s 5th armored and 7th mechanized divisions along with fighters from the pro-regime National Defense Forces were deployed to Daraa’s northern countryside earlier this week, al-Masdar news reported.



Syria’s Southern Borders



Among Wednesday night’s bombardment were targets some 15 km from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and others on the border with Jordan.



A report from the Institute for the Study of War said if confirmed, Russian airstrikes "in southern Syria could be a sign of Russian cooperation with Israel and Jordan. … Alternatively ... the strikes could represent an escalation against Syria's southern neighbors.”



Jordan and Israel, two important American allies in the fight against ISIS, share borders with Syria’s southern provinces, potentially dragging them into the conflict if Russia persists with its bombardment of the south. Both countries, which backed the U.S. strategy to support moderate Syrian opposition groups, have already discussed military cooperation with Russia.



Last week, Russia and Jordan met and agreed to coordinate their operations in Syria through a "special working mechanism" in the Jordanian capital of Amman. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Moscow to discuss how the two countries could operate in Syria without getting in each other’s way. Israel has been monitoring the situation closely as Iran and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah increase the number of weapons and their presence on the border.



Netanyahu said an increased number of Iranian troops deployed to the south for the battle for Daraa is not good news for Israel during the meeting in Moscow, according to a transcript released by his office.



“Iran, under the auspices of the Syrian Army, is attempting to build a second terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights,” Netanyahu said.

Israel Witnessing Third Intifada

China Officially Discared One Child Policy

http://www.newsbharati.com/ China Officially Discarded One Child Policy

China One-Child Policy

China has discarded the one-child policy amid rising workforce shortage and aging population that is endangering the country's economic growth.

The policy was implemented 36 years back and was seen as a global landmark that reduced an estimated 400 million births and saved millions from starvation.

The restrictions had also led to an imbalanced sex ratio because of a traditional preference for boys, and draconian enforcement that sometimes included forced abortions. It has been discarded in favour of a two-child policy as China faces significant economic challenges from countries like India, which enjoy demographic dividend of a younger population. "China will fully implement the policy of 'one couple, two children' in a proactive response to the issue of an aging population," the ruling Communist Party said in a communique issued after its central committee's fifth plenary session held from Monday to Thursday. It said China would continue to uphold basic national policy of population control and improve its strategy on population development to promote a balanced growth of population.

China, which is the world's most populous country with over 1.3 billion people, hopes the one-child norm's reversal would result in at least one million new births to help reverse declining population growth.

The move, however, may not spur a huge baby boom in part because fertility rates are believed to be declining even without the policy's enforcement.

China had been relaxing the one-child policy in stages over the past few years. It initially relaxed the policy in some areas and later allowed couples, who were single children of their parents, to opt for a second child.

Beijing permitted a couple to go for a second child even if one of them was a single child to his/her parents in November 2013.

Officials then hoped the relaxed norms would result in two million new births. But only one million parents registered with authorities for second child over the past one-and-half years. This resulted in the review of the one-child policy and its eventual withdrawal. Critics said the relaxation of rules was too little, and too late to redress substantial negative effects of the one-child policy on the economy and society.

Wang Feng, a leading expert on demographic and social change in China, called the change a "historic event" that would change the world but said the challenges of China's aging society would remain. "It's an event that we have been waiting for for a generation, but it is one we have had to wait much too long for," Wang said, adding, "It won't have any impact on the issue of the aging society, but it will change the character of many young families."

The one-child policy revolutionized family planning across the globe when it was introduced in 1979. The only exception to the above rule was rural parents, whose first child was a girl. They were given the right to opt for a second child. The one-child norm was implemented with the help of the Communist propaganda, disincentives to couples with more than one child, fines, forced sterilization and abortions.

Sepp Blatter Reveals- Russia 2018 Footaball World Cup Was Agreed Before ...

Sepp Blatter: Russia 2018 World Cup 'agreed before vote'



Suspended Fifa president Sepp Blatter has suggested there was an agreement in place for Russia to host the 2018 World Cup - before the vote took place.

The 79-year-old told Russian news agency Tass of a "discussion" in 2010 about future World Cups.

He said a late swing in voting that gave Qatar the 2022 World Cup undid a similar agreement to hand it to the US.

Swiss Blatter is serving a 90-day ban alongside Uefa chief Michel Platini, 60, and both deny any wrongdoing.

Asked whether it was a mistake to hold voting for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments simultaneously, Blatter replied that before the ballot: "It was agreed inside the group that we go to Russia because it has never been to eastern Europe, and for 2022 we go back to America.

"And so we would have the World Cup in the two biggest political powers."

But he added that four votes from Europe later switched from the USA to Qatar.

The bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments is the subject of an ongoing Swiss criminal investigation. It was begun alongside a US inquiry following the arrest and indictment of several top executives by the US Department of Justice on corruption charges.

How England's failed 2018 bid team reacted



Simon Johnson, then chief operating officer of England's failed 2018 World Cup bid, was livid about Blatter's comments, saying England's Football Association had "every right to bring legal action against Fifa".

The FA spent £21m, including £2.5m of public money from local authorities, on England's attempt to host the 2018 tournament.

"All the way through the process we were being told by high-ranking Fifa officials that as long as we put together a strong bid and a good presentation we would have a lot to offer," Johnson told BBC Radio 5 live.

He added that the bid team "played by the rules" and, "right until the night before" the vote, thought they had "every chance".

FA chairman Greg Dyke said English football's governing body will investigate Blatter's revelation about the 2018 World Cup.

Giving evidence to the UK Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Dyke said it would be "very nice to get taxpayers' money back", adding that the FA would "talk to our own lawyers, but this is uncharted territory".

What else did Blatter reveal?



In a wide-ranging interview, Blatter, who will be replaced as head of world football's governing body at an election on 26 February 2016, also said:

Russia will "never" lose the 2018 World Cup

England are "bad losers" over perceived media criticism of the 2018 and 2022 Word Cup bidding process

Most national football associations "don't like" Uefa-backed Fifa presidential candidate Gianni Infantino

His own current suspension is a "total nonsense" and the Fifa ethics committee has failed him

Blatter said it was "his dream" for his ban to end in time to conduct the February congress when the election to replace him with one of seven candidates will take place.

He also said he should have stood down after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but stayed because of concerns that Uefa, European football's governing body, would become too dominant within Fifa.

"The other confederations were afraid that Uefa would take over everything because they have the money and the players," said Blatter.

"Uefa has an anti-Fifa virus."

Blatter on 'jealous' Platini



Uefa president Platini, who is Fifa's suspended vice-president, was the target for most of Blatter's criticism, with the Frenchman accused of being motivated by "envy and jealousy".

Both are currently suspended while Fifa investigates a £1.35m payment made to Platini in 2011, which the pair say was for work as Blatter's adviser.

The payment was made months before Platini decided not to challenge Blatter in the 2011 Fifa presidential election.

"At the beginning it was only a personal attack - it was Platini against me," said Blatter.

"He started it, but then it became politics and when it is in politics, it is not any longer Platini against me.

"It is then those who have lost the World Cup - England against Russia. They lost the World Cup and the USA lost the World Cup against Qatar.

"Platini wanted to be Fifa president but he did not have the courage to go as the president and now we are in such a situation in football."

Platini fights back



In an interview with the Telegraph  published later on Wednesday, Platini said he would press on with his bid to replace Blatter as Fifa president in February's election.

Platini said the £1.35m payment "represents the equivalent of four years' salary arrears that Fifa owed me when I was the president's special adviser. The president himself offered me a contract and a salary that I accepted".

He added: "So to be clear: was there work provided? Yes. Is an oral contract legal in Switzerland? Yes. Did I have the right to reclaim my money even nine years later? Yes. Did I produce a proper invoice as Fifa required? Yes. Was the money declared to the taxman? Yes."

Platini said his disagreement with Blatter stemmed from rivalries between the two organisations they ran, adding: "Fifa and Uefa are antagonistic in an organic sense.

"With Sepp Blatter our relationship became still more strained when in 2015, going against the promise he made in 2011, he wanted to put himself forward for re-election."

Platini accused Fifa's ethics inspectors of failing to investigate the case before banning him. He said he would take the matter to the highest court to clear his name.

Earlier, a spokesman for Fifa's ethics committee investigatory chamber told BBC Sport it was "reading with interest" Blatter's comments but declined to comment further. It did not comment on Platini's later remarks.

Meanwhile, the former head of Brazilian football, Jose Maria Marin, 83, has agreed to be extradited from Switzerland to the US to face corruption charges, Swiss authorities say.

He was among seven Fifa officials arrested at a Zurich hotel in May after they were indicted by the US on corruption charges.

South China Sea- Philippines President Aquino Welcomes U S Presence in SCS

President Benigno Aquino III sees nothing wrong with the United States sending a warship close to artificial islands built by China in contested areas of the South China Sea, as long as it conforms to international laws.



"So long as everyone follows established international laws, then I don't think the Philippines should have negative apprehensions about this act," Aquino said during the annual forum of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) on Tuesday (October 27).



Aquino clarified that the move of the U.S. move would ensure a balance of power and freedom of navigation in the area.



Around 40 percent of the world's trade passes through the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by Brunei, China, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.



The president said he did not believe this development would increase tension in the contested area.



"We have statements from both parties stating no hostile intent by either party," he said.



Military analyst Jose Antonio Custodio agreed with Aquino in saying that the U.S. is just making its presence felt.



"The Americans never said that they will eliminate the Chinese presence there... They never said that, so they will tolerate the Chinese presence there as long as they do not seal off the area," Custodio said.



Aquino is also open to providing logistical support for U.S. operations in contested waters under the pending Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the two countries.



He added that U.S. presence in the South China Sea would not affect Manila's arbitration case against Beijing or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' meeting that the Philippines is hosting next month. All three countries are members of APEC.



China's President Xi Jinping has not yet confirmed attendance to the regional conference.



Aquino said he looked forward to fruitful conversations with his APEC counterparts and was open to bilateral talks with China.



Aquino noted that Chinese companies had  invested around $600 million in Philippine companies while local firms had invested $2.5 billion in the Chinese economy.

Nepal Elected Bidhya Bhandari as First Woman President

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Nepal Elected Bidhya Devi Bhandari as 1st Woman President.

Bidhya Bhandari was elected as Nepal's first woman president today, after the adoption of a landmark constitution last month.



Ms Bhandari, currently the vice-chair of the ruling Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), defeated her opponent Kul Bahadur Gurung of the Nepali Congress by securing 327 to 214 votes to become the Himalayan nation's ceremonial head of state.



A former defence minister, Ms Bhandari is a cancer survivor and widow of late communist leader Madan Bhandari, who died in 1991 in a yet unexplained road accident.



The incumbent, Ram Baran Yadav, who belonged to Nepali Congress, was elected president in 2008 after the first elections to the Constituent Assembly.



Under the country's new republican federal Constitution, promulgated on September 20, it was mandatory to elect new president and vice-president, prime minister, and parliament speaker and deputy speaker.



"I announce that Bidhya Devi Bhandari has been elected to the post of Nepal's president," said Speaker Onsari Gharti Magar, to loud cheers from lawmakers.



Ms Bhandari, a rare female face in Nepal's parliament, took up politics in her teens, seeking to overturn the absolute monarchy and later marrying a fellow communist, Madan Bhandari.



But it was after her husband's death in a vehicle accident in 1993 that the mother of two became a prominent voice, riding a wave of sympathy to win a seat in parliament.



Mr Yadav was initially supposed to hold office for only two years. But years of political wrangling delayed agreement on a new constitution, which was only finally adopted last month.



Ms Bhandari, 54, is the second woman to be elected to a senior position since then, after Ms Magar became the country's first female Speaker of the parliament.



As required by the new charter, parliament also this month elected a new prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, who is tasked with unifying the earthquake-hit country.



The constitution, the first drawn up by elected representatives, was meant to cement peace and bolster Nepal's transformation to a democratic republic after decades of political instability and a 10-year Maoist insurgency.



But it has instead sparked deadly violence.



More than 40 people have been killed in clashes between police and ethnic minority protesters, who say a new federal structure laid out in the charter adopted last month will leave them under-represented in parliament.



Work on the constitution began in 2008 after Maoist rebels laid down arms and entered politics, winning parliamentary elections and abolishing the monarchy. But power-sharing squabbles between parties stymied progress.



Lawmakers finally reached agreement in June, spurred by the massive earthquake two months earlier that killed nearly 8,900 people and left more than half a million people homeless.

South China Sea- China Not Scary to Fight a War With USA

http://www.newsbharati.com/ South China Sea- China Not Scary to Fight a War With USA After US Destroyer Sails Through.

South China Sea dispute

China's State-run media in belligerent mood after US destroyer USS Lassen challenges Beijing’s territorial claims in disputed Spratly archipelago

China is not afraid of fighting a war against the United States in the South China Sea, a state-run newspaper with links to the Communist party has claimed.



Analysis How China's artificial islands led to tension in the South China Sea

Beijing is attempting to build artificial islands, while other states in the region are looking to the US to flex its military muscle on their behalf



Twenty-four hours after Washington challenged Beijing’s territorial claims in the region by deploying a warship to waters around the disputed Spratly archipelago, the notoriously nationalistic Global Times accused the Pentagon of provoking China.



“In face of the US harassment, Beijing should deal with Washington tactfully and prepare for the worst,” the newspaper argued in an editorial on Wednesday.



“This can convince the White House that China, despite its unwillingness, is not frightened to fight a war with the US in the region, and is determined to safeguard its national interests and dignity.”



The People’s Liberation Army Daily, China’s leading military newspaper, used a front-page editorial to accuse the US of sowing chaos in countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq.



“Cast-iron facts show that time and again the United States recklessly uses force and starts wars, stirring things up where once there was stability, causing the bitterest of harm to those countries directly involved,” the newspaper said, according to Reuters.



Tuesday’s manoeuvre, which saw the guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen sail close to artificial Chinese islands, came after Barack Obama and Chinese president Xi Jinping failed to find common ground over the issue during recent talks at the White House.



US defence secretary Ash Carter warned that further “freedom of navigation” operations in the region were planned. “We will fly, sail and operate wherever international law permits,” he told a congressional hearing.



China reacted to Tuesday’s long-anticipated mission by hurling a barrage of accusations at Washington.



“The United States has been very irresponsible,” defense ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun said, according to Xinhua, China’s official news agency.



“We will take any measures necessary to safeguard our security.”



Lu Kang, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said China would “resolutely respond” to any deliberate provocations but declined to be drawn on any potential military response.



“I advise the US not to make a fool out of themselves in trying to be smart,” Lu said.



But despite the angry rhetoric coming out of Beijing, experts say China’s response has been relatively muted.



“It seems like China’s reaction – at least initially – has been to respond in a restrained, operational way. The Chinese have absolutely no interest in sparking a tactical crisis or any kind of confrontation with the Americans,” said Ashley Townshend, a South China Sea expert from the University of Sydney’s United States studies centre.



China’s military buildup in the South China Sea – including the construction of a 3km runway capable of supporting fighter jets and transport planes – has become a major source of tension between Beijing and Washington.



China claims most of the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest sea lanes, although Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims. Beijing says

“These islands are not going away – unless global warming takes them out.”the islands will have mainly civilian uses as well as undefined defence purposes.

Russia in Syria- Fighter Jets Hit ISIS training center in Damascus Province

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Russia in Syria- Bombers hit ISIS posts in Hama

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Russia in Syria- Jets Bombed ISIS Fortification in Lattakia

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Russia in Syria- Jets Bombed ISIS Fortification in Lattakia.

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South China Sea- U.S. Destroyer USS Lassen Sails Near Disputed Islands

http://www.newsbharati.com/ South China Sea- US destroyer to Sail near Disputed Island, China Reacts Sharply.

US destroyer china reacts

U.S. Navy destroyer patrols near islands built by China in South China Sea

The U.S. Navy sent a guided-missile destroyer within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea on Tuesday, a U.S. defence official said, in a challenge to China's territorial claims in the area.



The official said the USS Lassen was sailing near Subi and Mischief reefs in the Spratly archipelago, features that were submerged at high tide before China began a massive dredging project to turn them into islands in 2014.



"The operation has begun ... It will be complete within a few hours," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.



The mission would be the start of a series of challenges to China's territorial claims in one of the world's busiest sea lanes, another U.S. defence official said.



The second official earlier said the ship would likely be accompanied by a U.S. Navy P-8A surveillance plane and possibly P-3 surveillance plane, which have been conducting regular surveillance missions in the region.



The patrols represent the most serious U.S. challenge yet to 12-nautical-mile territorial limits China claims around the islands and are certain to anger Beijing, which said last month it would "never allow any country" to violate its territorial waters and airspace in the Spratlys.



China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing was trying to verify if the U.S. ship had entered the 12-mile zone.



"If true, we advise the U.S. to think again and before acting, not act blindly or make trouble out of nothing," the Foreign Ministry quoted Wang as saying.



The Chinese Embassy in Washington said the concept of freedom of navigation should not be used as an excuse for muscle flexing and the United States should "refrain from saying or doing anything provocative and act responsibly in maintaining regional peace and stability."



Additional patrols would follow in the coming weeks and could also be conducted around features that Vietnam and the Philippines have built up in the Spratlys, the second U.S. official said.



"This is something that will be a regular occurrence, not a one-off event," said the official. "It's not something that's unique to China."



RELATED COVERAGE

› China urges U.S. to act cautiously in South China Sea

› U.S. Navy begins patrol near China's man-made islands in South China Sea - U.S. defence official

White House spokesman Josh Earnest referred questions on any specific operations to the Pentagon but said the United States had made clear to China the importance of free flow of commerce in the South China Sea.



"There are billions of dollars of commerce that float through that region of the world," Earnest told a news briefing. "Ensuring that free flow of commerce ... is critical to the global economy," he said.



The patrols were the first within 12 miles of the features since China began building the reefs up at the end of 2013. The United States last went within 12 miles of Chinese-claimed territory in the Spratlys in 2012.



The decision to go ahead follows months of deliberation and risks significantly upsetting already strained ties with China, the world's second-biggest economy, with which U.S. business and economic interests are deeply intertwined.



U.S. Congressman Randy Forbes, chairman of the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, earlier praised the plan.



"The passage of U.S. vessels within 12 nautical miles of China's man-made features in the South China Sea is a necessary and overdue response to China’s destabilising behaviour in the region," Forbes said.



China claims most of the South China Sea, one of the world's busiest sea lanes, through which more than $5 trillion of world trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.



 



COMPETING CLAIMS



Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12-nautical mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs.



Washington worries that China has built up the islands with the aim of extending its military reach in the South China Sea. China says they will have mainly civilian uses as well as undefined defence purposes.



RELATED COVERAGE

› U.S. Navy ship nears 12-mile limit around Chinese islands

› China says freedom of navigation 'should not be used as excuse to flex muscle'

The patrols come just weeks ahead of a series of Asia-Pacific summits President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend in the second half of November.



    Xi surprised U.S. officials after a meeting with Obama in Washington last month by saying that China had "no intention to militarize" the islands.

Refugee Crisis- Slovenia Warns Break Down of European Union, EU

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Refugee Crisis- Slovenia Warns Break Down of European Union, EU.

Slovenia warns migrant crisis may break down European Union

The European Union faces collapse if the bloc cannot agree on a plan to confront the huge numbers of refugees making their way through the Balkans, Slovenia's prime minister warned on Sunday as leaders bickered over who was to blame for the crisis.

Nine days after Hungary's move to seal its southern border drove unprecedented migrant flows into tiny Slovenia, Prime Minister Miro Cerar sent out a dramatic call to fellow central and eastern leaders in Brussels for emergency talks.

Migrants move through fields after crossing from Croatia to Slovenia on Sunday.

Migrants move through fields after crossing from Croatia to Slovenia on Sunday. Photo: Darko Bandic

"If we don't find a solution today, if we don't do everything we can today, then it is the end of the European Union as such," Mr Cerar said.



"If we don't deliver concrete action, I believe Europe will start falling apart."

Fleeing war and oppression to seek a new life in Germany and northern Europe, refugees have continued to come through the western Balkans and have shifted west into Slovenia after Hungary's border fencing was completed. Since October 17, more than 62,000 migrants have arrived in Slovenia, with some 14,000 still passing through the country on Sunday.



Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was unrepentant, describing his country as an "observer" in the crisis since the border closures and that he had no advice to give other leaders.

But such apparent detachment was not shared by many at the meeting. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov quoted US independence hero Benjamin Franklin saying: "If we don't stick together we will hang separately."

With winter approaching, Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's chief executive, called the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia to Brussels to seek a common approach.

More than 680,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Following years of economic crisis, Europe's governments are struggling to cope with an influx of people from countries including Syria, where Russia's intervention has complicated efforts to end nearly five years of civil war.

Border guards

Despite an agreed framework to relocate some migrants already in Europe, a broader common policy is still embryonic, with this latest meeting trying to heal a rift over whether to welcome more migrants or toughen up the EU's external borders.

In a 16-point plan seen by Reuters, leaders will try to balance their approach, likely agreeing to send 400 border guards to the western Balkan border if the EU's frontier states drop their policy of giving arrivals passage to other countries.

Mr Cerar said Croatia, which has already seen some 230,000 migrants pass through since mid-September, was still waiving migrants through into Slovenia without alerting Slovenia authorities.

In the draft statement, the leaders seek to speed up repatriations of people from South Asia, namely Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose asylum requests are rejected because they are simply seeking a better life and not fleeing war or oppression.

Germany, which has troops in Afghanistan helping to stabilise the country under a NATO mission, wants the European Commission to negotiate an agreement on returning people to Afghanistan whose asylum applications have been rejected.

"We commit to immediately increase our efforts to manage our borders," the draft said, which, if formalised, would also mean more ships off Greece to deter people traffickers, more land border checks in Macedonia and more money for border control.

Even with agreement on the 16-point plan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned that there would be no solution without Turkey, which was not invited to the meeting.

"We will not solve the refugee problem completely, we need, among other things, further talks with Turkey for that," MS Merkel said.

"Only with Turkey we can switch illegality to legality. It is very important that the (European) Commission discusses further the migration agenda with Turkey."

Brussels has presented Ankara with a so-called action plan in which Turkey receives EU funding to absorb more migrants fleeing Syria in return for easier travel rules to Europe and a broadening of long-running talks on eventual Turkish membership of the bloc.

That could mean the European Union sending some 3 billion euros ($3.31 billion) in aid.

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Migrants Crisis- Unrest in Balkans as Refugee Flow Control Measures Coll...

Slovenia warns migrant crisis may break down European Union

The European Union faces collapse if the bloc cannot agree on a plan to confront the huge numbers of refugees making their way through the Balkans, Slovenia's prime minister warned on Sunday as leaders bickered over who was to blame for the crisis.

Nine days after Hungary's move to seal its southern border drove unprecedented migrant flows into tiny Slovenia, Prime Minister Miro Cerar sent out a dramatic call to fellow central and eastern leaders in Brussels for emergency talks.

Migrants move through fields after crossing from Croatia to Slovenia on Sunday.

Migrants move through fields after crossing from Croatia to Slovenia on Sunday. Photo: Darko Bandic

"If we don't find a solution today, if we don't do everything we can today, then it is the end of the European Union as such," Mr Cerar said.



"If we don't deliver concrete action, I believe Europe will start falling apart."

Fleeing war and oppression to seek a new life in Germany and northern Europe, refugees have continued to come through the western Balkans and have shifted west into Slovenia after Hungary's border fencing was completed. Since October 17, more than 62,000 migrants have arrived in Slovenia, with some 14,000 still passing through the country on Sunday.



Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was unrepentant, describing his country as an "observer" in the crisis since the border closures and that he had no advice to give other leaders.

But such apparent detachment was not shared by many at the meeting. Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov quoted US independence hero Benjamin Franklin saying: "If we don't stick together we will hang separately."

With winter approaching, Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's chief executive, called the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia to Brussels to seek a common approach.

More than 680,000 migrants and refugees have crossed to Europe by sea so far this year from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

Following years of economic crisis, Europe's governments are struggling to cope with an influx of people from countries including Syria, where Russia's intervention has complicated efforts to end nearly five years of civil war.

Border guards

Despite an agreed framework to relocate some migrants already in Europe, a broader common policy is still embryonic, with this latest meeting trying to heal a rift over whether to welcome more migrants or toughen up the EU's external borders.

In a 16-point plan seen by Reuters, leaders will try to balance their approach, likely agreeing to send 400 border guards to the western Balkan border if the EU's frontier states drop their policy of giving arrivals passage to other countries.

Mr Cerar said Croatia, which has already seen some 230,000 migrants pass through since mid-September, was still waiving migrants through into Slovenia without alerting Slovenia authorities.

In the draft statement, the leaders seek to speed up repatriations of people from South Asia, namely Afghanistan and Pakistan, whose asylum requests are rejected because they are simply seeking a better life and not fleeing war or oppression.

Germany, which has troops in Afghanistan helping to stabilise the country under a NATO mission, wants the European Commission to negotiate an agreement on returning people to Afghanistan whose asylum applications have been rejected.

"We commit to immediately increase our efforts to manage our borders," the draft said, which, if formalised, would also mean more ships off Greece to deter people traffickers, more land border checks in Macedonia and more money for border control.

Even with agreement on the 16-point plan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cautioned that there would be no solution without Turkey, which was not invited to the meeting.

"We will not solve the refugee problem completely, we need, among other things, further talks with Turkey for that," MS Merkel said.

"Only with Turkey we can switch illegality to legality. It is very important that the (European) Commission discusses further the migration agenda with Turkey."

Brussels has presented Ankara with a so-called action plan in which Turkey receives EU funding to absorb more migrants fleeing Syria in return for easier travel rules to Europe and a broadening of long-running talks on eventual Turkish membership of the bloc.

That could mean the European Union sending some 3 billion euros ($3.31 billion) in aid.

Tony Blair Making Ground for Chilcot Iraq War Inquiry Report

It seems that by apologizing for Iraq war Tony Blair Creating background for Chilcot report on Iraq War.

As former PM Tony Blair will bear brunt of criticism over Iraq war, report is expected to target wider number of people than had expected.

Sir John Chilcot is to apportion blame for Britain’s role in the Iraq war much more widely than had been expected, going well beyond Tony Blair and his inner team, according to sources involved with his six-year inquiry.

While Blair will bear the brunt of the report’s criticism, one source said it would suit the former prime minister to see a wide range of targets blamed when it is published.

It has been assumed that Chilcot would concentrate on Blair and his closest advisers in Downing Street. However, the Guardian understands the inquiry intends to criticise a much bigger circle of ministers and officials, including Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the Iraq invasion in 2003.

Others in focus are Sir Richard Dearlove, then head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, chairman of the joint intelligence committee, Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, Clare Short, the international development secretary, and senior officials in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the Foreign Office and the Cabinet Office. The inquiry took evidence from about 150 people.

The Chilcot inquiry has come under increased pressure over the last few weeks to publish the report. The inquiry began in 2009, with hearings completed in 2011, but has been beset by repeated delays.

The inquiry team is dismayed about sustained media attacks in the last few weeks over the delay. The media coverage has increased pressure on Chilcot to agree a date for publication. David Cameron also expressed frustration last week over failure to complete the report.

The wide circle of people facing criticism is cited as one of the reasons for the delay. As part of the process, every individual to be criticised is sent draft passages giving them an opportunity to comment. Some of those who have received drafts have expressed surprise, having regarded themselves as peripheral to the events leading up to the invasion.

Chilcot wants to ensure that those criticised are given every opportunity to rebut the criticism. He does not want to give them an excuse to take legal action or attack the inquiry after the final report has been published.

The final report will not include the number of people who have been sent drafts containing criticism. The public may not know to what extent Chilcot has toned down his criticism in response to objections.

The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that in response to a freedom of information request, the inquiry said it “does not intend to make public the specific details of timing, content or recipients” of the Maxwellisation process, even after the final report is published.



The Times reported last week that Sir Nicholas Houghton is among those facing criticism for his actions during the Iraq war. But a source close to the inquiry agreed that while there would be criticism of military decisions taken after the invasion, the bulk of the criticism would be directed less towards the military than others involved.

The main focus of the inquiry is on the events leading up to the 2003 invasion, in particular questions of about the legality of military action, faulty intelligence and whether Blair gave an early undertaking to the then US president, George W Bush, to support the US-led invasion.

The British handling of Iraq after the invasion, including its attempts to subdue Basra, is regarded as important but secondary.

Senior military figures told the inquiry they were given insufficient time to prepare for the war for political reasons, mainly because the government did not want to admit that the invasion was almost certain to go ahead.

Military commanders were among the sharpest witnesses to the inquiry, strongly criticising the failures of Whitehall decision makers. They have been prevented by the MoD from publishing their criticisms of the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.

Letters: I respect the uncompromising determination of Sir John Chilcot and his commission to find out the facts behind this. But we must be told when his Iraq inquiry report will be made public

 Admiral Lord Boyce, chief of the defence staff at the time of the invasion, told the inquiry: “I suspect if I asked half the cabinet were we at war, they would not have known what I was talking about. There was a lack of political cohesion at the top.”

The Guardian understands the inquiry will avoid judging on this. Although Lord Goldsmith, the then attorney general, described how Blair shut him out of discussions, his critics say the attorney passed the buck to Blair.



The inquiry has already heard that Straw roundly dismissed the unanimous view of the top lawyers in the Foreign Office that an invasion of Iraq would be illegal.

Houghton, chief of the defence staff of the British armed forces, was not directly involved in the events leading up to the invasion. He only became involved in Iraq from 2005 through to 2009.

The inquiry was angry over delays by the Cabinet Office in reaching agreement on publication of some of the Blair-Bush correspondence, which Chilcot has described as key evidence that is “vital to the public understanding of the inquiry’s conclusions”.

The frontrunner in the race to become the next Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, last week partially pre-empted Chilcot’s findings, issuing a statement saying he would apologise for the Labour government’s decision to go to war.

One of his rivals, Andy Burnham, said he would be open to such an apology but only after the Chilcot report was published and if “apologies need to be made”

Even though Chilcot indicts the real culprits in British political hierarchy for bloody Iraq war, who is responsible for loss of thousands of lives of innocent Iraqi people? Can Tony Blair compensate these lives?

Russia Released Clear Drone Footage of Syria War Devastation

http://www.newsbharati.com/ Russia Released Clear Drone Footage of Syria War Devastation.

Russia posts Syria attack drone footage amid propaganda drive

Dramatic footage shot by team working for Russia’s state broadcaster purports to show Assad forces advancing into rebel-held suburb of Damascus

This dramatic drone footage from Damascus gives a chilling idea of the scale of destruction on Syria’s urban battlefields.

The footage, shot by team working for Russia’s state broadcaster VGTRK, purports to show Syrian regime forces advancing into Jobar, a rebel-held suburb of the Syrian capital.

The attempt to retake Jobar is one of several offensives launched by Syrian government forces since Russia began airstrikes to support ground operations by the regime, Iran, and Hizbollah three weeks ago.

Elements of the footage were first broadcast in a report from Syria on Russia’s Vesti news channel last Wednesday, but a full montage - including stylised editing and a techno soundtrack - was posted on Youtube on Monday.

Russia’s military and government spin machine has been working overtime to sell the intervention to the Russian public.

Much of the effort appears to be modelled on strategies used by Nato and other western governments during previous interventions in Iraq, the Balkans, and elsewhere.

Russia’s defence ministry, which was heavily criticised for a lack of transparency during Russia’s last official war, in Georgia in 2008, issues daily briefings including cock-pit camera and drone footage of strikes being carried out.

The briefings emphasise the “surgical” nature of strikes, consistently claim impressive results, and downplay reports of civilian casualties as “information attacks” by Russia’s enemies.

And they have sought to neuter western objections that Russia is mostly bombing anti-Assad rebels, but not Isil, by painting all anti-Assad forces as extremist “terrorists.” The “moderate opposition,” the argument goes, exists only in the imagination of American policy makers.

Meanwhile, correspondents from Russia’s tighty-controlled state broadcasters and pro-Kremlin newspapers have been embedded with Syrian government forces since before airstrikes began, and began sending in dramatic dispatches from the ground the moment the intervention was announced in Moscow.

That has been backed by pundits and talking heads explaining the necessity of the campaign. At one point state television even showed a weather forecast that predicted perfect weather for the bombing campaign.

Bellingcat, a citizen journalism group, has challenged many of the Ministry of Defence videos, saying that satellite photo analysis shows the MoD have occasionally lied about where strikes were filmed.

The group has highlighted two cases where videos purporting to show airstrikes on targets near the Isil terror-group’s stronghold of Raqqa, in eastern Syria, actually showed attacks on positions roughly 100 miles to the west.

Domestically, the spin seems to be working. Before the intervention just 14 percent of Russians said they backed direct military support for Bashar Al Assad’s government, according to a mid-September poll by the independent Levada Centre.

But a later survey by the same pollster released on October 8, one week into the air campaign, showed 72 percent of Russians backing airstrikes against ISIS/ ISIL



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Syria Army Entering Aleppo South amid Heavy Fighting

Syria Army Entering Aleppo South amid Heavy Fighting

Syrian government forces backed by Russian air strikes have launched a fresh offensive against rebels south of the country's second city, Aleppo.
A military source told Reuters news agency that "hundreds" of troops from Hezbollah and Iran were also involved.
Control of Aleppo has been divided between government forces and various rebel groups since 2012.
The Syrian army has launched at least four ground offensives since Russia began air strikes two weeks ago.
They are in a wide stretch of mostly rural territory north of the cities of Homs and Hama, in the rugged northern parts of Latakia province along the coast and now the villages and countryside south of Aleppo.
In a statement the Syrian army said that it had inflicted "heavy losses" on rebel groups, with the help of Russian strikes.
Russia says it is targeting "terrorists", primarily jihadist militants from Islamic State (IS), but Western governments say many strikes have hit civilians and moderate rebel groups.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah said the Syrian army was carrying out a "broad military operation" across a 10-mile (16km) front south of Aleppo.
"This is the promised battle," a Syrian military source told Reuters news agency.
"The main core is the Syrian army", the source said, but added that hundreds of fighters from Iran and Hezbollah were taking part.
There are unconfirmed reports that hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria to join assaults on rebel positions in northern and central Syria by government forces and fighters from the Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah.
An unnamed US official told AFP that as many as 2,000 Iranian-backed fighters were helping the Syrian army near Aleppo.
"We are now seeing a coordinated effort between Iran and Russia to assist Assad with fighting opposition groups", the official said.
Iran, a staunch ally of President Bashar al-Assad, has long acknowledged sending military advisers to Syria, but has denied the presence of any ground forces.
Several high-profile Iranian advisers have been killed in the past month as the fighting continues.

Syria Army Fighting to Take Aleppo Supply Line From ISIS

Syria Army Fighting to Take Aleppo Supply Line From ISIS

Syria army fighting to retake Aleppo supply line from ISIS

Syrian troops backed by Russian air strikes battled Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group fighters on Saturday in a bid to restore a key supply line to second city Aleppo, a monitoring group said.

At least 28 ISIS fighters and 21 troops and militia have been killed in the battle for the road that leads to the government-held sector of Aleppo city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The jihadists' cutting of the highway from the rest of government-held territory on Friday dealt a blow to the regime, which has launched multiple ground offensives since Russia began an air campaign on September 30.

Aleppo was Syria's pre-war economic hub but it has been ravaged by fighting since mid-2012 and is divided between government control in the west and rebel control in the east.

The surrounding countryside is controlled by a patchwork of armed groups, including Islamist and moderate rebels as well as ISIS and its jihadist rival, Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

With the support of Russian air strikes, the army has recaptured territory south of the city in recent days and is seeking to break an ISIS siege of the Kweyris airbase to its east.

The clashes to the south of the city have killed at least 16 rebels since Friday, the Observatory said.

The army has also been on the attack in Hama and Homs provinces further south.

Twelve rebels and 14 troops and pro-government militia were killed in the fighting in Hama province, the Observatory said.

Indian Navy- How Modi's India Projected Naval Forces on Global Theatre

Indian Navy How Modi's India Projected Naval Forces on Global Theatre






India has finally made its naval strength felt across the globe. The navy has sent frontline warships to almost 40 nations in the last year. This is the first time ever, a record engagement across the world reflecting the foreign policy focus of the government has been pursued through the naval warships.



The Navy has also pulled off the almost impossible by deploying warships to nations as diverse as Iran and Israel - within ten days of each other - as well as Saudi Arabia and the UK, all within the past month. The Economic Times has spoken to several Navy officers who confirmed that this is the first time that over three dozen nations have been directly engaged, calling it a significant increase in interaction with friendly foreign nations.



"In the past 12 months, Indian warships have been deployed from the western Pacific in the east to the west coast of South Adriatic and have shown the flag in almost all major ports and interacted with friendly navies in the region," Navy chief Admiral RK Dhowan told ET.



The nations visited is diverse and reflects Indian interests across the world - from Vietnam, Japan, Singapore and Myanmar in the east to Egypt, Turkey, France and Spain in the west. Frontline warships like the indigenously made stealth frigate, INS Sahyadri, have even sailed as far as Hawaii within the past year.

"This unprecedented footprint in the Indian Ocean Region and beyond reflects the role the Navy plays in shaping the maritime environment in our area of interest," Admiral Dhowan told the ET.



Modi will be addressing top military commanders onboard aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya next month. He has already made it clear that his government's priority is on the maritime domain with most major modernisation projects cleared pertaining to the Navy, including an ambitious Rs 1 lakh crore plan to construct six nuclear powered attack submarines indigenously.





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Titanic Biscuits Fethched 15,000 Pounds in London Auction

Titanic Biscuits Fethched 15,000 Pounds in London Auction



London: The "world's most valuable biscuit", which survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has fetched a whopping 15,000 pounds at an auction in the UK, while a photograph believed to be that of the iceberg which sank the liner sold for 21,000 pounds.





The Spillers and Bakers Pilot cracker, from a survival kit in a lifeboat, was "the world's most valuable biscuit," said Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge from Henry Aldridge & Son auctioneers Wiltshire.



The biscuit was sold to a collector in Greece, far exceeding its presale estimate of between 8,000 pounds and 10,000 pounds.



The cracker was saved by James Fenwick, a passenger on the Carpathia which picked up Titanic survivors.



He kept it in an envelope complete with original notation, "Pilot biscuit from Titanic lifeboat April 1912".



The auction also saw a photograph purporting to show the iceberg that sank the ill-fated liner selling for 21,000 pounds, 'BBC News' reported.



The estimated guide price had been between 10,000 pounds and 15,000 pounds.



Titanic had been four days into a week-long Transatlantic crossing from Southampton to New York when it struck the iceberg on April 14, 1912, killing more than 1,500 people.



The grainy black-and-white photograph was captured the day after the luxury liner sank.



It was taken by the chief steward of steamer the Prinz Adalbert, who was at the time unaware of the tragedy that had occurred the previous day.



A cup presented to the captain of the Carpathia also sold for 129,000 pounds to a UK collector.



It was given to Captain Arthur Rostron by survivor Molly Brown, paid for by donations from wealthy passengers after the disaster.



Aldridge said the price paid for the cup made it the third most valuable item associated with the Titanic story to have ever been sold.

Google Nexus 6P In India- Review

Google Nexus 6P In India- Review




Introduction





Google Nexus 6P Review

Choice. It’s a good thing. For this year’s lineup of Nexus devices, Google adds not one, but two brand new smartphones that better cover a wider gamut of the demographics. We’ve already taken an in-depth look at the smaller model of the two, the Google Nexus 5X. Purists and enthusiasts are no doubt stoked about the prospect of pure Android, but not everyone will like the duller styling of the Nexus 5X.



Enter the Nexus 6P, a rock solid phone that screams Premium – it makes more sense why they named it the 6P. First timer in the Nexus world, Google commissioned Chinese company Huawei to design one its latest Nexus phones. For Huawei, it’s undeniably a ripe opportunity for them to build brand reputation not only in the US, but all around the world as well, seeing that they’ve struggled in gaining notoriety in other markets besides Asia.



When last year’s Nexus 6 was announced, many Nexus faithfuls were given a little bit of a surprise in the form of a higher-priced smartphone – whereas with the previous two Nexus smartphones, they were much easier on the pockets. Normally, high-level, metal phones, especially ones accompanied with killer specs, tend to cost a premium as well, but for the Huawei-made Nexus 6P, it’s ensuring that it’s undercutting the competition with its $499.99 starting cost. And best of all, it’s a pure Android device.



We’ve certainly seen our fair share of killer smartphones that are on the affordable side, so how does this Nexus compare?



The package contains:



Google Nexus 6P

Wall charger

USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable

USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable

Quick start guide

Safety & warranty information

SIM removal tool



Design

Sleek. Sexy. Super. It exudes an intense premium feel, arguably the most premium Nexus to date.



Looking back at what was done, the original grand-daddy of them all, the one and only Nexus One, arguably claimed the reputation of being the most premium-made Nexus ever. Yes, the Nexus 4 came pretty close with its glass surfaces, but the original is still highly acclaimed. That’s all changing, though, mainly because the Nexus 6P is one gorgeous looking phone from head-to-toe.



Huawei has crafted a fine handset with the Nexus 6P, boasting a contoured aluminum body that never feels brittle – even with its slim 7.3mm frame. Its aluminum chassis is incredibly sturdy, exhibiting a design that’s meticulously crafted. You can see that attention to detail in things like its subtle beveled edges adorning its sides, the minimal plastic spacers used to comprise its cellular radio, and the shiny trim around the camera lens.



Speaking of the camera, some might point out the protruding hump that’s there, but it’s not as pervasive as you’d think. In fact, it looks like it doesn’t stick out that much at all when viewing it at certain angles. Its size, instead, is arguably what’s going to either attract or detract people from it. Comparing it to some other phones packing 5.7-inch screens, the Nexus 6P is a bit taller and wider – while sporting a 71.6% screen-to-body ratio, which is lower than say, the Note5 or Moto X Pure Edition. Its weight, too, at 178 grams is a bit heavier than the Note5, but it’s warranted considering it’s nearly all metal here.



Above all, it’s satisfying that it’s sporting an original design with that premium quality intact. Not only is it a different looking thing, but it’s undeniably the best-designed Nexus device put together to date. That’s not an understatement at all, however, it certainly will help Huawei gain some notoriety on a wider basis. Although they’re no strangers to premium designs, this one is just to die for.

When it comes to button placement, both the power button and volume controls are situated in ideal locations, next to one another on the right side of the phone. It helps that they’re raised and offer spring responses when pressed, but we do like how the power button bears a rigid texture to tell it apart by just feeling it with our finger. The only other things found around its edges are the 3.5mm headphone jack on the top side, and a new USB Type-C port on the bottom.



Unlike its sibling in the Nexus 5X, the 6P comes with both a USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable to enable us to charge it with the included wall charger (one that rocks a USB Type-C port), as well as a USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable used to connect to a traditional USB port. At the moment, we find the latter cable to be the more useful of the two because it means we can connect it to our computer to transfer over files, and also charge it through any other USB chargers we have around. The argument for this newer connection is that the cable is reversible, so no more wondering if it’s being inserted the correct way.



Oh yeah, the Nexus 6P also rocks dual-front firing speakers, which could’ve mitigated its screen-to-body ratio, but it’s nice to have for watching videos because it ideally projects audio towards us. And lastly, there’s a recessed fingerprint sensor in the back that functions flawlessly to unlock the phone – even when it’s in standby. That’s useful because it eliminates the need to press the power button first to wake it up, then proceed to unlock using the fingerprint sensor.

Syria War Russia & US Talked Over Syria Political Process

The US secretary of state, John Kerry, and Russia’s foreign minister have spoken about holding talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.

In a telephone conversation on Saturday held at Kerry’s request, he and Sergei Lavrov also discussed enlisting other countries in the region to help push the political process forward, the Russian foreign ministry said.

Lavrov also appeared on Russian state TV on Saturday, urging an intensification of efforts to find a political solution to the war. He said Moscow was ready to coordinate with the US in fighting terrorism in Syria.

He said Russia would be ready to help western-backed Free Syrian Army rebels if it knew their locations.

Lavrov said the Kremlin wanted Syria to prepare for parliamentary and presidential elections and that Russia was prepared to provide air support to the Free Syrian Army, as Moscow intensified its drive to convert its increased clout with Damascus into a political settlement.

The Kremlin, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s strongest foreign ally, has spoken broadly about the need for elections in Syria before. However, Lavrov’s comments represent a notable shift in Russia’s position.

It follows a meeting on Friday with the US and other countries to discuss a political solution to the Syrian crisis and comes just days after a surprise visit by Assad to Moscow.

Lavrov said: “External players cannot decide anything for the Syrians. We must force them to come up with a plan for their country where the interests of every religious, ethnic and political group will be well protected.”

He also said the continued US refusal to coordinate its military campaign in Syria with Moscow was “a big mistake”.

The comments follow criticism of Russia’s military intervention in Syria by the Gulf Cooperation Council. Its assistant secretary general, Abdel Aziz Abu Hamad Aluwaisheg, said that the action taken by Russia was “the best gift that could be given to terrorist groups”.

“I think it has the potential of being a very dangerous escalation between the superpowers, between Russia and the US,” he told the BBC.

“I think we’re all concerned about that and I think the Russian decision that was made without consultation, without coordination with the international coalition to fight Daesh [Isis] is unfortunate, and I think it could cause dangerous escalation.”

Aluwaisheg warned that Russia’s military intervention risked bolstering terrorist groups, saying it would help them recruit more members from all over the world. He said: “I think it probably will happen in Syria if the Russian intervention continues.”

His comments came as the Russian defence ministry said its planes had flown 934 sorties and destroyed 819 militant targets in Syria since the start of its operation on 30 September, the Interfax news agency reported.



Meanwhile, Kerry, was flying to Saudi Arabia for further talks on the conflict in Syria.



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Hurricane Patricia Hits Coast of Mexico- Detail Report

Hurricane Patricia Mexico

Hurricane Patricia has become the strongest hurricane ever measured in the Pacific. Meteorologist Danielle Banks takes a look at some video from Manzanillo, Mexico, as it makes landfall.

Hurricane Patricia made landfall Friday evening near Cuixmala, Mexico, 55 miles west-northwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 165 miles per hour.

The southern coast of Mexico has already seen swells generated by Patricia that will spread northwestward during the next day or so, according to an advisory from the National Hurricane Center. These swells are likely to create surf and rip current conditions that could be life-threatening.

Prior to Patricia's arrival, Mexican authorities declared a state of emergency and warned residents to prepare. The state of emergency was issued for 56 municipalities who are projected to face Patricia's wrath, the Associated Press reported. The municipalities are located in Colima, Nayarit and Jalisco states.

"We need people to understand the magnitude of the hurricane, it is a devastating hurricane, the biggest one ever registered," Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio told Mexico’s Radio Formula Friday morning, via the AP.

vacuations were made in the areas expected to be hit hardest by Patricia and more than 200 people were gathered the convention center in Puerto Vallarta for buses to take them to a safe location before the arrival of Hurricane Patricia, AP reports. Due to a miscommunication, several hotels sent their guests to the center ahead of the storm. The center was not prepared to take them in and the large glass panels on the building could become deadly in the high winds of the storm.

Sirens have been sounded along the coastline to warn residents and tourists that they need to evacuate, according to Ian Hayden Parker, a former resident of Atlanta, Georgia, who has lived in Puerto Vallarta for the past 10 years.



"Currently, my focus for Vallarta Daily is to get the word out about this storm," he told The Weather Channel. "For many of us connected, it’s hard to imagine people still would not be informed, but it’s true. We live in a resort town, but outside of the tourist zone, there is still a lot of poverty and people without computers, Internet, or phones. So this is an ongoing concern."

At CellMex Medical Clinic in Puerto Vallarta, medical staff are moving patients into the safest rooms of the hospital and advising all non-life-threatening patients to stay home, Dr. Giorgio Patino told weather.com in an email.

Southwest Airlines said on its website that flights into and out of Puerto Vallarta from Friday through Sunday can be rescheduled.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami warned citizens in the path of the storm that preparations should be rushed to completion with landfall just hours away.



"This is an extremely dangerous, potentially catastrophic hurricane," center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen told the AP.

In Manzanillo, residents stocked up on non-perishables at a Wal-Mart. One of those shoppers was Alejandra Rodriguez, who bought 10 liters of milk, a large jug of water and canned foods while shopping with her mother and brother. Manzanillo's "main street really floods and cuts access to a lot of other streets. It ends up like an island," she told the AP.



Schools will close in Colima, Jalisco and Nayarit states in anticipation of Patricia's arrival, according to Mexico's civil defense coordinator, Luis Felipe Puente, the AP said.

"The neighborhood leaders have come for sacks to fill with sand," Luz Adriana Limon Rojas of Colima state's civil defense agency told the AP.

Mexico's national water commission, CONAGUA, reports that the government has 1,782 temporary shelters available in the states of Michoacán, Colima, and Jalisco with a combined capacity of more than 258,000 people.

The Vallarta Yacht Club posted a message on its Facebook page Thursday morning warning members that hurricane preparations need to start now.

“If there are things you need to do to protect your family, your home or your boat, TODAY IS THE DAY. You might want to postpone that spa appointment.”

Andy Barrow, On-the-Water Director for the club, told The Weather Channel that the Banderas Bay area is generally pretty sheltered from hurricane damage, but locals in Puerto Vallarta are nevertheless "taking down outside structures that might blow away, making sure boats are well tied, and canceling on-the-water events for this coming weekend.

The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated their website for travelers to Mexico, indicating that Hurricane Patricia is forecast to bring hazardous sea and weather conditions to parts of the west coast starting Friday.

Hurricane Patricia Strongest in Recorded History Hits Mexico

Hurricane Patricia Strongest in Recorded History Hits Mexico




Hurricane Patricia became the strongest hurricane ever known to make landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico after the center of its eye crossed the coast of Jalisco state early Friday evening. Catastrophic damage is expected along a narrow path as the eye slices into the interior of southwest Mexico Friday night.



Earlier in the day, Patricia became the most powerful tropical cyclone ever measured in the Western Hemisphere as its maximum sustained winds reached an unprecedented 200 mph (320 kph) and its central pressure fell to 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury).



(MORE: Mexico Prepares for Patricia)



At 6:15 p.m. CDT, the eye of Hurricane Patricia made landfall near Cuixmala in Jalisco state of southwest Mexico. Maximum sustained winds at landfall were estimated at 165 mph. While those were off from Patricia's extraordinary peak intensity, they still make Patricia a Category 5 hurricane capable of catastrophic wind damage in the immediate vicinity of the eye.



In addition to its unprecedented 200-mph (320-kph) sustained winds earlier Friday, Hurricane Patricia now holds the record for lowest pressure in any hurricane on record. With a minimum central pressure of 880 millibars (25.99 inches of mercury) at the 4 a.m. CDT advisory, Patricia broke the record of 882 millibars set by Wilma almost exactly 10 years ago. At the 1 p.m. CDT advisory the minimum central pressure was lowered to 879 millibars (25.96 inches of mercury).



Data from an Air Force Hurricane Hunter airborne reconnaissance mission late Thursday night provided critical data demonstrating the extreme intensification of Hurricane Patricia in near-real time. A new NOAA reconnaissance aircraft reached the eye of Patricia early Friday afternoon to gather additional direct measurements of the storm's intensity.



Unprecedented Among Pacific Hurricanes

Hurricane Patricia became the strongest Pacific hurricane on record shortly after midnight CDT early Friday. Air Force Hurricane Hunters had flown through the eye of Patricia and reported a sea-level pressure of 894 millibars as measured by a dropsonde inside the eye itself. Wind measurements suggested that the pressure measurement was not in the exact center of the eye and was probably not the absolute lowest pressure, prompting NHC to estimate the minimum central pressure at 892 millibars in its special 12:30 a.m. CDT advisory.



Current Wind Reports and Enhanced Satellite

Current Wind Reports and Enhanced Satellite

Current wind reports at selected cities in Mexico. Some sites do not report at all times of day. Enhanced satellite imagery shows the cloud pattern in and around the hurricane.

Tropical cyclone strength comparisons are typically based on minimum central pressure. At 892 millibars, Patricia shattered the Eastern Pacific basin's previous record of 902 millibars set by Hurricane Linda in 1997.



While a number of typhoons in the western North Pacific have been stronger, Patricia is by far the strongest hurricane in any basin where the term "hurricane" applies to tropical cyclones – namely, the central and eastern North Pacific basins and the North Atlantic basin, which includes the North Atlantic Ocean itself plus the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.



Exceptionally Dangerous Situation in Mexico

At 7 p.m. CDT, the center of Hurricane Patricia was 50 miles (85 km) west-northwest of Manzanillo, Mexico, or 135 miles (220 km) southwest of Guadalajara, Mexico. The eye is moving north-northeast at 15 mph (24 kph).



Maximum sustained winds were 160 mph (260 kph), meaning Patricia remains a Category 5 hurricane capable of catastrophic wind damage.



The eye of Patricia will continue to push inland through the state of Jalisco on a path that should keep it just east of the popular coastal resort city of Puerto Vallarta and just west of the inland metropolis of Guadalajara, Mexico's second-largest city. The eye or eyewall may also affect southeastern portions of the state of Nayarit and the western and northern parts of Zacatecas state later Friday night.



(MAP: Track Hurricane Patricia with Our New Interactive Storm Tracker)



The adjoining states of Colima and Nayarit will also feel some effects of Hurricane Patricia, mainly in the form of heavy rainfall, flooding and possibly mudslides. Dangerous storm surge and large, battering ocean waves breaking onshore are also dangers near the landfall point, but those will subside as the storm moves inland.