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June 29, 2017 Is The Israeli Government Planning To Rebuild The Jewish Third Temple? Find out?
The Last Chronicles of Planet Earth June 21, 2017 Edition written by Frank DiMora
June 28, 2017- Iran warns against possible U.S. military attack on Syria
Headline: Israel gears up for Jerusalem sovereignty fight in UNESCO
Israel is pushing to sway the 21 nations on UNESCO's World Heritage Committee to reject a resolution disavowing Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem, when the committee meets in Krakow, Poland, July 2-12. The diplomatic battle comes at the same time Israel is dealing with the American Jewish community over the centrality of the Western Wall as a global Jewish symbol. Diplomatic sources told The Jerusalem Post, however, that they did not believe American Jewry's anger over the cancellation of an egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall would distract Israel in its campaign for UNESCO recognition of the Jewish and Israeli connection to Jerusalem. Jordan submitted a resolution on Jerusalem on Monday that calls to rescind "all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, which have altered or purport to alter the character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem." This includes the basic law on Jerusalem, the resolution states.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Israel-gears-up-for-Jerusalem-sovereignty-fight-in-UNESCO-498031
Headline: Israel strikes Hamas bases in Gaza after rocket: officials
Israeli airstrikes hit a series of targets in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip overnight Monday, officials said, hours after a rocket from the Palestinian enclave landed in the Jewish state. Strikes were recorded in at least three locations in Gaza, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said, with Hamas bases struck near the southern city of Rafah and Gaza City, as well as open land southeast of Gaza City. The Israeli army said the strikes were in "response to projectile fire that hit near the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council." "Two (Israeli) aircrafts targeted two military infrastructures belong to the Hamas terrorist organization," it added. That rocket, fired a few hours earlier, landed in an open area close to Israeli border communities without causing any injuries. The rocket was claimed by a previously unheard of Salafist group.
Headline: Fighting intensifies in Syrian Golan Heights
Fighting between government forces and opposition fighters has intensified in the Quneitra province in Syria's south, situated in the 30 percent part of the Golan Heights under Syrian control. More than a dozen people were killed, including both pro-government forces and opposition fighters, in the latest increase in fighting in the countryside of al-Baath city and near the town of Khan Arnab, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said on Sunday. The deaths came as the al-Qaeda-linked Levant Liberation Committee [Hayat Tahrir al-Sham] and allied anti-government groups launched an offensive to take control of al-Baath city, one of the few towns in the province that has remained under control of Syrian government forces in recent years.Also on Sunday, Israeli fighter jets targeted Syrian government positions in the region for a second day in a row, reportedly destroying a handful of tanks. The UK-based SOHR reported that the strikes killed two Syrian army soldiers and injured several others.
***Caution: Al Jazeera news
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/06/fighting-intensifies-syrian-golan-heights-170626033648183.html
Headline: Israel Strikes Syria After Spillover Hits Golan Heights During Netanyahu Visit
Errant fire from the Syrian war hit the Israeli Golan Heights on Wednesday, the Israeli military confirmed. There were no damages or casualties. Israel struck Assad regime targets soon after the incident in response. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was attending a ceremony marking 40 years since the establishment of the town of Katzrin in northern Israel at the time of the fire. Israel will not allow for an Iranian presence in the Golan Heights, Netanyahu said during his remarks. "We are always amazed that there is still someone who says we will return the Golan," said the prime minister. "The Golan is our and the Golan will always be ours. The Golan is ours because it belonged to our forefathers, and because it was taken back by us due to Syrian aggression." Netanyahu also threatened that, "Those who fire into our territory will encounter a swift response."
http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/1.798389
Headline: Yemeni army forces seize strategic outpost
Yemeni army succeeded today in the liberation of a strategic mountain eastern Yemen from the grip of the coup militia. Local sources said that the Yemeni army forces and the Popular Resistance liberated the strategic Mount "Marthad" overlooking the strategic Sirwah District Center, the last main stronghold of the coup militia in Marib. The sources pointed out that "Only one outpost separates the Yemeni army forces from full control of that region."
Headline: Hamas building buffer zone along Gaza-Egypt border
Hamas began constructing a security buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Wednesday in an attempt to improve relations with Cairo. The buffer, which will include observation towers, cameras and lighting, will be 100 feet wide and 7.5 miles along the southern border of the strip's coast and the Sinai Peninsula, the Hamas interior ministry said. The construction of the buffer zone "is a reassuring message directed at the Egyptian side that the national security of Egypt is the national security of Gaza," Tawfiq Abu Naim, a security chief of the Gaza-based group, said in the statement. "These continuing measures are for the sake of achieving control of the southern border and to completely prevent infiltration and smuggling," he added. "We can not allow any threat to the stable security situation on the southern border." He said the project was agreed upon during a nine-day visit to Egypt by a high-level Hamas delegation to Egypt earlier this month.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/06/28/Hamas-building-buffer-zone-along-Gaza-Egypt-border/2551498668962/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=2
Headline: Egyptian warplanes hit arms convoy from Libya
Egyptian warplanes struck a convoy of 12 vehicles about to be driven across the border from Libya carrying weapons and ammunition, the military said on Tuesday. The military said in a statement that it had acted on "intelligence indicating a number of criminal elements had gathered to cross the border into Egypt using a number of four-wheel-drive vehicles." An official in the armed forces told AFP the vehicles had been on the move from Libya. Air force units found "the hostile targets, confirmed their coordinates and dealt with them for more than 12 hours," the military said, without specifying when the raids were carried out. "The operation led to the targeting and destruction of 12 four-wheel-drive vehicles carrying quantities of weapons, ammunition, and explosive materials," it added.
Headline: Syria chemical attack may be being prepared, US warns
The US says Syria's government appears to be preparing for a chemical weapons attack and has warned that it will "pay a very heavy price" if one takes place. The White House said similar activities had been seen before the nerve agent Sarin was allegedly dropped on rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun in April. Dozens of people were killed, prompting President Donald Trump to order a missile strike on a Syrian airbase. Syria's government denies it is preparing a chemical attack.On Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Capt Jeff Davis said activity had been spotted at the Syrian army's Shayrat airfield, from where the US says jets departed before the Khan Sheikhoun incident. "This involved specific aircraft in a specific hangar, both of which we know to be associated with chemical weapons use," Capt Davis said. In a statement on Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the US had "identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children". He added that if "Mr Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price". The White House provided no supporting evidence or further explanation.
Headline: Air strike on IS prison in Mayadin 'kills dozens'
Almost 60 people have been killed in a suspected US-led coalition air strike on a prison run by so-called Islamic State in eastern Syria, activists say. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 42 prisoners and 15 militants died when the facility near Mayadin, in Deir al-Zour province, was hit on Monday. The Deirezzor24 news website said dozens of civilians and Syrian rebel fighters were detained there. A coalition spokesman said it was looking into the casualty reports. Mayadin, which lies in the Euphrates river valley about 45km (28 miles) south-east of the city of Deir al-Zour, has been targeted frequently by coalition aircraft. US intelligence officials believe IS moved most of its leaders to the town in recent months as Iraqi government forces advanced into the Iraqi city of Mosul and a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters encircled the Syrian city of Raqqa.
Headline: Iraqi military says it has retaken two Mosul neighborhoods from Daesh
Iraq's military said on Wednesday it had retaken two more neighborhoods from Daesh in Mosul's Old City, bringing it closer to total control of the city. The army's 16th infantry division captured Hadarat Al-Saada and Al-Ahmadiyya, northwest of the historic Grand Al-Nuri Mosque which the militants destroyed last week. Daesh still controls the mosque's grounds and about half of the last territory it runs in the Old City. Federal police and elite units of the Counter-Terrorism Service have also been fighting inside the district's maze of narrow alleyways since the battle began 10 days ago.
The military estimates up to 350 militants are dug in among civilians in wrecked houses and crumbling infrastructure. They are trying to slow the advance of Iraqi forces by laying booby traps and using suicide bombers and snipers.
Headline: Turkey returns fire on YPG in Syria, warplanes hit militants in Iraq
Turkish forces retaliated with an artillery barrage overnight and destroyed Kurdish YPG militia targets after the group's fighters opened fire on Turkey-backed forces in northern Syria, the military said on Wednesday. It said Turkish warplanes separately struck Kurdish militants in northern Iraq on Wednesday, killing seven fighters from the PKK group which Ankara says is closely linked to the YPG. The strikes came after Turkey's defense minister warned that Ankara would retaliate against any threatening moves by the YPG and after reports that Turkey was reinforcing its military presence in northern Syria. Turkey's army said YPG machine-gun fire on Tuesday evening targeted Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army elements in the Maranaz area south of the town of Azaz in northern Syria. "Fire support vehicles in the region were used to retaliate in kind against the harassing fire and the identified targets were destroyed/neutralised," the military statement said.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-idUSKBN19I2YM
Headline: Iran warns against possible U.S. military attack on Syria
Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday warned against any possible U.S. military attack on Syria. Any military action against Syria under the allegations of "potential" chemical weapon use by the Syrian government would only help the terrorists, the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying. Qasemi dismissed as baseless Washington's recent claims that the Syrian government is preparing for a chemical weapon use in the country. He made the remarks in response to a recent White House statement that the United States has "identified potential preparations" by the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad for another chemical attack.
Headline: Afghan officials: 4 police officers killed in 2 attacks
An Afghan official says that two policewomen have been killed by gunmen in northeastern Badakhshan province. Abdullah Naziri, head of the Badakhshan provincial council, said Wednesday that both victims were sisters who were returning to their jobs after Eid holidays. Meanwhile Jelani Farahi, the deputy police chief for southern Zabul province, said two policemen were killed when their checkpoint came under insurgent attack. Farahi said two insurgents were also killed in the attack late Tuesday night in Qalat, the provincial capital. No one has immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban insurgents have increased their attacks against Afghan security forces across the country.
Headline: Nearly 80 police hurt in latest Morocco unrest: official
Nearly 80 police officers were injured in two days of clashes with protesters in Morocco's restive Rif region, an official said on Wednesday, although the number of demonstrators hurt was unknown. Around 50 members of the security forces were hurt on Monday in the northern city of Al-Hoceima, most of them struck by stones, a high-ranking interior ministry official told AFP. On Tuesday, 29 police officers were injured during new clashes in the neighbouring town of Imzouren, the same source said, adding that they were all later released from hospital. The Rif region has been rocked by unrest since a fishmonger was crushed to death in a rubbish truck in October as he tried to retrieve swordfish confiscated for being caught out of season.In the eight months since then, demands for justice and anger over the region's perceived marginalisation snowballed into a grassroots movement centred on Al-Hoceima. Clashes broke out in Al-Hoceima again on Monday, with activists saying police had blocked access to the city and violently dispersed any attempts to demonstrate.
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/nearly-80-police-hurt-in-latest-morocco-unrest-official-20170628
Headline: Venezuela crisis: Helicopter launches attack on Supreme Court
A helicopter has attacked Venezuela's Supreme Court in what President Nicolás Maduro called a "terrorist" incident. Four grenades were dropped on the court and 15 shots fired at the interior ministry on Tuesday, officials said. Rogue policeman Oscar Pérez said he had piloted the stolen helicopter to attack what he called a "criminal government". His whereabouts are unknown. Venezuela is in the midst of a political and economic crisis that has sparked mass protests.The government said 15 shots were fired at a social event at the interior ministry. The helicopter then flew to the court and dropped four Israeli-made grenades of "Colombian origin". One failed to detonate. No-one was injured. President Maduro appeared on state television to denounce the attack. He said: "I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace. And you can be assured that sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terror attack against the institutions of the country."
Headline: More civilians found dead in Philippines as fighting drags on in Marawi
The mutilated bodies of more than a dozen civilians were found on a street in the Philippines on Wednesday, and military officials believe they were killed by the regional Maute terrorist group. Seventeen bodies were found on the street in Marawi on Wednesday morning. Five had been decapitated, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said.Philippine authorities say the regional Maute syndicate operates in line with the Islamic State terror group, although it is not formally affiliated with the radical Islamist organization. Government armed forces have been fighting Maute insurgents in Marawi for more than a month, and officials said nearly 300 Maute militants have been killed in that time. Military officials said more "atrocities" could happen to civilians as the fighting continues between militants and Philippine troops and the government tries to gain more ground. AFP Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said the civilian death toll from fighting has so far risen to 27 -- not including the 17 bodies found Wednesday.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/06/28/More-civilians-found-dead-in-Philippines-as-fighting-drags-on-in-Marawi/8661498670159/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=1
Headline: "Mind reading" technology can now decode complex thoughts
In the past, "mind reading" systems have been able to guess what single-digit number a person might be thinking of, but deeper thoughts have been beyond the technology's reach. Now, a team from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has developed a way to accurately read more complex concepts from a brain scan, and even piece together entire sentences. Even the most basic sentence is loaded with more information than you might realize: each word represents a new concept, and their placement and relationship to each other can drastically change the meaning of the whole. The CMU team found that the "building blocks" the mind uses to construct thoughts are made up of concepts, rather than being based on words themselves. That suggests the brain processes concepts in a universal way, regardless of a person's language and culture.The study tested how the brain codes complex thoughts, and how an fMRI scanner, with a little help from machine learning algorithms, can decode them. The researchers put together 240 "complex events," which are sentences like "The witness shouted during the trial." These events were made up of 42 different building blocks, or meaningful components like person, setting, size, social interaction and physical action.
http://newatlas.com/mind-reading-complex-thoughts/50228/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=0038f2b379-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-0038f2b379-91888189
Headline: 900+ earthquakes shake Yellowstone in 2 weeks
More than 120 people reported feeling a magnitude 4.4 quake on June 15, the largest in the swarm. Average swarms consist of a few dozen earthquakes over a couple days, according to Jamie Farrell, U of U professor studying seismic activity in the country's first national park. "When it gets to these bigger ones, we pay attention to them just because we need to monitor these things just in case something changes," Farrell said. Farrell believes the activity is caused by stress building up under the crust of the massive volcano. He says there is no reason to panic along the Wasatch Front. "This is an active volcano. This is what happens. We get a lot of calls asking if they should cancel their trip to Yellowstone. Definitely no. I would say even the opposite of that. Go there and maybe you'll feel an earthquake. It would be kind of neat," said Farrell.
http://www.good4utah.com/news/local-news/900-earthquakes-shake-yellowstone-in-2-weeks/752196834
June 27, 2017 Mass Death Reports Keep Coming! Watch for those big earthquakes
June 23, 2017- Will You Soon Make Payments With Your Face?
Headline: Palestinians disappointed with Kushner meeting
Headline: Abbas's advisor defends payment to terrorists
Sources in the Palestinian Authority expressed disappointment with the meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the American delegation on Wednesday. The sources described the meeting, held in Ramallah, as unsuccessful. According to the sources, the American delegation, headed by US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, came to the meeting presenting all the Israeli demands. As a result, they said, no progress was made, and no discussion was held on peace negotiations or a trilateral summit between Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the US. "The American delegation accepted the Israeli position on the issue of paying salaries to prisoners and painted it at the meeting as a means of encouraging terrorism and demanded that it be stopped," the sources said. Another issue that was dominant in the conversation itself was incitement to violence. The Palestinians expressed great disappointment that these two issues were the main things the Americans talked at the expense of the two-state solution. The sources added that the American side demanded at the outset to cease all salaries for all prisoners in Israeli detention. That demand was then slightly softened, and included only the payment of prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Israeli citizens.
Headline: Hezbollah's Nasrallah: War With Israel Could Draw Hundreds of Thousands of Fighters From Across Arab World
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said on Friday that a future war waged by Israel against Syria or Lebanon could draw thousands of fighters from countries including Iran, Iraq and Yemen. His comments indicated that the same array of Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias currently fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad could take part in any future conflict with Israel. The speech in Beirut marked Al-Quds day. "The Israeli enemy must know that if an Israeli war is launched on Syria or Lebanon, it is not known that the fighting will remain Lebanese-Israeli, or Syrian-Israeli. This doesn't mean there are states that might intervene directly," he said. "But this could open the way for thousands, even hundreds of thousands of fighters from all over the Arab and Islamic world to participate," he said in a televised speech.
Headline: Arab States Issue 13-Point Ultimatum To Qatar: Cut Ties With Iran, Close Al-Jazeera, Shutter Turkish Base
Two days after a confused US State Department formally inquired about what is going on between Arab States and Qatar, the countries of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Baahrain, and the UAE sent a list of 13 demands to the tiny Gulf nation to be met within 10 days in order to lift their total blockade of the country. Among them - reducing diplomatic relations with Iran, shutting down broadcaster Al Jazeera (and affiliates), and immediately cease working to open a Turkish military base announced in May of 2016 and halt military co-operation with Ankara. Also interesting is the demand that Qatar give up their intel on terrorist groups they have supported and "provide all databases related to oppositionists..." "These requirements must be met within 10 days from the date of delivery or they will be considered void," the Arab states said in their list of demands. Their document added that compliance would be heavily monitored — once a month for the first year, every three months the second year and once a year for 10 years after that.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-23/arab-states-issue-13-point-ultimatum-qatar-include-unfriend-iran-shut-down-al-jazeer
Headline: First Russian base for SE Syria - near US garrison
he Russian engineering corps has started building a new base in southeastern Syria at a small village called Khirbet Ras Al-Wa'r in the Bir al-Qasab district. Until now, Moscow adhered to a policy of restricting its military presence to the western part of the country along the Mediterranean coast; no Russian troops were based further east than Palmyra. The new facility is the first to be established since Moscow's initial military intervention in the Syrian war in September, 2015. debkafile's military sources say it will provide Russia with a lever of control over the volatile Syrian southeast and its borders, where US-backed and Iranian-backed forces are fighting for dominance. . Russian forces will also stand closer than ever before to the Israeli border - 85 kilometers from central Golan and 110 kilometers from southern Golan, not far from IDF military positions. The new Russian foothold will be located strategically 96 kilometers from northern Jordan and 185 kilometers from the American and Jordanian special forces garrison at the al-Tanf crossing inside the Syrian, Jordanian and Iraqi border triangle. Placing the new base just 50 kilometers from Damascus serves another primary function, that of securing the strategic crossroads leading from eastern and southern Syria to the capital - in other words, propping up the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
http://debka.com/article/26114/First-Russian-base-for-SE-Syria---near-US-garrison
Headline: US, Russia, Jordan agree on safe zone in Syria's Daraa
The United States, Russia and Jordan have reportedly reached an agreement on the creation of a safe zone in and around the city of Daraa in Syria, where Hezbollah and Iranian-backed militias will not be allowed to enter, according to the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper. The area, where only Syrian forces will be allowed, will stretch for 30 kilometers from the Jordan border. Asharq Al-Awsat quoted senior officials who listed three principles agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding between the three countries: no presence of non-Syrian forces inside the safe zone, a ceasefire between the Syrian regime and the rebel factions, bringing in humanitarian aid while returning refugees who fled to Jordan back to the area.
Headline: Russia fires missiles from Mediterranean at IS in Syria
Russia has fired cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea on positions of the Islamic State group in Syria, the Defense Ministry said on Friday, Moscow's latest show of strength in the conflict wracking the Mideast country. The ministry said in a statement that two frigates and a submarine launched six cruise missiles on IS installations in Syria's Hama province, destroying command centers and ammunition depots. It did not say when the missiles were launched. Moscow has fired missiles from the Mediterranean at militants' positions in Syria before, including launches from a submarine and a frigate in May at the targets in the area of the ancient city of Palmyra.Separately on Friday, a senior Russian lawmaker said Moscow is "nearly 100 percent" sure that the IS top leader was killed in a Russian airstrike last month. The Defense Ministry first made the claim last week, saying that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's death in the May 28 strike on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Raqqa was still "being verified through various channels."
http://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-fires-missiles-from-mediterranean-at-is-in-syria/
Headline: Bomber blows himself up among civilians fleeing Mosul
A suicide bomber blew himself up on Friday among civilians fleeing Mosul's Old City, where Iraqi forces are gaining ground against jihadists mounting a fierce but desperate defense, officers said.
Ahmed Hashem, a major and medic in the Iraqi army speaking to AFP from a field hospital, said the attack took place in the Mashahda neighborhood of the Old City. "We received 12 people killed and more than 20 wounded in our field hospital, including women and children," he said. A colonel in the army's 16th infantry division said it was difficult to get a definitive casualty toll because the area where the attack happened was not fully cleared. "The suicide bomber infiltrated a group of displaced people and blew himself up among them before reaching our troops," he said. Thousands of civilians have fled the Old City of Mosul since Iraqi forces launched their most perilous assault yet against the Daesh group. Around 100,000 more remain trapped by the jihadists, who have made human shields a key element in their defense of the Old City, their last redoubt in Iraq's second city.
Headline: Turkey Rejects Call to Shut Military Base in Qatar
Headline: Russia and Turkey Send Troops to Syria, Build New Gas Pipeline at Home
Turkey rejected a call from four Arab states on Friday to shut down its military base in Qatar, saying the base was a guarantor of security in the Gulf and demands for its closure represented interference in its ties with Doha. Defense Minister Fikri Isik told Turkish broadcaster NTV that he had not yet seen a request for the closure of the base, but made clear Ankara had no plans to review a 2014 agreement with Qatar which led to it being set up. He was speaking after an official from one of the four Arab states boycotting Qatar over alleged support for terrorism said they had sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing down the military installation. "If there is such a demand, it will mean interference in bilateral ties," Isik said, suggesting instead that Turkey might continue to bolster its presence in Qatar.
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/06/23/business/23reuters-gulf-qatar-turkey-minister.html
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-turkey-send-troops-syria-gas-pipeline-628649
Headline: Massive Iranian funding for anti-Israel terror groups revealed
Iran's massive funding of terrorist groups that endanger Israel was exposed in shocking detail by IDF Military Intelligence chief Maj.- Gen. Hertzi Halevi on Wednesday. Speaking at the IDC Herzliya Conference, Halevi revealed that Iran is funding Hezbollah to the tune of $75 million a year, while paying $50m. of Hamas's budget and approximately $70m. to Islamic Jihad. Connecting Hamas's alliance with Iran to recent criticism of Israel for the humanitarian situation in the Gaza strip, Halevi placed the blame for a lack of construction supplies and the electricity problem squarely on Hamas. Israel has let into the Strip "four times the volume of building materials" required to build one of the world's largest buildings, but "Hamas is using the materials for war, not rebuilding," he said. Furthermore, he said that "the dispute about electricity in Gaza is an internal Palestinian issue" between Hamas and Fatah (which controls the Palestinian Authority). At the same time, he said Israel needed to "make Hamas choose its priorities" regarding whether it wanted to rebuild its society, or instead use money meant to pay for civilians' electricity to arm itself. Returning to the Iranian funding and support of terrorism, Halevi noted that Tehran is regularly "acting to get exact and advanced weapons into Lebanon and Yemen." Hinting at Israeli air strikes in Syria on these transfers of advanced weapons, he said, "Israel cannot ignore this development and we have not."
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/Massive-Iranian-funding-for-anti-Israel-terror-groups-revealed-497703
Headline: Afghan car bomb hits New Kabul Bank in Helmand
At least 34 people have been killed and 58 wounded in a car bomb blast outside a bank in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, government officials say. Police told the BBC the bomb was detonated at the gate of the New Kabul Bank branch in Lashkar Gah. The Taliban say they planted the explosives. Members of the security forces are reportedly among casualties, as well as shoppers preparing for the Eid religious festival. Earlier, Tolo News reported that armed attackers had entered the bank and engaged in a gun battle with security forces. "It happened at a time when civilians and officials had lined up outside the bank to collect their salaries," a police spokesman, Salam Afghan, told AFP news agency. Bank buildings have been repeatedly attacked in recent years in Afghanistan as civilians and military personnel receive their monthly salaries from them. A spokesman for Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah tweeted that most of the victims were "innocent souls who were shopping for Eid".
Headline: Venezuelan soldier shoots protester dead in airbase attack, minister says
A Venezuelan military police sergeant shot dead a protester who was attacking the perimeter of an airbase on Thursday, the interior minister said, bringing renewed scrutiny of the force used to control riots that have killed at least 76 people. At least two soldiers shot long firearms through the fence from a distance of just a few feet at protesters who were throwing rocks, television footage showed. One man collapsed to the ground and was carried off by other protesters. Paramedics took at least two other injured people to a hospital, a Reuters witness said. "The sergeant used an unauthorized weapon to repel the attack, causing the death of one of assailants," Interior minister Nestor Reverol said on Twitter. He said the air force police sergeant faced legal proceedings. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have taken to the streets in recent months to protest against a clampdown on the opposition, shortages of food and medicine, and President Nicolas Maduro's plan to overhaul the constitution. The reaction of the security forces to provocation at marches has been in the spotlight since images showed a national guard member pointing a pistol at demonstrators on Monday, prompting the opposition to intensify its street campaign.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKBN19D2XF
Headline: 'Five killed in car bomb at Mogadishu police station'
Five people were killed and 10 were wounded on Thursday when a car packed with explosives rammed into the wall of a police station in southern Mogadishu, the security ministry said. "The blast was caused by a car loaded with explosives, five people were killed and 10 others wounded," Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed, Somalia's internal security ministry spokesman told reporters. The attack was claimed by Al Qaeda linked Al Shabab extremists, according to a statement carried by the SITE intelligence agency. Police officer Abdukadir Moalim said a suicide bomber had driven the car into the outer wall of the Waberi police station, killing mostly civilians.
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/five-killed-car-bomb-mogadishu-police-station%E2%80%99
Headline: 40 people killed in bomb, gun attacks in 3 Pakistani cities
At least 40 people were killed and nearly 100 wounded Friday in four separate bomb and gun attacks in three major Pakistani cities, officials said. A suicide bomber was involved in the first car bombing near the office of the provincial police chief in the southwestern city of Quetta that killed at least 12 people and wounded 20. There were conflicting claims of responsibility for this attack from different extremist groups. Hours later twin bombings, minutes apart, hit a crowded market in a Shiite-dominated city in Parachinar, the main city in the Kurram tribal region and killed 24 people, mostly minority Shiite Muslims, according to government administrator Zahid Hussain. Friday evening, gunmen in the port city of Karachi attacked police officers at a roadside restaurant and killed four of them before fleeing, according to senior police officer Asif Ahmed.
June 14, 2017–Thousands of Dead Fish Mysteriously Wash up in Coastal Texas Town
http://www.wideopencountry.com/texas-town-overloaded-with-dead-fish-in-river/
June 15, 2017–Hundreds of dead fish found in Weathersfield lake Ohio
http://www.wfmj.com/story/35676340/hundreds-of-dead-fish-found-in-weathersfield-lake
June 16, 2017–Almost 700 lbs of fish found dead in Bologna Italy
http://www.ansa.it/english/news/general_news/2017/06/16/fish-found-dead-in-bologna_eba9485a-a659-4534-91e8-a1b9699afcde.html
June 16, 2017–Death of Hundreds Of Seagulls Along Detroit River Michigan
http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2017/06/16/tests-reveal-possible-cause-of-death-for-hundreds-of-seagulls-along-detroit-river/
June 16, 2017–Thousands of dead fish found in a river in Oliveira do Bairro, Portugal
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fjb.pt%2F2017%2F06%2Foliveira-do-bairro-peixes-mortos-no-rio-certima%2F&edit-text=&act=url
June 18, 2017–Thousands of dead fish floating in Brunswick bay Maine
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/06/18/thousands-of-dead-fish-found-floating-in-brunswick-bays/
June 18, 2017–Hundreds of dead fish wash up in the waters of Porto Empedocle, Italy
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.agrigentonotizie.it%2Fcronaca%2Fliquami-lido-azzurro-pesci-morti-torrente-re-mareamico.html&edit-text=&act=url
June 21, 2017–Massive fish kill in the waters of Nootdorp, Netherlands
http://translate.google.com/translate?act=url&depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.co.uk&sl=auto&sp=nmt4&tl=en&u=http://www.telstar-online.nl/nieuws/actueel/85102/massale-vissterfte-in-nootdorp%3Fredir
Headline: Scary, infectious SUPERBUG just spread to five more U.S. states, including some in the Midwest
A deadly, hard-to-spot "superbug" yeast is rapidly infiltrating American hospitals. In June 2016, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned clinics about the emergence of a new multidrug-resistant yeast strain called Candida auris. Two months later the first seven cases of a C. auris infection were recorded in the United States. The yeast causes severe illness and has a high mortality rate, especially among high-risk, hospitalized newborns and elderly. Now, the number of cases in the U.S of the multi-drug resistant yeast has jumped from seven to more than 122. What's worse, this so-called superbug is resistant to most mainline treatments, killing about 60 percent of those who've been infected with the yeast, the Daily Mail Online reported.The yeast was first identified in Japan in 2009 and has now been found in more than a dozen other countries. In the U.S., the first multidrug-resistant C. auris infections were recorded in New York and New Jersey, which have now spread to five more states (Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oklahoma).
http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-06-21-scary-infectious-superbug-just-spread-to-five-more-u-s-states-including-some-in-the-midwest.html
Headline: Will You Soon Make Payments With Your Face?
Face-detecting systems in China now authorize payments, provide access to facilities and track down criminals. According to the current MIT Technology Review, this technology may soon spread to other countries around the world. Speaking of new technology, the Drone Racing League World Championships are on television this week. Last year, more than 30 million people from 40 countries watched. Venture capitalists have invested $20 million in the sport this month. Meanwhile, Amazon is on track to become America's largest clothing retailer. It is planning a program called "Prime Wardrobe" that lets you try on clothes before you buy them. The company is already expanding its grocery delivery business and recently agreed to acquire Whole Foods.
http://www.charismanews.com/opinion/65761-will-you-soon-make-payments-with-your-face
Headline: Scientists study swarm of Yellowstone earthquakes
Seismologists are studying a swarm of 500-plus earthquakes that have rattled the Yellowstone Park area since June 12. Most are centered 8 miles north-northeast of West Yellowstone. That is just a few miles east of the Hebgen Lake Basin, the site of the historic 1959 quake. That one measured 7.3 on the Richter scale, killed 28 people and created Quake Lake, near the Gallatin National Forest. Mike Stickney, of the Earthquake Studies office at Montana Tech, said earthquake swarms are normal this time of year. He says many are smaller. When we checked we found dozens that measured under 2.0 on the Richter scale. However, Stickney said he hasn't seen such an extensive swarm of earthquakes in Yellowstone since 2010. But he stressed each is small enough that no one is in immediate danger. Stickney told us, "We live in earthquake country. We can never say that this isn't leading up to something bigger. But at this point, we have no reason to believe its portending to be anything more drastic."
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/ktvm/scientists-study-swarm-of-yellowstone-earthquakes/557517895
Download The Last Chronicles of Planet Earth June 21 2017 Edition written by Frank DiMora - PDF
June 21, 2017- Downing of drones in Syria threatens to draw U.S., Iran further into war
Headline: Moscow wants closer cooperation with Jerusalem in Syria, says top Russian official
Russia wants to increase cooperation with Israel regarding Syria, and would like Jerusalem to use any influence it has to get opposition groups there to lay down arms and enter negotiations, Konstantin Kosachev, a senior Russian parliamentarian, told The Jerusalem Post. Kosachev, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, was in the country on Tuesday and Wednesday with Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee, for meetings with the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. In a late night interview Tuesday in his Jerusalem hotel, Kosachev said that Russia's intervention and actions in Syria serve the interests of other countries in the region, including Israel.
"If there will be violent regime change in Syria, we are sure that the new regime will not be democratic at all, but rather someone like Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and that will certainly have a negative influence on all of Syria's neighbors," he said. Asked if Israel – which has reportedly bombed arms depots or convoys in Syria on the way to Hezbollah – is acting against Russia's interests in the country, Kosachev said, "I wouldn't say that, but I would like to see closer cooperation."As to Israel's demand that Iran be prevented from establishing a permanent presence in Syria, he said Israel is talking about relations between two UN member states, "and therefore I can't accept Israel saying that this 'is not acceptable.' I can accept them saying that 'we are very concerned, and something must be done about it.'" Asked whether Russia can indeed prevent an Iranian presence on Israel's borders, he said, "We are not interfering in bilateral ties between countries." Kosachev said that the situation in Syria would look a lot better had all the nations involved in the conflict abided by international law.
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Moscow-wants-closer-cooperation-with-Jerusalem-in-Syria-497550
Headline: Knesset takes one more step toward de facto annexation of West Bank
Headline: UN envoy: Israel is defying UNSC by accelerating settler construction
Headline: Ground Broken for First New "Settlement" in 25 Years
The Knesset on Wednesday took one more step toward the de facto annexation of the West Bank by approving the preliminary reading of a bill that would apply a 17-year old law to Israelis living in Judea and Samaria. This is "one more step toward the normalization of the settlements in Judea and Samaria that we set as our goal at the start of this government's term," said the bill's author, MK Bezalel Smotrich, in advance of the 48-39 vote. The bill, which allows setters to file petitions to the Administrative Court including on land issues, must now pass three readings before it becomes law.
Smotrich argued that the law was necessary to address issues of legal inequity between Israeli citizens living within and without sovereign Israel. It would also allow those Israelis living in Area C of the West Bank to turn with land issues to the Administrative Courts, rather than the High Court of Justice which often rules against them, he said. MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union) charged that all such arguments "disguised" the true intent of the law which was part of a "campaign to annex the West Bank." If approved the legislation would not apply to Palestinians living Area C of the West Bank, Livni said. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Tuesday that construction of the first new Jewish settlement in Judea and Samaria in 25 years has begun. In the community of Amichai, 100 new homes will be built for the evicted residents of Amona, a settlement outpost housing 42 families that Israel razed in February due to Palestinian land ownership claims. "Today, ground works began, as I promised, for the establishment of the new community for the residents of Amona," Netanyahu tweeted. "After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria."
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Knesset-to-take-one-more-step-toward-de-facto-annexation-of-West-Bank-497503
http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/UN-envoy-Israel-is-defying-UNSC-resolution-by-accelerating-settlement-construction-497478
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/90001/ground-breaking-held-first-new-judea-samaria-settlement-25-years/
Headline: Christian "Awakening" to Holiness of Temple Mount Draws Islamic Fury
Until now, the bloody battle for the Temple Mount has been fought between Muslims and Jews, but a new awakening among some Christians to its significance is creating a shifting pre-Messianic reality at the already volatile site. The developing status of Christians on the Temple Mount played out a few weeks ago in a Muslim-Christian confrontation that nearly ended in violence. The Temple Mount showdown involved Nate Waller, Director of Operations at Hayovel, an organization which brings Christian volunteers to Israel to fulfill Biblical prophecy by working on vineyards in Samaria. As a frequent visitor to the Temple Mount, Waller's connection to the site is an increasingly important part of his belief – and he thinks other Christians should see it that way, too. "When I first started visiting the Temple Mount, I didn't understand the holiness of the place," Waller told Breaking Israel News. "I used to walk all around the site, like all the other Christian tourists. I would go to the site of the actual Temple, something that is forbidden for Jews to do." Through his close work with religious Jews, Waller began to understand the significance of the site. "Christians generally believe that God's presence has left the Temple Mount since the destruction of the Temple," Waller explained. "From the Jews, I am just now beginning to understand that this is still the place of God's name, and His name has not been removed."
https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/89959/christian-awakening-temple-mounts-holiness-brings-prophesied-house-prayer-nations-closer/
Headline: Israel, Saudi Arabia reportedly discuss establishing economic ties
Israel and Saudi Arabia have reportedly been holding talks to establish economic ties, according to British newspaper The Times, which cited American and Arab sources in its report. According to the report, the historic move, if implemented, could be the first step toward normalizing relations and would begin with Israeli businesses being allowed to operate in the Persian Gulf. The newspaper gave as one example the possibility of Israeli airline El Al being allowed to fly over Saudi airspace. The British newspaper also estimated the possibility of tightening relations with Israel partly explains why Saudi Arabia and its allies have boycotted Qatar in an effort to force it to stop supporting Hamas, an effort that seems to be producing results. However, a source close to the Saudi leadership dismissed the idea of rapprochement between the two countries, saying it only reflects the White House's wish to show fast results, after US President Donald Trump visited the region last month, beginning with Saudi Arabia and stopping next in Israel.
Headline:Naming Bin Salman Saudi heir impacts US, Israel
The Saudi king's decision to elevate his son Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 31, to crown prince and heir to the throne, in place of his cousin Mohammed bin Nayef - as part of a broad reshuffle, is not merely the internal affair of the royal hierarchy, but a game-changing international event. debkafile's analysts see it as the outcome of a global and regional process initiated by Donald Trump soon after he settled in the White House in January. With his appointment as de facto ruler of the oil kingdom, the Saudi king's son is ready to step into his allotted place in a new US-Arab-Israeli alliance that will seek to dominate Middle East affairs. Israel will be accepted in a regional lineup for the first time alongside the strongest Sunni Arab nations who all share similar objectives, especially the aim to stop Iran. Trump's trip to Riyadh and Jerusalem in early May laid the cornerstone for the new US-Sunni Arab bloc versus Iran's Shiite grouping and also cemented Israel's co-option.
http://debka.com/article/26108/Naming-Bin-Salman-Saudi-heir-impacts-US-Israel
Headline: Clashes in south Yemen kill six civilians
Clashes between Yemeni security forces and gunmen in the southern city of Aden on Tuesday left six civilians dead, a security official said. The fighting erupted when security forces stormed a house in the Omar al-Mukhtar neighbourhood and arrested a man suspected of being a member of the Daesh terror group, the official said. Shortly after the operation, unidentified gunmen from the district attacked a checkpoint, triggering clashes that lasted for around three hours. Three other civilians were wounded in the gunfight, the official said.
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/clashes-south-yemen-kill-six-civilians
Headline: Egypt Sends Fuel to Power-Starved Gaza, Undercuts Abbas
Headline: Turning Gaza's lights back on, Abbas's rival Dahlan makes dramatic return to center stage
Egypt on Wednesday trucked 1 million liters of cheap diesel fuel to the Gaza Strip's sole power plant — a rare shipment that temporarily eased a crippling electricity crisis in the Hamas-ruled enclave but also appeared to undercut Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas has been stepping up financial pressure on Gaza in hopes of forcing the militant group Hamas to cede ground in the territory. Hamas seized Gaza from Abbas' forces in 2007, and Wednesday's delivery was the result of a strange new alliance of old foes united against the Palestinian president. The power plant stopped operating in April after Hamas could no longer afford to buy heavily taxed fuel from Abbas' West Bank-based government, leaving Gazans with just four hours of electricity a day. Abbas also asked Israel to reduce the electricity it sends to Gaza, which amounts to about a third of the territory's needs. This electricity, paid for by the Abbas government, has been reduced by one-fourth since Monday, worsening the crunch.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-06-21/egypt-sends-fuel-to-power-starved-gaza-undercuts-abbas
http://www.timesofisrael.com/turning-gazas-lights-back-on-abbass-rival-dahlan-makes-dramatic-return-to-center-stage/
Headline: US-led coalition downs Iran-made drone in Syria
A US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, officials said, in the latest incident in rising tensions between the two sides. In Tuesday's incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al Tanf base along Syria's eastern border. "It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces," the statement said. A US military official told AFP the drone was "on a run towards our folks to drop a munition on them" and was shot down in self-defence. It comes days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the north of the country, prompting a furious reaction from Russia. Moscow has now suspended an incident hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria's crowded airspace, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes "targets". The rising tensions prompted Australia to announce it was suspending its participation in air missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Daesh terror group.
***SEE IRAN BELOW
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/us-led-coalition-downs-iran-made-drone-syria
Headline: Iraqi forces advance on Mosul mosque where ISIS declared caliphate
Headline: Islamic State blows up Mosul mosque where it declared 'caliphate': Iraqi military
US-backed Iraqi forces on Wednesday began a push towards the mosque in Mosul where Islamic State declared a self-styled caliphate three years ago, military officials said. The forces had encircled the jihadist group's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul, where the medieval Grand al-Nuri Mosque is located, on Tuesday, they said. The Counter Terrorism Service (CTS) were 200-300 metres (yards) away from the mosque, an Iraqi military statement said, a view supported by a senior commander of the international coalition fighting Islamic State. Meanwhile, Islamic State militants blew up on Wednesday the Grand al-Nuri Mosque of Mosul and its famous leaning minaret, an Iraqi military statement said. It was from this medieval mosque that the militants' leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a self-styled ''caliphate'' spanning parts of Syria and Iraq three years ago. Islamic State's Amaq news agency accused American aircraft of destroying the mosque. "The Daesh (Islamic State) terror gangs committed another historical crime by blowing up the al-Nuri mosque and its historical al-Hadba minaret," the Iraqi military statement said, . The explosions happened as Iraq's elite Counter Terrorism Service units, which have been battling their way through Mosul's Old City, got to within 50 meters (164 ft) of the mosque, the statement said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-mosque-idUSKBN19C2Q1
Headline: German parliament backs plans to withdraw troops from Turkey
Germany's parliament on Wednesday approved the planned withdrawal of troops from the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey after Ankara's refusal to allow German lawmakers access to its soldiers there. Turkey has refused to allow German lawmakers to make what they see as a routine visit to the base, saying that Berlin needs to improve its attitude towards Turkey first. Turkey was infuriated when Germany, citing security concerns, banned some Turkish politicians from campaigning on its soil, where many Turks live. Ankara responded by accusing Berlin of "Nazi-like" tactics and reigniting a dispute over Incirlik. "The German Bundestag (parliament) regrets very much that conditions for the continued stationing of the Bundeswehr in Incirlik are not met," the Bundestag said in a document that laid out its decision. It said a transfer of the 280 German troops from Incirlik to an air base in Jordan should go ahead swiftly.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-germany-turkey-idUSKBN19C2B6
Headline: Turkey Must Respect Iraqi Kurds' Referendum Move: Barzani Adviser
Turkey should respect the decision of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence and support dialogue between Erbil and Baghdad, a chief adviser to Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said on Wednesday. Iraq's Kurds have brushed aside international warnings that their planned Sept. 25 referendum could trigger conflict with Baghdad at a time when the fight against Islamic State is not yet won. Iraq's neighbors Turkey, Iran and Syria, all oppose secession, fearing that separatism will spread to their own ethnic Kurdish populations. "We are exercising our democratic right ... As people in Turkey voting for their constitutional reform exercised their own democratic right, so we are exercising our democratic right to see what the people of Kurdistan want," Hemin Hawrami told a gathering at the Turkish think-tank SETA in Ankara. He was referring to a referendum in April in which Turks voted to hand President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers.
https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-06-21/turkey-must-respect-iraqi-kurds-referendum-move-barzani-adviser
Headline: Iran Threatens to 'Depose' Trump as Military Readies Missile Strikes on U.S. Forces
Headline: Downing of drones in Syria threatens to draw U.S., Iran further into war
A senior Iranian leader and confidant of the Islamic Republic's president is threatening to "depose" President Donald Trump if he continues his policy of confronting Iran and its terror proxy groups in the Middle East, according to recent comments that come as Iranian military leaders threaten missile strikes on U.S. forces and bases in the region. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a leading Iranian politician and ally to President Hassan Rouhani, claimed this week that the Trump administration is too "fragile" to confront Iran and that if U.S. officials do "anything unwise against Iran," the Islamic Republic will see that Trump is "deposed," according to Farsi-language comments independently translated for the Washington Free Beacon. The threats come as Iranian politicians and military leaders amp up their rhetoric against the Trump administration following a series of strikes in Syria on Iranian-backed forces bolstering embattled President Bashar al-Assad.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-threatens-depose-trump-military-readies-missile-strikes-u-s-forces/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2017/06/21/downing-drones-syria-us-iran-war/103063850/
Headline: Taliban Releases New Video of US, Australian Hostages
Afghanistan's Taliban released a new video Wednesday showing two professors, one American and one Australian, urging U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate their freedom with the Islamist insurgent group. Sixty-year-old American Kevin King and 48-year-old Timothy Weeks of Australia, teachers with the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul, were kidnapped at gunpoint near the campus last August. The Taliban wants freedom for its "soldiers" being held at the U.S.-run Bagram airbase and the Afghan prison called Pul-e-Charkhi in return for freeing the two professors, the hostages said in their video messages.
https://www.voanews.com/a/taliban-video-australian-hostages/3910051.html
Headline: Taliban overruns district in Afghan north
Headline: 8 killed in attack near US base in Afghanistan
The Taliban took control of a district center in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan over the past 24 hours. The governor of Darzab, the district that fell to the Taliban, confirmed that Taliban fighters overran the district just one day after Islamic State fighters attacked the administrative complex. According to a statement on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban "launched coordinated attacks on Darzab district center" and surrounding outposts in the early morning. The Taliban claimed that "five defensive checkposts close to the district center surrendered, handing over all their weapons, equipment and vehicles whereas the district headquarters fell around late afternoon hours, resulting in more weapons and equipment being seized." Official reports of casualties during the fighting have not been disclosed. The Taliban said that 17 police and local militia fighters and three Taliban fighters were killed. "The Taliban were currently in control of the district center's building, police headquarters, and many other areas west of the district centre," Pajhwok Afghan News reported, based on statements by Baz Mohammad, the acting district governor.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/06/taliban-overruns-district-in-afghan-north.php
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/20/525893/Afghanistan-Bagram-airbase-attack
Headline: Morocco detains three as Rif protests move to Imzouren
Police have arrested three more members of a protest movement in northern Morocco's neglected Rif region, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to rally demanding their release, activists said Tuesday. Three activists from Al Hirak Al Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", were arrested on Monday in the flashpoint northern port of Al Hoceima, a member of the grassroots group told AFP. Two other activists, one of them a minor, were summoned by the police and told to "sign a pledge vowing not to take part in any future protest", the source said, adding that the pair were later released. Al Hoceima has been rocked by protests since the death in October of a fishmonger, who was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish that authorities had thrown away because it was caught out of season. Calls for justice snowballed into a wider social movement led by Al Hirak demanding development, an end to corruption and jobs for the mainly Berber Rif region. Demonstrators have rallied nightly in Al Hoceima and the nearby town of Imzouren since the arrest of Al Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi on May 29. Since then, authorities have arrested more than 100 people, many of them are prominent Al Hirak members, accusing them of undermining state security.
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/morocco-detains-three-rif-protests-move-imzouren
Headline: Flint Airport: Michigan officer stabbed at airport in attack eyed as terrorism
The stabbing of a police officer at a Michigan airport on Wednesday is being investigated by the FBI as a possible terror attack, officials said. Bishop International Airport in Flint, Michigan, was evacuated after Officer Jeff Neville was stabbed in the neck. He's currently listed as being in stable condition, according to Michigan State Police. The FBI says the suspect is in custody and is being questioned. They are working to determine a possible motive for the attack. "We are aware of reports that the attacker made statements immediately prior to or while attacking the officer, but it is too early to determine the nature of these alleged statements or whether or not this was an act of terrorism," the FBI said in a statement.This is believed to be an isolated incident, authorities also said. A White House official confirmed to Fox News that President Trump has been briefed on the stabbing.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/21/flint-bishop-airport-police-officer-stabbed-airport-evacuated-and-suspect-in-custody.html
Headline: UN chief: US will be replaced if it disengages from world
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned the Trump administration on Tuesday that if the United States disengages from many issues confronting the international community it will be replaced — and that won't be good for America or for the world. Guterres made clear to reporters at his first press conference here since taking the reins of the United Nations on Jan. 1 that proposed cuts in U.S. funding for the U.N. would be disastrous and create "an unsolvable problem to the management of the U.N." But the U.N. chief stressed that he is not afraid to stand up to President Donald Trump, citing his vocal opposition to the U.S. leader's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement. He said the mobilization of U.S. business and civil society in support or the climate deal is "a signal of hope that we very much encourage." Looking at the array of global crises, Guterres expressed concern that there could be a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia over Syria and urged a de-escalation of the dispute between Washington and Moscow over the U.S. downing of a Syrian jet.
http://www.militarytimes.com/articles/un-chief-us-will-be-replaced-if-it-disengages-from-world
Headline: Venezuela dares US to 'send in marines' amid crisis, threatens 'crushing response'
Venezuela has lashed out at the US for trying to forge a plan to address its political crisis, daring Washington to "send in the marines" and threatening to meet troops with a "crushing response." "The 'contact group' you're proposing is completely useless and unnecessary," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said during a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Cancun, Mexico, on Tuesday. "The only way you could impose it would be to send in your marines - who would meet with a crushing response from Venezuela if they dared make such a misstep," she said, as quoted by AFP. Rodriguez's remarks were in response to US Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, who had tried to garner support for an OAS resolution to send regional mediators to Venezuela to help end the economic and political crisis which has embroiled the country and led to the deaths of 74 people since April. Sullivan responded to Rodriguez - who referred to the US official as 'el jefe' (the boss) - with three words: "Distractions, distortions and irrelevancies." The US draft resolution backed by Sullivan failed to pass among the 34 OAS nations, falling shy of approval by just three votes.
https://www.rt.com/news/393374-venezuela-us-marines-crisis/
Headline: 100 dead in Central African Republic town, mayor says
The mayor of a Central African Republic town says at least 100 people are dead after heavy fighting broke out in the wake of a peace agreement signed this week in Rome. Bria Mayor Maurice Balekouzou also said Wednesday that several dozen wounded have been brought to the hospital run by aid group Doctors Without Borders. However, the local Catholic mission says the death toll could be higher because it has been too dangerous for Red Cross teams to recover bodies from the streets. Witnesses say fighting took place between the anti-Balaka militia and rebels from the group known as FPRC who were once part of the Seleka movement. The peace deal signed Monday between nearly all the country's armed groups had called for an immediate cease-fire.
Headline: At least 10 killed in Mogadishu minibus bombing
At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Shabaab extremists drove an explosives-laden minibus into local government offices in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the security ministry. The minibus rammed through a security barrier outside offices in the southern district of Wadajir, injuring 9 people including the district's top government official. "More than 10 people died in the blast which was carried out by the Shabaab group and nine others are wounded," said Security Ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed. Most of the dead were civilians, he said. The attack was claimed by Al Qaeda linked Shabaab militants.
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/least-10-killed-mogadishu-minibus-bombing
Headline: Deaths, Injuries Mount as Ukraine Conflict Enters 4th Year: OHCHR
With the conflict in Ukraine now in its fourth year casualties have mounted substantially in recent months, according to a new report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Between mid-February and mid-May of this year, the period covered, U.N. investigators documented 193 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 36 deaths. "This is a 48 percent increase over the last reporting period," said High Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein in presenting an oral update on the human rights situation. Speaking to the U.N. Human Rights Council Wednesday, Zeid also said, "The majority of these casualties resulted from shelling, explosive devices and remnants of war." He noted that so far this year, there were 375 conflict-related civilian casualties, including 67 deaths and 308 injuries - a 74 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
https://www.voanews.com/a/united-nations-human-right-council-ukraine-conflict/3910072.html
Headline: ISIL takes many civilians hostage after storming Philippine school
Several residents have reportedly been taken hostage and used as human shields after armed terrorists stormed a village in the Cotabato province of the Philippines, according to local police. Government troops are now engaging members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) after the terrorists overran the village of Malagakit, located just outside of Pigcawayan town, Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said. The police chief confirmed that a number of civilians are now trapped in the area after the militants entered the village shortly after 5:00am on Wednesday. "We can confirm that they occupied a school and there were civilians trapped. We are in the process of determining how many were trapped and their identities," Mamon said, according to Reuters. Government troops managed to push back the initial jihadist attack, but ISIS-linked fighters managed to take at least five people hostage as they retreated, according to a spokesperson for the Army's 6th Infantry Division.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/breaking-isil-takes-many-civilians-hostage-storming-philippine-school/
Headline: North Korean nuke test site sees more buildup as tensions rise
North Korea is continuing to mass resources at a known weapons testing site inside the country, a defense source told Fox News on Wednesday, prompting worries Pyongyang could be plotting to greenlight another provocative nuclear bomb test amid heightened tensions following the death this week of an American student who had been imprisoned by Kim Jong Un's rogue regime. "There are more people and more cars but nobody knows what that means," a defense source said about surveillance of the nuke test site. The source added the buildup had been occurring for months.Even as intelligence indicated North Korea was continuing to move materials to the nuke test site, Trump tweeted: "While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!"
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06/21/north-korean-nuke-test-site-sees-more-buildup-as-tensions-rise.html
Headline: A Russian jet came within feet of a U.S. reconnaissance plane, the Pentagon says
Headline: Russian defence minister's plane buzzed by NATO jet over Baltic
Headline: Russia considering retaliatory sanctions against US — Kremlin
Headline: Kremlin cancels Friday talks with U.S. over new sanctions
A Russian fighter jet came "within several feet" of an Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea and lingered by the side of the U.S. plane for several minutes on Monday, U.S. military officials said. The incident comes amid increased tensions between Russia and the United States following the shoot-down Sunday of a Syrian fighter jet by a U.S. Navy Super Hornet after the Syrians bombed U.S.-backed fighters in northern Syria. Russia, which is aligned with the Syrian government and is carrying out military operations in Syria alongside it, condemned the incident and said Monday that it would track U.S. aircraft over Syria. The Russian Su-27 maneuvered its wingtip within a few feet of the larger, slower RC-135 for several minutes, said Meghan Henderson, a spokeswoman for U.S. European Command. The Pentagon considered the incident, known as an "intercept," unsafe because of the "high rate of closure speed" and the "poor control of the aircraft" that the Russian pilot had, Henderson said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/06/20/a-russian-jet-came-within-feet-of-a-u-s-reconnaissance-plane-the-pentagon-says/?utm_term=.6acd67b5b41b
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/06/21/Kremlin-cancels-Friday-talks-with-US-over-new-sanctions/7921498069046/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=1
Headline: Illinois careens into financial meltdown – and not even the lottery is safe
Illinois is grappling with a full-fledged financial crisis and not even the lottery is safe – with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner warning the state is entering "banana republic" territory. Facing billions in unpaid bills and pension obligations, the state is hitting a cash crunch that is rare even by Illinois standards. A top financial official just warned 100 percent of the state's monthly revenue will be eaten up by court-ordered payments. Rauner is calling a special session of the Democrat-led General Assembly in a bid to pass what he hopes will be the first full budget package in almost three years. And Illinois will – literally – lose the lottery if the budget fails. The governor has called for a special session starting Wednesday. The state so far is operating on a series of stopgap spending packages. But the problems are years in the making, caused in large in part by the state's poorly funded pension system— which led Moody's Investors Services to downgrade the credit rating to the lowest of any state. The state currently has $130 billion in unfunded pension obligations, and a backlog of unpaid bills worth $13 billion.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/20/illinois-careens-into-financial-meltdown-and-not-even-lottery-is-safe.html
Headline: $95,069,000,000: State and Local Income Taxes Hit Q1 Record
Americans paid a first-quarter record of $95,069,000,000 in individual income taxes to state and local governments in 2017, according to data released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up $4,190,850,000—or about 4.6 percent-- from the $90,878,150,000 in state and local individual income taxes (in constant 2017 dollars) that Americans paid in the first quarter of 2016. Prior to this year, 2016 held the record for first quarter state and local income tax collections.Historically, state and local individual income tax collections have peaked in the second quarter of the year. The all-time record for quarterly state and local individual income tax collections occurred in the second quarter of 2015, when Americans paid $125,508,920,000 (in constant 2017 dollars) in individual income taxes to state and local governments.
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/95069000000-state-and-local-income-taxes-hit-q1-record
Headline: Yemen cholera death toll passes 1,100: WHO
Cholera has killed 1,170 people in war-ravaged Yemen and the number of suspected cases is now at nearly 2,000 a day, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. And the devastation wrought by the conflict there made coping with the outbreak that much more difficult, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva. "The number of suspected cholera cases is rising," said Jasarevic. "We are talking close to 2,000 suspected cases per day," he warned, which meant that Yemen was now suffering the world's largest cholera outbreak. Since WHO began collecting data on the outbreak on April 27, it has registered more than 170,000 suspected cholera cases across 20 of Yemen's 21 governorates, Jasarevic said. WHO has warned that a quarter of a million people could fall sick with the disease cholera by the end of the year there. Already, two-thirds of the population are on the brink of famine there.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-06-yemen-cholera-death-toll.html
Headline: Polio paralyses 17 children in Syria — WHO
A polio outbreak in war-ravaged Syria has paralysed at least 17 children since March, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Tuesday, describing the situation as "very serious". Fifteen more cases have thus been confirmed since WHO first announced, less than two weeks ago, that Syria had been hit by its first outbreak of the crippling disease since 2014. "We are very much worried, because if there is one case of polio with a kid that is paralysed, it is already an outbreak," WHO spokesman Tarim Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva. He pointed out that for every polio-caused paralysis, there are on average nearly 200 children who have the virus but no symptoms. "The virus is circulating. It is very serious."
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/polio-paralyses-17-children-syria-%E2%80%94-who
Headline: Gender ideology is now the law of the land in Canada: Using wrong pronoun a hate crime
Canada's Senate passed a bill that places "gender identity" and "gender expression" into the country's Human Rights Code and the hate crime category of its Criminal Code. Bill C-16 passed by a vote of 67-11 and now only needs royal assent from the governor general to become law. "Great news," announced Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. "Bill C-16 has passed the Senate – making it illegal to discriminate based on gender identity or expression. #LoveisLove." Critics say that Canadians "who do not subscribe to progressive gender theory" could be accused of hate crimes, jailed, fined, and made to take anti-bias training, The Daily Caller said in a June 16 report. One of the bill's fiercest critics, Jordan Peterson, a professor at the University of Toronto, said that "we will seriously regret this," adding that the law would infringe upon citizens' freedom of speech and institutes what he views as dubious gender ideology into law. "Compelled speech has come to Canada," Peterson said.
http://www.worldtribune.com/gender-ideology-is-now-the-law-of-the-land-in-canada-using-wrong-pronoun-a-hate-crime/
June 17, 2017 Don't Read This or You Will Be Held accountable
June 19, 2017- Syrian warplane shot down by US jet
Headline: Netanyahu: I have one message for Iran: Don't threaten us!
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu advised Iran Monday not to threaten Israel, in response to Iran's Revolutionary Guard statement that it had fired six missiles from western Iran into northeastern Syria on Sunday. They described the attack as retaliation for June 7 attacks in Tehran that killed 17 people in the first ISIS claimed operation in Iran. "We follow their [Iranian] actins and we follow their words," Netanyahu said. "I have one message to Iran: Do not threaten Israel. The army and our security forces are constantly monitoring the activity of Iran in the region," he said. "This activity also includes their attempts to establish themselves in Syria and, of course, to transfer advanced weapons to Hizballah and other operations."
***SEE ALSO SYRIA BELOW
http://debka.com/newsupdatepopup/20878/Netanyahu-I-have-one-message-for-Iran-Don%E2%80%99t-threaten-us-
Headline: Jared Kushner to travel to Mideast to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts
Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner is to travel to the Middle East this week to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials in an effort to advance peace efforts pursued by his father-in-law US President Donald Trump. Kushner will travel along with special envoy Jason Greenblatt to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas separately in the coming days, to discuss "their priorities and potential next steps," a senior White House official told The Times of Israel. "It is important to remember that forging a historic peace agreement will take time and to the extent that there is progress, there are likely to be many visits by both Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt, sometimes together and sometimes separately, to the region and possibly many trips by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators to Washington, DC, or other locations as they pursue substantive talks," the senior official said. Greenblatt is expected in the region on Monday, followed by Kushner on Wednesday.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/jared-kushner-to-travel-to-mideast-to-advance-israeli-palestinian-peace-push/
Headline: Palestinian militant groups deny Islamic State claim of Jerusalem attack
Palestinian militant factions denied on Saturday a claim by Islamic State that three Palestinian men who carried out a fatal shooting and stabbing attack in Jerusalem were members of the militant group. Islamic State took responsibility for the attack on Friday, in which one Israeli police officer was killed and another wounded, according to the group's Amaq news agency.
Israeli security officials did not respond immediately to requests for comment on what the SITE intelligence monitoring group described as the first time Islamic State had claimed responsibility for an attack in Israeli-controlled territory, nor on the attackers' affiliation. However, a senior official from Hamas, the Islamic group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the People's Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the three attackers, who were all shot dead at the scene, were their own members. "The three hero martyrs who executed the Jerusalem operation have no connection to Daesh (Islamic State), they are affiliated with the PFLP and Hamas," Hamas' Izzat El-Reshiq wrote on Twitter.
http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Palestinian-militant-groups-deny-Islamic-State-claim-of-Jerusalem-attack-497085
Headline: Hezbollah Marches Through Heart of London, Political Wing Granted Charity Status
Thousands of Hezbollah supporters stepped off Sunday (June 18) in the heart of London at 3 pm to mark "Al Quds Day 2017," organized by the "Justice for Palestine Committee." Leading the march was the "political wing" of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrilla organization, which reportedly has been granted status by the UK government as a legitimate charity via the Islamic Human Rights Commission, according to reports by Twitter users.Marchers and spectators were advised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) they were "welcome to bring flags that show solidarity with the Palestinian cause. Flags of proscribed (illegal) organizations will not be allowed." "For example, you can bring a Hezbollah flag to show support for the political wing of Hezbollah. This is because the political wing of Hezbollah is not a proscribed organization. Any flags belonging to a proscribed organization will not be allowed. If we see flags belonging to a proscribed organization, our stewards will ask for them to be taken down." The Campaign Against Antisemitism watchdog group met days earlier with the Metropolitan Police Service at a meeting facilitated by Sophie Linden, the Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, asking police to use their powers under section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 to impose a condition so that marchers would be informed they could not show the emblem of Hezbollah. However, "The Metropolitan Police Service refused our request," the group said. According to IHRC literature, the march was intended to bring together people from all over the United Kingdom "for the freedom of the oppressed in Palestine and beyond."
http://www.jewishpress.com/news/global/europe/uk/hezbollah-marches-through-heart-of-london-political-wing-granted-charity-status/2017/06/18/
Headline: Saudi naval forces detain three Iranian revolutionary guards
Headline: Iran and Saudi Arabia offer clashing accounts of offshore confrontation
Saudi Arabia's naval forces say they have detained and are currently questioning three men believed to be Iranian Revolutionary Guards after their armed boat attempted to breach their territorial waters on Friday. An official source stated that at 20:28 on June 16, three small boats, bearing red and white flags, entered the Saudi territorial waters in the Arabian Gulf. Saudi navy forces were able to capture one boat while the other two escaped. "They headed at speed towards platforms of Saudi oil field of Marjan. Immediately, the Saudi naval forces fired warning shots, but the boats did not respond. Consequently, one of the boats was captured which was loaded with weapons for subversive purpose, while the other two escaped," a statement on Saudi Press Agency read. A statement released by Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Informational and Culture quoted a navy source as saying that the attack was apparently carried as a terrorist operation aimed at causing serious damage to life and property. "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stresses its determination to combat and eradicate terrorism and its sources, as a part of the country's permanent objective to protect its national security against any external aggression," the statement added.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/06/19/Saudi-naval-forces-capture-armed-boat-that-breached-its-territorial-waters.html
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/19/saudi-navy-captures-members-of-iranian-elite-force-on-intercepted-boat-revolutionary-guards
Headline: 25 Killed in Saudi Airstrikes on Yemen Market
Headline: Yemeni army controls mountain summit between al-Jawf and Amran
The Yemeni army took control of Jabal Ham, the border between the provinces of al-Jawf and Amran, where the soldiers of the Sixth Military Region are clashing to control the ruling areas. The militias were entrenched at the foot of Mount Ham after the National Army took control of its summit, causing the Houthi's to suffer setbacks. The commander of the 122nd Brigade said in an exclusive interview that the militias are killing the injured elements so as not to care for them. The Battle of al-Jawf can be described as a battle for control of the summits and ruling point.
https://www.voanews.com/a/twenty-five-killed-in-saudi-airstrikes-on-yemen-market/3905199.html
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2017/06/19/Yemeni-army-controls-mountain-summit-between-al-Jawf-and-Amran.html
Headline: Police officer killed, 4 injured in Cairo attack
A police officer was killed and four conscripts were wounded after unidentified assailants in a Jeep shot the gas tank of central security forces near the Cairo suburb of Ma'adi early Sunday. According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Interior, after initial examinations, the timeline shows that the terrorists shot the security vehicle after the forces had their suhoor meal. "At around 12.45am on Sunday, a vehicle of the central security forces transporting a group of officers and conscripts on the Autostrade Road was attacked by an explosive device planted on the side of the road," the ministry said in its statement. "The incident led to the martyrdom of first lieutenant Ali Abd Al-Khaliq and to the injury of an officer and three conscripts," the statement read. The four injured policemen have been taken to hospital for treatment, the statement added. No group has yet claimed its responsibility for the incident.
https://dailynewsegypt.com/2017/06/18/police-officer-killed-4-injured-cairo-attack/
Headline: Syrian warplane shot down by US jet
Headline: Russian warning: US planes in W. Syria are targets
Headline: US responds to Russian threat after shoot-down of Syrian jet
Headline:US repositioning aircraft over Syria as tensions rise
A US Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane after the Syrian jet dropped bombs near Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) fighters on Sunday, the US military said in a statement. The shootdown came a little more than two hours after forces allied with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad attacked the north-central Syria town of Ja'Din, which was controlled by the SDF. A number of SDF forces, who are backed by the US-led coalition, were wounded in the attack, the statement from the Combined Joint Task Force said. The attack drove the SDF from Ja'Din, which is west of Raqqa, the coalition statement said. Later, a Syrian government Su-22 attacked the SDF forces with bombs. "In accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of coalition-partnered forces, (the Syrian jet) was immediately shot down by a US F/A-18E Super Hornet," the coalition statement said. The shootdown was the first of a Syrian aircraft by the US military since it began fighting ISIS in the country in 2014.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/18/middleeast/syrian-warplane-shot-down-coalition/index.html
http://debka.com/article/26106/Russian-warning-US-planes-in-W-Syria-are-targets
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06/19/us-shoot-down-syrian-jet-prompts-russian-threat.html
Headline: Iran fires missiles at militant groups in eastern Syria
Headline: Iranian official on Syrian attack: 'Israel understood the message, it should be worried'
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards has fired ground-to-ground missiles from western Iran into eastern Syria, aiming at the bases of militant groups Iran holds responsible for the deadly combined attacks in Tehran earlier this month, the Iranian news agency Tasnim reported. "The spilling of any pure blood will not go unanswered," the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement, according to Tasnim. The advisor to the Iranian foreign minister, Sheikh Hussein al-Islam, said when speaking about the missiles launched by Iran into Syria that Israel "is the main enemy" of Iran, despite the attack targeting militant groups who Iran blames for the Tehran attacks, and adding that Israel now "has to worry about (its actions)," hinting that the missile launch should be seen as a sort of warning to Israel. In an interview with the Al-Miyadin network, Al-Islam said that the missile strike showed the strength of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and that Iran "will not allow terrorism to determine the future of the region," and also showing his disdain for any outside interference, saying that "the presence of Americans in the region is illegal; the US should leave Syria sooner or later."
Headline:Iraqi forces launch assault on Mosul Old City
Iraqi forces launched an assault Sunday to retake Mosul's Old City, the last district still held by the Daesh terror group three years after the extremists seized the northern city and declared their "caliphate". Military commanders told AFP the assault had begun at dawn after overnight air strikes by the US-led coalition backing Iraqi forces. They said the extremists were putting up fierce resistance. The push into Mosul's Old City — a densely populated warren of narrow alleyways on the western side of Iraq's second city — marks the culmination of a months-long campaign by Iraqi forces to retake Daesh's last major urban stronghold in the country. Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani Al Assadi, a senior commander with the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said the operation was advancing slowly "to preserve civilian lives as we breach the enemy's defence lines". "Our forces have moved in on foot because the alleys are very narrow," he said. "The strategy has changed compared to other operations. There is no room for our vehicles to manoeuvre and there are many civilians." The United Nations said Friday that Daesh may be holding more than 100,000 civilians as human shields in the Old City.
http://jordantimes.com/news/region/iraqi-forces-launch-assault-mosul-old-city
Headline: Iran and China conduct naval drill in Gulf
Iran and China began a joint naval exercise in the Gulf on Sunday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. The military drill comes at a time of heightened tension between the Iranian and U.S. military in the Gulf and is likely to be a cause of concern for Washington. In recent months, the U.S. navy has accused the Iranian navy of sending fast-attack boats to harass warships as they pass through the Strait of Hormuz. An Iranian destroyer and two Chinese destroyers are among the vessels that will participate in the exercise, which will take place in the eastern portion of the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, according to IRNA. Some 700 Iranian navy personnel will be participating in the drill. Two Chinese warships docked at Iran's Bandar Abbas port to take part in a joint naval exercise in the Gulf for the first time in 2014.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-china-military-drill-idUSKBN1990EF
Headline: Afghan soldier attacks US troops at Camp Sheheen
Headline: Taliban suicide team assaults provincial police headquarters
An Afghan soldier has attacked US troops at a military base, wounding seven. The US soldiers were evacuated after the "insider attack" in the northern Balkh province on Saturday, a spokesman for the US military command said. The Nato-led Resolute Support mission said one Afghan soldier was killed and another injured in the incident at Camp Shaheen, in Mazar-e Sharif city. But earlier reports of American soldiers being killed were dismissed. It is not clear whether the soldier killed was also the attacker. The Taliban have said the shooting was carried out by a man loyal to them, according to Reuters. Resolute Support said the attack, which took place at about 14:00 local time (09:30 GMT), was under investigation. It comes a week after an Afghan army commando shot dead three US special forces soldiers in eastern Afghanistan.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/06/taliban-suicide-team-assaults-provincial-police-headquarters.php
Headline: Is the Tunisian "Arab Spring" about to Repeat in Morocco?
Domestic tensions in Morocco are brewing; unrest and protests have been noted in the northern part of the Kingdom, and the regime is unable to control the situation and calm the passions. In many ways, events in Morocco since late October are a reminder of those that preceded the ousting of the Tunisian President Zein El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and launched the "Arab Spring." The surface calm in Morocco was broken by a harrowing incident on October 28, 2016, in the northern town of Al-Hoceima on Morocco's Mediterranean coast. The police threw Mouhcine Fikri's whole fish catch into the bin of a waste truck. The fishmonger tried to save his catch and jumped into the waste bin. He was crushed to death by the grinder. Protests began in the coastal town of Al-Hoceima but very quickly spread to other northern cities such as Nador and even in Morocco's main cities – Rabat, Casablanca, and Tangier. According to Moroccan authorities, more than 1,600 Moroccans have joined the ranks of the jihadists in Syria, Libya, and Iraq, and 200 to 240 out of that number have returned either to Morocco or European countries. The Kingdom has embarked on a special religious education program aimed at neutralizing all extremist interpretations of the Koran. King Mohammad VI instructed the ministry of education to remove from schoolbooks all references to jihad. It is crystal clear that the Moroccan regime cannot yield to the Berber protest and will have to repress it. Facing the threat of extreme Islam, the Moroccan regime has a paramount interest to subdue the northern social and political eruption and adopt all necessary measures to prevent the interaction between the Jihadist organizations, the Algerian subversive activities via the Polisario and other organizations, and the Amazigh protest. Infiltration of the Rif by the Jihadists could destabilize the kingdom.
http://jcpa.org/article/tunisian-arab-spring-repeat-morocco/
Headline: Tensions rise in disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region as Azeri Army clashes with Armenian forces
Over the last 48 hours, the Azeri Army and Armenian forces have clashed in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, resulting in the death of several soldiers on both sides. "The adversary is continuing to shell from high-caliber weapons and artillery guns the positions of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces and settlements located in the immediate battle area," the Azeri Ministry of Defense claimed on Saturday. "On June 15, in an attempt to bring up short another provocation of Armenian armed units Azerbaijan's army suffered casualties," the ministry stated, noting that in retaliatory fire "on June 15 and 16, six soldiers of Armenian Armed Forces were eliminated," some were wounded. On Friday, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported one of its soldiers was killed by the Armenian forces.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/tensions-rise-disputed-nagorno-karabakh-region-azeri-army-clashes-armenian-forces/
Headline: Mali attack: Two EU staff killed at tourist resort
Two EU staff were killed when gunmen stormed a tourist resort in Mali on Sunday, the bloc's foreign affairs chief has said. One victim was a Portuguese soldier while the other was a Malian woman, Federica Mogherini added. Mali's security minister said on Sunday that a Franco-Gabonese person was also killed. It is not clear how many people in total have been killed and no group has said it carried out the attack. "It is a jihadist attack. Malian special forces intervened and hostages have been released," Mali Security Minister Salif Traore told AFP news agency. The minister said four assailants had been killed by security forces. On Monday he told AFP that five suspects had been arrested. "We have recovered the bodies of two attackers who were killed," said Mr Traore, adding that they were "searching for the bodies of two others". One of them left behind a machine gun and bottles filled with "explosive substances". The ministry said another two people had been injured, including a civilian.
Headline: Suicide bombers kill 12 in Nigeria's Borno state — police
Five female suicide bombers killed 12 people and wounded 11 in northeast Nigeria's Borno state, birthplace of the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency, police said on Monday. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. But the use of female suicide bombers in public places is a tactic used by Boko Haram, which has focused on Borno during its eight-year-old insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate. Borno state police spokesman Victor Isuku said the attacks occurred on Sunday at around 08:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) in the village of Kofa, 8 km (5 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri. "The first suicide bomber detonated near a mosque, killing seven persons. The second detonated in a house killing five persons," he said, adding that 11 people hurt in the attacks. Isuku said the other three bombers also died.
Headline: Van rams Muslim worshippers in London
A van plowed into worshippers near a London mosque in the early hours of Monday, injuring 10 people, two of them seriously, in what Prime Minister Theresa May said was a sickening, terrorist attack on Muslims. The vehicle swerved into a group of mainly North and West African people shortly after midnight as they left prayers at the Muslim Welfare House and the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque in north London, one of the biggest in Britain. The driver, a 48-year-old white man, was grabbed at the scene by locals and pinned down until police arrived. He was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder. After being seized, the man said he had wanted to kill "many Muslim people," one witness told journalists. A man, who had earlier suffered a heart attack, died at the scene but it was not clear if his death was connected to the van attack. "This morning, our country woke to news of another terrorist attack on the streets of our capital city: the second this month and every bit as sickening as those which have come before," May told reporters outside her Downing Street office. "This was an attack on Muslims near their place of worship," said May who later visited the mosque. The attack was the fourth since March in Britain and the third to involve a vehicle deliberately driven at pedestrians.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/van-rams-muslim-worshippers-in-london-pm-may-condemns-sickening-attack/ar-BBCRq9B?li=BBnb7Kz
Headline: 6 soldiers killed in bomb attack in Thailand
Six soldiers in Thailand have been killed and four others wounded in a roadside bomb explosion in a southern province. The explosion occurred as the soldiers were on a routine patrol in the violence-plagued Pattani Province on Monday, according to district police chief Pruk Liangsukwho. "It is likely the work of violent groups in the area because this area is a red area," Pruk said. "We are still checking the scene." No group has yet claimed responsibility for the bomb attack.
http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2017/06/19/525775/Thailand-Pattani-roadside-bomb-soldiers
Headline: McDonald's introduces 'gay pride' fries, Christians call for boycott
For Gay Pride month, McDonald's franchises in San Francisco and in the nation's capital are issuing "Pride Fries" in rainbow-colored containers. "The rainbow fry boxes are a fun way to show our support of the LGBTQ community, using one of McDonald's most iconic and recognizable items," Cathy Martin of the restaurant corporation's "Pride Network" stated in a press release. She added that McDonald's is "proud to honor and celebrate the LGBTQ community, including our employees, customers and beyond – each and every day." McDonald's is acknowledged as a corporate leader in homosexual affirming and enabling policies. As OneNewsNow reports, "The Golden Arches is a major player and sponsor in promoting homosexual behavior across the nation." McDonald's franchises in the D.C. area are also big sponsors of the homosexual group Capital Pride Alliance, which seeks to normalize homosexual practices across the country. The fast food behemoth, which raked in $25 billion last year, supports the 2017 Capital Pride parade theme, "Lovin' Is Lovin," to show gay support. The theme is apparently a take-off of McDonald's popular "I'm Lovin' It" commercial tagline. Not all customers are happy with the gay fries. Evangelist and online personality Joshua Feuerstein issued a call for Christians to boycott the fast food chain.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/disgusting-mcdonalds-introduces-gay-pride-fries-christians-call-for-boycott
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BELOW ARE 3 REPORTS THAT I MISSED BUT ARE NOW IN MY NEW UP-DATED BOOK. THE BIG WOBBLE IS NEWS ABOUT THE U.S. THEN YOU WILL SEE NEWS OUT OF MEXICO AND VIETNAM.
To all those Fathers out there I want to wish you a great Fathers day! If you are a child of a Father love him with all your heart as he is a gift from God. For all of you who have lost our Dad's let us remember the days they were with us. On this day I know of 3 young children who have lost not only there Father but Mother as well. As a Father I ask any of you to help in bringing these children out of poverty and into a decent life. I made a plee for help last week and a few have answered the call but it is not enough to change things around for the kids. You can donate to help at ascentministries.org. If you do give please write a note along with your donation saying you want your support to go to the kids Frank is trying to help.