Dozens killed after suicide bombing at Shia shrine in Damascus

Islamic State bombers have killed more than 60 people near Syria’s holiest Shia shrine in Damascus as the country’s main opposition group met the UN mediator, Staffan de Mistura, for the first time.

Representatives of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC) – which includes political and militant opponents of President Bashar al-Assad – warned they may yet walk away from the Geneva talks unless the suffering of civilians in the five-year conflict was eased.

The head of the Syrian government delegation said that the blasts in Damascus, which the interior ministry blamed on a car bomb and two suicide bombers, merely confirmed the opposition’s terrorist links – even though Isis has been excluded from the talks.

The United Nations is aiming for six months of negotiations, with an initial ceasefire working toward a political settlement to the civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people, driven over 10 million from their homes and drawn in global powers.

Only on Friday, the HNC said it would boycott the process, insisting it wanted an end to airstrikes and sieges of Syrian towns before joining the negotiations. This forced de Mistura – who invited the government and opposition umbrella group for “proximity talks” in which he would meet each side in separate rooms – to set the ball rolling with only the Damascus delegation.

Under intense pressure, notably from the US, the HNC later relented and arrived in Geneva on Saturday. However, the group questioned how long the delegation would stay.

“In view of the [Syrian] regime and its allies’ insistence in violating the rights of the Syrian people, the presence of the HNC delegation in Geneva would not have any justification and the HNC could pull its negotiating team out,” the group’s coordinator, Riad Hijab, said in an online statement.

Syrian children need an education – rich countries must give $1.4bn to pay for it

Although we are from different countries, Pakistan and Syria, we both know what it means to be denied education because of wars and conflicts. We share a deep hope to see all Syrian refugee children back in school, so that their dreams and gifts are not lost to the world for good. We first met in Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp, where Syrian girls as young as 12 and 13 are being married off to older men. For these girls’ families, marriage is seen as a way to protect their daughters from poverty and violence.

Among refugee families living in Jordan, rates of child marriage have doubled in the past three years,and most of those girls will never go into a classroom again.

Five years ago, things were very different for our sisters. Before the war in Syria, all children could attend 12 years of school for free, and the country had a 90% literacy rate.

We have been doing our best to persuade parents and girls that education is the best way to protect their futures.

In a few days’ time, we will step forward to persuade world leaders of the same thing. We will go together to the Supporting Syria conference in London to remind our leaders that the future of these children is in their hands. Without significant increases in funding, thousands of Syrian young people will remain out of school again this year.

Every year that’s missed will cost them dearly in terms of lost opportunities for themselves, their families and their country.

Border countries like Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq are opening their doors and their schools to Syrian children, but they don’t have resources to help every child. The world’s richest countries encourage refugees to stay in the region instead of coming to Europe, while not providing the funding border countries need to deal with the crisis.

Latest Islamic State killing video features blond Frenchman

He talks in French of the enemies of Isis and tells them to expect something that will “make them forget September 11 and Paris”. He also speaks of Spain and Portugal and states that Isis is seeking the return of Al-Andalus – the name of the Iberian peninsula dominated by Muslims between the 8th and 15th centuries – and the cities of Toledo and Cordoba.

The eight-minute video, thought to have been filmed in northern Iraq, showed the five prisoners speaking in Arabic.

The terrorist in the film is not the first presumed French convert to feature in Isis propaganda. In 2014, Maxime Hauchard, a French citizen from Normandy who converted to Islam at the age of 17 and then became radicalised, was identified from a video showing the remains of the American hostage Peter Kassig.

France is still reeling from the fact that most of those who perpetrated terrorist attacks in the country last year – including the series of attacks in January 2015on the satirical publication Charlie Hebdo and the November shootings and suicide bombings – were French citizens.

Aftermath of Damascus suicide bombing

Syrian security services and government personnel attend to the site of a suicide bombing in Damascus. Two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Sayeda Zeinab district of the Syrian capital on Sunday, killing at least 60 people. The blast was near Syria’s holiest Shia shrine. A car bombing was also reported. The explosion came as delegates from Syria’s government and opposition groups convened on Geneva for talks

End of the road for gas stations ignoring rules

JEDDAH: A number of gas stations in Makkah region which failed to raise the standards and level of services at the facilities, including mosques, restaurants and toilets, will be closed down. 
An order in this regard has been issued by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, local media reported on Saturday.
These gas stations failed to heed the instructions despite being given a grace period of two years, Sultan Al-Dowsari, the spokesman of Makkah Governorate was quoted as saying.
The decision was taken during a meeting of the council of Makkah region, he said. 
These facilities were found violating the norms on cleanliness and other things during inspections. Accordingly, Jeddah, Makkah and Taif municipalities will shut down these gas stations. 
The owners of these stations had been told to install air-conditioning systems, have proper lighting in the mosques and follow hygiene and safety standards.
The governor’s decision came after the deadline given to the erring stations ended.

80 Saudis got organs illegally from abroad 

DAMMAM: About 80 Saudis were found to have benefited from illegal kidney transplants from donors from Egypt, China and Pakistan during 2015. This has been revealed by Dr. Faisal Shahin, head of the Saudi Center for Organ Donation.
Dr. Shahin stressed that people should be made aware of the dangers of this practice thriving in some countries which could lead to a range of serious problems such as kidney failure. 
He said that “trade gangs” have played a major role in this, acting as intermediaries for hospitals that carry out operations illegally with donors wooed from poor neighborhoods. 
Dr. Shahin said the problem is that most of the people who are involved in illegal dealings have serious psychological problems. The agents find it relatively easy to encourage them to donate their organs by offering them huge sums of money.
He explained that kidney patients are always looking for donations. He pointed out that the price of a kidney was SR20,000 earlier, but now varies between SR150,000 and SR300,000. “In fact, the intermediary tells the donor a figure that is far lower than what he should getting so that the agent, his gang and the hospital can steal the maximum amount.” 
He added that the Saudi Center for Organ Donation warns patients that 60 percent of transplants conducted in this manner result in failure, in comparison to near 99 percent success rate of such procedures in Saudi Arabia.
With regard to the legal aspects of the procedure, Dr. Shahin said Saudi Arabia doesn't apply the laws used in some European countries, which prohibit medical facilities from conducting transplants on patients if it is proved that the kidney was obtained through illegal means.

100% FDI in four sectors under study

JEDDAH: Proposals to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in four sectors are being studied, Mohannad Hilal, secretary-general of Economic Cities Authority, has said.
“This (study) is within the framework to encourage foreign investment and diversify the productive base and confront falling oil prices,” he has been quoted as saying by Bloomberg. 
Hilal did not give details about the sectors, saying that the Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is the one to decide on this.
New procedures required for the visa system and quickening the pace of issuing work permits, he added. 
Abdullatif Al-Othman, governor of SAGIA, welcomed the recommendations on foreign investment. “We are happy to receive queries regarding foreign investment and to amend the law or regulations to attract investments to the Kingdom,” he said. 
“We have finalized the executive lists to allow 100 percent FDI in the wholesale and retail sector as against the current 75 percent,” he added. 
Saudi Arabia is planning to lessen the restrictions on foreign investments to reverse its fall that went down by $7.6 billion in 2015; it was $30 billion seven years ago. 
The Kingdom offers incentives to foreign investors, including reduction in direct taxation to 20 percent on profits with relaying losses to future years, while investors work in a secure environment protected by legislative and judicial regulations. 
The Saudi reform program focuses on decreasing government expenditure on unnecessary issues and stressing investments in the mining, health, education and municipality sectors, besides expanding its privatization program to reduce the strain on the budget.
Ten years ago, the Kingdom launched a plan to alter the economy and established four economic cities in Rabigh, Hail, Jazan and Madinah to change the face of the national economy, which depends to a great extent on oil revenues.

Lecturer accused of blasphemy 

JEDDAH: An Arabic lecturer at the Imam Mohammed bin Saud Islamic University has been suspended and an investigation ordered after he was found to have allegedly recorded and circulated blasphemous messages on social media.
Audio clips with messages purportedly recorded by the lecturer, a Saudi, kicked up a storm on Twitter in the Kingdom on Thursday, local media reported.
The audio clips, attributed to him, contains comments against Almighty Allah, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his companions and Islam. The clip also raises doubts over the Holy Qur’an and its scientific miracles, validity of Isra and Meraj, the report said. 
When a local newspaper contacted Fawzan Al-Fawzan, acting director of the university, he said: “The lecturer has released a number of audio clips in which he has abused the holy companions and attacked the religion of Islam.”
Al-Fawzan added: “I did not know the recordings until Wednesday. When I listened to them, I confirmed that it was his (lecturer’s) voice as was also attested by a number of associates of the university who have received these messages on their mobiles.”
He said that as per the rules, the lecturer has been suspended temporarily and the matter has been referred to a disciplinary committee of the university for action.
Meanwhile, the lecturer rejected the allegation against him, saying that the clip was doctored with malicious intentions against him. 
“I sincerely believe in Allah and Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him,” he said. “I am a Sunni and I seek Allah’s blessings.”

Russian jet violates Turkish airspace; envoy summoned

ANKARA: A Russian SU-34 jet violated Turkish airspace on Friday despite radar warnings, Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Saturday, amid ongoing bitterness between the two countries involved in Syria’s war.
The Russian ambassador was summoned over the incident late on Friday, the statement said, adding that the violation was a clear sign that Russia wanted issues between the two countries to escalate.
“We are making a clear call to the Russian Federation not to violate Turkish airspace, which is also NATO airspace,” the statement said.
“We are emphasizing once again that the unwanted consequences of such irresponsible behavior will belong fully to the Russian Federation,” it added.
Turkey shot down a Russian warplane in November.

Madaya: Starvation kills 16 more

MADAYA: Another 16 people have starved to death in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since UN aid convoys reached it earlier this month, according to charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.
The charity says there are also 33 people in danger of dying. 
Brice de la Vingne, MSF operations director, said the situation was "totally unacceptable" when people "should have been evacuated weeks ago," according to BBC.
MSF previously said 30 people died of starvation in the town late last year.
Earlier in January, two emergency convoys of food and aid supplies were delivered to Madaya, where up to 40,000 people are believed to be trapped in appalling conditions.
The report comes as talks on ending the Syrian conflict take place in Geneva.
Negotiators representing Syria's main opposition groups were expected to arrive later on Saturday, after earlier boycotting the launch of the peace talks. Aid deliveries to besieged towns is a key demand from opposition groups.
The UN says some 400,000 people are trapped and in need of emergency assistance in 15 locations in Syria as part of sieges imposed by the Syrian government-led coalition, as well as by opposition groups. 
Madaya, in the mountains 25 km north-west of Damascus, has been besieged for six months by government forces and their allies in Lebanon's Hezbollah movement.

Main opposition heads to Geneva as Syria talks open

AMMAN/GENEVA: A delegation from Syria’s main opposition group flew to Geneva on Saturday to assess whether to join Damascus government officials in United Nations-brokered peace talks, an opposition representative said.
The 17-strong team included the head of the Saudi-backed Higher Negotiation Committee (HNC), which includes political and militant opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the country’s five-year civil war.
The HNC has said it wants to discuss humanitarian issues including a stop to Russian and Syrian government bombing before engaging in the peace talks that started on Friday in Geneva.
Russian airstrikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.
“We are going to Geneva to put to the test the seriousness of the international community in its promises to the Syrian people and to also test the seriousness of the regime in implementing its humanitarian obligations,” Riyad Naasan Agha said.
“We want to show the world our seriousness in moving toward negotiations to find a political solution,” he told Reuters.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Saturday the Geneva talks must ensure human rights are upheld as participants work toward a political transition in Syria.

Houthis detain five activists, journalist

CAIRO: Gunmen from Yemen's Houthi movement detained a local journalist and five activists after a raid on an apartment in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, activists said, the latest detention of a reporter in the war-ravaged country.
The gunmen stormed the apartment at dawn and took journalist Nabil Al-Sharabi and the activists to an unknown location. The Houthis had fired guns when the men attempted to escape, activists said.
Representatives of the Iran-allied Houthi movement were not immediately reachable for comment. Human Rights Watch says the Houthis have detained numerous political opposition figures, activists, and journalists.
Sharabi, the detained journalist, had worked for local daily Akhbar Al-Youm, which the Houthis closed down after taking control of Sanaa in 2014. The Yemeni Journalists Syndicate says the Houthis have been holding 12 other journalists for several months after accusing them of acting against the movement and of supporting Hadi's government.
Yemen is ranked 168th out of 180 countries in the 2015 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index. The group said last week that at least 17 journalists and media workers were being held hostage in Yemen by armed groups including the Houthis. 
Separately, a suicide bombing killed seven people and wounded seven others Friday night in Aden, the second deadly attack in as many days in Yemen’s second city, medics and security sources said.
The bombing targeted a police checkpoint not far from Thursday’s suicide attack that killed eight people.

Nearly 1,400 civilians killed in Russia’s airstrikes

AMMAN: Russian airstrikes on Syria have killed nearly 1,400 civilians since Moscow started its aerial campaign nearly four months ago, a group monitoring the war said on Saturday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which collects information from a network of sources on the ground, said the Russian strikes had also killed 965 Daesh fighters as well as 1,233 fighters from various other insurgent groups. 
The main Syrian opposition group heading to Geneva peace talks on Saturday has demanded a halt to a joint Russian and Syrian bombing campaign they say targets mostly civilians in rebel held areas as a precondition for engaging in talks with the Syrian government.
Russia began a major aerial campaign on Sept. 30 to help its ally Syrian President Bashar Assad. The air strikes tilted the war in Assad’s way after major setbacks earlier in 2015 brought rebel groups close to the coastal heartland of his Alawite sect.
Moscow says it is targeting Daesh militants but rebels and residents say the Russian air strikes are causing hundreds of civilian casualties in indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas away from the frontline.

Paris to accept a Palestine state if...

PARIS: France will recognize a Palestinian state if its efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at an international conference fail, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday.

He told French diplomats that the conference will aim to bring together the two parties and their American, European and Arab partners in order “to make happen a two-state solution.”
If this attempt faces a deadlock, Fabuis said, France will have to recognize a Palestinian state.
France’s Socialist government supports the idea of two states, but had previously argued that it was too early for outright recognition of a Palestinian state.
Fabius’ announcement comes as the Palestinians, buoyed by the successful Iran nuclear talks and the start of UN-mediated talks on Syria, have been exploring steps that could lead to a two-state solution including an international conference and a Security Council resolution that would demand an end to illegal Israeli settlement building.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, told AP: “The Palestinian leadership do welcome the announcement of foreign minister Fabius today in Paris in connection with the convening of an international conference in the next few weeks, and if things fail the recognition of the state of Palestine by France.”
“I think the objective of this conference ... has to be to open the process that would lead to the end of the occupation and the preservation of the two-state solution,” he said.
As for recognition, Mansour said, “France promised us some time ago that if there is no opening for a meaningful political process — a collective process that would lead to the end of occupation and independence of the state of Palestine and therefore saving the two-state solution soon — then they will recognize the state of Palestine.”
He said the Palestinians wanted recognition from France “some time ago,” noting that the French parliament has unanimously recommended recognizing the state of Palestine.
“And we hope that they do that,” Mansour said. “If they are tying it to the political process, that is their thinking. But eventually if you believe in a two-state solution, then recognizing the state of Palestine is an investment.”
Israel’s UN Mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier on Friday, at UN headquarters in New York, Mansour said the nuclear talks on Iran and talks on Syria, Yemen and Libya have spurred the Palestinians to seek a broader international framework to try to settle the decades-old conflict with Israel. “This is a new culture — and why shouldn’t that spread to the Palestinian issue?,” he asked.
Mansour said the Palestinians don’t accept that in 2016 “the door is closed” and nothing can be done to make progress toward a two-state solution because of the US presidential election in November.
He said that’s why he has been engaging all 15 members of the Security Council, including Israel’s close ally the US, as well as the UN Secretariat and other “friends,” on their readiness to take steps, especially since virtually all members at the last Mideast meeting spoke out against Israeli settlement building.
Mansour commended Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “for characterizing correctly the settlements as illegal, illegitimate and a major obstacle to peace.” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Ban’s remarks justify terrorism.
Besides a new resolution on settlements and an international conference, Mansour said he has raised the French idea of “a support group” of other countries to promote progress toward peace, an expansion of the Quartet of Mideast mediators — the US, UN, European Union and Russia.
He said adoption of a Security Council resolution would be “a signal” that the council and key world powers want to end the conflict and see an independent Palestinian state.

Lavrov, Kerry discuss Syria peace talks

MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday discussed by telephone the talks underway between the Syrian government and opposition in Geneva, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that they agreed to assess the talks at an international meeting in Munich on Feb. 11.

Ten dead as migrant boat sinks off Turkish coast

ANKARA: Ten people drowned while 43 others were rescued after a boat carrying migrants to Greece sank off Turkey’s western coast, Turkish news agency Dogan reported on Saturday.
More than one million refugees and migrants arrived by land and sea in the European Union last year and some 3,600 died or went missing.
The Turkish coast guard was continuing search and rescue efforts where the boat sank off the coast of Ayvacik, a town across from the Greek island of Lesvos. It was not immediately clear how many migrants had been on board.
Five of those killed were children, the Dogan news agency said, and rescued migrants were hospitalized with hypothermia symptoms. It said the migrants were of Syrian, Afghan and Myanmar origin.
Around 500,000 refugees from the five-year-old war in Syria traveled through Turkey and then risked their lives at sea to reach Greek islands in 2015. Despite the winter conditions and rough seas, the exodus has continued, albeit at a slower pace.
Turkey is the first stop on Syrian migrants’ journey to the European Union.
Turkey struck a deal with the EU in November pledging to help stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in financial aid for the 2.5 million Syrian refugees it is hosting, as well as renewed talks on joining the 28-nation bloc.

France says it will recognise Palestinian state if new peace effort fails

France has issued an ultimatum to Israel, saying it will recognise a Palestinian state if a renewed push for a two-state solution fails.

The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, announced on Friday that France was trying to convene an international peace summit to renew diplomatic efforts by Israel and the Palestinians. He said that if diplomacy failed, France would formally recognise a Palestinian state.

Speaking at a conference of French diplomats in Paris, Fabius said: “Unfortunately, Israeli settlement construction continues. We must not let the two-state solution unravel. It is our responsibility as a permanent member of the UN security council.”

The Palestinians have welcomed France’s renewed efforts to negotiate a two-state solution at talks that are expected to include leaders from the US, Europeand Arab nations. The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, said any agreement would require full cessation of Israeli settlement activities within a “specified timeframe”.

Israel has rejected the French drive toward a peace initiative. A senior official said Fabius’s threat to reconise a Palestine state was counter-productive. “There is no logic in a deadline for recognition of a Palestinian state, it will only encourage the Palestinians not to negotiate,” he said.

In April 2014, efforts led by the US – particularly the secretary of state, John Kerry – to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinian territories collapsed. No serious plans to resume talks have been made since.

In December 2014, France supported a UN security council resolution creating a framework for a final resolution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Those efforts failed due to opposition from Israel and the US on one hand, and an unwillingness by the Palestinians on the other to compromise on the wording of the decision.

Last year France suggested creating an international support group for peace talks. The group met on the sidelines of the UN last year, but without Israelis of Palestinians. Since that meeting Fabius has pushed for the UN security council to condemn Israeli settlements, but this also failed.

UK welcomes Syrian opposition decision to join peace talks

Britain has welcomed the “difficult decision” made by the Syrian opposition’s chief negotiator to take part in peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending the country’s war.

Riyad Hijab, the head of the Syrian High Negotiating Committee (SHNC), announced late on Friday that it had decided to take part in the talks following a first meeting between the UN envoy and representatives of Bashar al-Assad’s government. 

The British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, called for the talks to deliver a “political transition away from Assad and end the suffering of the Syrian people”. 

He said: “The UK supports this process and calls for complete and unfettered humanitarian access across Syria, and an end to all violations of international humanitarian law, as set out in UN security council resolution 2254.”

Sixteen people have died in the besieged Syrian town of Madaya since aid was delivered in three convoys this month. Médecins Sans Frontières said there were an estimated 320 cases of malnutrition in the town of 20,000 people, with 33 people in danger of dying if they did not receive “prompt and effective treatment”. 

Restrictions were placed on humanitarian assistance to the town, including the supply of essential medical supplies and therapeutic food to treat severe cases of malnutrition, after heavy shelling of the town last summer and a subsequent siege. MSF said there were no doctors in Madaya.

“It is totally unacceptable that people continue to die from starvation and that critical medical cases remain in the town when they should have been evacuated weeks ago,” said the MSF director of operations, Brice de le Vingne. 

“There needs to be a permanent and independent medical presence in Madaya immediately, as we expect the medical situation to worsen as access to healthcare for people inside remains extremely limited.”

US, Britain spied on Israeli drones for years

JERUSALEM: US and British intelligence cracked the codes of Israeli drones operating in the Middle East and monitored their surveillance feeds for almost 20 years, according to documents leaked by an American whistleblower and published in international media on Friday.
Reports by the German daily Der Spiegel and the investigative website The Intercept said the details emerged from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked millions of documents about US government surveillance in 2013.
The reports said the intelligence agencies were able to watch information that the drones and other aircraft broadcast back to their handlers. 
The project codenamed “Anarchist” has operated since 1998 and was based near the highest point in Cyprus. Israel was the focus of the program but it also hacked into systems in Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Syria, the reports said.

Egypt security men slain by Sinai terrorists

CAIRO: A bomb blast killed two Egyptian police officers and wounded five others in an attack on their armored vehicle in the Sinai Peninsula on Friday, the Interior Ministry said.
The vehicle was targeted near a school in the North Sinai provincial capital of El-Arish, it said in a statement, in the second such attack in recent days.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the region is a stronghold of Daesh.
Separately, fighting between army troops and extremist militants in Sinai killed four children and wounded eight other minors on Thursday, Egyptian medical officials said.
The Rafah hospital said in a statement that the children were killed and wounded during clashes using heavy weapons, with some buried under rubble when buildings were hit and collapsed. The fighting took place close to the border with the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Late in the night, the El-Arish security directorate said in a statement that an improvised explosive device also hit an armored column in the city, killing two senior police officers and wounding four others.
In a statement distributed by Daesh sympathizers on social media, the militant group said that it had killed and wounded more than 20 soldiers, including senior officers, during the attack. 
Egyptian security and health officials had said the attack killed an army colonel and three soldiers and wounded another 12 soldiers, several of whom were in a critical condition.

Dutch to join bombing of Daesh targets in Syria

THE HAGUE: The Netherlands will broaden its role in the US-led coalition against Daesh to include the bombing of terror targets in Syria, the government said on Friday.
A Dutch squadron of six F-16 fighter jets is already stationed in the region, but was hitherto limited to striking Daesh positions in Iraq.
The aircraft will now be active over Syria until July 1, targeting Daesh insurgent operations and training camps, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told journalists in The Hague.
Daesh’s bombing and shooting attacks on Paris that killed 130 people in November had already led France and Britain to step up their bombing campaigns in Syria and Iraq.
“We have decided to heed the call of our allies for expansion of the operational area of our F-16s to the east of Syria to further weaken Daesh’s supply lines and ability to advance,” Rutte said.
“Only by taking away Daesh’s safe havens in Iraq and Syria can we prevent more attacks.”

EgyptAir mechanic detained in Russian plane crash

LONDON: An EgyptAir mechanic whose cousin joined Daesh in Syria is suspected of planting a bomb on a Russian passenger plane that was blown out of Egypt’s skies in late October, according to sources.
So far Egypt has publicly said it has found no evidence that the MetroJet flight, which crashed in the Sinai Peninsula after takeoff from Sharm El-Sheikh airport, killing all 224 people on board, was brought down by terrorism. A senior security official at the airline denied that any of its employees had been arrested or were under suspicion.
But the sources, who preferred anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, said the mechanic had been detained, along with two airport policemen and a baggage handler suspected of helping him put the bomb on board.
“After learning that one of its members had a relative that worked at the airport, Daesh delivered a bomb in a handbag to that person,” said one of the sources, adding the suspect’s cousin joined Daesh in Syria a year and a half ago.
“He was told to not ask any questions and get the bomb on the plane.” Another source said of the other suspects: “Two policemen are suspected of playing a role by turning a blind eye to the operation at a security checkpoint. But there is a possibility that they were just not doing their jobs properly.” None of the four have been prosecuted so far, the sources told Reuters.
Meanwhile, a government official said Egypt has lost hundreds of millions of dollars since the plane disaster occurred. South Sinai Gov. Khaled Fouda was quoted by the state-run Al-Ahram daily as saying that hotel occupancy in the resort cities of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada stands at less than 20 percent and that the cities lose more than $250 million each month.

Second suicide bombing in two days in Yemen's Aden kills seven

A suicide bombing killed seven people and wounded seven others on Friday night in Aden – the second deadly attack in as many days in Yemen’s second city, medics and security sources said.

The bombing targeted a police checkpoint not far from the site of a suicide attack on Thursday that killed eight people, including soldiers and civilians, outside the presidential palace in the city, the sources said.

A hospital spokesman confirmed that seven people were killed in Friday’s bombing.

There was no immediate claim of responsiblity for the attack but the Islamic Stategroup said it was responsible for Thursday’s bombing.

Al-Qaida and Isis both have a presence in Aden, where jihadists occupy government buildings and are seen patrolling several districts and intimidating civilians.

They have claimed a string of attacks and assassinations in recent months.

Opposition finally agrees to join Syrian peace talks in Geneva

Efforts to launch talks aimed at ending the war in Syria have got off to a confusing start in Geneva but the opposition finally announced it had decided to take part following a first meeting between the UN envoy and representatives of Bashar al-Assad’s government.

The late-night decision by the opposition’s negotiating committee, meeting inSaudi Arabia, came after hours of uncertainty and heavy diplomatic pressure on Friday, with rumour and speculation engulfing the Palais des Nations. Holding a few meetings looked like a significant achievement.

Ahmad Fawzi, the UN’s spokesman, hinted at the fast-moving and chaotic nature of the talks, telling reporters: “I don’t have a time, I don’t have the exact location, and I can’t tell you anything about the delegation.”

The Guardian view on the Gulf arms trade: not a good deal after all

For many years Britain sold arms to Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states in the confident expectation that they would never be used. It seemed a perfect scheme. Britain sold the weapons, making large profits and sustaining its arms industries at a time when the orders that the UK’s own forces were able to place had become too small to keep those industries viable. The Americans and the French did the same. The beauty was that there was virtually no political cost, because the customers essentially treated this expensive kit as toys for their largely decorative armies. They didn’t go to war, except on a couple of occasions when they were brought into western-led coalitions against Iraq. Israel sometimes got hot under the collar when it thought the Saudis were getting items that were too cutting-edge. There were some rows when western equipment was used for internal security, but these were deemed minor problems.

UK arms are fuelling Saudi Arabia’s war

Last month, I asked the government this parliamentary question: “Whether they have suspended or revoked any extant arms licences to Saudi Arabia, or refused any new requests for licences for … military arms and equipment?” The FCO minister, Lord Maude, replied with candid arrogance that, “Since 2014 there have been no suspensions, no revocations and no refusals for licences for bombs, missiles or other military arms and equipment.” He went on to say that the “Saudi authorities have their own procedures for investigations” and “the UK operates one of the most robust arms control regimes in the world”. That response confirms Owen Jones’ assertion (Britain is at war. So why does nobody know about it?, 28 January) that “Britain is at war” – the UK’s huge, continuing supply of weapons puts our country in the war, and answers his question, “So why does nobody know about it?”. The government’s smug complicity subdues the truth about that involvement. The UN, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and others have exposed the realities of 8,000 civilian casualties and “humanitarian catastrophe” in Yemen. Save the Children, Oxfam and Unicef have urged an independent inquiry into Saudi actions. Their attacks, using British-supplied weapons, are inevitably smashing projects funded by £80m of British aid to Yemen. Surely the “value for money” rhetoric of the UK government should prompt policy change towards Saudi Arabia, even if morality and law manifestly don’t.

Glenys Kinnock
Labour, House of Lords

• Jeremy Corbyn is right to call for an independent inquiry into British arms sales to Saudi Arabia (Britain’s role in Yemen attacks under scrutiny, 28 January). This must not be the only subject of the inquiry, however. The complete nature of Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia must be dragged into the light – especially the role British military advisers are playing in Saudi Arabia’s campaign in Yemen.

Airstrike targeting British hacker working for Isis killed three civilians instead, US admits

An August airstrike targeting a British hacker for the Islamic State (Isis) insteadkilled three civilians and wounded five more, the US military has announced.

A US airstrike meant for Junaid Hussain near the militant group’s Syrian capital of Raqqa on 13 August, instead killed noncombatants said to be “in the vicinity” of the strike.

The US Central Command had not previously acknowledged killing civilians instead of Hussain. An account it released Friday simply said the strike was “targeting” Hussain.

The UK military played a “consulting” role in the 24 August strike that actually killed Hussain, Central Command has previously confirmed to the Guardian.

Central Command did not provide any additional detail on the dead and wounded civilians. A spokesman, Lt. Commander Ben Tisdale, told the Guardian that Hussain was present at the site of the 13 August strike and wounded in it.

British woman who joined Isis in Syria guilty of encouraging terror acts

A British woman who travelled to Syria with her young child has been convicted of being a member of Islamic State and encouraging acts of terror on social media.

Tareena Shakil, 26, was radicalised on the internet and travelled to Syria via Turkey after telling friends and family she was off on a beach holiday. She spent more than two months living in a mansion with women of various nationalities waiting to be matched up with men and, while there, sent messages and pictures glorifying Isis including ones of her posing with an AK-47 assault rifle.

From the witness box at Birmingham crown court, Shakil gave an extraordinary account of her time in Raqqa, the de facto capital of Isis, and described how she managed to escape after becoming disillusioned and frightened.

Shakil, from Birmingham, claimed she had been groomed by Isis recruiters, who targeted her when she was low because of the break-up of her marriage in the UK. She insisted her every move was monitored by Isis minders and she had no choice but to send messages and pictures that were supportive of Isis.

The trial was told that Shakil was one of about 60 British women who are believed to have left to join Isis in Syria. They were said to have been among about 600 women from Europe, North America and Australia in Syria.

After the jury returned its verdict, West Midlands police said they believed she presented a real threat to the UK.

Assistant chief constable Marcus Beale, who leads on counter-terrorism, said: “Tareena Shakil had self-radicalised by viewing extremist material on the internet, before leaving the UK in October 2014. Our assessment is that she was not naive; she had absolutely clear intentions when she left the UK, sending tweets encouraging the public to commit acts of terrorism here and then taking her young child to join Daesh [Isis] in Syria. Photographs seized from her phone showed Ms Shakil posing with a firearm and wearing a Daesh balaclava. Another showed a rucksack with a Daesh logo and person holding a handgun. These were taken while she was in Syria.

Tareena Shakil: 'I don’t want sympathy … it was my decision to go to Syria'

She was a bright, successful student who loved reality television shows and bands like the Spice Girls. Friends of Tareena Shakil describe her as fun-loving and caring young woman while her family have said they did not consider her particularly religious.

Over the past few weeks, a jury at Birmingham crown court has heard the extraordinary story of how Shakil, a 26-year-old health worker, struck up online friendships with members of Islamic State before travelling with her young child to Syria via Turkey.

On Friday, that same jury found her guilty of being an Isis member and encouraging acts of terror on social media.

Kallstadt, Germany: on the trail of 'the Donald' in the Trump ancestral home

Drumb, Tromb, Tromp, Trum, Trumpff, Dromb … the Trump family name has had various permutations over the past five hundred years, according to the local church register.

Yet nowadays there are few traces of a clan that once had a stronghold in the village of Kallstadt in south-west Germany. There is no plaque outside the house where Friedrich Trump, the grandfather of US presidential hopeful Donald, was born in 1869.

The only hint is in the few gravestones, overgrown with shrubs bearing the name in the local cemetery, and the faint outline where once “Trump” was set in wrought iron above a bunch of silver grapes at a winery that went bankrupt several years ago. “I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” said Hans-Joachim Bender, a retired vintner, sitting at his dining room table looking out onto the vineyards he used to farm. “If you’re here to talk about Donald Trump, I don’t have an opinion about him one way or another except sometimes he’d be wiser to hold his tongue.” Like everyone here, Bender pronounces the name in the local Palatinate dialect as “Droomp”.

However long one looks at 73-year-old Bender, it is hard to see any likeness with the New York property tycoon. There is none of the blonde double combover hair, and unlike Trump – a teetotaller – Bender enjoys a drop or two of his own homemade Riesling wine. And yet, like several people in this village of 1,200 inhabitants, he is related to the business magnate.

“My great great grandma was Friedrich’s mother,” he says. “But I don’t know what that makes me to Donald.” His grandmother was one of the last Trumps. And, he casually remarks, his grandfather was a Heinz – as in ketchup.

“Both the Trumps and the Heinzes came from the village,” explains Simone Wendel, a Kallstadter filmmaker, who pulls out a family tree to explain her own Trump connection. “My mother’s cousin was married to the grandson of Donald Trump’s great uncle. Or something like that.”