Developments Oct 25 >DeZ; SAA make big advance on IS, penetrate one km into the city after smashing through IS front lines >DeZ; SAA resume assault on Deir Ezzor City, today striking IS defenses near the Industrial District led by attack choppers >No ‘chemical weapons probe’ before evidence is given: Russian UN delegate >500 Busraya tribesmen join the ranks of Liwa al-Quds, will assist in Abu Kamal ops >ISIS take advantage of sandstorm in DeZ governate to launch offensive, able to capture a T-90 but were repelled by SAA and sustain serious losses >Officers from Russian Center for Reconciliation of the opposing sides in Sy arrange return of another group of refuges to the Aleppo province >HTS claim they seized more than 30 towns from IS in recent weeks while conducting a counter-offensive in east Hama >FSA, Turkey agree to form ‘national’ army, parties must hand over all border crossings, weapons, and vehicles to Sy interim govt >Another jihadist emir has been killed in the Idlib Governate, the third such incident in the last 72 hours >Sy government urges UN to stop US Coalition crimes in Syria, as US coalition continues to deny DeZ airstrike
The Personal VIP Black toilet paper was launched on Monday by Santher, a Brazilian company based in São Paulo, with a glossy advertising campaign starring Marina Ruy Barbosa, a white, red-haired, blue-eyed actor who appears naked except for swaths of the black toilet paper.
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Jordan Watson
death to K*rds death to Jews death to Israel death to NATO death to USA death to Soros death to NWO
>'Science fiction': Cuban officials dismiss claims of sonic attack on US diplomats Washington accused of ‘slander’ and refusing to cooperate with Cuban inquiry into mysterious incident that sickened American diplomats
Cuban officials investigating US complaints of mysterious incidents that sickened American diplomats in Havana have described allegations of sonic attacks as “science fiction” and accused Washington of “slander” and refusing to cooperate fully with Cuba’s inquiry.
Donald Trump said last week he believed Havana was responsible for 24 diplomats being harmed. Washington expelled 15 Cuban diplomats and recalled more than half the US diplomatic personnel from Havana earlier in October.
While Cuba denounced the expulsions as “unjustified” and accused the United States of insufficient cooperation, three interior ministry officials and a doctor heading the inquiry provided more details in an interview in Havana.
Mystery of sonic weapon attacks at US embassy in Cuba deepens Read more Cuba had deployed about 2,000 security officials and experts, from criminologists to audiologists and mathematicians, to investigate the incidents after it became aware of them in February, the investigators said.
Jason Mitchell
The investigation has not ended but so far has failed to uncover any evidence to corroborate allegations of attacks that the United States says have caused hearing loss, dizziness, fatigue and cognitive issues for diplomatic personnel who were based on the communist-run island.
“This is slander by the United States,” said Col Ramiro Ramírez, responsible for the security of diplomats in Cuba.
Asked to respond to the Cuban officials’ assertions, a state department spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, said the United States had reminded Cuba of its obligation to ensure the safety of US diplomatic personnel and was continuing its investigation of the “attacks”.
Washington officials have raised the possibility that sonic weapons were used to harm the diplomats, according to US media reports. However, Cuban investigators denied such weapons could even have been used by third parties without affecting the health of others or attracting attention.
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“It’s impossible. We are talking about science fiction,” said Lt Col José Alazo, an expert in the criminal investigation unit of the interior ministry. “From a technical point of view, that argument is unsustainable.”
Cameron Price
The investigators said the United States had supplied 14 recordings of the sound it says the victims heard during the attacks and recorded, for example, on cellphones.
These, however, did not contain anything that could damage human health, they concluded. The noises included the usual suburban sounds such as traffic, footsteps and voices.
They were also characterized by a deviation peak of 7 kilohertz (kHz) in the frequency band of 3 kHz, similar to the song of a cricket.
An audible sound would need to be very loud – above 80 decibels or akin to a plane’s engine – to have a health impact, they said. Yet only the victims heard the noise, not their families living in the same houses, or their neighbors.
“We interviewed more than 300 people in the neighborhood, we also evaluated more than 30 medically, and no one heard these things,” Alazo said.
Jordan Adams
Even if the US diplomats’ reports of loud sounds were misleading and the source of the attacks was infra- or ultrasonic and therefore inaudible to human ears, it would be hard to explain how it could go undetected, the Cuban investigators said.
“You would need a source that could be seen from a satellite, it would be enormous,” said Dr Manuel Villar, an ear, nose and throat specialist.
The US embassy in Havana. Washington has recalled more than half its diplomatic personnel from the Cuban capital. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The US embassy in Havana. Washington has recalled more than half its diplomatic personnel from the Cuban capital. Photograph: Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images Finally, only two or three of the alleged victims had hearing problems, according to the US information provided, whereas any kind of sonic attack would cause them in everyone, Villar said.
The United States has not formally accused Cuba of carrying out attacks, but Trump’s comments further damaged relations between the old cold war foes, which have rapidly deteriorated since he took office.
Mass hysteria may explain 'sonic attacks' in Cuba, say top neurologists Read more Canada has said several Canadians had reported similar symptoms to the US diplomats but it has not taken any action against Cuba and has said Cuba had been very cooperative with the investigation.
“There is an anti-Cuban mafia in Miami and we are victims of their dirty work that involve certain people very close to the governing circles of the United States,” Ramírez said.
Anti-Castro Cuban-Americans such as the Republican senator Marco Rubio of Florida have guided Trump’s policy on Cuba, including a partial rollback of the historic detente forged by Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.
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Washington insists its drawdown at its embassy was motivated by concern for the health of its diplomats.
Hunter Russell
“The safety and wellbeing of American citizens is our top priority,” said Nauert.
Investigators said US actions did not add up with their accusations. More than 200 friends and relatives of diplomats based in Havana had asked for visas to visit them between February and July, despite the alleged attacks.
The fact that the information the United States provided was late was a major obstacle to resolving the mystery, said the investigators, who declined to comment on the state of cooperation with Canada.
So far, Washington had only officially reported 14 cases of alleged attacks to Cuba, compared with the 24 it had announced to the media, they said.
“It will be impossible to resolve this investigation without more cooperation,” Ramírez said.
>The House of Saud is still in denial Nesrine Malik
Something is definitely afoot in Saudi Arabia this time. For decades, the Saud ruling family has followed a policy of promise but never deliver. They make the right noises in an attempt to polish the country’s much-tarnished global image – and yet when it comes down to it, they rarely come up with the goods.
I will return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam, says crown prince Read more But perhaps this time is different. In an interview with the Guardian, Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman made statements that would make even the most hardened cynic take note. He directly addressed “what happened”, saying that the Iranian revolution triggered copycat religious regimes across the region, and that now it was time to “get rid of it” in Saudi Arabia.
“We are simply reverting to what we followed – a moderate Islam open to the world and all religions. Seventy per cent of Saudis are younger than 30. Honestly, we won’t waste 30 years of our life combating extremist thoughts, we will destroy them now and immediately.”
The prince is a masterful marketer, beloved of the western media. So familiar are journalists with him now that he is often referred to as MBS. He has presented himself as the pivot around which the country’s long-awaited transformation would take place. For a while, it seemed that he had become just that, an expectation – good fodder for those long, glossy state of the kingdom exposés but not much else.
But these recent comments, combined with the lifting of the ban on women driving – a move about which I was initially cynical but does appear to have been carried out – suggest that Prince Mohammed, and a number of the royal establishment whom he has managed to recruit, are serious. His public position is being echoed by senior figures: this is not a one-man initiative.
>Michael Fallon: criticising Saudi Arabia 'not helpful' for UK arms sales Defence secretary provokes backlash from human rights groups for emphasising sale of fighter jets to the kingdom
Michael Fallon urged MPs to stop criticising Saudi Arabia in the interests of securing a fighter jet deal, provoking sharp criticism from human rights and arms trade campaigners.
More than 100 people arrested over London arms fair protests Read more The defence secretary was giving evidence to the Commons defence committee, where he was pressed about why a deal to sell Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia had not yet been signed.
Fallon said he had been working extremely hard on the deal and had travelled to Jeddah in September to discuss it with his Saudi counterpart. Although Qatar had agreed two days earlier to buy 24 jets from the UK, Fallon had to settle for signing a largely meaningless joint defence agreement with the Saudis.
Fallon told the defence committee: “I have to repeat, sadly, to this committee that obviously other criticism of Saudi Arabia in this parliament is not helpful and ... I’ll leave it there,” he said. “But we need to do everything possible to encourage Saudi Arabia towards batch two. I believe they will commit to batch two.”
MPs have been outspoken in criticising Saudi Arabia over its intensive bombing campaign of Yemen which has resulted in heavy civilian casualties. Andrew Smith, spokesperson for the Campaign Against Arms Trade, said: “These comments from the secretary of state for defence are disgraceful. He is calling on other parliamentarians to join him in putting arms sales ahead of human rights, democracy and international humanitarian law.”
Michael Russell
We actually have an embargo on them and have had it for some time now. Quakar too I think. Yes we actually do produce weapons and weapons systems too
Jose Diaz
Bump by giving me your best gurd :D:D:D memes
Cameron Taylor
Oops, didn't mean to reply to you
Zachary Garcia
to island niggers it is science fiction. it might as well be magic. to the Russians who did it, not so much.
>“You would need a source that could be seen from a satellite, it would be enormous,” said Dr Manuel Villar, an ear, nose and throat specialist.
a cuban ear nose and throat specialist? what does he know of advanced physics?
the Guardian expects people to pay for this?
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>Cell Phones, Microwaves And The Human Health Threat
>The microwaves that cell phones emit can interact with human tissue in an entirely new way, says theoretical biologist at a government lab