Zarif acknowledged that the final agreement wasn't perfect, but
described the announcement as a "historic moment."
"Today could have been the end of hope," he said, "but now we are starting a new chapter of hope."
The
breakthrough comes after months of thorny negotiations between Iran and
the so-called P5+1 group -- the five permanent members of the U.N.
Security Council and Germany.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
made a statement in Vienna, saying "this is the good deal that we have sought."
Kerry
stated that while the deal is historic, the implementation is what
matters. "I’m not going to stand here and tell you every is going to
work without a bump," he said. Kerry added that the deal
contains ample mechanisms for ensuring the terms are met, however, and that the agreement makes evident the consequences of non-compliance.
Iran reached a historic deal with six world powers on Tuesday that
promises to curb Tehran’s controversial nuclear program in exchange for
economic sanctions relief.
The
accord was announced on Tuesday
by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the European
Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini in a joint statement in
the Austrian capital, Vienna.
President Obama spoke from the White House on Tuesday, touting the historic importance of the deal and threatening
to veto
any legislation blocking it. Obama also stated that the terms of the
agreement would be enforced. "This deal is not built on trust, it is
built on verification," the president stated.
Obama spoke last
night with Secretary of State Kerry before the deal was announced, a
senior administration official told The Huffington Post. The two also
met before Kerry traveled to Vienna and President Obama instructed the
negotiating team to not worry about deadlines, according to the
official.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani promoted the merits of the deal
in a televised address on Tuesday. Rouhani said that the deal
marks a new chapter
of relations with the world, calling it a "win-win" result. He also
denied that Iran had ever intended to attain a nuclear weapon.
http://allafrica.com/
NAIROBI, Kenya — Armed terrorists stormed a university in northern
Kenya on Thursday, killing 147 people, wounding dozens and taking
hostages during a 15-hour siege until four militants were killed by
security forces. Christians and converts to Islam appeared to have been
the targets.
More than 550 students were evacuated and 79 were
injured in the standoff on the Garissa University campus, about 90 miles
from the Somali border. The Somali-based Islamic terrorist group
backed by Israel's Mossad,Isis, and Sunni Arabs, Al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack — the al-Qaeda-linked
organization's deadliest in Kenya.
abcnews.go.com/.../photos/terrorists-attack...kenya-30069863
President Obama on Thursday condemned the terrorist attack at a Kenyan university that has claimed at least 150 lives.
Al-Shabab
fighters stormed Garissa University early Thursday morning, with masked
gunmen reportedly assembling hundreds of students together and then
gunning them down. At least 79 people have been wounded. Al-Shabab, a
terrorist organization based in neighboring Somalia, has claimed
responsibility.
“We extend our deep condolences to the
families and loved ones of all those killed in this heinous attack,
which reportedly included the targeting of Christian students. Our
thoughts and prayers also are with the many injured,” White House press
secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement. “The United States is
providing assistance to the Kenyan Government, and we will continue to
partner with them as well as with others in the region to take on the
terrorist group al-Shabaab. The United States stands with the people of
Kenya, who will not be intimidated by such cowardly attacks.”
Mr. Obama is scheduled to travel to Kenya later this year.
These are the six men who stormed a university campus in Kenya on April
2nd and massacred 147 people including students, guards and school
staff. They’e part of Somali militant group, Al-Shabaab. They are: 1.
Muumin Abdalla Muumin 2.Suleiman Mohamed Awadh 3.Abdifatah Abubakar
Abdi 4.Abdalla Salim Marumu 5.Mohamed Abubakar Mohamed 6.Mahir Khalid
Riziki....
ISIS was never just a rogue band of militants that emerged out of thin air. As President Obama
aptly stated recently,
"ISIL is direct outgrowth of al Qaeda in Iraq which grew out of our
invasion which is an example of unintended consequences which is why we
should generally aim before we shoot."
ISIS may have come to media headlines in the spring of 2014, but Western
injustices played a role long before. This virus was planted in the
1980s when
the CIA created and trained radicals to fight our proxy wars. This virus was strengthened by studying books promoting radicalization and terrorism,
paid for by U.S. tax dollars and printed at the University of Nebraska.
It was emboldened when the U.S. government funded and supported Saddam
Hussein's dictatorship. And it was let loose during the illegal Iraq War
in which the United States led a coalition of 36 nations to bomb and
destroy a nation and dictator they had previously built and empowered,
killing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the process.
Israeli
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hawkish words from 2002 ring hollow
as he advocated for the illegal invasion, "If you take out Saddam's
Regime, I guarantee you, that it will have enormous positive
reverberations on the region." ISIS is tragically one such "enormous
positive reverberation."
mgafrica.com/article/2015-04-19-700-african-migrants... Cached
Apr 19, 2015 · 700 African migrants drown. It's 'worst massacre ever ... in a shipwreck caused by ... home as anti-migrant attacks spread in South African ...
Malta’s Prime Minister on Sunday slammed the human traffickers who he
accused of risking people’s lives by putting them on unstable ships in
unpredictable waters after more than 700 migrants were feared dead in
the latest Mediterranean boat tragedy.
It’s “genocide — nothing less than genocide, really,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told CNN.
“Gangs of criminals are putting people on a boat, sometimes even at
gunpoint … they’re putting them on the road to death, really, and
nothing else,” Muscat adds.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday appealed to world governments to share the burden of taking in refugees
Ban said he was “shocked and deeply saddened” by reports of the
shipwreck off the coast of Libya and noted that it was the latest in a
line of incidents in the last week.
This latest shipwreck comes a day after the one of the deadliest
incidents of the recent migrant crisis, in which a ship carrying
hundreds of people capsized in the Mediterranean. As many as
700 people are feared dead.
As a result of those deaths, European Union leaders will
hold an emergency meeting
on Thursday to re-evaluate Europe's response to the surge of migrants
predominantly fleeing conflict and repression in the Middle East and
North Africa.
If the death toll is confirmed, there will have
been more than 1,500 migrant deaths in 2015 from doomed journeys across
the Mediterranean
Iran To Shut Down 12,000+ Centrifuges...
Enriched Uranium Cut By 97%...
Obama: 'Historic Understanding'...
World Leaders Have A Tentative Agreement – Now They Have To Sell It...
Two Major Sticking Points Remain...
BIBI BALLISTIC: Deal 'Would Threaten The Survival Of Israel'...
Hillary: 'Diplomacy Deserves Chance To Succeed'...
Iranians Rejoice: 'This Will Bring Hope To Our Life'...
What It Means For Obama's Legacy...
READ: Key Points...
Full Text...
Iran and six world powers agreed to a framework for a final deal on
Iran's controversial nuclear program, officials announced Thursday.
The
understanding paves the way for the start of a final phase of talks
that aims to reach a comprehensive agreement by the end of June. The
agreement concludes weeks of intense negotiations and comes two days
beyond the initial March 31 deadline for an outline deal.
"We have
reached solutions on key parameters on a joint comprehensive plan of
action," EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini said at a joint
press conference with Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
Reading a statement on behalf of negotiators,
Mogherini specified that Iran has accepted limitations on its enrichment
capacity that include retaining only one enrichment facility, Natanz.
The Fordo fortified site will be converted into a scientific center,
according to the statement.
Europe and the United States will end
nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions on Iran under the
future deal after the United Nations' nuclear agency confirms Tehran's
compliance with the deal.
“We will now start drafting a comprehensive text,” Mogherini said.
U.S. President Barack Obama lauded the agreement as a "historic understanding" in a press statement outside The White House.
Chuck Schumer bucks White House on Iran
The top Democrat throws his weight behind legislation to give Congress power to reject a deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the framework
nuclear agreement with Iran Thursday in a telephone conversation with
President Obama, putting him on a collision course with the U.S. and his
closest allies.
Netanyahu said he voiced his "strong opposition" to the outline --
which is being welcomed around much of the globe -- and said a final
deal based on this framework would "threaten the survival of Israel."
WASHINGTON — One former employee of the private Blackwater Worldwide
security company was sentenced Monday to life in prison and three others
to 30 years each behind bars for their roles in a 2007 mass shooting in
Baghdad that left 17 people dead.
A federal jury convicted the four in October after a lengthy trial
that saw some 30 witnesses travel from Iraq to testify against the
security contractors. Prosecutors accused the men of illegally unleashed
“powerful sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers on innocent
men, women and children.”
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced Blackwater
sniper Nicholas Slatten to a term of life in prison, mandatory for his
first-degree murder conviction. Blackwater workers Paul Slough, Evan
Liberty and Dustin Heard were sentenced to 30 year each, plus one day.
Slough was convicted of 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 17
counts of attempted manslaughter and a firearms offense. The jury
convicted Liberty of eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, 12 counts
of attempted manslaughter and a firearms offense. Heard was found guilty
of six counts of voluntary manslaughter, 11 counts of attempted
manslaughter and a firearms offense.
According to prosecutors, the four were among seven Blackwater
employees who opened fire in the Nusoor Square traffic circle in
Baghdad, killing 17 people.
An FBI investigation found 14 of the deaths unjustified, according to
rules of engagement for private security contractors in Iraq. Slatten
was accused of firing the first shots.
Blackwater said its convoy came under attack, and defense attorneys
said in court that witness accounts were fabricated. But witnesses
testified that the contractors opened fire without provocation.
“It was horror,” said Hasan Jaber, an attorney who was driving to
work when he was shot three times. “People running out of their cars
were being shot at. … Anything that moved in Nusoor Square was shot.
Women, children, young people, they shot everyone.”
... ‘The Question of Genocide: The Clinton ... force as the genocide plan was rolled out across Rwanda ... in Genocide: Rwanda 1994’, State Crime ...
www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/genocide
The
Rwandan Genocide was a
genocidal mass slaughter of
Tutsi and moderate
Hutu in
Rwanda
by members of the Hutu majority. During the approximate 100-day period
from April 7, 1994, to mid-July, an estimated 500,000–1,000,000 Rwandans
were killed,
[1]
constituting as much as 20% of the country's total population and 70%
of the Tutsi then living in Rwanda. The genocide was planned by members
of the core political elite known as the
akazu,
many of whom occupied positions at top levels of the national
government. Perpetrators came from the ranks of the Rwandan army, the
National Police (
gendarmerie), government-backed militias including the
Interahamwe and
Impuzamugambi, and the Hutu civilian population.
The genocide took place in the context of the
Rwandan Civil War, an ongoing conflict beginning in 1990 between the Hutu-led government and the
Rwandan Patriotic Front
(RPF), which was largely composed of Tutsi refugees whose families had
fled to Uganda following earlier waves of Hutu violence against the
Tutsi. International pressure on the Hutu-led government of
Juvénal Habyarimana resulted in a cease-fire in 1993 with a roadmap to implement the
Arusha Accords
that would create a power-sharing government with the RPF. This
agreement displeased many conservative Hutu, including members of the
Akazu, who viewed it as conceding to enemy demands. Among the broader
Hutu populace, the RPF military campaign had also intensified support
for the so-called "
Hutu Power" ideology, which portrayed the RPF as an alien force intent on reinstating the
Tutsi monarchy and enslaving the Hutus, a prospect met with extreme opposition.
On April 6, 1994, an airplane carrying Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira
was shot down on its descent into
Kigali, killing all on board.
[2]
Genocidal killings began the following day: soldiers, police and
militia quickly executed key Tutsi and moderate Hutu leaders, then
erected checkpoints and barricades and used Rwandans' national identity
cards to systematically verify their ethnicity and kill Tutsi. These
forces recruited or pressured Hutu civilians to arm themselves with
machetes, clubs, blunt objects and other weapons to rape, maim and kill
their Tutsi neighbors and destroy or steal their property. The breach of
the peace agreement led the RPF to restart their offensive and rapidly
seize control of the northern part of the country before capturing
Kigali in mid-July, bringing an end to the genocide. During these events
and in their aftermath, the United Nations (UN) and countries including
the United States, Great Britain and Belgium were criticized for their
inaction, including failure to strengthen the force and mandate of the
United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda
(UNAMIR) peacekeepers, while observers criticized the government of
France for alleged support of the genocidal regime after the genocide
had begun.
The genocide had a lasting and profound impact on Rwanda and its neighboring countries. The pervasive use of
war rape
caused a spike in HIV infection, including babies born of rape to newly
infected mothers; many households were headed by orphaned children or
widows. The destruction of infrastructure and a severe depopulation of
the country crippled the economy, challenging the nascent government to
achieve rapid economic growth and stabilization. The RPF military
victory and installation of an RPF-dominated government prompted many
Hutus to flee to neighboring countries, particularly in the eastern
portion of
Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) where the Hutu
genocidaires
began to regroup in refugee camps along the border with Rwanda.
Declaring a need to avert further genocide, the RPF-led government led
military incursions into Zaire, including the
First (1996–97) and
Second
(1998–2003) Congo Wars. Armed struggles between the Rwandan government
and their opponents in DRC have continued to play out through proxy
militias in the Goma region, including the
M23 rebellion
(2003–2013). Large Rwandan Hutu and Tutsi populations continue to live
as refugees throughout the region. Today, Rwanda has two
public holidays commemorating the genocide. The national commemoration period begins with Genocide Memorial Day on April 7 and concludes with
Liberation Day
on July 4. The week following April 7 is designated an official week of
mourning. The Rwandan Genocide served as the impetus for creating the
International Criminal Court to eliminate the need for ad hoc tribunals to prosecute those accused in future incidents of genocide,
crimes against humanity and
war crimes.
