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Houthi drone attacks on 2 Saudi Aramco oil facilities spark fires
Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a drone attack on the world’s largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia which is vital to global energy supplies.
The attacks on the processor and a major oilfield, operated by Saudi Aramco, on early Saturday sparked a huge fire, the kingdom’s interior ministry said.
According to Reuters, threes sources claimed the assault had disrupted output and exports, with one source claiming 5 million barrels per day of crude production had been impacted – nearly half the kingdom’s output.
Saudi Arabia is shutting down about half of its oil output because of the incident. Authorities have not confirmed whether oil production or exports were affected.
A military spokesman for Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strikes, saying 10 drones had been deployed in the attack.
The Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Yemen’s northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold, on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. Houthi-run al Masirah TV said the warplanes targeted a military camp.
Yahia Sarie made the announcement on Saturday in a televised address carried by the Houthi movement’s al-Masirah satellite news channel.
Sarie said the rebels had attacked the Abqaiq oil processing facility and the Khurais oil field. He said attacks against the kingdom would get worse if the war in Yemen continued.
“The only option for the Saudi government is to stop attacking us,” he said. A Saudi-led coalition has been at war with the rebels since March 2015.
It was unclear whether there were any injuries in the attacks, or whether they would affect the country’s oil production. They are, however, likely to heighten tensions in the region, where Saudi Arabia and Iran are effectively fighting a proxy war in Yemen, and Tehran is at loggerheads with Washington over the latter’s withdrawal from its nuclear deal with world powers.
Online videos apparently shot in Abqaiq included the sound of gunfire in the background. Smoke rose over the skyline and flames could be seen in the distance at the oil processing facility.
The fires began after the sites were targeted by drones, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. It said an investigation was under way.
Saudi Aramco describes its Abqaiq facility as the largest crude oil stabilisation plant in the world. It is thought to be able to process up to 7m barrels of crude a day.
Bob McNally, who runs Rapidan Energy Group and served in the US National Security Council during the second Gulf War in 2003, told Reuters: “A successful attack on Abqaiq would be akin to a massive heart attack for the oil market and global economy.”
Militants have targeted the plant in the past. Suicide bombers claiming to be from al-Qaida tried but failed to attack it in February 2006.
The Khurais oil field is thought to produce more than 1m barrels of crude a day. It has estimated reserves of more than 20bn barrels, according to Aramco.
There was no immediate impact on global oil prices, because markets are closed for the weekend. Benchmark Brent crude had been trading at just above $60 a barrel.
Abqaiq is 205 miles (330km) north-east of Riyadh.
A Saudi-led coalition has been at war with the Houthi movement in Yemen since March 2015. The Iranian-backed rebels hold the capital, Sana’a, and other territory in the Arab world’s poorest country.
The war has triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The violence has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine and more than 90,000 people have been killed since 2015, according to the US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which tracks the conflict.
Houthi rebels have been using drones in combat since the start of the Saudi-led war. The first appeared to be off-the-shelf, hobby-kit-style drones, but later versions have been nearly identical to Iranian models. Tehran denies supplying the rebels with weapons, but the west and Gulf Arab nations say it does.
The rebels have flown drones into the radar arrays of Saudi Arabia’s Patriot missile batteries, according to Conflict Armament Research, disabling them and allowing them to fire ballistic missiles into the kingdom unchallenged.
They launched drone attacks targeting Saudi Arabia’s crucial east-west pipeline in May as tensions heightened between Iran and the US.
Houthi drones also struck the Shaybah oil field in August. The field produces 1m barrels of crude a day near the Saudi border with the United Arab Emirates.
UN investigators have suggested that the rebels’ new UAV-X drone may have a range of up to 930 miles (1,500km), meaning they would be able to reach Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
httpss://youtu.be/sz58GyPoY3o?t=31
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ടൈറ്റനിലെ യാത്രിക്കാര് മരിച്ചതായി കോസ്റ്റ് ഗാര്ഡ് സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു
ന്യൂഫൗണ്ട്ലാന്ഡ് കാനഡ: ടൈറ്റാനിക് കപ്പല് കാണാന് ആഴക്കടലിലേക്കു പോയ ‘ഓഷന്ഗേറ്റ് ടൈറ്റന്’ പേടകത്തിലുണ്ടായിരുന്ന അഞ്ചു പേരും മരിച്ചതായി കോസ്റ്റ് ഗാര്ഡ് സ്ഥിരീകരിച്ചു
ദുബായിലെ ബ്രിട്ടിഷ് വ്യവസായിയും ആക്ഷന് ഏവിയേഷന് കമ്പനിയുടെ ചെയര്മാനുമായ ഹാമിഷ് ഹാര്ഡിങ്, പാക്കിസ്ഥാനിലെ കറാച്ചി ആസ്ഥാനമായ ബഹുരാഷ്ട്രകമ്പനി എന്ഗ്രോയുടെ വൈസ് ചെയര്മാനും ശതകോടീശ്വരനുമായ ഷഹ്സാദ ദാവൂദ്, മകന് സുലൈമാന്, പേടകത്തിന്റെ പൈലറ്റ് ഫ്രഞ്ച് പൗരന് പോള് ഹെന്റി നാര്സലേ, ഓഷന് ഗേറ്റ് കമ്പനിയുടെ സ്ഥാപകനും സിഇഒയുമായ സ്റ്റോക്ടന് റഷ് എന്നിവരാണ് പേടകത്തിലുണ്ടായിരുന്നത്.
കഴിഞ്ഞ വെള്ളിയാഴ്ചയാണ് സംഘം യാത്ര തിരിച്ചത്. ടൈറ്റാനിക് കാണാന് ആഴക്കടലിലേക്കു പോയ യുഎസ് കമ്പനിയുടെ ‘ഓഷന് ഗേറ്റ് ടൈറ്റന്’ പേടകത്തിന് ഇന്ത്യന് സമയം ഞായറാഴ്ച ഉച്ചയ്ക്കു 3.30 നാണ് പേരന്റ് ഷിപ്പായ പോളാര് പ്രിന്സ് കപ്പലുമായുള്ള ബന്ധം നഷ്ടമായത്.
ടൈറ്റന് എവിടെയാണ് കിടക്കുന്നതെന്ന് വ്യക്തമായി അറിയാനായി തിരച്ചിലിന്റെ വ്യാപ്തി വര്ധിപ്പിച്ചിരുന്നു. സമുദ്രോപരിതലത്തില്നിന്ന് നാലു കിലോമീറ്റര് താഴെയാണ് ടൈറ്റാനിക്കിന്റെ അവശിഷ്ടം സ്ഥിതി ചെയ്യുന്നത്. സമുദ്രപേടകം കടലിന്റെ ആഴത്തിലേക്കിറങ്ങി 1.45 മണിക്കൂര് ആയപ്പോഴേക്കും ബന്ധം നഷ്ടമായിരുന്നു.
സമുദ്രോപരിതലത്തില്നിന്ന് 12,500 അടി താഴെയാണ് ടൈറ്റാനിക്കിന്റെ അവശിഷ്ടമുള്ളത്. 12,500 അടിയോളം താഴെ ചെന്ന് ടൈറ്റാനിക് കണ്ട് തിരികെ മുകളിലെത്താവുന്ന തരത്തിലാണ് ടൈറ്റന് നിര്മിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്.
Sources:nerkazhcha
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Catholic leaders condemn Israeli violence at funeral of Palestinian-American journalist
JERUSALEM — The top Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land on Monday condemned the police beating of mourners carrying the casket of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, accusing the authorities of violating human rights and disrespecting the Catholic Church.
Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told reporters at St. Joseph Hospital in Jerusalem that Friday’s incident, broadcast around the world, was a “disproportionate use of force” to the Palestinian flag-waving crowd of thousands proceeding from the hospital to a nearby Catholic church in Jerusalem’s Old City. The attack drew worldwide condemnation and added to the shock and outrage of Abu Akleh’s killing as she covered a shootout in the occupied West Bank.
The police attack, Pizzaballa told reporters, “is a severe violation of international norms and regulations, including the fundamental human right of freedom of religion, which must be observed also in a public space.” He spoke as the leaders and clergy of other Christian churches sat nearby.
On May 16, the Justice and Peace Commission of the Latin Patriarchate released a statement—entitled “Bloodshed Follows Bloodshed,” taken from a line in the book of Hosea—decrying the attacks.
“We mourn all the victims of this unending bloodshed, Jewish Israelis, Palestinian Arabs and others who have died,” the statement read. “We continue to cry out that violence is wrong and will not bring a solution but only more violence.”
“It needs to be repeated with unequivocal clarity: the root cause and primary context of the violence is the occupation of Palestine, an occupation that has gone on for fifty-five years,” it went on to say.
Israel and the Palestinians are locked in a war of narratives over Abu Akleh’s killing. The reporter, a Palestinian-American, a Catholic and a 25-year veteran of the satellite channel, was shot Wednesday while covering an Israeli military raid in the Jenin refugee camp. She was wearing a blue vest clearly marked “Press.” Abu Akleh was a household name across the Arab world, known for documenting the hardship of Palestinian life under Israeli rule.
Palestinian officials and witnesses, including journalists who were with her, say she was killed by army fire. The military, after initially saying Palestinian gunmen might have been responsible, later backtracked and now says it’s not clear who fired the deadly bullet.
The funeral violence caused another international uproar, with the United States and the United Nations among Israel’s critics.
Israeli police have claimed that they agreed with funeral arrangements ahead of time with Abu Akleh’s family, and that a crowd of mourners violated that agreement by marching with the coffin, instead of driving with it, and shouting nationalistic slogans.
But Abu Akleh’s brother, Anton, disputed those claims. He said Monday that the family had given the funeral arrangements to Israeli police, and said the police did not want slogans or Palestinian flags. But he said “this is something we cannot control.”
Anton, who was one of the pallbearers, said police also wanted to know the funeral route, and there was no other agreement. “We wanted to put the coffin in the car,” he said. “We were going to the car when they attacked us.”
Israeli police launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers who attacked the mourners, causing the pallbearers to nearly drop the casket.
Meanwhile, Israel and the Palestinians have continued to argue over the investigation into the shooting.
Israel has sought the bullet, saying it must be analyzed by ballistics experts to reach firm conclusions. Palestinian officials have refused, saying they don’t trust Israel. Human rights groups say Israel has a poor record of investigating wrongdoing by its security forces.
After earlier saying they would accept an outside partner, the Palestinians said late Sunday that they would handle the investigation alone and deliver results very soon.
“We also refused to have an international investigation because we trust our capabilities as a security institution,” Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh announced. “We will not hand over any of the evidence to anyone because we know that these people are able to falsify the facts.”
Amid the wrangling, several research and human rights groups have launched their own investigations.
Bellingcat, a Dutch-based international consortium of researchers, published an analysis of video and audio evidence gathered on social media. The material came from both Palestinian and Israeli military sources, and the analysis looked at such factors as time stamps, the locations of the videos, shadows and a forensic audio analysis of gunshots.
The group found that while gunmen and Israeli soldiers were both in the area, the evidence supported witness accounts that Israeli fire killed Abu Akleh.
“Based on what we were able to review, the IDF Israeli soldiers were in the closest position and had the clearest line of sight to Abu Akleh,” said Giancarlo Fiorella, the lead researcher of the analysis.
Fiorella acknowledged that the analysis cannot be 100 percent certain without such evidence as the bullet, weapons used by the army and GPS locations of Israeli forces. But he said the emergence of additional evidence typically bolsters preliminary conclusions and almost never overturns them.
http://theendtimeradio.com
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യുക്രൈനിൽ നിന്ന് തിരികെയെത്തിയ വിദ്യാർഥികൾക്ക് ഇന്ത്യയിൽ പഠനം തുടരാനാകില്ലെന്ന് കേന്ദ്രം
യുക്രൈനിൽ നിന്നും നാട്ടിലെത്തിയ വിദ്യാർഥികൾക്ക് ഇന്ത്യയിൽ പഠനം തുടരാനാകില്ലെന്ന് കേന്ദ്ര സർക്കാർ. വിദ്യാർഥികൾക്ക് മെഡിക്കൽ കോളജുകളിൽ പഠനം അനുവദിച്ച ബംഗാൾ സർക്കാരിന്റെ നീക്കം കേന്ദ്രസർക്കാർ തടഞ്ഞു. വിദേശത്ത് പഠനം നടത്തുന്നവർക്ക് ഇന്ത്യയിൽ തുടർ പഠനം അനുവദിക്കാനാകില്ലെന്നും മെഡിക്കൽ കൗൺസിൽ ചട്ടം ഇത് അനുവദിക്കുന്നില്ലെന്നും കേന്ദ്രസർക്കാർ വ്യക്തമാക്കി.
യുക്രൈൻ യുദ്ധത്തിന് പിന്നാലെ മലയാളികൾ അടക്കം ആയിരക്കണക്കിന് വിദ്യാർഥികളാണ് ഇന്ത്യയിലേക്ക് മടങ്ങിയെത്തിയത്. ഇവരിൽ ഭൂരിപക്ഷവും മെഡിക്കൽ, ദന്തൽ വിദ്യാർഥികളാണ്. തുടർ പഠനത്തിനായി സർക്കാർ ഇടപെടൽ വേണമെന്ന് രക്ഷിതാക്കളും വിദ്യാർഥികളും ആവശ്യപ്പെട്ടിരുന്നു.
ലക്ഷങ്ങൾ വായ്പയെടുത്താണ് വിദ്യാർഥികളിൽ പലരും പഠനത്തിനായി യുക്രൈനിലേക്ക് പോയത്. യുദ്ധഭൂമിയിലേക്ക് ഇനി മടങ്ങാൻ സാഹചര്യമില്ലെന്നും രാജ്യത്തെ കോളജുകളിൽ പഠിക്കാൻ അവസരം നൽകണമെന്നുമാണ് വിദ്യാർഥികളുടെ ആവശ്യം.
Sources:Metro Journal
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