Headline News 08/02/2017

Headlines

• Jewish entity Retrospectively Recognises "Illegal" Settlements

• Assad’s Slaughterhouse Defies Description Amnesty

• Trump the Dictator

Details

Jewish entity Retrospectively Recognises "Illegal" Settlements

The Jewish entity’s parliament, after announcing the construction of 6000 new settlement homes has announced that it will retrospectively recognise settlements previously considered as illegal. Many commentators have argued this to be a huge turn in peace talks which posited a two-state solution as a way to solve this dispute.

However, whilst the Jewish entity’s actions have become more aggressive, the world, including Trump who released an official statement saying how settlement building would harm peace talks, continue to push a two-state solution.

Assad’s Slaughterhouse Defies Description Amnesty

A new report by Amnesty International exposes the Syrian government’s calculated campaign of extrajudicial executions by mass hangings at Saydnaya Prison. Between 2011 and 2015, every week and often twice a week, groups of up to 50 people were taken out of their prison cells and hanged to death. In five years, as many as 13,000 people, most of them civilians believed to be opposed to the regime, were hanged in secret at Saydnaya. The report also highlighted that the government deliberately inflicted inhuman conditions on detainees at Saydnaya Prison through repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. The report documents how these extermination policies have killed massive numbers of detainees. The findings of the report are based on an intensive investigation, which was carried out over the course of one year, from December 2015 to December 2016. It involved first-hand interviews with 84 witnesses that included former Saydnaya guards and officials, detainees, judges and lawyers, as well as national and international experts on detention in Syria. The report reveals a routine of mass extrajudicial executions by hanging inside Saydnaya prison that was in place between 2011 and 2015. Every week – and often twice a week – victims were hanged in groups of up to 50 people, in the middle of the night and in total secrecy. There are strong reasons to believe that this routine is still ongoing today. Large numbers of detainees have also been killed as a result of the authorities’ extermination policies, which include repeated torture and the systematic deprivation of food, water, medicine and medical care. In addition, detainees at Saydnaya Prison are forced to obey a set of sadistic and dehumanizing rules.

Trump the Dictator

One of the first acts of new US President Donald Trump was to ban the entry into the US from 7 Muslim nations. But the executive order has struggled to legally defend itself. A federal judge halted the order and then the appeals court denied the US government's emergency request to resume President Donald Trump's travel ban. This meant the ruling by US District Court Judge James Robart, who suspended the ban, still remains in place. The US Justice Department filed an appeal asking to pause Robart's sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of several key provisions of Trump's executive order. On hearing both sides Trumps justice department failed to provide any information the number of US citizens killed by people from the banned countries. The judge in fact informed the Justice Department representative that no terrorists attack has ever committed by someone from the countries in the ban. The justice department contended that the executive had the right to issue such a ban and the judge had no constitutional jurisdiction to halt it. The judge reminded the whole court the legislator had to ensure executive order were rational and built on some facts, something neither Trump or any of his supporters have bene able to provide. In fact they continue to reiterate that Trump can act as a dictator.