Iran accused of meddling in Yemen conflict

5 Dead in Taliban Suicide Attack against NATO Forces in Afghanistan

KABUL – At least five people, including four civilians, died and another four were wounded in a suicide attack on Friday against a NATO convoy in the Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, an official told Efe.

A Taliban suicide car bomber rammed a police vehicle with explosive cargo into a convoy of international troops in the provincial capital of Jalalabad, according to police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal.

The attack was in the vicinity of the main NATO airbase, while the wounded rushed to the hospital.

“We can confirm a suicide attack targeted Resolute Support Forces today in Jalalabad,” NATO spokesman in Kabul Sharon Mulholland stated.

“According to reports from local police, the attack killed and injured several Afghans from the local community. This is another example of the Taliban disregarding the wellbeing of innocent Afghans and killing them through their indiscriminate attacks,” the spokesman added.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack and said that the occupants of the two NATO vehicles have died, according to Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid’s Twitter account.

The terrorist outfit added that Afghan security forces responsible for monitoring the airbase had also suffered casualties.

This is the second attack on NATO forces in Nangarhar this week, as an attack on Wednesday claimed the lives of an American and an Afghan soldier.

The end of 2014 saw the termination of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan, making way for Operation Resolute Support, under which NATO maintains around 4,000 soldiers to train Afghan security forces.

The United States has about 9,800 troops in Afghanistan under its anti-terrorism combat mission, where they will remain until the end of the year, while Washington is re-evaluating its withdrawal timeframe.

Banati, a Last Chance for Egyptian Street Children

CAIRO – Some of them bear the burden of years of abuse and marginalization, some are impregnated after being raped, and other are just trying to get on with their lives that began on the streets of Egypt.

These are the young girls brought together by the Egyptian organization, Banati (Arabic for “my girls”), which helps to guide street children to lead the lives of which they’ve been robbed.

Banati is not an orphanage, but rather a rehabilitation network that began its work in 2008, and aims to help street children by giving them education, shelter, and teaching them the invaluable tools typically delegated to parents. While it is designed for girls 2 to 15 years old, it also welcomes young boys.

Ultimately, the organization recognizes, the children will return whence they came: the street.

“We are not the action, we are a reaction to a problem that the government must solve, that is the street children,” Banati director Abdel Samea Mounib told Efe in an interview.

The association has several centers throughout Egypt, and the facility in Cairo has common rooms, nurseries and schools. Children run and play in the garden, fully stocked with slides and swings, and are thus shown that their lives can be better than what they have known, that they can just be kids.

Mounib explained that the association welcomes children who are “homeless and at risk, street children who suffer family problems,” attempting to provide them with a social, educational and psychological support, as well as a place to live.

“My mother brought me to the association because she did not want me to be lying in the street. She visits me sometimes. My father lives with her, but he beats me a lot,” 14-year-old Heba Mohamed said, who temporarily resides at the Cairo center.

With what could only be understood as the contentment of a child, Heba talked about how at Banati she spends her time drawing, doing crochet and practicing kung-fu, and also playing with her “sisters” who live with her in the center.

“I want to be professional kung-fu trainer and I am learning to be. I now have a greenbelt,” she stated proudly.

Banati was originally established to help girls who had been raped or assaulted on the streets, but they often came accompanied by their brothers, their children, or in a make-shift street family of many children.

So now the facility is also open to boys.

Two specialists, a man and a woman, knowledgeable about the issue go out almost every day to find children in need of help.

Sometimes they resort directly to street therapy and try to persuade children to return to their homes, but if the attempt fails, they may take them to the association, track down their families, and find a program to rehabilitate them.

The association processes around 25 children a day, and 190 children currently live in the various facilities. Only four months into 2015, it has already helped over 1,550 children and hosted 580 others.

It is difficult to come up with an exact number of children living on the streets of Egypt; the most recent government statistics report the number as exceeding 16,000, but Mounib is convinced that the figure is much higher.

Ahlam Ramzi teaches at a Banati daycare center, caring for children from 4 to 7 years old.

“We just try to give them a chance that their families have been unwilling or unable to give. Many of their mothers are divorced women who cannot take care of their children and who also live on the street,” Ramzi explained.

Meanwhile, Teresa Wafiq works as a teacher in a special, vocational program that teaches children how to cook, clean, fold laundry and educates them on personal hygiene. History and Geography is also taught orally and through pictures.

Teresa tried to convey the difficulty in reaching the children sometimes, remarking that “these are children have many problems such as lack of concentration, sadness, fear and distrust, because of situations that they have seen at home or on the street.”

Australia: Clashes between anti-Islam and anti-racism protesters

Khamenei Speech Translated: No agreement at Lausanne, US Is Lying– NO Inspections

Khamenei delivered a speech today in Tehran on the Lausanne nuclear agreement. The Iranian leader said there was no agreement in Europe, that the US is lying and that NO military inspections will be allowed.
Khamenei tweeted out similar remarks earlier today.

US warns Iranian regime over support for Houthis in Yemen

The U.S. will not stand by while the Iranian regime provides support to Houthi rebels who have seized much of Yemen, Secretary of State John Kerry said.

"There have been -- there are, obviously -- flights coming from Iran. Every single week there are flights from Iran and we've traced it and know this," Kerry told PBS television in an interview.

"Iran needs to recognize that the United States is not going to stand by while the region is destabilized or while people engage in overt warfare across lines, international boundaries in other countries."

It was Secretary Kerry's first television interview since his return to Washington after negotiating a framework agreement with the Iranian regime last week reining in its nuclear program.

A coalition of largely Arab and Islamic countries led by Saudi Arabia has been waging an air campaign against the Huthi rebels funded and supported by the Iranian regime that have seized control of large parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

Kerry said Washington was not looking for confrontation with Tehran.

"But we're not going to step away from our alliances and our friendships and the need to stand with those who feel threatened as a consequence of the choices that Iran might be making."

Meanwhile in Saudi capital, a senior U.S. official told reporters on Tuesday that the U.S. has stepped up weapons deliveries in support of the operation by Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to the Houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after the talks with Saudi officials.

"In support of that effort we have expedited weapons deliveries," he said.

"We've increased our intelligence sharing, and we've established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operations center."

Saudi Arabia blocks Iran flight carrying pilgrims

Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation (GACA) said it blocked an Iranian flight carrying 260 pilgrims from Saudi airspace because because the aircraft lacked appropriate permissions, Saudi's state news agency reported late in Wednesday.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation announced the move in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency on Thursday.

"The operator must file a request with the authority prior to flying, specifying the type of aircraft, registration ... and other documents in order to ensure the safety of passengers and the airspace," said the SPA report.

The pilgrims had hoped to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday afternoon to perform the minor Umrah pilgrimage.

Tensions are high between Saudi Arabia and the Iranian regime as a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against forces funded and trained by the Iranian regime have occupied much of the country.

A military spokesman for the Saudi-led “Operation Decisive Storm” said on Tuesday that Iran and Hezbollah have trained Houthi militias to “harm Yemenis,” Al Arabiya reported.
“We have evidence that Iran trained Houthi militias on operating fighter jets,” Saudi Brigadier General Ahmed Asiri told reporters.

Asiri said there was “no way for militias to acquire fighter jets,” referring to Iran’s support for the Houthis rebels.

Mr Asiri’s comments follows Monday’s remarks by Saudi ambassador to the United States Adel al-Jubeir who said Washington and Riyadh are in agreement over the support Iran is providing the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

“Iran provides financial support for the Houthis and helps them in building weapon factories and providing them with weapons. In addition that there are Iranians working alongside the Houthis,” al-Jubeir told U.S. and Arab reporters in a gathering in Washington, reported state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA).