Hundreds of the nation’s top journalists, editors, academics and media executives have called on the Walkley awards advisory board to reverse its “short-sighted” decision to drop the international journalism category from the annual awards for excellence in journalism.

ABC foreign correspondents Philip Williams, Sally Sara and Matt Brown, ABC presenters Leigh Sales, Virginia Trioli, Michael Rowland and Chris Uhlmann, former Gold Walkley winners Adele Ferguson, Liz Jackson and photojournalist Andrew Quilty are among the 480 signatories to a petition delivered to Walkley advisory board chair Angelos Frangopoulos and Walkley chief executive Jacqui Park.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jul/05/journalists-decry-move-to-...

Saudi Arabia is the chief foreign promoter of Islamist extremism in the UK, a new report has claimed.

The Henry Jackson Society said there was a "clear and growing link" between Islamist organisations in receipt of overseas funds, hate preachers and Jihadist groups promoting violence.

The foreign affairs think tank called for a public inquiry into the role of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations.

The UK's Saudi Arabian embassy says the claims are "categorically false".

Meanwhile, ministers are under pressure to publish their own report on UK-based Islamist groups.

The Home Office report into the existence and influence of Jihadist organisations, commissioned by former Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015, has reportedly yet to be completed amid questions as to whether it will ever be published.

read more:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40496778

In January, US representatives to the UN Security Council (UNSC) proposed a quintet of Daesh affiliates based in Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen be added to the UN list of sanctioned groups and individuals.

Egypt Objected UN Sanctions on Saudi Branch of ISIS Terror Grouphttps://t.co/laDgaN90vZ#SaudiArabia#ISIS#Terrorism#Egypt#Wahhabipic.twitter.com/ThBpt8POrA

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However, Egypt, a non-permanent member of the UNSC, subsequently secretly stated in February that it wished for the UN to place the proposal on hold — and in May, the country's delegation formally objected to the inclusion of the Saudi branch, leading to the proposal being scrapped outright. No justification for the objection was apparently offered by Egyptian representatives — although it was backed by Senegal, likewise a non-permanent member.

Since late 2015, as an expansion of the al-Qaeda sanctions committee, the "Daesh and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee" — mandated by UN Resolution 2253 — imposes sanctions on individuals shown to have participated in "the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of" Daesh or al-Qaeda, or supplied or sold arms to the groups, or recruited for them.

Any UN member state can propose an individual or group be added to the list. The Committee, which includes all 15 members of the Security Council, then makes its decision by consensus.

The move would've frozen the assets and imposed travel and arms embargoes on any individuals found to have been connected with the group. It would also oblige these individuals' national governments to subject them to intense scrutiny, and potential further legal penalties.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201707061055298863-egypt-saudi-daesh-...

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — He added that the spread of the Iranian influence may become the greatest challenge for the United States' Middle East policy in the long term.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is a powerful nation state that remains the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. Its strength and influence continue to increase, most notably in recent years. When we look at what is happening today in Syria, in Yemen and in Iraq, you can see the threat.  Iran clearly inspires to be the hegemonic power in the region," Pompeo said on Tuesday.

read more

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201707121055458786-iran-middle-east-cia/

... And we all know that Daesh (ISIS, ISIL, IS, Al Qaeda, Wahhabism, Salafists, extremists, terrorists, whatever) is sponsored by Iran... no?... Iraq?... China? Ah no.... Saudi Arabia... YES.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — According to Pompeo, following the events of April 4 in Khan Sheihoun, US President Donald Trump demanded that the truth about what happened be found out. The CIA director went on to say that that the intelligence community had begun to uncover what "exactly" had happened in Syria and held contacts with US partners.

"I told him [Trump] that the intelligence community had concluded that the chemical weapon had indeed been used in the attack and it had been launched by the Syrian regime… I knew that the intelligence community had solid evidence… I said to Mr. President that we have high confidence that this really took place," Pompeo said Tuesday at a dinner hosted by the Intelligence National Security Alliance.

On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, supported by the United States, blamed Damascus for the Khan Sheikhoun incident, which killed 80 people, including children, and injured 200 more. The Syrian army strongly rejected the accusations and placed the blame on local militants and their patrons. The Syrian authorities said that they had never used chemical weapons against civilians or terrorists, and that the nation's entire chemical arsenal had been destroyed under the supervision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

Reacting to the incident, Washington, which had not presented any proof of chemical weapon use by Damascus, launched 59 cruise missiles at the Syrian governmental military airfield in Ash Sha’irat on April 7.

On April 21, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik that there was no chemical weapon attack in Idlib, adding that the reports of it were a false flag and fabrication which was supposed to justify a US missile strike on the Syrian airbase.

read more:

https://sputniknews.com/world/201707121055459856-us-evidence-chemical-we...

WHY IS THE CIA BULLSHITTING MORE THAN EVER BEFORE?... preparing the US to drop bombs on Damascus, I believe...

UK Home Secretary Amber Rudd has confirmed an already much-delayed report into the foreign funding and support of extremist groups in the UK will be banned from publication for “national security” reasons.

Rudd instead released a parliamentary written answer outlining the details of the report, which was commissioned by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

“This is because of the volume of personal information it contains and for national security reasons."

“We will be inviting privy counselors from the opposition parties to the Home Office to have access to the classified report on privy council terms.”

According to the Home Secretary’s summary, some key findings include that UK-based individual donors primarily fund extremist organizations in the UK, while some donations also came from overseas.

The report was finished six months ago, and it is thought its publication had been further delayed over government fears diplomatic links with principal Middle East ally Saudi Arabia would be at stake if had been implicated in the foreign financing of UK radical groups.

The summary said foreign aid helped individuals enter institutions that “teach deeply conservative forms of Islam and provide highly socially conservative literature and preachers to the UK’s Islamic institutions."

Some of those individuals have since become of “extremist concern,” the report added.

read more:

https://www.rt.com/uk/396137-extremist-foreign-funding-report/

Saudi Arabia has been funding mosques across Europe that are encouraging terrorism through extremists ideologies, the former UK ambassador to Saudi Arabia has said.

Sir William Patey claimed that even though the Gulf State – which is the UK’s biggest trade and security ally in the Middle East – does not directly fund terrorism, it still finances religious institutions which radicalize individuals, becoming the breeding ground of terrorists.

“It is unhealthy and we need to do something about it,” he said, according to the Guardian.

“The Saudis [have] not quite appreciated the impact their funding of a certain brand of Islam is having in the countries in which they do it – it is not just Britain and Europe.

“That is a dialogue we need to have. They are not funding terrorism.

“They are funding something else, which may down the road lead to individuals being radicalised and becoming fodder for terrorism.”

Patey, who was the UK ambassador to Riyadh from 2006 to 2010 and previously head of the Foreign Office Middle East desk, called for “a grown up dialogue with the Gulf about what we think,” adding that even if it is not the Saudi regime funding terrorists directly, there are individuals within the country who may defy the government.

The former ambassador’s comments are likely to stir controversy as they come a day after the government refused to publish a Home Office-commissioned report of foreign funding of extremist organizations and individuals in the UK.

read more:

https://www.rt.com/uk/396245-saudi-arabia-extremist-funding/