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1. #EXPENSES: A new expenses system quietly introduced last month allow independent TDs and Senators to be given two different types of allowances – for exactly the same types of spending. TheJournal.ie can reveal that TDs are now permitted to claim expenses for hiring the likes of PR agencies, a cost which is already covered by their Leaders’ Allowance.
2. #JOBS PLAN: The government will today announce details of its highly anticipated ‘Jobs Plan’, which aims to allow the creation of 100,000 new jobs by proposing hundreds of legal changes and other measures.
3. #SEX: Three quarters of Irish students have had unprotected sex, a new nationwide survey has found – while 70 per cent say they have never been tested for a sexually-transmitted infection.
4. #EDUCATION: New plans published this morning will see small colleges being forced to merge with larger ones – and colleges being grouped by regional clusters – if they are to keep their state funding. The Higher Education Authority plans also contain the criteria for establishing a ‘technological university’.
5. #GREECE: The Greek parliament has backed the government’s tough new austerity measures – including plans to slash the minimum wage by a fifth – in order to secure a second bailout. The vote was marred by major violence and rioting in Athens, where tens of thousands marched to the parliament building to protest. German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble has said Greece must not only approve the austerity, but put it into practice.
6. #MALE MOTHER: A British man has become the country’s first to give birth. The man, who is in his 30s, had undergone a sex change but did not have his womb removed, and the Daily Telegraph advises that he took hormone treatment to ‘reactivate’ his womb.
7. #EMBASSIES: The former senior civil servant at the Department of Foreign Affairs has criticised the government’s decision to close the Irish embassy to the Holy See. Seán Donlon told RTÉ that the financial savings from closing it were very low, while the absence of a resident ambassador meant Ireland could not play a part in shaping Church policy.
8. #DAVID KELLY: The Irish acting world is in mourning following the death of actor David Kelly, who was 82. The beloved actor, who died after a short illness, was a veteran of stage and screen and had played roles from Shakespeare to Beckett. Here you can see him in his final role for the silver screen, in short film ‘The Good Doctor’.
9. #AWARDS: It’s been a busy night for those who work on the maintenance of red carpets. Though slightly overshadowed by the death of Whitney Houston, the Grammy Awards saw Adele take six gongs and the Foo Fighters win five (here’s some photos), while in London ‘The Artist’ took seven awards at the BAFTAs.
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Any Israeli military aircraft operating in Syria against Syria should be blown out of the sky by the SAA and Russia.
@Otranto: * operating against Iranian/ Hezbollah assets in Syria. Fixed that for you. Mind you they are still technically at war. Must have been a priority target as they usually give the Russians a better heads up.
@Clifford Brennan: they have no right attacking anything in Syria regardless of who is there, Iran and Russia have been invited to help root out the headhackers, Israel are protecting these same headhackers along with the US, UK, France etc, nasty rogue statelet is all that Israel is and nothing more than a US outpost to keep the ME boiling and countries in turmoil, the sooner it falls, the better.
@Pixie McMullen: They have every right to act in their own defence. Deal with it Pixie.
@Pixie McMullen: ‘The sooner it falls, the better’. Yawn. So, so many have fought and died – and failed – to make that happen over the past 70 yrs. Love your optimism though.
@Clifford Brennan: yes they have the right to act in their own defence within their own borders not the borders of another sovereign state, deal with it Clifford
@Clifford Brennan: So do the Russians and the Syrians. I suspect a few S400s are going to be given to Assad to help ensure this never happens again in the future. I also suspect the French are going to high tail it out if the area.
@Pixie McMullen: Horrible country and people, nephew and friends met Israelis on their travels and said they were horrible rude very confrontational people! Would fight in a phone box, time for someone to kick their asses it’s genocide what they’ve been doin for years
@Clifford Brennan:
So a Syrian power station is a Iranian/Hezbollah asset now?
@Jurgen Remak: If it wasn’t for US support Israel wouldn’t be so cavalier and trigger happy. They act like the little blackguard in the pub who knows that he can do as he like because his mate, who is a bully, will take up for him.
@Otranto: Funny, Syrian state media make no mention of a power station. It does talk about the “The Organization for Technological Industries” which is a plant linked to chemical weapons and missile production. Other Syrian reports say it was an adjacent weapons depot that was targetted successfully, though they couldnt confirm if they were Iranian or Syrian. The Israelis say they “targeted a facility from which systems to manufacture accurate and lethal weapons were about to be transferred on behalf of Iran to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”
@Clifford Brennan:
I thought the Israelis have not commented on it yet, as is their modus operandi NOT to comment on such attacks, please post a Link to their report on it, there’s a good chap.
@Pixie McMullen: You need to leave your bubble Pixie. Top story on the Times of Israel website.
“good chap”
@Dougal67: I’m hoping that’s parody…
You are basing opinions of an entire country on a few second hand accounts of meeting a few Israelis abroad.
Spend a bit of time looking at Irish drunken louts in Spain or Greece and you’d probably looking for some one to sort is out too.
Again, hoping it’s parody
@Clifford Brennan: sorry, forgot for a second that your go to paper in the morning with your coffee would be the Times of Israel, its not a paper i would ever think of reading, i happen to find the “Zionist Times” a lot more highbrow, and the crossword is way harder…
@Pixie McMullen: Apology accepted Pixie.
@Pixie McMullen: Well done Israel!
@Tom Ryan:
Syria rufused to sign a peace treaty with Israel despite over four Israeli attempts.
Therefore they are still at war with Syria and can attack whenever they see fit.
I don’t understand why people can’t grasp this fact.
@Fiasco99: throw in the multiple online videos of Israeli soldiers horrific actions against minors! one of a group of Israeli soldiers beating 11 year old to death and all laughing about it????? various like that! Does that sound like parody?
@Otranto: South African Airlines?
@Tom Ryan: tell that to Turkey or Iran, they seem to be attacking outside of their own state, but let’s not talk about that as that’s not anti Israel
@Dougal67: It’s *arses* comrade, not ‘asses’. Tell your supervisors to remember not everyone uses American English – bots must adjust their usage accordingly.
@Pixie McMullen: translation: I talked out the side of my neck but I’m too chickenshit to admit it.
@Judean: Eh,the Golan heights may have something to do with it!
@Jurgen Remak: the Yanks will soon have enough to deal with when all the festering internal dissent finally blows and brings this corrupt empire down. All empires in history have fallen from within and not by external forces.
So they are saying mistakes never happen in a conflict zone and it’s someone else’s fault? Well well well. Who’d have thought that.
@Paul Furey: You have the Syrians/Russians/Turks and possibly Iranians fighting a war against ISIS/Al Nusra and you have the Israeli regime undermining that… Why?
@Paul Furey:
Some hostile acts can be made to appear to look like mistakes
@ObsidianShine: totally agree, with respect you have missed out the main proxy here which is the terrorist kingdom of saud
This is what we are expected to believe???
Yeah right:
https://mobile.twitter.com/Partisangirl/status/1041976069811621888
Israel needs to face sanctions for human rights crimes,they wont because the big countrys are using it as a gateway into the region to plunder its resources.money money money.
@@mdmak33: Israel is the only country in the Middle East with no oil, you were saying?
@Tom Molloy: That might be why they’re taking others https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-grants-golan-heights-oil-license-2013-2?IR=T
@Tom Molloy: he said the region’s
@John Ryan: didn’t they take the golan to stop Syria shelling farmers?
@superdooper: Yep and there were WMDs in Iraq!
@B9xiRspG: Hidden in the lungs of Kurdish men women and children.
@Tom Molloy: But it has all the Bible belt ones in the US supporting it, it’s that large it can effect election outcomes in the US.
@superdooper: Israel wants living space (and that scores 6.1/10 for being toxic?) or as they see it, Lebensraum?
Israel is not guilty, their army is currently in Salisbury looking at clocks.
@Drive for show & putt for dough: Mossad cut the wrists of Dr. Kelly but they cut both wrists so deep that it looks like murder now but that was over the Iraq report…
Well I’m sure that the comments will be sane and respectful to all sides of the argument.
“air defences went into action against an alleged Israeli missile strike, the Russian has army.”
The Russian has army? Was this article written by a Russian?
Wow, that is one helluva crowded theatre of operations. If true that Israel gave only a one minute warning then angering the Russians is not something Israel will want to repeat. Huge potential for a mistake like this to escalate things. What a major, major incident it would be if shot down by the Israelis or the French – not to mention US forces.
Nevertheless, always great to see no let up by the Israeli Air Force against Assad and his regional allies. The Ayatollahs, Revolutionary Guards nuts take heed – continue to build your military assets in Syria and you will get smashed.
@Jurgen Remak: by terrorist states such as Israel and the USA. Go home, yanks. You have enough problems of your own to sort.
@Jurgen Remak: every single action by Israel in Syria is an act of war, but, of course, you yanks wouldn’t understand that, you are now actually protecting the very same terrorists you blamed on 9/11.
What a nasty, nasty Country you have become.
@Larry Doherty: sorry pal, America and Israel are BFF.
@Pixie McMullen: Of course it’s an act of war – great observation there angry man Pixie! Israel and Syria have been fighting a war since Israel’s founding.
@Jurgen Remak: nothing to say about your country actively protecting the same terrorists you blamed 9/11 on? America is by far the biggest terrorists in the planet.
@Pixie McMullen: Osama is dead, we got him. Now calm down Pixie. I know your very upset about your beloved Russians getting shot down but these things happen in war.
@Jurgen Remak: Osama is dead…. Conveniently dropping off the body over the ocean, so no one can ever prove if he is alive or dead, if the Yanks had truly gotten him, they would have kept the body for photo ops, PS what happened to the seal team that supposedly got him? Aren’t they all dead now after meeting all types of accidents?
Bin Laden was a CIA asset, used as a oawn in Americas proxy war with Russia in Afghanistan, now they use his outfit of jihadists and headhackers to destroy any country it deems it needs “democratising” in the ME.
@Pixie McMullen: And out come the conspiracy theories: ‘no one can ever prove if he was alive or dead’. You conspiracy nuts are so reliable! Hey how’s this – I heard the Seal team guys faked the accidents! Maybe they’ve claimed asylum in Russia and have nice cosy dacha somewhere.
Angry guys like you are great Pixie. Please don’t stop posting that stuff, ever.
@Jurgen Remak:
osama died in 1998 you clown. did you think that a secret burial at sea would fool anyone apart from the idiots?
btw all thenavy seals who “killed” him are dead, blown out of the sky by their own. You couldn’t make it up.
@sixmile: No, I told you: they’re in Russia now. Silly. Do all the conspiracy nuts say Osama was killed in 1998, or was it really 2003. Or maybe… 2012?
@sixmile: give us some links for that crap you just posted.
@Jurgen Remak: Conspiracy theorists, ….LOL, do you really expect us to believe everything the good ole US of A tells us implicitly.? After all the lies you have told the world?
Even your avatar is a lie ” these colours don’t run”,… What happened in Vietnam and Iraq, and will soon happen in Afghanistan? Or will that be another ” strategic withdrawal” with a flag on a ship saying mission accomplished?
@Pixie McMullen: All the SEALS involved in the Bin Laden raid are dead? Giz a link for that there.
I think the common misconception (which sixmile just repeated) is that they were shot out of the sky the same year, but nobody who died in that attack was actually involved in the Bin Laden raid. It was the same command (DEVGRU) but a different squadron who were shot down.
Not sure where this rubbish is coming from but you’d want to double check your sources.
@Dave Thomas:
the truth is out there…..
@Pixie McMullen: Ah now Pixie, you’re getting really agitated now if you’re taking up the silly line in my profile pic. Calm down buddy. Personally I’m betting on something like a strategic withdrawal Pixie. There’s no doubt the US has lost a lot more small conflicts than they won. But no withdrawal on Israel I’m afraid. Like I said, BFF.
Hey I was wondering do you conspiracy nuts have lots of different conspiracy theories? You guys must have forums dedicated to that crap. Take the 1998 Osama death claim, that guy seems pretty certain of that. Have you a different date of death? Or maybe he’s a prisoner of the US somewhere? Maybe he’s renting some overpriced apartment in Dublin (paid by the CIA, through MI6).
I love you guys!
@sixmile: “the truth is out there….”. under some rock in the darkest corners of the internet
@Pixie McMullen:
Lol, Israel and Syria are still at war you uniformed paddy
@ihcalaM: You would want to check your eyesight, i never said they were dead…I asked a question, hence all the question marks , ya plum
@Pixie McMullen:
I only have one nose, but nice to see the racism is alive and kicking!
@Judean: Gee, hook nose Pixie? Really? I thought you were just a conspiracy nut but you are also an anti Semite. Sad, no need for that at all but you couldn’t resist could you?
@Jurgen Remak:
Ironic how someone as far to the left as Pixie uses the language of the nazis.
@mattoid: agreed. When it comes to some of the obsessive anti Israel commenters it is never far from the surface. Plenty of things to criticize Israel or its defenders about, but absolutely no need for such anti Semitic language.
Disgusting. Better his comment is NOT banned to show exactly what he is. But maybe he’ll try to say he’s just ‘anti Zionist’ and not anti Semitic. So sad.
@Judean: Pot kettle with your “Paddy” remark pal
@Jurgen Remak: , @mattoid :
Nothing to say about the “paddy” remark huh?
if you don`t want to abuse, i suggest you don`t start it
@Pixie McMullen: yes paddy is racist also. Hope that makes you feel better.
So your response to racism is to hurl racist abuse back? That’s nice, real nice Pixie. At least you don’t deny it’s anti Semitic abuse, so some credit to you there. Well done.
@Jurgen Remak: Don`t throw insults, and ye won`t get them back is the message lad. I couldn`t care less what you think about it, so , bring your faux outrage to someone that actually gives a Sh*t
Simples…
@Jurgen Remak:
I’m pretty sure when Pixie has been challenged by other commenters his response has been “I’m not anti-semitic, I’m anti-zionist”.
The comment above exposes that complete lie for what it is, and exposes his true colours as nothing more than another neo-nazi fascist.
@mattoid: I`m pretty sure i have never been challenged before and that you are talking through your hoop
@Pixie McMullen:
At least you’re not trying to deny your anti-semitism this time anyway – acknowledging it is a good first step.
@mattoid: Very true. This particular anti Semite seems incredibly angry doesn’t he. Then again hateful people generally are full of anger aren’t they.
@Jurgen Remak: how is it anti-semitic? Arabs, who make up the vast majority of Semites, don’t have beak-noses.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: if you knew the history of the term anti semitic you would understand its used in relation to Jews in Europe not Arabs in the middle East. Your ignorance of that shows how little you know about anti semitic behaviour when you try to cover it using Arabs in the middle East. Pushing that argument only serves to reveal your ignorance.
The Syrian air defence hasn’t been able to hit squat and then blows its allies plane out of the sky? Yeah right.
@Chris Hammond: Sryia shot down a Israeli F-16 on the 10th Feb with an S-200 missile, the jet crashed in Jezreel Valley, Israel. Both pilots survived.
In Russia it is always somebody else’s fault.
First it was the bourgeoisie, then it was fascists, later it was the yanks, then it was the Ukrainians, now it’s the Jews…
Or maybe they could just drop the habit of shooting down planes from the sky without verifying who it actually is? That would help. A lot.
@Termaz Fx: yeah funny that. In the US its the politics of fear. The commies are coming, the commies are coming. Then it was the Muslim terrorists are coming etc. Arm yourself against the inevitable attack!! blah blah blah
Here’s a map by the Russian MOD explaining what happened…
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DnXO7JTX4AAsizM.jpg
The F-16s were about 50km off the Syrian coast over the Mediterranean, they fired several Delilah cruise missiles that hit a target in Latakia, reportedly a power station and a weapons factory. The explosions were seen from Latakia city, people uploaded videos as soon as it happened. Here’s footage of the attack and the damaged factory…
https://twitter.com/QalaatAlMudiq/status/1041770180211351552
Syrian launched S-200 missiles in an attempt to intercept the cruise missiles, but there was a Il-20 between the missile launch sites and the Israeli missiles, the Il-20 was on its way back to Russia’s Hmeimim airbase and was hit a 10.07pm local time.
This should not have happened, military aircraft are supposed to broadcast a coded message that identifies them as a friendly, also the radar signature is completely different between a small missile and a large aircraft. It’s likely poor training and/or old radar technology meant the Syrian missile operators were firing blindly at every blip they saw.
@David Jordan: The only logical fix is for the Russians to supply state of the art S400s to the Syrians. Much mire effective air defense system and would prevent any possible reocurrence. I am sure no reasonable person or nation would argue against that.
@Cal Mooney: The US have threatened sanctions against both Turkey and India for going ahead with their purchase of the S400 system, both countries have basically to them to go and jump, the US is terrified of this system and what it can do, the sooner other countries acquire it, the better. Hopefully Syria will be getting more of them soon.
@Pixie McMullen: Russia will be selling the S400 to Saudi Arabia shortly Pixie.
@Clifford Brennan: Think that deal was abandoned not long ago because of US pressure.
@Pixie McMullen: great idea, replace the Russian S200 with the Russian S400 and fingers crossed it won’t shoot any Russian planes out of the sky
@ihcalaM: Missed that. Thanks. Must learn to scroll further down beyond my confirmation bias :).
@Pixie McMullen: Turkey told to go jump. And are now suffering one of their worst economic crisis in history.
Their decision to deliberately annoy the USA by doing this and other things has not been consistence free
@Diaspora’d: let’s hope they train them better.
@Jurgen Remak: like the American navy who shot down an Iranian civilian aircraft..
Typical any time a peace deal in regions in Syria is usually followed by airstrikes by the west and its regional allies. Will Russia finally deliver s-400 remains to be seen. With ISIS being defeated expect the US to do everything possible to stay in the area around al-tanf to stop the Iranian influence growing. Regional power struggle in the region will only get worse Turkey is the dark in this playing both sides yet it has equally as much to lose.
2 handy sites to follow the syrian war https://syria.liveuamap.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/crimeanfront/featured
Is Assad a threat to the West? Is he fighting ISIS in Syria? Surely we in the west would side with Assad in this fight. Why is the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia on the wrong side in this conflict?
Assad is bad. Hezbollah are worse. But the “Syrian rebels/ISIS” are evil incarnate.
I hope for Syria’s sake Assad wins soon.
The Israelis are entitled to act against forces that attack them using Syrian territory.
The Russians are entitled to provide S400 systems to the Syrians to ensure they never can again.
@Fiasco99: “to ensure they never can again”. Right, we’re expected to believe that now at this point in the whole history of armed conflict that a Russian armament called the S400 will render air strikes useless so they “never can again”. The S200 was good but it doesn’t like being confused by too much stuff in the sky
Why will the US and Israel not leave Syria alone, any country with oil in it the then US invades it. Israel is playing games now and thinks the US will protect them. That is a risky belief to have?
I’m a Christian and so are most people in Ireland, the only people who have supported the Christians in Syria has been Assad. ISIS, ISIL, Al Nusura and all the rebels are committing genocide against all minorities in syria. Assad is not a Sunni or Shi’a he’s an Alewyte (spelled wrong). The rebels are enforcing Shiria law against these people who are not Muslims. Nuns and Monk have been slaughtered. I hope Assad wins because Syria is a secular country and if the US, UK and NATO get their way it will become a failed state like Libya where minorities are sold a slaves in an open market.
People should do their own research before believing the lies main stream media are saying about Syria.
@great gael of Eire: and by the way for people who still believe this is a civil war. Why are there 10,000 Chinese Uyghur’s in Syria. Turkey facilitated their arrival in Syria and now the Chinese government wants them back in China.
There are rebels from all over the world in syria, why? Who’s paying their wages each week? In the same day Nicki Hayle warned Syria against attacking rebels in idlib and the defense Dept admitting the Idlib is the largest base for Al Queada in the world! I though the whole war on terror was to stop these guys!!!
Putin doesn’t do Sorry ….
..Get your Sorry-Ass..out of Syria fast
@Bob Doran: Syrian government invited Russia in unlike the US army invading there as well, remember Iraq?
have your say