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Britain jails Indonesian who became

UK's 'most prolific rapist'
By Andrew MacAskill,Reuters Mon, 6 Jan 9:02 PM GMT+8

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A combination of still images used in evidence in convicting Reynhard Sinaga - CCTV image,
alcohol bottles in Sinaga's flat, sleeping area in Sinaga's flat, are seen in this undated
handout photo
By Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) - A student from Indonesia was identified as Britain's most prolific rapist on
Monday after being convicted of more than 150 offences, including 136 rapes.

In four separate trials, Reynhard Sinaga, 36, was found guilty of assaulting 48 men whom he
drugged after taking them back to his apartment from outside bars and clubs in the city of
Manchester.

Many of the victims were lured by the offer of a place to sleep or more drink, and Sinaga filmed the
assaults on his mobile phone, the Crown Prosecution Service said.

At a court in Manchester, a judge ruled that Sinaga must serve at least 30 years in prison for 159
offences committed between between January 2015 and May 2017, and lifted reporting restrictions.

Ian Rushton, a government prosecutor, described Sinaga as the "most prolific rapist in British legal
history".

Sinaga, who has lived in the United Kingdom since 2007, targeted young men who looked drunk or
vulnerable and rendered them unconscious with a sedative, probably the party drug gamma -
hydroxybutyric acid that is known as GHB, the court was told.

The victims were mainly heterosexual and had little or no memory of the attacks. But Sinaga was
arrested after one of his victims woke up during an attack, fought him off and went to the police with
one of his phones.

Police discovered graphic material – equivalent to 250 DVDs or 300,000 photos – depicting sexual
assaults on Sinaga's digital devices. Sinaga had said his victims were acting out sexual fantasies.
The court was told Sinaga kept men’s belongings as trophies and looked them up on Facebook.

The rape investigation is the largest in British legal history. It is the first time prosecutors have split
charges across four separate trials.

Police said there could be many more victims and are appealing for others who may have been
targeted to come forward.

(Editing by Kate Holton and Timothy Heritage)

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Associated Press

Iran strikes back at US with missile

attack at bases in Iraq
NASSER KARIMI, AMIR VAHDAT and JON GAMBRELL,Associated Press 20 hours

ago
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran struck back at the United States for the killing of a top Iranian general
early Wednesday, firing a series of ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops and
warning the United States and its allies in the region not to retaliate.

The strikes by Iran were a major escalation of tensions that have been rising steadily across the
Mideast following months of threats and attacks after President Donald Trump's decision to
unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Iranian state TV said
the attack was in revenge for the U.S. killing of Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani,
whose funeral procession Tuesday in his hometown of Kerman prompted angry calls to avenge his
death.

Soleimani's killing and Iran's missile strikes also marked the first time in recent years that
Washington and Tehran have attacked each other directly rather than through proxies in the region.
It raised the chances of open conflict erupting between the two nations, wh ich have been foes since
the days immediately following Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

U.S. officials confirmed both strikes, though Iran only initially acknowledged targeting one base.
There was no immediate word on injuries.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned the U.S. and its regional allies against retaliating over the
missile attack against the Ain al-Asad air base in Iraq’s western Anbar province. The Guard issued
the warning via a statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency.

“We are warning all American allies, who gave their bases to its terrorist army, that any territory that
is the starting point of aggressive acts against Iran will be targeted,” The Guard said. It also
threatened Israel.

After the strikes, a former Iranian nuclear negotiator posted a picture of the Islamic Republic's flag
on Twitter, appearing to mimic Trump who posted an American flag following the killing of Soleimani
and others Friday in a drone strike in Baghdad.
Ain al-Asad air base was first used by American forces after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled
dictator Saddam Hussein, and later saw American troops stationed there amid the fight against the
Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces.

About 70 Norwegian troops also were on the air base but no injuries were reported, Brynjar Stordal,
a spokesperson for the Norwegian Armed Forces told The Associated Press.

State TV said the operation’s name was “Martyr Soleimani.” It said the Guard’s aerospace division
that controls Iran’s missile program launched the attack. Iran said it would release more information
later.

The U.S. also acknowledged another missile attack on a base in Irbil in Iraq's semiautonomous
Kurdish region.

Wednesday's revenge attack came a mere few hours after crowds in Iran mourned Soleimani and
as the U.S. continued to reinforce its own positions in the region and warned of an unspecified
threat to shipping from Iran in the region's waterways, crucial routes for global energy supplies. U.S.
embassies and consulates from Asia to Africa and Europe issued security alerts for Americans. The
U.S. Air Force launched a drill with 52 fighter jets in Utah, just days after Trump threatened to hit 52
sites in Iran.

A stampede broke out Tuesday at Soleimani's funeral for a top Iranian general slain in a U.S.
airstrike, and at least 56 people were killed and more than 200 were injured as thousands thronged
the procession, Iranian news reports said.

Tuesday's deadly stampede took place in Soleimani's hometown of Kerman as his coffin was being
borne through the city in southeastern Iran, said Pirhossein Koulivand, head of Iran’s emergency
medical services.

There was no information about what set off the crush in the packed streets, and online videos
showed only its aftermath: people lying apparently lifeless, their faces covered by clothing,
emergency crews performing CPR on the fallen, and onlookers wailing and crying out to God.

“Unfortunately as a result of the stampede, some of our compatriots have been injured and some
have been killed during the funeral processions," Koulivand said, and state TV quoted him as saying
that 56 had died and 213 had been injured.

Soleimani's burial was delayed, with no new time given, because of concerns about the huge crowd
at the cemetery, the semi-official ISNA news agency said.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew over 1 million people in the Ir anian capital, crowding both
main avenues and side streets in Tehran. Such mass crowds can prove dangerous. A smaller
stampede at the 1989 funeral for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini killed at least eight people and
injured hundreds.

Hossein Salami, Soleimani's successor as leader of the Revolutionary Guard, addressed a crowd of
supporters gathered at the coffin in a central square in Kernan. He vowed to avenge Soleimani, who
was killed in a U.S. drone strike Friday near Baghdad's airport.

“We tell our enemies that we will retaliate but if they take another action we will set ablaze the
places that they like and are passionate about," Salami said.

“Death to Israel!” the crowd shouted in response, referring to one of Iran's longtime regional foes.
Salami praised Soleimani's work, describing him as essential to backing Palestinian groups,
Yemen's Houthi rebels and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria. As a martyr, Soleimani represented an
even greater threat to Iran's enemies, Salami said.

Soleimani will ultimately be laid to rest between the graves of Enayatollah Talebizadeh and
Mohammad Hossein Yousef Elahi, two former Guard comrades killed in Iran's 1980s war with Iraq.
They died in Operation Dawn 8, in which Soleimani also took part. It was a 1986 amphibious assault
that cut Iraq off from the Persian Gulf and led to the end of the war that killed 1 million.

The funeral processions in major cities over three days have been an unprecedented honor for
Soleimani, seen by Iranians as a national hero for his work leading the Guard’s expeditionary Quds
Force.

The U.S. blames him for killing U.S. troops in Iraq and accused him of plotting new attacks just
before he was killed. Soleimani also led forces supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad in that
country's civil war, and he also served as the point man for Iranian proxies in countries like Iraq,
Lebanon and Yemen. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Assad in Syria on Tuesday amid
the tensions between Washington and Tehran.

Soleimani's slaying already has led Tehran to abandon the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal
with world powers as his successor and others vow to take revenge.

In Iraq, pro-Iranian factions in parliament have pushed to oust American troops from Iraqi soil
following Soleimani's killing. Germany and Canada announced plans to move some of their soldiers
in Iraq to neighboring countries.

According to a report on Tuesday by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Iran has worked up 13
sets of plans to avenge Soleimani's death. The report quoted Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s
Supreme National Security Council, as saying that even the weakest among them would be a
“historic nightmare” for the U.S. He declined to elaborate,

“If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their
bodies horizontally out," Shamkhani said.

The state-run IRNA news agency later published a statement from the Supreme National Security
Council denying Shamkhani made the comment.

The U.S. Maritime Administration warned ships across the Mideast, citing the rising threats. “The
Iranian response to this action, if any, is unknown, but there remains the possibility of Iranian action
against U.S. maritime interests in the region,” it said.

Oil tankers were targeted in mine attacks last year that the U.S. blamed on Iran. Tehran denied
responsibility, although it did seize oil tankers around the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth
of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s crude oil travels.

The U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet said it would work with shippers in the region to minimize
any possible threat.

The 5th Fleet “has and will continue to provide advice to merchant shipping as appropriate
regarding recommended security precautions in light of the heightened tensions and threats in the
region,” 5th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Joshua Frey told The Associated Press.
 Separately, Iran summoned the British ambassador over comments by Prime Minister Bor is
Johnson and the British defense minister about Soleimani's killing, the semi -official Mehr news
agency reported.

Iran's parliament, meanwhile, has passed an urgent bill declaring the U.S. military's command at the
Pentagon and those acting on its behalf in Soleimani's killing as “terrorists," subject to Iranian
sanctions. The measure appears to be in response to a decision by Trump in April to declare the
Revolutionary Guard a “terrorist organization.”

The U.S. Defense Department used that terror designation to support the strike that killed
Soleimani. The action by Iran’s parliament was done by a special procedure to speed it into law and
also saw the lawmakers approve funding for the Quds Force with an additional 200 million euros, or
about $224 million.

Also Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the U.S. had declined to issue
him a visa to travel to New York for meetings at the United Nations. As the host of the U.N.
headquarters, the U.S. is supposed to allow foreign officials to attend such meetings.

“This is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people,” Zarif
said. "But they are mistaken. The world is not limited to New York. You can speak w ith American
people from Tehran too and we will do that.”

Asked about Zarif, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told journalists America would comply with
its obligations under U.N. rules to grant visas. He then referred to the Iranian diplomat as “a
propagandist of the first order.”

A U.S. official who wasn't authorized to speak on the record said the application couldn't be
processed in time for Zarif's travel although it wasn't clear if his request had been formally denied. A
formal rejection would trigger legal technicalities that could affect future visa applications and could
violate the host country agreement the U.S. has with the U.N.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in
Washington contributed.

Reuters

Philippines prepares to evacuate

workers in Middle East on rising
tensions
Reuters 14 hours ago

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FILE PHOTO: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte gestures during his fourth State of the Nation
Address at the Philippine Congress in Quezon City
MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines is preparing to evacuate thousands of Filipinos working in the
Middle East as regional tensions rise following the killing of a top Iranian commander by the United
States.

About 2.3 million people from the Philippines are working in the Middle East as domestic helpers,
construction workers, engineers and nurses.
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the armed forces to prepare air and naval assets for the
evacuation of Filipinos in Iraq, Iran and nearby Arab countries, his spokesman Salvador Panelo said
on Tuesday.

Saying he was deeply worried about the prospect of a "protracted war", Duterte told reporters he
sent a special envoy to Tehran and Baghdad to get assurances that Filipinos would be provided
safe passage in case of evacuation.

"We have so many Filipinos working mainly in the Middle East. I am nervous. Iran seems to be hell-
bent on a retaliation, which I think will come," Duterte said in a speech on Monday.

There are close to 7,000 Filipinos working and living in Iraq and more than 1,000 in Iran, according
to government data.

Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, who heads a newly created committee to prepare the
evacuation, said the government is readying aircraft to ferry Filipinos in Iraq and Iran who wish to
come home or be evacuated to safer areas.

"We can send transportation to fetch them," Lorenza told reporters, adding that hiring a cruise ship
was among the things the government was considering to safely evacuate those who would wish to
be repatriated.

Iran is considering 13 scenarios to avenge Friday's killing of Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone
attack in Iraq, a senior Tehran official said on Tuesday as the general's body was brought to his
hometown for burial.

Filipinos in the Middle East sent home $5.4 billion in remittances in January to October last year,
accounting for a fifth of total remittances for that period, making the region a major source of foreign
exchange inflows which help drive growth in the consumption-led Philippine economy.

In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah ad vised Malaysians to defer
nonessential travel to the region, "in particular areas where the security situation is critical", and for
citizens in the region to register with their nearest foreign mission.

"The ministry advises all Malaysians residing, or currently travelling to the region to be more vigilant
and take the necessary precautions to ensure their safety and security,” Saifuddin told at a press
conference.

(Reporting by Karen Lema, additional reporting by Joseph Sipalan in Kuala Lumpur, Editing by
William Maclean)

Reuters

Bloody Philippine drug war fails to curb

methamphetamine supply - VP
 Reuters Tue, 7 Jan 8:25 AM GMT+8

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MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has only managed to curb
the supply of methamphetamines by less than 1% of annual consumption, proof that it has been a
bloody failure, his main political rival, the vice presiden t, said on Monday.

Thousands of suspected drug traffickers and users have been killed in the campaign that Duterte
launched soon after he won election in 2016.

Vice President Leni Robredo, who was elected separately to the president, and recently served a
brief stint as the president's drug "tsar", said vast quantities of the highly addictive drug were
available because seizures had barely dented the supply.

"It is very clear, based on official data, despite the number of Filipinos killed and the budget spe nt,
the volume of shabu supply curbed didn't exceed 1%," Robredo told a news conference, referring to
methamphetamines.

Robredo, a former human rights lawyer, has long been a critic of Duterte's flagship anti -drugs
campaign, the main focus of which has been methamphetamines.

Citing police data, she said annual seizures of the drug in the last three years were in a range of
about 1,000 kg, compared with estimated consumption of 3,000 kg a week, which translates to 156
tonnes a year, worth about 1.3 trillion pesos ($25 billion).

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimated the Asia -Pacific methamphetamine trade
was worth as much as $61.4 billion in 2018, up from an estimated $15 billion just five years earlier.
 Duterte appointed Robredo his "drugs tsar" on Nov. 5 after the opposition leader, in a Reuters
interview and subsequent public appearances, expressed alarm about the death toll in the anti -
narcotics campaign and said it needed a fresh approach.

But 18 days later Duterte fired her after she had exposed flaws in the campaign.

Robredo said the government must change its strategy and halt police anti -drug operations.

"Instead of chasing or killing drug peddlers in street corners, we need to pursue the source of drugs,
the big suppliers. They are the real enemy, not the ordinary people," Robredo said.

Responding to Robredo's comments, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, said her stint as the
president's top anti-drugs official had been a failure.

"The fact remains that we have dismantled so many illegal drug factories ... caused the surrender of
thousands of drug addicts and pushers ... and neutralised high -value drug suspects," Panelo said.

(Reporting by Karen Lema)

Trump properties could become Iranian

targets
Rick Newman Tue, 7 Jan 3:09 AM GMT+8

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There’s a unique set of targets Iran is likely eyeing as it contemplates retaliation for the U.S. killing
of a top Iranian general in Iraq on Jan. 2: Trump Organization properties in 11 countries outside the
United States.

President Trump’s real-estate company owns or manages buildings bearing the Trum p name in
Canada, Dubai, India, Indonesia, Ireland, the Philippines, Scotland, South Korea, St. Martin, Turkey
and Uruguay. Those properties are all listed on the company’s website.

“[Iran] will look for the most opportune chance to strike back in a way th at hurts President Trump
personally,” Iran scholar Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution said on a recent Lawfare
podcast. “I will assume security around any Trump property is enhanced.”

On Jan. 5, an Iranian official who advises the country’s president hinted that Iran is, in fact, tracking
Trump properties. Hesameddin Ashena, who runs the Iranian president’s research outfit, posted a
tweet, without comment, linking to a Forbes web page on Trump’s personal wealth that lists 19
Trump properties, mostly in the United States. The Trump Organization owns those properties. Most
of the firm’s international properties are owned by others, with the Trump Organization branding and
managing them.

“We have ZERO problems with the American people,” Ashena wrote, in English, in a separate
tweet. “Our sole problem is Trump. In the event of war, it is he who will bear full responsibility.”

The Trump Organization did not respond to Yahoo Finance questions about security enhancements
at properties it owns or manages.

Watching for retaliation

An Iranian attack on a Trump property in the United States would be an overt act of terrorism likely
to trigger an aggressive U.S. military response that could be devastating for Iran. It might also
generate domestic support for Trump and help him get reelected if it occurred before the November
election. If Iran denied responsibility for such an attack, suspicion would fall on them a nyway and it
might not matter.
A giant billboard advertising the Trump International Golf Club hangs at the Dubai Trade Center
roundabout, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 18, 2017. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

An attack on a Trump property outside the United States might be different, since the United States
wouldn’t automatically be able to characterize it as a violation of U.S. sovereignty. Foreign
investigators might bungle the investigation into who did it. The United States could retaliate
militarily against Iran as an ally, but that would be odd if it were in association with a country like
Indonesia or the Philippines that isn’t a normal military partner and might not even want U.S.
assistance.

Security experts point out that in addition to conventional military assets such as missiles, mines
and submarines, Iran has cyberwarfare capabilities and could cause digital disruption. Cyber
attacks could narrowly target individual organizations or aim to cause havoc by disabling power
grids or other essential infrastructure.

Iranian-backed militias are known mainly for the trouble they cause in other parts of the Middle East,
such as Yemen, Lebanon and Syria. But Iran has gone much further from home in the past to
avenge perceived grievances. The Iranian proxy group Hezbollah planned and carried out two
attacks on Jewish and Israeli sites in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1992 and 1994 that killed more
than 100 and injured hundreds more. The trigger for those attacks was Argentina’s suspension of
cooperation on nuclear technology with Iran.

The theocratic nation faces tough choices in weighing how to respond to the U.S. airstrike that killed
Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and five others as they were leaving the Baghdad airport on Jan.
2. Trump has threatened devastating retaliation for any attack that harms Americans and can be
traced to Iran. And Iran would be the immediate suspect in a covert attack. “There will be a carefully
calibrated response over the long term,” says Maloney of the Brookings Institution. “With an eye to
what serves their interests best.”
 Rick Newman is the author of four books, including “Rebounders: How Winners Pivot from
Setback to Success.” Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman. Confidential tip
line: rickjnewman@yahoo.com. Encrypted communication available. Click here to get Rick’s
stories by email.

Read more:

 There won’t be a ‘war’ with Iran

 Why Trump will lose in 2020
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Associated Press

For Israel, Iran strike could be back on

the table
JOSEF FEDERMAN,Associated Press 20 hours ago

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JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran’s dramatic announcement that it no longer intends to honor its
commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers could soon revive discussions in Israel
over a possible military strike on Iranian targets.

While Israel has kept a low profile since the U.S. killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani last
Friday, it will be difficult to remain on the sidelines if Iran follows through on its pledge to step away
from the nuclear accord. Israel, a fierce critic of the agreement, accuses Iran of trying to develop a
nuclear weapon and has repeatedly said it will not allow that to happen, even if that requires a risky
military strike.

Israel is widely believed to posses its own arsenal of nuclear warheads, but neither confirms nor
denies it.

The U.S.-led nuclear deal, which restricted Iran's atomic activities in exchange for relief from
sanctions, put any talk of Israeli military action into deep freeze. But that all changed Sunday when
Iran, protesting Soleimani's killing, said it would no longer honor the limits on uranium enrichment
and other nuclear research spelled out in the deal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem,
Sunday, Jan. 5, 2020. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool via AP)

Iran denies it is seeking a nuclear bomb and says its activities are for peaceful purposes only.

Israeli officials had no immediate response to the Iranian announcement, although last month, with
the nuclear accord already unraveling, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Twitter that Israel
remained ready to take military action as a “last resort” to prevent Iran from developing an atomic
bomb.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly meeting with his inner Security Cabinet
on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

Yoel Guzansky, an analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli think tank, said
the Iranian announcement puts the region in a delicate moment.
Mourners walk back from a funeral ceremony for Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in front of the
former U.S. Embassy, who was killed with others in Iraq by a Friday U.S. drone attack, Monday,
Jan. 6, 2020. Funeral ceremonies for Soleimani drew a crowd said by police to be in the millions, on
Monday in Tehran, where his replacement vowed to take revenge. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

On one hand, he noted that Iran is only talking about its intention to abandon the deal and has not
taken any action. “They’re still cautious,” said Guzansky, who is a former adviser on Iranian affairs
in the prime minister's office.

On the other hand, he said that a failure by the U.S. and other world powers to spell out their “red
lines” risks encouraging Iran to press forward and potentially put it on a collision course with Israel.

“Where is the U.S.? Where are the Chinese, the Russians, the Europeans? Their voices are not
being heard,” he said. Without spelling out their limits, he said Iran could move “very close, much
closer to a bomb” in the coming year.

Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has said that Israel came close to attacking Iran in the
early 2010s while he was defense minister, but ultimately backed down. Such a move would risk not
only the pilots and troops sent on a difficult mission in a far -off land. It also could unleash a war that
could quickly engulf the region.

Israel has long considered Iran its greatest enemy, with suspicions about Iran's nuclear intentions at
the top of its concerns.

But Israel has a long list of other grievances against Iran. Among them are Iran’s support for hostile
proxy groups, especially the powerful Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, as well as Iran’s military
presence in neighboring Syria.
In recent years, Israel has struck a number of Iranian and Hezbollah targets in Syria, in many cases
to prevent the transfers of “game changing” weapons, such as precision -guided missiles, to
Hezbollah. Soleimani, the longtime commander of Iran’s expeditionary Quds Force, was seen as the
mastermind of these efforts and topped Israel’s most-wanted list.

While Netanyahu put out a brief statement praising President Donald Trump for ordering the
airstrike, Israel has otherwise remained quiet, apparently in fear of escalating an already volatile
situation. With Iran vowing retaliation, Israel has stepped up security at diplomatic installations
overseas and its forces remain on their standard high alert along the northern borders with Syria
and Lebanon.

Yet it is no secret that Israel sees the death of its arch-enemy's top general as a watershed
moment.

In Israeli eyes, the airstrike restored much-needed U.S. credibility, which many felt was eroded by
Trump’s decision to withdraw troops from the region and his lack of responses to previous Iranian
actions. Israeli defense strategy hinges heavily on close military ties with the U.S.

“This was a big strategic miracle. Suddenly, we are no longer on our own,” wrote Alex Fishman,
military commentator for the Yediot Ahronot daily.

For now, there seems to be a consensus among analyststhat the death of Soleimani dealt a tough
short-term blow, and the odds of retaliation against Israeli t argets are low. Iran’s main objective right
now is to mete out revenge against the U.S., and it has has little incentive to open another front, the
thinking goes. But there remains great uncertainty about whether there will be any long -term
benefits.

“With all due caution, it can be said that it appears that Iran will not initiate a direct clash with Israel
in the foreseeable future,” Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security adviser, wrote in the
Yediot Ahronot daily Monday.

He said Iran is “liable to decide on an aggressive course of action” if it meets one of three goals:
acquiring nuclear weapons, deepening its presence in Syria or succeeding in transferring guided
missiles to Hezbollah. “The Israeli side is making a great effort to prevent these exact three things,
and with a fair degree of success up until now,” he said.

Little is known about Soleimani's successor and longtime deputy, Esmail Ghaani. Iran also shows
no signs of moderating the policies that Soleimani carried out at the behest of th e country’s leaders
in Tehran.

Raz Zimmt, a former military intelligence officer now at the INSS think tank, said it may be “wishful
thinking” to expect Soleimani's death to create great opportunities for Israel.

“Yes, Iran is weaker today than it used to be two or three days ago," he said. “But that doesn't mean
that Iran is going to change.”

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Indonesian who became UK's 'most prolific rapist' jailed

A student from Indonesia was identified as Britain's most prolific rapist on Monday after being convicted of
more than 150 offences, including 136 rapes.
48 men assaulted »

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Iran strikes back at US with missile attack at Iraq bases

Philippines prepares to evacuate workers in Middle East

Drug war fails to curb methamphetamine supply: Robredo

Trump properties could be targets of Iran attack

After US strike, might Israel hit Iran next?



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Smoke from Australia bushfires reaches Brazil

Smoke from bushfires raging across Australia reached Brazil on Tuesday, an arm of the National
Institute for Space Research said on Twitter. Referring to satellite images, the agency's Department
of Remote Sensing said the smoke had arrived in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul.
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Interpol Issues Wanted Notice for Ghosn after Fleeing Japan

The Carlos Ghosn drama continues to build. Now, the International Criminal Police Organization,
otherwise known as Interpol, has issued a global wanted notice for the former Nissan CEO, who
skipped bail in ... The post Interpol Issues Wanted Notice for Ghosn after Fleeing Japan appeared
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US insists troops staying in Iraq, won't bomb Iran cultural sites

President Donald Trump sought Tuesday to end confusion over the future of American troops in
Iraq, saying they should stay, despite fury there over the US killing of a top Iranian general in
Baghdad. "At some point we want to get out, but this isn't the right point," Trump told reporters
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StyleAFP News

Judge raps Weinstein over phone use as jury selection begins

Harvey Weinstein was threatened with jail Tuesday for apparently using his mobile phone in court as
jury selection got underway on day two of the disgraced movie producer's sex crimes trial. New York
judge James Burke scolded the 67-year-old during the morning session for having his phone in his
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