Red Ties...

The U.S. government concluded within the last two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cell-phone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, D.C., according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

The miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as “StingRays,” mimic regular cell towers to fool cell phones into giving them their locations, identity information, capture the contents of calls and data use.

An Israeli Embassy spokesperson, Elad Strohmayer, denied that Israel placed the devices and said: “These allegations are absolute nonsense. Israel doesn’t conduct espionage operations in the United States, period.”

Peace...

 We are in a time of Peace, Well done.

Fired...

Expect...

A negotiated settlement to end America’s longest war and bring U.S. troops home will not be easy, and an alliance between the former foes will only be feasible if the Taliban agrees to talks with the Afghan National Government and eventually enters into a power-sharing agreement.

This coalition would incorporate Taliban insurgents into the Afghan National Army to fight against the Islamic State franchise in Afghanistan.

Although ISIS lost its territorial Caliphate in Iraq and Syria, the group has splintered and remains a threat around the region.

ISIS claimed responsibility for one of the deadliest suicide attacks in years, blowing up a wedding and killing 63 people while wounding nearly 200.

The Taliban demand a timetable for the withdrawal of all U.S. and Western troops from the country. The U.S. has offered a proposal to withdraw troops and the best way to accomplish this is to have peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Comment:
Expect the unexpected.
The Taliban will takeover the whole country and will not open the door for Al Qaida any more providing that we wouldn't repeat the Eighties..

Safe...

Ketosis is a normal process in the body, which happens when your body doesn't have enough carbs to burn for energy and instead burns fat and makes substances called ketones to use for fuel.

The Ketogenic diet has been used since the 1920s as a medical therapy diet for epilepsy patients that do not respond to anti-epilepsy drugs (AEDs) to aid seizure control.

Someone new to the keto diet can also experience upset stomach, dizziness, decreased energy, and mood swings caused by your body adapting to ketosis.

 It could  cause low   blood pressure, kidney stones, constipation, nutrient deficiencies and an increased risk of heart disease. Strict diets like keto could also cause social isolation or disordered eating. Keto is not safe for those with any conditions involving their pancreas, liver, thyroid or gallbladder.

Sugary...

Regular consumption of soft drinks both sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened was associated with a greater risk of all causes of death, according to research published this week in JAMA Internal Medicine.

It found that consumption of two or more glasses of artificially sweetened soft drinks a day was positively associated with deaths from circulatory diseases. 

For sugar-sweetened soft drinks, one or more glasses a day were associated with deaths from digestive diseases, including diseases of the liver, appendix, pancreas and intestines.

The research indicates that the association between soft drinks and mortality is not strongly influenced by smoking habits and BMI.

4 P ..

Millions of patients could soon get high doses of statins without a GP’s prescription at high-street chemists, the head of the NHS announced yesterday.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has proposed that patients no longer be required to visit a GP to get the cholesterol-lowering drugs. Under the plan, pharmacists could prescribe them after running a series of heart health checks. Up to six million people take statins, which cost 4p a day and can help to prevent heart disease.
However, it is estimated that millions of people most at risk of heart attacks and strokes do not taking it due to the cost associated with seeing a doctor, and pay for the medication.
Can we do the same in USA? Just a thought.

Gates ...

President Tayyip Erdogan said he was determined to create a “safe zone” in northeast Syria in partnership with the United States.

“We will be forced to open the gates,” Erdogan said. “We cannot be forced to handle the burden alone.”

Erdogan said Turkey aims to resettle about 1 million out of the 3.65 million Syrian refugees in the safe zone. He added that his nation “did not receive the support needed from the world” to help it cope with Syrian refugees.

The war in Syria is an ongoing armed conflict between President Bashar al-Assad's government and multiple opposing factions supported by foreign powers.

More than half of the Syrian population ( 6.6 millions) have fled the country as a result of the conflict, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported.

What a web we weave...

Values...

US national security adviser John Bolton says a new satellite image shows a previously seized Iranian oil tanker is currently placed two nautical miles from a naval base in Syria. 

Western values has many aspects, many faces. There is a decline in faith in liberal democracy, a loss of confidence in universal human rights, a collapse in support for all kinds of transnational projects. There is a constitutional crisis brewing in London. There are challenges to the free press and independent judges in democracies everywhere.

But this same crisis  this same loss of Western self-confidence, this same collapse of faith in ideals  also has a bloodier, more violent face. That face is the ongoing war in Syria or rather the slow, grinding, murderous endgame of the war in Syria. 

Why are we starving the Syrian people?  Just a thought.

Receiver...

Wide receiver Antonio Brown, the Oakland Raiders, has been accused of rape in a civil lawsuit filed in Florida.

Britney Taylor, who worked as a physical trainer for Brown, alleges that the NFL Pro Bowler sexually assaulted her twice in June 2017 while they were working together, and a third time after a night out in Miami in May 2018.

Brown's representatives said Taylor approached Brown in 2017 and asked him to invest $1.6 million in her business project, but he turned her down after learning she allegedly intended to pay off a tax lien on her home and cut off communication with her. She approached him again in 2018, though, and the two engaged in "a consensual personal relationship."

Heitner also says the 28-year-old woman stayed at Brown's house after one of the alleged assaults and continued contact with him throughout 2018 and posted photos of the two on social media.

Brown's lawyer said Taylor invited herself to a strip club with him and his friends and later invited herself to join him in his hotel room, where the two had consensual sex.

Is this the new thing now?