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Ghaziabad, Jul 9 () The Ghaziabad district administration on Thursday sent a proposal to the Uttar Pradesh minorities welfare department to convert Ala Hazrat Haj House here into a 500-bed COVID-19 care centre. <p> Besides, Municipal Commissioner Dinesh Chandra has also been instructed to make all essential arrangements inside the premises. </p><p> The recommendation has been initiated due to the rising graph of coronavirus cases which may increase in the near future, District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey told . </p><p> Officials led by the district magistrate took stock of the building to find out how to make use of the space in the best possible way. After getting permission from the state government, a 500-bed COVID centre would be kept in reserve, Pandey said. </p><p> The Haj house located on GT Road near Hindon Bridge which connects Ghaziabad city to Sahibabad area is spread over an area of 4.3 acres. </p> Inside the premises, it has six floors with 47 dormitory halls and 36 VIP rooms that can accommodate 1,886 peeople apart from a large ground, DM Pandey added. CORR HDA

Ghaziabad administration seeks govt nod to convert Haj House into COVID-19 care centre

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Craving for chips or burger even after the New Year resolution to stay fit? Here’s why

New Delhi, May 9 () Minority communities are contributing equally in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic along with others in the society, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday.<p>He also announced that the Minority Affairs Ministry will launch 'Jaan Bhi, Jahan Bhi' nationwide awareness campaign soon to make people aware of social distancing and other guidelines for safety from coronavirus.</p><p>More than 1,500 healthcare assistants, who have been trained under the skill development programme of the Minority Affairs Ministry, are assisting in treatment and wellbeing of COVID-19 patients.</p><p>Naqvi said these healthcare assistants include 50 per cent girls who are helping in treatment of coronavirus patients in various hospitals and healthcare centres across the country. </p><p>This year, more than 2,000 other healthcare assistants will be trained by the Minority Affairs Ministry, he said in a statement.</p><p>The ministry is providing one-year training to healthcare assistants through various health organisations and reputed hospitals of the country, Naqvi said.</p><p>Various waqf boards across the country have contributed Rs 51 crore to the prime minister and chief minister relief funds for the coronavirus pandemic with the support of various religious, social and educational organisations, the minister said.</p><p>These waqf boards are also distributing food and other essential commodities among the needy, Naqvi said.</p><p>He said 16 Haj Houses across the country have been given to state governments for quarantine and isolation facilities for COVID-19-affected people. Various state governments are utilising the facilities at these Haj Houses according to their needs, he added.</p><p>Naqvi said masks have been prepared on a large scale under the ministry's 'Seekho Aur Kamao' skill development programme and these are being distributed among the needy. </p><p>All people of the country are working unitedly and strongly to defeat the challenge being posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on the appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naqvi asserted that the people belonging to the minority communities are contributing equally in this fight along with other people of the society.</p><p>Naqvi also informed that Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has contributed Rs 1.40 crore in PM-CARES fund and AMU Medical College has also arranged 100 beds for treatment of coronavirus patients. </p><p>AMU has also arranged COVID-19 tests and more than 9,000 tests have been done till now, he said.</p><p>Quarantine and isolation facilities were arranged at Khwaja Model School and Kayad Vishramsthali at Ajmer Sharif Dargah for COVID-19-affected people, the minister said.</p><p>More than 4,500 'zayarin' belonging to all religions from across the country were provided food, accommodation and health facilities during lockdown, Naqvi said, adding that these facilities were arranged by Dargah Committee, Dargah Khadims and Sajjada-nashin. </p>The Dargah Committee and its other associated organisations provided facilities worth about Rs 1 crore, which also included arrangements to send people back to their states, he said.  ASK  KJKJ

Minority communities contributing equally in COVID-19 fight: Naqvi

Kolkata, Jun 13 () The West Bengal government has prepared a white paper on the future of cities in the post- COVID-19 world, as urban spaces are changing "drastically and rapidly", an official said. <p>Speaking at a webinar on real estate sector, organised by CII, West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation chairman and managing director Debashis Sen said his department has come out with the document on "Reconfiguring Cities in the New Normal". </p><p>"Changes are now rapid and a lot of things are changing drastically in terms of cities, work, home, business and social spaces," a statement quoted him as saying. </p><p>Sen cited examples of the Haj House, which has been converted to an international quarantine centre, the Central Forensics Building and part of the Netaji Subhas International Airport here, which have been transformed to isolation centres, while describing how the "adaptive use of buildings" taking place rapidly. </p><p>According to him, the shopping malls will become "warehouses of e-commerce" with home delivery of everything becoming the new normal in the post-COVID era. </p><p>Cinema halls, multiplexes are very likely to become "data centres" as per the study, he said on Friday. </p><p>As far as residences and houses are concerned, he said that home spaces would need to expand as families will work or learn from there. </p>"Cities will dissolve into small, coherent, hyper- local townships like the IIT campuses, industrial townships in Durgapur and Jamshedpur, which are, in a sense, self- sufficient and gated with their own schools, colleges, shops, workspaces, parks and hospitals," he added. BSM BDC BDC

Bengal prepares white paper on cities in post-COVID-19 world

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Social distancing means that President Trump can't hold his signature rallies right now - and might not be able to for months. But his campaign is still finding ways to get his message out to his base.</li><li>Trump's press briefings have featured elements that bear similarities to his rallies: attacks on the press, demonizing foreigners, and rhetoric about how America will triumph over its enemies.</li><li>In the meantime, Trump's campaign has amplified his coronavirus response on social media, casting him as a wartime president, amplifying his rhetoric, and blaming China for the coronavirus crisis.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul><p>As the coronavirus rendering Trump's signature campaign tactic impossible, Trump's appearances at the White House briefing room have started to sound a lot like his rallies, featuring great-again rhetoric ("America will triumph"), xenophobia ("the Chinese virus"), conspiracy theories ("the Deep State Department") and attacks on the media ("You're a terrible reporter").</p><p>His campaign, in turn, has amplified Trump's appearances at the briefings and other coronavirus-related meetings online to portray him as a wartime president, and touted his administration's efforts to win the battle on the coronavirus.</p><p>Trump might not be able to campaign in person, but he and his campaign have dominated airwaves and feeds with his coronavirus comments and outbursts, while the 2020 Democratic primary, now down to just two candidates, recedes into the background.</p><p><strong>Trump lashes out at his enemies during press briefings.</strong></p><p>The rally parallels were on full display at Friday's press conference, where Trump was joined by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Dr. Debora Birx of the coronavirus task force, Director of the National<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institute_of_Allergy_and_Infectious_Diseases"> Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases</a> Dr. Anthony Fauci, among others. What was ostensibly a public health briefing morphed quickly into a very Trumpian affair.</p><p>Thought there were no cheering supporters to egg on, Trump still relentlessly attacked journalists in the way he often berates "fake news" at his mass gatherings. His supporters have been known to chant "<a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1025157181581258753">CNN sucks</a>!" and boo the press corps during the event.</p><p>"What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now who are scared?" NBC News' Peter Alexander asked.</p><p>Trump's reply: "I say that you're a terrible reporter, that's what I say."</p><p>"There's a lot of fake news out there," he said later in the briefing when another reporter asked about his attack on Alexander.</p><p>When Pompeo needed to leave the briefing, Trump joked that he had to go back to the State Department, "or as they call it, the Deep State Department," a reference to the conspiracy theory that a shadow force existed within the federal government to undermine Trump.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dr-anthony-fauci-did-a-facepalm-during-trumps-coronavirus-briefing-2020-3"> The joke prompted a facepalm from Fauci.</a></p><p>Trump has also insisted on referring to the coronavirus as "the Chinese virus," despite its racist connotations, going so far as to edit his prepared briefing remarks to cross out the word "corona" and replace it with "Chinese."</p><p>Trump says he uses the term to prevent China from spreading disinformation about where the virus originated, but it's also the kind of red-meat line typically served to his supporters at rallies, who are used being fed diatribes against Mexico and lines like<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/us/politics/trump-undocumented-immigrants-animals.html"> "these aren't people, these are animals,"</a> in reference to undocumented immigrants.</p><p><strong>Trump's campaign and supporters uses his coronavirus-related appearances to bolster his image - and defend him from attacks</strong></p><p>Meanwhile online, his campaign and network of supporters blast out tweets that reinforce his statements at the podium and show clips and photos touting his response to the coronavirus. They've also doubled down on his attacks and spin, as the president himself would if he were out on the stump.</p><p>On Friday the Trump campaign's rapid response Twitter account doubled down on the president's outburst at NBC News' Pete Alexander, calling him a "a terrible, partisan reporter" and attempting to spin the exchange as one featuring a "hopeful &amp; optimistic Trump."</p><p>The Trump campaign's official Twitter account, @TeamTrump, tweeted clip after clip of Trump's Friday press conference.</p><p>"Once this enemy is defeated, our economy will bounce back quickly!" one status declared.</p><p>"Trump is excelling in the war on the virus!"<a href="https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1240994232430714881"> tweeted</a> Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale.</p><p>The Trump campaign's feeds and operatives have also<a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1240456708838903810"> reinforced his use of the phrase</a> " Chinese virus.</p><p>Hosts on Fox News such as Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, whose rhetoric often aligns with the president's, have<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/19/coronavirus-fox-news-china/"> started to blame China for the spread of the coronavirus</a>.</p><p>At rallies, President Trump usually lambastes his political rivals with demeaning nicknames. At the moment, the campaign's attacks are playing out online.</p><p>Simultaneously  the @TrumpWarRoom rapid response Twitter account and the campaign's communications director, Tim Murtaugh, have kept up a steady stream of attacks on former vice president Joe Biden, who is currently the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.</p><p>Many of these messages and videos also appear on Trump's Facebook page, as well as the Team Trump page for his campaign.</p><p>Some studies suggest that the social distancing tactics that prevent Trump's typical campaign rallies could last for months  - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/report-social-distancing-may-last-until-coronavirus-vaccine-is-ready-2020-3">even a year</a> - his campaign is already ramping up to make sure their candidate is being heard loud and clear.</p><p>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-undercuts-fauci-on-whether-chloroquine-can-treat-coronavirus-2020-3">Trump undercuts his top infectious-disease expert on whether an unapproved treatment for the coronavirus is safe, a day after the FDA said it had not yet been approved</a></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-cnns-john-king-trumps-attacks-on-press-bullshit-2020-3">CNN's John King calls Trump's attack on reporter 'bulls--t' following contentious White House coronavirus briefing</a></p>

Trump can't hold his massive rallies because of coronavirus, so he's moved his act to the briefing room

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div><p></p></div></div>The Pentagon moved swiftly to shoot down a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/08/world/middleeast/american-forces-said-to-bomb-isis-targets-in-iraq.html?smid=tw-bna" target="_blank">New York Times report</a> Thursday afternoon that American military forces had bombed at least two places in northern Iraq targeting fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).  </p>
<p>"Press reports that US has conducted airstrikes in Iraq completely false. No such action taken," Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, <a href="https://twitter.com/PentagonPresSec/status/497488631599464448" target="_blank">wrote</a> on Twitter.</p>
<p><span>President Barack Obama is preparing to make a statement Thursday evening, the Times reported. The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.</span></p>
<p>The Times reported, citing Kurdish officials, that U.S. military forces struck at least two targets with the intention of routing ISIS fighters who have created what officials have called an urgent humanitarian situation in northern Iraq. ISIS has trapped <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-iraq-airstrikes-isis-religious-minorities-2014-8" target="_blank">tens of thousands of religious minorities on <span>Mount Sinjar</span></a> <span>who belong to the Yazidi religious sect.</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/iraqi-militants-seize-christian-villages-1407404503" target="_blank">The Wall Street Journal also reported</a> that U.S. airstrikes appeared underway. Anwar Haj Othman, deputy head of the Peshmerga ministry, a <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> ministry for the Kurdish forces, told the Journal that U.S. jet fighters struck targets in both the Mount Sinjar plains and in a Kurdish area known as Gwair. </span></p>
<p><span><span>The situation has given the Yazidis a near-impossible dilemma - leave and risk being killed by the militants, or stay and hope aid comes their way. <span>UNICEF said that as of Tuesday, about 40 children had already died on the mountain from dehydration and heat exhaustion. </span></span><span><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span>A senior Defense Department official <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-iraq-airstrikes-isis-religious-minorities-2014-8" target="_blank">told Business Insider earlier Thursday that</a> the U.S. was <span>considering emergency-relief airdrops of food and medicine to aid the religious minorities. Other reports indicated Obama was considering airstrikes targeting ISIS fighters at the base of the mountain.</span><span><br /></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>"We have been working urgently and directly with officials in Baghdad and Erbil to coordinate Iraqi airdrops to people in need," the Defense Department official told Business Insider. "The Government of Iraq has initiated air drops in the region, and we are in constant communication with them on how we can help coordinate additional relief, enhance their efforts, and provide direct assistance wherever possible."</span><span><br /></span></span></span></p>
<p><span>White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Thursday that the White House "strongly condemns" the situation on Mount Sinjar, which he said was "nearing a humanitarian catastrophe." But he repeatedly declined to comment on any specific options Obama was considering.</span></p>
<p><span>"I'm not in a position to shed light about the president's thinking at this point," Earnest said.</span></p>
<p><span>Earnest reiterated, as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-iraq-statement-plan-isis-2014-6" target="_blank">Obama has many times throughout the unfolding crisis in Iraq</a>, that any U.S. military action would be limited in scope and would not include any American "boots on the ground." He also blamed the unfolding situation on a political failure by the Iraqi government to bring different sects together in government.</span></p>
<p><span><em>MORE TO COME...</em><br /></span></p>

Pentagon Denies Report US Is Bombing ISIS Targets In Iraq

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Ahmad Masood</span></p><p class="caption">Members of Saudi security forces take part in a military parade in preparation for the annual Haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca September 17, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Good morning! Here's what you need to know. </p><p><strong>The Fed is still on hold.</strong> On Thursday, <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/federal-reserve-announcement-september-17-2015-9">the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rates pegged at 0%-0.25%, where they've been since December 2008</a>. Thursday's meeting was highly anticipated as many thought it could be the first time the Fed changed its crisis-era positioning since the end of the financial crisis.</p><p><strong>A new poll suggests Greece's centre-right party has pulled ahead of Syriza. </strong>Greece's conservative <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-greek-conservative-party-pulls-ahead-of-leftist-syriza-poll-2015-9">New Democracy party has a 1.4 percentage point lead over the leftist Syriza party, a Metrisi poll for Eleftheros Typos newspaper showed on Friday</a> ahead of a national election on September 20.</p><p><strong>Major institutions will vote to strip Bank of America's CEO and chairman of one of his roles. </strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-nyc-to-vote-to-strip-bank-of-america-ceo-of-chairmanship-2015-9">New York City's $165 billion (£105.92 billion) pension funds will vote to strip Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan of his chairman title</a>, a spokesman for the funds told Reuters on Thursday.</p><p><strong>A Chinese firm signed a deal for a US high-speed rail link. </strong>A unit of China's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-china-firms-sign-deal-for-high-speed-las-vegas-los-angeles-rail-link-ahead-of-xis-us-visit-2015-9">CRRC Corp, the world's biggest train maker by revenue, on Thursday joined a group of its domestic peers in agreeing a deal to help build a high-speed link from Las Vegas to Los Angeles</a>, underlining the rail giant's lofty overseas ambitions.</p><p><strong>The White House is getting ready to weaken the Cuban trade embargo. </strong><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/white-house-to-weaken-cuba-embargo-2015-9">The White House is drafting sweeping regulations to further weaken the US trade embargo on Cuba that would ease restrictions on US companies and make it safer for Americans to travel there</a>, US government sources said on Thursday. The regulations could be announced as soon as Friday.</p><p><strong>Asian markets are mixed. </strong>China's stocks are up, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.51% higher and the Shanghai Composite 0.86% higher, but Japan's Nikkei is down 1.55%.</p><p><strong>Brazil's opposition parties want to impeach Dilma Rousseff. </strong><a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/r-brazil-opposition-seeks-rousseff-impeachment-for-fiscal-crimes-2015-9">Brazil's opposition parties on Thursday filed a request in Congress to impeach President Dilma Rousseff for breaking fiscal rules</a><span> by allegedly manipulating government finances to benefit her re-election last year.</span></p><p><strong>JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon says there's no point in slashing CEO pay.</strong> "It is true that income inequality has kind of gotten worse," Dimon said at a Detroit event, according to Bloomberg. But "<a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/jamie-dimon-on-ceo-pay-and-inequality-2015-9">you can take the compensation of every CEO in America and make it zero and it wouldn't put a dent into it. What really matters is growth</a>."</p><p><strong>The eurozone's current account data is coming. </strong>July's data, which effectively records whether a nation is a net lender to or a net borrower from the rest of the world, is out at 9 a.m. <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> time (4 a.m. ET). Analysts expect the eurozone to have a surplus of €21.3 billion ($24.30 billion, £15.60 billion). </p><p><strong>Saab says a major defence contract bid could lead to more cooperation with Boeing. </strong>Sweden's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-saab-ceo-says-trainer-bid-could-spur-co-operation-with-boeing-2015-9">Saab is confident of selling training jets to the U.S. Air Force, but believes its bidding partnership with Boeing could lead to further co-operation whoever wins the $11 billion (£7.06 billion) contest, its chief executive said</a>. Boeing and Saab are among contenders for a deal to replace the aging T-38 trainer in a competition known as T-X.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/50-cent-lifestyle-illusion-testifies-court-bankruptcy-curtis-jackson-2015-7">50 Cent testifies his lifestyle is an illusion</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BoeGRmdjoMc4sxqQrQiRAH_i98W5p0IW" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

10 things you need to know before European markets open

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Mahmud Hams/AFP/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A Palestinian militant from the armed wing of Hamas carries a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPAD) during a march in Gaza City on Sept. 14, 2013.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Worried about a lack of support from the US, rebel groups in Syria are reportedly requesting man-portable air-defense systems (or Manpads) to shoot down Russian planes that are bombing them, according ot multiple reports.</p><p>Russia started bombing targets in Syria last week, avoiding the strongholds of ISIS - the terror group they claim to be bombing - and instead <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-concludes-russia-targeting-cia-backed-rebels-in-syria-1444088319">going after CIA-backed rebels and others</a> who are fighting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.</p><p>Now those CIA-backed rebels want protection against Russian strikes.</p><p><span>"We need one of two things. Either a clear policy from the United States to prevent Russia and the regime from bombing Syrians, or otherwise they should send us anti­aircraft missiles so that we can confront the Russian planes," <span>Hassan Haj Ali, the commander of US-backed rebel brigade Suqour al-Jabal, told the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-warplanes-strike-deep-inside-islamic-states-heartland/2015/10/02/ace6dfcc-6866-11e5-bdb6-6861f4521205_story.html">Washington Post</a> last week.</span></span></p><p><span><span><span>"If they don't help us, people will lose trust in our supporters, and this will increase extremism," he added.</span></span></span></p><p><span><span>Capt. Mustafa Moarati, a spokesman for the CIA-backed Tajamu al-Izza rebel brigade, echoed Ali's lamentations: </span>"At least they could give us anti­aircraft missiles." </span></p><p>The US has agreed to protect the rebels that have been trained in a program run by the Pentagon, but not those the CIA covertly supports, according to the Journal.</p><p>"The White House has succeeded at keeping Manpads out of Syria since the start of the war because of concerns they could fall into the wrong hands and be used against commercial aircraft in the region and beyond," Adam Entous wrote in the Journal.</p><p>There are many anti-Assad factions operating in Syria, and some other weapons that have been imported into the country <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/22/isis-us-airdrop-weapons-pentagon">have been obtained by jihadist groups like ISIS</a>, which seizes territory (<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-claims-weapons-cache-iraq/">along with weapons caches)</a> in Iraq and Syria.</p><p>Even if the US doesn't agree to supply the rebels with Manpads, they might find other ways to gain access to them, which could create a "nightmare scenario," one US official told the newspaper.</p><p>"These groups are talking about the possibility of introducing Manpads in an uncontrolled way into areas where al-Qaeda operates to respond to the Russians since we won't respond," a senior US official told the Journal.</p><p>"That's the nightmare right now."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p><span>The CIA-backed nationalist rebels argue that it is in the US interest to provide deterrents against the Russian onslaught.</span></p><p><span>Moarati, the <span>Tajamu al-Izza spokesman,</span> told the Post that the Russians were bombing the US-backed brigades in order to obliterate the moderates and fill the void with extremists.</span></p><p><span><span>"They are doing this for two reasons. Firstly, because we are friends with the United States and they want to challenge the United States," Moarati said. "And secondly, to vanquish the Free Syrian Army on the ground to show the world that only extremists are fighting Assad and that therefore he should survive."</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dalai-lama-says-female-dalai-lama-must-be-attractive-2015-9">The Dalai Lama says a female Dalai Lama must be attractive, "otherwise not much use"</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hrYWRvdzoPOvEILR_2_85EdeioB394bh" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

Senior US official describes the 'nightmare' scenario in Syria right now

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>Russia's government said Wednesday that the toxic gas that killed 83 people and wounded at least 150 in northern Syria the day before was released accidentally when a&#xa0;<span>Syrian air strike hit a "terrorist warehouse" containing "toxic substances."</span><p>"According to the objective data of the Russian airspace control, Syrian aviation struck a large terrorist warehouse near Khan Sheikhun that housed a&#xa0;<span>warehouse making bombs, with toxic substances,</span>" the Russian <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword> ministry said in a statement.</p><p>"The arsenal of chemical weapons" was destined for fighters in Iraq, the ministry added.</p><p>Experts have cast&#xa0;doubt on&#xa0;Russia's explanation for Syria's worst chemical weapons attack since 2013, when Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin - is believed to have used sarin gas to kill as many as 1,400 people in the outskirts of Syria's capital, Damascus. Assad still denies responsibility for that&#xa0;attack.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p><span>Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons expert, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39500319" target="_blank">told the BBC</a> on Wednesday that Russia's claim is "fanciful" and that it would be "unsustainable" for&#xa0;<span>a nerve agent like Sarin gas to spread as far as it did as the result of a bombing.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Instead, the US has determined that Syrian warplanes dropped the chemical weapons, which caused injuries and deaths that the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idlib-who-idUSKBN17715Z?il=0" target="_blank">World Health Organization said</a> were "<span>consistent with exposure to organophosphorus chemicals, a category of chemicals that includes nerve agents."</span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span>British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, meanwhile,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-says-syria-government-likely-behind-chemical-attack-2017-4" target="_blank">said that</a>&#xa0;"all the evidence I have seen suggests this was the Assad regime ... using illegal weapons on their own people."</span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>The commander of the Free Idlib Army rebel brigade, Hasan Haj Ali, told Reuters that "everyone saw the plane while it was bombing with gas."</span></span></span></span></span></p><p>Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins, an expert who has extensively covered the Syrian civil war, poured more cold water on the Russian claim early Wednesday morning.</p><p>Higgins <a href="https://twitter.com/EliotHiggins/status/849569832546836480">added</a> that other images from the chemical&#xa0;<span>attack <a href="https://www.facebook.com/edlibEmc12/posts/1889429761270584" target="_blank">were posted online</a> at 2:28 a.m. EST, which is two hours before the airstrike allegedly hit the chemical warehouse, which Russia said occurred at 4:30 a.m. EST.</span></p><p><span>The Conflict Intelligence Team,&#xa0;<span>a non-profit organization founded by Russian blogger and activist Ruslan Leviev to monitor the events in eastern Ukraine, added that while "<span>Russian media did </span><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/366799-aleppo-chemical-weapons-attack/" target="_blank" onclick="LinkshimAsyncLink.referrer_log(this, &quot;https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/366799-aleppo-chemical-weapons-attack\/&quot;, &quot;\/si\/ajax\/l\/render_linkshim_log\/?u=https\u00253A\u00252F\u00252Fwww.rt.com\u00252Fnews\u00252F366799-aleppo-chemical-weapons-attack\u00252F&amp;h=ATNx3k7AkEvIB8H926c1c7vIu59GIOCUsCAnFvbejE1Ogh3jMS5lUCIkoYdC_Kh0MX7JAChZQ4kXl7IelAAFTQWrUMfg59vGYl6277RP3Grt1ylNThchKbXk0qEBxoOqhHLx4l0-rQ&amp;enc&amp;d&quot;);" rel="nofollow noopener">report</a><span> repeated use of chemical weapons by rebels in Aleppo" in late 2016, "each time the weapon allegedly used was chlorine" - not sarin. The Assad regime, moreover, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/25/un-proves-assad-regime-dropped-chemical-bombs-on-civilians/" target="_blank">has been accused</a>&#xa0;of dropping chlorine bombs on civilians in Idlib province at least twice between 2014 and 2015.</span></span></span></p><h2><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span></h2><h2><span>'It is an infantile argument'</span></h2><p><span><span>Dan Kaszeta, a veteran of the&#xa0;US Army Reserve's Chemical Corps - the branch of the US Army responsible for protection against chemical, biological, and nuclear threats -&#xa0;further debunked Russia's claim.</span></span></p><p><span><span><span>"To date, all of the nerve agents used in the Syrian conflict have been binary chemical warfare agents," <a href="https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2017/04/05/chemical-realities-russias-khan-sheikhoun-chemical-warehouse-attack-claims/" target="_blank">Kaszeta wrote on&#xa0;Bellingcat</a>, adding that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) inspections after&#xa0;</span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span>Syria's accession to the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2013 "revealed a variety of fixed and mobile mixing apparatus for making binary nerve agents."</span></span></span></span></span></p><p><span><span><span><span><span>The Assad regime began mixing the chemicals to create sarin in 2012, <a href="http://security.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/03/source-syria-preparing-chemical-weapons/?hpt=hp_t3" target="_blank">CNN reported</a> at the time.</span></span></span></span></span></p><p>"Even assuming that large quantities of both sarin&#xa0;precursors were located in the same part of the same warehouse (a practice that seems odd), an airstrike is not going to cause the production of large quantities of sarin," Kaszeta added. "Dropping a bomb on the binary components does not actually provide the correct mechanism for making the nerve agent. It is an infantile argument."</p><p><span>Brian Palmer, a reporter for Slate covering science and medicine, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/12/syria_s_chemical_weapons_why_doesn_t_assad_premix_his_sarin.html" target="_blank">wrote in 2012</a> that "the technical challenge for users of sarin is the dispersal." The nerve agent, he wrote, is&#xa0;exponentially more deadly when it is "<span>aerosolized," or converted into a fine spray.&#xa0;</span></span></p><p>Because one of the "precursors" for sarin is&#xa0;<span>isopropyl alcohol, if&#xa0;a warehouse with sarin in it had been&#xa0;bombed, then it would have gone up "in a ball of flame," Kaszeta wrote. "</span>A very large one. Which has not been in evidence."</p><p>Additionally,&#xa0;he said, the sheer volume of materials, many of them "exotic," necessary to produce sarin makes it extremely&#xa0;unlikely that the rebels could have stockpiled it in&#xa0;a large enough quantity to kill dozens of people.</p><p><span>"Having a quantity of any of the nerve agents relies on a sophisticated supply chain of exotic precursors and an industrial base," Kazeta wrote. "Are we to seriously believe that one of the rebel factions has expended the vast sums of money and developed this industrial base, somehow not noticed to date and not molested by attack?"</span></p><div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-trump-walk-executive-order-signing-ceremony-without-signing-orders-2017-3">Watch Trump walk out of an executive-order signing ceremony without signing any orders</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BlanlsYTE6qS4cVOgTU728alnk6du42l" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

'An infantile argument': Experts pour cold water on Russia's 'fanciful' explanation for Syrian gas attack

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Human rights group Amnesty <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> (AI) released a scathing report Monday describing alleged crimes against humanity in Aleppo, which was once the largest city in war-torn Syria.</span><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">AI has concluded that civilians in Aleppo are experiencing "unthinkable atrocities" at the hands of the regime of president Bashar al-Assad, and that indiscriminate aerial attacks on the city have accounted for some 3100 civilian deaths since the beginning of 2014.</span></p><h3><a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/1370/2015/en/" target="_blank">Read the full report here</a></h3><div class="page" title="Page 7"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>"Civilians in opposition-controlled areas of Aleppo have been bombarded in their homes, hospitals, schools, public markets and places of worship in air attacks launched by government forces," AI writes in the report.</span></p><p><span>The majority of these attacks involve the use of barrel bombs, which are large oil drums, fuel tanks, or gas cylinders packed with fuel, explosives and metal fragments for increased lethal effect. The regime is alleged to be deliberately targeting civilians in the still-contested city, which is split between regime and opposition control.</span></p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div>In a February interview with the BBC, Syrian President Bashar-Al Assad denied the use of barrel bombs by his forces, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/05/middleeast/syria-abuses-amnesty-international/" target="_blank">according to CNN.&#xa0;</a><p>The Syrian government is currently fighting the Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, ISIS, secular rebel roups, and Kurdish forces in a multi-sided civil war that's killed <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/07/us-mideast-crisis-toll-idUSKBN0LB0DY20150207">upwards of 200,000 people</a> since it began four years ago.</p><p><span>AI's report features testimony from 78 current and former residents of Aleppo as well as 29 people working in the city.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"It was around sunset, and we were sitting near the traffic light in the biggest local market when they attacked," Ahmed, a 25-year old resident of the Al-Fardous neighborhood of Aleppo, told AI, describing two barrel bomb attacks on April 20, 2014.</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 24"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>"I</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">mmediately after the first attack, there was another strike. The regime wanted to cause the biggest number of deaths, so they used two barrels," Ahmed said. "After the strike I saw so much dust, women crying and screaming for their children. I saw pieces of bodies and cars burning with people inside. Houses were burning too. There was blood everywhere on the ground."&#xa0;</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">According to witness accounts, between 35 and 37 people were killed during that attack, all civilians.&#xa0;</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Here's what a barrel bombing looks like:</span></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Another attack on June 16, 2014 claimed the lives of 77 civilians, including 7 children, at a public market in the Sukkari neighborhood of Aleppo.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Barraj al-Halabi, a member of the Aleppo Media Center, described the scene to AI when he arrived 10 minutes after the attack.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"Bodies were strewn out on the ground," said al-Halabi. "Six cars were burning, and the people inside them were dead. A little girl came up to me and said, 'My family is inside that building, I need my family.' I told her to be patient and that we would bring them to her. Because of the dust, I couldn't see, and I thought she had a house. But when the dust came down, there was no house at all. She had no house and no family."</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">AI determined that no fighters were killed during the attack and no military presence was in the area.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">An attack on the Al-Mowasalat neighborhood of Aleppo on November 6, 2014 involved the dropping of two barrel bombs five minutes apart:&#xa0;</span></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The site became very crowded with people who came to help. Then five minutes after the first attack, they attacked us again," said a resident of the neighborhood named Firas.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "The people started calling, 'A barrel, a barrel,' and we ran to hide inside a building near Nur Shuhada mosque ... Inside the barrel, there is a sharp plate that can cut steel, so how about the humans? They are sliced through. I saw more than 50 injured people. I saw a child whose face was completely turned to blood. Another child was holding in one hand his other hand, which had been cut off completely. He was screaming, 'Bring it back to me.'"</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 29"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Thirteen civilians were killed during the attack, according to AI.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div></span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Another attack on November 18, 2014 in a northern suburb of Aleppo claimed the lives of 17 civilians and also reportedly failed to kill any opposition fighters.</span></p><p><span>Omar Haj Omar, a member of a civil defence team in the area, described the carnage:&#xa0;</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">"The Civil Defence had seen a helicopter in the air earlier in that area, so we knew they might attack," said Omar.</span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> "I arrived 10 minutes later ... The bomb had hit exactly in front of the Carrefour mall. I saw an ambulance burning, full of dead people, and a minibus that had been full of people ... The driver of a motorcycle had been chopped into two pieces. The body parts were everywhere. I can't say how many people were killed because they were in pieces."</span></p><div class="page" title="Page 30"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div>The report states that AI contacted</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#xa0;Syrian authorities to share its findings and request a response but has yet to hear back as of April 23, 2015. </span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">AI believes that the Syrian government's actions in Aleppo amount to war crimes</span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">&#xa0;and are a direct violation of international law.</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/american-base-iraq-syria-airstrikes-operation-inherent-resolve-al-udeid-2015-3">This air base in Qatar carries out American airstrikes in Iraq and Syria</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="todTR5czrDDz8SrfMzwi_pzJBrGbRTwQ" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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