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social media!

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Image: what happened





 

Journalist: To end war ------

prosecute UK, US officials

who wage(d) it illegally


October 22nd, 10:12pm (PressTV)


 


The world must finally put an end to the impunity of war


 criminals, by holding US and UK officials responsible 


for launching the illegal war on Iraq, done without


 the approval of the UN Security Council, and 


prosecuting them --- under the Nuremberg 


principles, US journalist Don DeBar said.


 


DeBar made the remarks in an interview with Press TV while


commenting on a report which has revealed that the British


military inquiries into abuse against Iraqi nationals... have


been closed without a single prosecution being brought,


even though the credibility of many "shocking and 


shameful incidents" during the war in the Middle 


Eastern country, have been confirmed.


 


British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement 


this week that the Service Police Legacy Investigations, 


which was looking at claims of abuse in Iraq, had now 


"officially closed its doors."


 


In March 2003, the US and Britain invaded Iraq in blatant


 violation of international law and under the pretext of 


finding WMDs; but no such weapons were ever 


discovered in Iraq.


 


More than one million Iraqis were killed - as the result of


 the US-led invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq


--- according to the California-based investigative 


organization, Project Censored.


 


The US war in Iraq cost US taxpayers $1.7 trillion with


 an additional $490 billion in benefits owed to war
veterans, 
expenses that could grow to more than
$6 trillion over the
 next four decades counting
interest, according to a study
 called Costs of
War Project  ---  by the Watson Institute for 


International Studies at Brown University.


 


DeBar told Press TV that the Iraq war 


was illegal from the very beginning.


 


"It is illegal for a nation to make war on another nation if it 


does not have the approval of the UN Security Council, if 


any of those nations are signatories to the original UN 


Charter. And it’s been adopted - that happened with 


the US, as a charter member of the UN -- and it was 


approved by the US Senate in the 1940s.

Consequently, 
the US involvement in Iraq from
the beginning, and 
the UK involvement in Iraq
from the beginning, 
was illegal,” he said.


 


“And under the Nuremberg standards, which would then


 apply, each and every death consequent – intentional 


or not - to either US or UK military action there, or 


condoning of the US action there, by the media 


or public officials, or any act facilitating that, 


is an individual war crime. And, by the way,


 there’s a death penalty for that,” the 


journalist noted.


 


“No one will prosecute these people. That’s why I started


 with the word impunity. And we might bookend with that


 because that’s the problem. And until the world puts an


 end to that impunity, until the world sees the major 


contradiction in all international relations, is US, 


UK, and EU imperialism, then it’s going to 


continue until this eats our species,” 


he stated.


 


A damning White House memo had revealed details of the


 so-called “deal in blood” forged by former British Prime


 Minister Tony Blair and US President George W. Bush


 over the Iraq war.


 


The document, titled “Secret... Memorandum for the


 President”, was sent by then-US Secretary of State 


Colin Powell to President Bush on March 28th,
2002, 
a week before Bush’s summit with Blair
at his 
Crawford ranch in Texas.


 


The sensational memo, revealed that Blair had agreed to


 support the war a year before the invasion even started


 while publicly, the British prime minister was working
to
 find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.


 


The document also disclosed that Blair agreed to act as a


 spin doctor for Bush and convince a skeptical public that 


Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass


 Destruction, which actually did not exist.


 


In response, Bush would flatter Blair and give the 


impression that London was not Washington’s 


poodle but an equal partner in the


 “special relationship.”


 


Powell told Bush that Blair “will be with us” on the 


Iraq war, and assured the president that “"the UK 


will follow our lead in the Middle East."


 


Blair has always denied the claim that he and Bush 


signed a deal “in blood”, at Crawford, to launch a 


war against Iraq that began on March 20th, 2003, 


that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.


 


The Powell memo, however, showed how Blair and 


Bush secretly prepared the Iraq war plot behind 


closed doors at Crawford.


 


Powell told Bush: “He will present to you the strategic, 


tactical and public affairs lines, that he believes will 


strengthen global support for our common cause.”


 


Image: People hold up a banner as they protest against Israel at the entrance of the International Criminal Court.

 People hold up a banner as they protest 


against Israel at the entrance of the 


International Criminal Court.

000 000 000 000 000 000




 


Most US Citizens Disapprove
---- of Israeli War on Gaza; 

Netanyahu Gets Lowest
Rating Since 1997: Poll

July 29th, 2:42pm

(al Manar)

 

About six in 10 US adults disapprove of the Israeli war on Gaza, 

up from 45% a month after the Hamas’ Operation Al-Aqsa Flood

 on October 7, 2023, a new poll by a US multinational analytics 

has recently found.

 

The poll by Gallup also sees Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu receiving the most negative rating in terms of 

his favorability in the US since he was first included in 

Gallup polling in 1997.

 

The rising disapproval is driven by Democrats and independents, 

while Republicans -- remain largely supportive of both Israeli 

military actions and Netanyahu, according to Gallup's poll.

 

In a new low, only 8% of Democrats and one-quarter

 of independents --- say they now approve of the

Israeli military campaign.

 

Young adults are also much more likely to disapprove of Israel’s 

actions. Only about 1 in 10 adults under age 35 say they 

approve of Israeli military choices in Gaza, compared 

with about half of those who are 55 or older.

 

About half of US adults, 52%, now have an unfavorable view of

 Netanyahu. Just 29% view him positively, and about 2 in 10 

either haven’t heard of him or don’t have an opinion.

 

That’s a change — although not a huge one — since December 

2023, when 47% of US adults had an unfavorable view of 

Netanyahu and 33% had a favorable opinion. But it’s a 

reversal from as recently as April 2019, when more 

US adults viewed him positively than negatively.

 

Republicans have a much more positive view of Netanyahu 

than Democrats and independents do. About two-thirds of 

Republicans view him favorably, which is in line with last 

year. About 1 in 10 Democrats and 2 in 10 independents 

feel the same way.

 

Republicans are also about twice as supportive of US President 

Donald Trump’s handling of the war, than Democrats were last 

summer, of its handling by then-US president Joe Biden, 

a Democrat.

 

About 8 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the 

situation in the Middle East. By contrast, only about 4 in 10 

Democrats approved of Biden’s handling of the conflict, 

shortly before he dropped out of the US presidential 

race on July 21.

 

The new poll was conducted on July 7-21, while reports of 

starvation in Gaza led to international criticism of the

Israeli blockade on the besieged strip. The start of 

the polling coincided with Netanyahu’s July 6-11

 trip to Washington.

 

The poll results are based on telephone interviews with 

1,002 US adults from all 50 states and the District of 

Columbia. The margin of error is +/- 4%.

 

 

Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar)

 

 

_________________________________________

 

 

 

Imam Khamenei: 12-day Israeli War -- 

Showcases Iran’s Resolve and Might

July 29th, 2:20pm

(al Manar)

 

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei 

has attended a ceremony to honour the martyrs of last 

month's Israeli war of aggression against Iran.

 

Ayatollah Khamenei delivered a speech addressing attendees at 

the ceremony - held in the capital, Tehran, on Tuesday morning.

 

Crowds of people - along with families of the martyrs, as well 

as senior state and military officials, attended the ceremony.

 

‘Israel’ waged its war of aggression against Iran on June 13, 

assassinating top military commanders and scientists in 

targeted strikes, and killing civilians in attacks on 

residential areas. More than 1,000 people lost 

their lives, as a result.

 

The United States also entered the war on June 22, bombing three 

key Iranian nuclear sites, before the conflict came to an end, by a 

ceasefire demanded by ‘Israel’. The truce took effect on June 24.

 

The Iranian Armed Forces responded powerfully to Israeli and U.S. 

attacks, striking targets in the Israeli-occupied territories and a 

major US airbase in Qatar.

 

 

Source: IRNA

 

 

____________________________________

 

 

 

Noticeable Spike in Suicide Rates 

Among Israeli Soldiers

July 29th, 10:52am

(al Manar)

 

Another Israeli soldier was found dead in his house, in an 

apparent suicide, Israeli media reported on Monday, as 

the latest figure takes the number of Israeli soldiers 

who took their own lives since the start of the 

genocide in Gaza, to 54.

 

The daily Yedioth Ahronoth, citing a military statement, said 

that Ariel Meir Taman, a reservist soldier, was found dead 

at his home on Sunday night, in southern ‘Israel’.

 

Israel’s official public broadcaster revealed on Monday evening 

that 16 Israeli soldiers have died by suicide since the start of 

2025, raising the total number of military suicides to 54 

since the war on Gaza began on October 7, 2023.

#Gaza #IDF pic.twitter.com/ik2w3UjcSB

 

— Palestine International Broadcast (@PBI_PS) July 29, 2025

 

A military investigation has been opened to identify the 

cause of death, as the soldier is suspected to have 

taken his own life, the Israeli daily said.

 

Recent days have seen a marked increase in suicides 

among Israeli soldiers, as four others reportedly 

killed themselves in July alone.

 

Meanwhile, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported that 

16 Israeli soldiers committed suicide -- since the start 

of 2025, bringing the total number of suicides in the 

military to 54 since the genocide in Gaza began 

in October 2023.

 

The report said the latest figures include eight active-duty 

soldiers, seven reservists and one career soldier. In 2024,

 21 soldiers died by suicide, and in 2023, the number 

was 17.

 

The broadcaster noted a noticeable spike in suicide rates 

among reservists, who have been heavily deployed in 

Gaza... for the Israeli ground invasion.

 

In addition ----- nearly 3,770 soldiers have been diagnosed 

with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), KAN reported.

 

Of the 19,000 soldiers wounded, since the carnage began, 

roughly 10,000 are experiencing psychological symptoms 

and are receiving care through the Defence Ministry’s 

rehabilitation department, the broadcaster added.

 

 

Source: Israeli media (edited by

 Al-Manar English Website)

 

 

________________________________________

 

 

 

Netanyahu Plans to Annex Parts 

of Gaza ...to Appease Smotrich

July 29th, 9:52am

(al Manar)

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has presented a 

proposal to annex parts of the Gaza Strip to the security 

cabinet - in an effort to prevent the resignation of far-

right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Hebrew 

media reported.

 

Israeli Haaretz daily cited on Monday a senior Israeli official 

who was not named, said that according to the plan, ‘Israel’ 

will declare that it is giving the Palestinian group Hamas a 

few days to agree to a ceasefire, and, if it does not, it will 

begin annexing areas  ---------  “until Hamas surrenders.”

 

“The plan has received approval from the Trump administration,” 

the report added, framing it --- as a political maneuver by 

Netanyahu, to maintain the stability of his governing 

coalition ..by appeasing Smotrich.

 

The timing of the plan coincides with heightened political 

tensions inside Israel. Smotrich recently threatened to 

resign after Netanyahu claimed ‘Israel’ was allowing 

humanitarian aid into Gaza — despite a deliberate 

starvation policy that has triggered a 

catastrophic famine in the 

besieged enclave.

 

Smotrich, however, walked back his threat earlier on Monday. 

Netanyahu invited both Smotrich and National Security 

Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to attend Monday evening’s 

cabinet meeting after they had previously been 

excluded from the decision to allow limited 

aid into Gaza.

 

The developments followed an Israeli military announcement 

authorizing limited airdrops of aid into the Gaza Strip and the 

implementation of what the army called a “localized tactical 

suspension of military activity” to allow aid convoys to pass.

 

Several international organizations have dismissed 

the steps as insufficient, calling them a distraction

 from the broader crisis.

 

Humanitarian agencies and rights groups accuse

‘Israel’ of using hunger as a weapon ---- against 

civilians in Gaza.

 

 

Source: Israeli media

 

 

_____________________________________

 

 

 

Gaza: Dozens Martyred -- in 

Israeli Shelling of Nuseirat 

and Khan Yunis

July 29th, 9:52am

(al Manar)

 

Dozens of people, most of them children and women, were 

martyred in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as a result of a 

series of air and artillery strikes carried out by the 

Israeli occupation forces on various residential 

areas in the Strip. Dozens of civilians were 

also injured.

 

Al-Awda Hospital in Nuseirat reported receiving 30 bodies, 

most of them dismembered, as a result of shelling that 

targeted several homes in the New Camp area north 

of Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip.

 

The occupation forces also committed a massacre in the 

New Camp area north of Nuseirat, killing 8 Palestinians, 

most of them children and women, and wounding 11 

others after targeting a home belonging to the 

Abu Ataya family.

 

In the Bureij refugee camp.. in the central Gaza 

Strip, Israeli drones fired at Palestinian homes.

 

The Israeli shelling extended to western Gaza City, where

 two Palestinians were martyred and others wounded 

after an apartment belonging to the Batash family 

was targeted near the Haidar roundabout.

 

In the eastern part of the city, Israeli artillery shelled 

various areas, with the shelling concentrated in the 

Tuffah neighbourhood, while Israeli forces blew up 

several homes in the Shuja’iyya neighbourhood.

 

In the southern Gaza Strip, four members of the Agha family 

were killed and 14 others were wounded when the Israeli 

occupation targeted a tent for displaced persons in the 

Mina area of Khan Yunis.

 

In a grave indication of the worsening humanitarian situation, 

10-year-old Nour Abu Sala’a died as a result of malnutrition 

and lack of healthcare, amid the tight Israeli blockade on 

the Gaza Strip, which has prevented the entry of food, 

medicine, and potable water...... for months.

 

In the humanitarian context, the spokesperson for the United 

Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 

in Gaza confirmed that “the situation is deteriorating 

rapidly,” stressing “the need to open all crossings, 

allow the immediate flow of humanitarian aid, 

and lift all the restrictions imposed on the 

work of UN and relief teams.”

 

 

Source: Agencies (translated and 

edited by Al-Manar English Website)

 


___________________________________________________________





Times: Starmer --- to present plan

to recognize Palestine this week

July 28th, 9:53pm

(RT.ru)

 

British Prime Minister Kir Starmer will present a 

plan for the recognition of Palestine this week.

 

"After talks with President Trump.. the Prime Minister 

will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to present 

his peace plan for the Middle East," 

The Times reported.

 

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said 

that France would recognize Palestine.. at the 

UN General Assembly.

 

 







Iranian MPs - urge dozens of countries 

to impose sanctions on Israel

July 17th, 9:54am

 (PressTV)

 

Members of the Iranian Parliament’s Judiciary and Legal 

Committee have called on dozens of countries to work 

towards imposing sanctions on Israel ----------- over the 

regime’s “systematic violation of international rules 

and human rights.”

 

In a letter sent to the parliaments of 44 states on Thursday,

 the lawmakers - asked the legislatures’ legal committees 

to condemn last month’s illegal Israeli-US aggression 

against the Islamic Republic ....and notify the 

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) of 

their decision.

 

They also urged those parliaments to put on their agenda

 the legislative process for taking restrictive measures 

against the criminal Zionist regime.

 

“Likewise, the legal committees have been asked to place 

investigations into Israel’s crimes within the jurisdiction

 of their country's legal authorities, in order to prevent 

the impunity of the Zionist regime and the US, and 

stop the Israeli warmongering in the world,”

the letter read, signed by Mohammad
Sargazi, head of the 
Iranian
Parliament’s Judiciary 

and Legal Committee.

 

On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked aggression 

against Iran, killing at least 1,060 people, including high-ranking

 military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.

 

The head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society says that 

civilians suffered the most casualties during the 

Israeli aggression against Iran.

 

The United States also entered the war on June 22 and bombed 

three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of the United 

Nations Charter, international law, and the Nuclear 

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

In response, Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across 

the occupied territories as well as the al-Udeid air base in Qatar, 

the largest US military base in West Asia.

 

On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations 

against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to

 impose a halt to the terrorist assault.

Image: No thanks to Israeli goods App

Image: Maya Nasser's Birth Day



Today, July 30th, in 1979,

 

Maya Nasser,

 

television journalist

and reporter,

 

is born.

 

A Syrian journalist and reporter... who worked for Press TV, an 

Iranian English-language broadcasting service, Maya
Nasser reported from Syria, during the Syrian War. 

 

His reports from Aleppo -- are the most notable. Nasser also 

reported from the US, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and Bahrain.

 

On 26 September 2012, Nasser was covering the large explosions 

at the Syrian army's headquarters in Umayyad Square -- when he 

was killed by a rebel sniper. Nasser was shot through the neck 

and was killed.

 

Nasser was the 46th journalist killed 

during the war on Syria.

 

 

''Oh Maya, I wish I’d taken your last call!''

 

The hotel’s security staff warned me to go back inside. “There are 

snipers everywhere,” they said, pointing to a gunman on top of 

the state television building to my right.

 

As I sat in the corridor, catching my breath, a series of smaller 

blasts --- reverberated around the square in front of the hotel. 

Ammunition was exploding, as fire engulfed the upper floors. 

Through the smoke, I could see several men on the ministry

 building’s roof, waving desperately.... in the hope of 

attracting rescuers.

 

At 6am London time, I briefed my foreign editor and joined a group 

of security guards on the terrace. The guards warned me to stay 

close to the wall for shelter, but even from there it was possible

 to see flashes of gunfire from inside rooms on the third and

 fourth floors of the ministry building.

 

As word spread that this was a serious rebel attack at the heart 

of the Damascus defence establishment - requests came in for 

broadcast interviews. At a little before 8am, I was speaking 

to the BBC on my British 'phone, when I noticed a call 

coming in on my local mobile. It was Maya Naser, 

a Syrian television journalist, I had met on an 

assignment - in the country’s second city, 

Aleppo. For nearly two weeks... we had 

met for breakfast or an evening coffee, 

sharing tips..... about the safest way 

'round the city --- and debating the 

course of the war. In Damascus 

the previous week, we had 

caught up.. over dinner.

 

I’ll call him back, I thought with a smile; he was probably 

ringing to say he was on the spot and perhaps to 

suggest I join him.

 

When the interview was over, I couldn’t get through to Naser. 

I shrugged: he was almost certainly on air. But -- at 9.50am, 

when I was scanning Twitter for the latest reports, I saw

a tweet ------- that made my blood freeze. “Press TV 

correspondent Maya Naser killed by sniper 

in Syria,” it said.

 

It took me several seconds to comprehend it. Then I thought there 

must have been a mistake and tweeted back: “He just called me

...like an hour ago. I couldn’t take his call, was on other line, 

engaged when I tried him. Plz God NO.”

 

I dialled his number again but it was still engaged. “Maya, 

pick up,” I muttered, before dissolving into tears.

 

I thought of Marie Colvin, my friend and Sunday Times colleague 

who was killed by shellfire in Homs in February. I had spent 

nearly two weeks in Damascus trying to arrange for her 

body to be recovered, and finally identified her

 in a hospital morgue.

 

I thought of the 17 other journalists who have 

died covering the conflict in Syria - this year.

 

But my over-riding thoughts last Wednesday were for Naser, for the

parents he had just moved out of Homs to a safer place — and for 

the young woman he had fallen in love with. They had been 

going to announce their engagement two days later.

 

Maya Naser was born 33 years ago and raised by a Christian mother 

and a Muslim father so avowedly progressive that he gave his three 

sons girls’ names to show there should be no difference between 

the opportunities for women and men.

 

Naser, a self-proclaimed liberal - disliked the regimes of President 

Hafez al-Assad and Bashar, the son who succeeded him in 2000. 

He was imprisoned as a dissident.

 

On his release, he felt he had little choice but to go into exile. 

He travelled to America and France... was married to a 

western woman ...and divorced.

 

After spells in Bahrain and Lebanon, he returned to Syria at 

the start of the uprising against the Assad government 

18 months ago, and joined protesters.

 

This Arab spring revolution seemed to be about democratic reform 

at first. But Naser grew uneasy when the street demonstrations 

were punctuated by armed attacks on Syrian forces.

 

When it emerged.... that the rebels were being supported by foreign 

governments, notably those of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, his doubts 

were amplified. The arrival of Islamist militants from abroad -- to 

wage jihad on the Damascus government - convinced him that

his beloved Syria faced disintegration. He switched sides.

 

He was almost killed in Damascus three weeks ago, when his car 

was ambushed. Naser put a brave face on the incident when we

dined in the Christian quarter of the old city last week. But
he believed then, that Syria was descending into a war of 

attrition. “There will be no winner,” he said. “Syria - 

will have lost after this.”

 

Officials said last night that Naser had been one of three civilians 

who died in an attack that killed eight members of the security 

forces. Thirty rebels had died. A captured sniper had said the

 rebels planned to seize the prime minister’s office and 

broadcast a decree from state television, but 

had been beaten back.

 

Naser’s fiancée was photographed 

kneeling before his coffin.

 

His shooting bore out his view that the conflict would claim many 

innocent lives, including those of more journalists. “Bombs and 

bullets aren’t smart enough to distinguish the right from the 

wrong,” he wrote. “Bottom line is: my people are dying 

and I am still in the line, waiting my turn.”




Keir Hardie - Britain's first Labour MP - opposed World War One.

His namesake is stammering his way in the opposite direction.



VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV




ROGER WATERS
TO MUSICIANS:-
"BOYCOTT ISRAEL"


Roger Waters formerly of Pink Floyd, in an open letter,
 calls on his fellow musicians --- to boycott the Zionist
Israeli regime and follow the example of the cultural
boycott against the ex S. African Apartheid regime.

“Given the inability or unwillingness of our governments
 [to act] …. I write to you now, my brothers and sisters …
 to ask you to join with me, & thousands of other artists
 around the world, to declare a cultural boycott
on Israel,” 
Roger Waters says in his letter.

Waters says the Zionist regime has been found guilty of
 major breaches of human rights and international law
 by international organizations, UN officials and the
International Court of Justice.


He touches on two such cases, saying the regime has been
 identified as perpetrating the “crime of Apartheid”, including
 in a statement on March 9th, 2012 by the UN Committee on
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the “crime of
ethnic cleansing” including in East Jerusalem (al-Quds).

Waters adds that he has been a member of the Boycott,
 Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the
 Israeli regime’s occupation of the Palestinian lands and
 Tel Aviv’s violations of Palestinian human rights for 7
 years, and now wants other musicians to also join
the
anti-Israeli front.


“Please join me and all our brothers and sisters in global
 civil society in proclaiming our rejection of Apartheid in
 Israel & occupied Palestine, by pledging not to perform
 or exhibit in Israel or accept any award or funding from
 any institution linked to the government of Israel, until
 such time as Israel complies with international law
and
universal principles of human rights.” 


The former Pink Floyd Musician also says he has recently
 faced a boycott by the US media after his November 29th,
 2012 address at the UN on behalf of the Russell Tribunal.

In the address, he sought accountability for the Zionist
 regime’s violations of the international law and the lack
 of United Nations resolve that prevents the Palestinian
 people from achieving their inalienable rights,
especially 
the right of self-determination.



____________________




AT THE FACTORY


Tickets from


www.wegottickets.com/thefactory

www.ticketweb.co.uk

browse venues in Wales

www.ticketlineuk.com

02920 230130

Cash tickets from:

The Factory, Porth
Instrumental Music, Penygraig
Spillers Records, Cardiff


For more details visit


www.factoryporth.com
www.facebook.com/TheFactoryVenue
Twitter @TheFactoryPorth
01443 687080


***********************************************



Daytime Delights...

Starts at 1pm

The Parc & Dare, Treorchy


Lunchtime Concerts in the Lounge Bar.


Indulge in a delicious cake and a cup of tea
while enjoying music and sing-along songs
from fantastic Welsh musicians.


Ticket information:

The Cultural Services Booking & Information Line:

08000 147 111
or book online at

www.rct-arts.co.uk 


 
*************************************************



Mid Rhondda Modelling Club...


7pm - 9pm


Tonyrefail Comprehensive School
Mid Rhondda Modelling Club

has been running for over 30 years.

We meet on a regular basis

& enjoy making models for display.

We encourage both Gentlemen

and Ladies to attend,
and also young people aged 12+.

However, Young people under 16,
must be accompanied by an adult.



Ticket information

£1 contribution every week. Under 16's free


Telephone Mr. Davies on 01443 686658



************************************************



 Comedy In The Laughter Lounge


The Park & Dare Theatre, Treorchy.


COMEDY IN THE LAUGHTER LOUNGE


Join us once a month in the intimate setting
of the Laughter Lounge for some
top notch comedy with some of the
biggest and brightest

rising comedians on the circuit.

Laugh? You'll snort like a pig!



Hilarious - TimeOut.



www.rct-arts.co.uk







Rhondda Records exists to express the Rhondda's
vision --- when it was confident, powerful, caring,
and socialist.

A Rhondda very aware
of the media's poisonous
tricks -- how they con working class people into
attacking each other, or racial groups, or, often,
even their best allies and friends... instead of
seeing their real enemies:--- an elite who hate
the very idea that working people can think,
create, or achieve a fairer society.

Thatcher said her proudest achievement was
Blair and New Labour - who parachuted in
careerists and expenses fiddlers - to stop
local Labour members having a say, and
who made genuine socialist MPs leave
the Labour party in disgust and many
members and voters to despair...
and the young to stop voting.

Jeremy Corbyn was always attacked because
he was trying to reverse all that New Labour
corruption --- that's why membership was
flooding in all over the UK.


______________________________________


Get Involved!

– If you feel you’ve been ‘purged’,
take this online survey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/857YMDK


or this one:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc0du5YuhPZ8ahI
oxC_b6pvBprm
GA4XFdG-0r2dOVYyc4UNFg/viewform?c=0&w=1



– Request all your own data that
the Labour Party holds on you:

http://www.labour.org.uk/pages/privacy


_______________________________________




IF - YOU THINK you HAVE
BEEN UNFAIRLY BARRED:


“Any member who is suspended & intends
to appeal the decision should throw in a
 ‘Subject Access Request in accordance
with the Data Protection Act’ --- for ALL
 data that the Labour Party hold on them.

The Labour Party are Data Controllers and
 therefore have to, by law, provide you with
 all material/information they hold on you.”

If anyone is in contact with anyone who
was barred from voting --- please can
you pass this info on:

The Labour leadership election was under the
jurisdiction of the electoral reform services.

If you were unfairly deprived of your vote you
can call them on 0208 365 8909 and lodge
 your complaint, and inform them of your
Data Protection request.

https://www.electoralreform.co.uk

The notification letters barring new members
did not give a clear reason, or information on
how to appeal, so Vox Political suggests that
 anyone in this situation, could also contact
 Liz Davies here: http://www.whycantivote.com

She is a barrister --- who can
advise members on what to do.




**************************************


PONCY LABOUR MPS PROBLEM?

A huge drop in working-class Labour MPs,
caused a massive drop in support among
 voters with similar backgrounds, reveals
 research seeking to explain why support
has dwindled in the party’s heartlands.

The study says past leaders like Kinnock
 and Blair made a concerted effort to pick
 “more and more middle-class candidates
to run for office, during the 80s and 90s,
 as part of an effort to rebrand” -- which
had initial successes at the ballot box.

But this “conscious electoral strategy”
stored up problems, as working-class
 voters who initially, just didn’t vote in
response, now seek an alternative.

The solution? Trust each constituency to put
forward its own candidates, and don't impose
 ‘party-approved’ choices who can't do the job.


Now, unfortunately, there are "entryist"  MPs who, for
decades, have been groomed by CIA cold war relic
organisations -- like the Atlantic Council -- and are
now trying to misdirect the Labour Party towards
cuts, a militarised police, and a US war agenda...

- and their anti-Corbyn slant is hobbling Labour.


‘How Can I Deselect My Labour MP?’ A Short Guide
to Reselection and Democratic Accountability
by Eric Sim, excellent free advice here:

http://novaramedia.com/2016/07/13/how-can-i-
deselect-my-labour-mp-a-short-guide-to-
reselection-and-democratic-accountability/


CHRIS BRYANT - SUPPORT THE MEMBERS'

LEADERSHIP CHOICE & POLICIES - OR GO!

Chris Bryant, the Rhondda's dodgy MP,
was on TV -- as soon as the PLP coup
started -- telling us that Jeremy MUST
go, because it was the ONLY way to
act in the Labour Party's interest...


Chris Bryant's voting record:
from TheyWorkForYou.com

On Tuition Fees:

On 27 Jan 2004:
Chris Bryant voted in favour of university tuition
fees increasing from £1,125 per year, to up to
£3,000 per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees
 to increase from £1,125 per year, to up to £3,000
 per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted for the introduction of variable
university tuition fees (top-up fees) of up to £3,000
per year in place of the previous fixed fee of £1,250
per year.

On 31 Mar 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to allow university tuition fees
to increase from £1,125 per year to up to £3,000
per year, and to make other changes to higher
education funding and regulation arrangements.

On 14 Sep 2004:
Chris Bryant voted against: the immediate abolition
 of all tuition fees, the re-introduction of maintenance
grants of up to £2,000 for students from low-income
homes, and changes to the country's higher
education system.

On 14 Sep 2004:
Chris Bryant voted to reject the Liberal
Democrat policy of abolition of tuition fees.

On 25 May 2016:
Chris Bryant was absent for a vote on Queen's
Speech - Forcing Schools to Become Academies
- Further Rises in University Tuition Fees


On Human Rights:

Consistently voted for introducing ID cards

Almost always voted for requiring the mass
retention of information about communications

Generally voted for mass surveillance of
people’s communications and activities


On the Environment:

Generally voted against greater regulation
 of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract
 shale gas


On Special Interests:

Almost always voted against limits
 on success fees paid to lawyers in
no-win no fee cases

Generally voted against a
statutory register of lobbyists


On War or Peace:

Generally voted for use of UK military
 forces in combat operations overseas

Consistently voted for the Iraq war

Consistently voted against an
 investigation into the Iraq war

Generally voted for replacing Trident
 with a new nuclear weapons system

On 2 Dec 2015:
Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria
[without UN authorisation]

On 2 Dec 2015:
Voted to support UK airstrikes in Syria
[without UN authorisation]


On Independence:

Generally voted for more EU integration

____________________________
   

Chris Bryant Labour MP
From Wikipedia

(aka 1962-1986: Mr Christopher John Bryant
1986-1991: The Reverend Christopher John
Bryant, 1991-2001: Mr Christopher John
Bryant, 2001-: Mr Christopher John
Bryant MP.)

Born in Cardiff, to a Scottish mother & a Welsh
 father, Bryant grew up in Cardiff, Wales (where
 his father worked for 5 years), and Cheltenham.

He was educated at Cheltenham College, an
independent school for boys in the spa town
of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, where he
was captain of the school swimming team,
and Mansfield College at the University of
Oxford, where he graduated in 1983, with
 a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in English.
 This was later promoted to a Master of
Arts degree (MA (Oxon)), as per tradition.

After completing his first degree, Bryant began
 training to be a priest in the Church of England
at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, in Oxfordshire.
There, he obtained a degree in theology.

Although a member of the Conservative
 Party, and an elected office-holder in the
 Oxford University Conservative Association,
he joined the Labour Party in 1986, after
leaving Oxford.

He was ordained deacon in 1986 and priest in
1987. He served as a Curate at the Church of
 All Saints, High Wycombe, from 1986 to 1989;
then as a Youth Chaplain in Peterborough,
as well as travelling in Latin America.

In 1991 Bryant left the ordained ministry, after
deciding that being gay and being a priest,
were incompatible. Statements made by
 Richard Harries, then Bishop of Oxford,
 also influenced his decision.

After leaving the priesthood in 1991, Bryant
worked as the election agent to the Holborn
 and St Pancras Constituency Labour Party,
 where he helped Frank Dobson hold his seat
 in the 1992 general election.

From 1993, he was Local Government officer
for the Labour Party; he lived in Hackney and
 was elected to Hackney Borough Council in
1993, serving until 1998. He became Chair of
the Christian Socialist Movement.

 He is both a member of the Labour Friends
 of Israel and Labour Friends of Palestine &
 the Middle East. From 1994 to 1996 he was
 London manager of the leader-grooming
 "charity", Common Purpose.

 He was Labour candidate for Wycombe, in the
 1997 general election (he lost by 2,370 votes),
and Head of European Affairs for the BBC,
from 1998.

His selection for the very safe Labour seat of
Rhondda, South Wales in 2000, shocked many
 people given Bryant's background – gay, an ex-
Anglican vicar, and someone who was a Tory,
while studying at Oxford, and a member now,
of the Henry Jackson Society 'think tank' ---
 described by The Guardian newspaper as
 'neoconservative'. It is pro-US, pro-NATO
and pro-military intervention, as well as
being fundamentally anti-socialist.

 Fifty-two people applied for the candidature
and a local councillor was hot favourite to
 win, before Bryant was parachuted in.

In 2004, a photograph of Mr Bryant in his
 underpants, which he had posted to a gay
 dating website, was published in 'papers.

When an interviewer suggested he was
 a 'disgrace to the Rhondda', he replied:
"They can't get rid of me."


His pay, allowances and some expenses:

The basic annual salary for an MP, from
April 1st, 2016 is £74,962.  MPs also get
 expenses: to cover the costs of running
 an office, employing staff, having some-
where to live in London, plus, in their
constituency and travelling between
 Parliament and their constituency.


His MP's expenses story:

Chris Bryant changed second home
 twice to claim £20,000: the deputy
leader of the House of Commons,
 "flipped" his second home twice,
 in 2 years, allowing him to claim
 almost £20,000 for renovations
 and fees.

Chris Bryant, MP for the Rhondda, split over
 £92,000 of expenses between 3 properties
 in Wales and London --- within five years.

In 2004, he attempted to claim £58,000 to
 overhaul his second home in Wales, after
allegedly complaining that properties in
his constituency were "terrace or mine
 owners' houses".

Mr Bryant, a former Church of England clergyman,
wanted the money for a new bathroom & kitchen,
 and to demolish his conservatory. He'd bought the
 detached house for £97,500, under a year earlier.

 He submitted a claim to the Commons fees office for
 £58,493.26 --- almost 3 times the annual maximum.
 He noted that the claim exceeded his allowance.

His alleged justification was disclosed... in
 correspondence between Commons officials.
 By email, an official wrote: "He had problems
finding a suitable property because in the
Rhondda there is a choice mainly of terraced
 property or mine owners' houses." When
approached by the Daily Telegraph,
Mr Bryant said: "I have never said
 or thought anything of the sort".

 In all, he successfully claimed over £13,000
 for renovations, repairs & appliances, in 2004.
Along with other bills, his annual claim was
 £20,902.

In April 2005, he flipped his expenses to his flat in
 west London, which he bought for £400,000 in April
 2002. He also claimed £630 a month for mortgage
 interest, along with other bills. After claiming over
 £3,600 over 3 months, he sold the flat in July 2005
 for £477,000.

Mr Bryant used his profits to buy a more expensive
 flat in west London, which was valued at £670,000.
 He immediately flipped his second home expenses
 there, claiming almost £6,400 in stamp duty, legal
fees and mortgage fees, incurred in the purchase.

He then began claiming interest of £1,000 a month
on the mortgage. He also claimed a further £6,000
 a year for the flat's service charge and ground rent.

In all, he claimed £92, 415 in second
home expenses, from 2004 to 2009.

Mr Bryant said at the time: "I moved flat in
 London, so as to be closer to Parliament."

Research by Channel 4 News in 2015 found that
at least 46 MPs had this kind of system in place
– a move one Labour backbencher described as
“a new fiddle”. Channel 4 reported then:

“Our investigation found that many of the MPs
 bought their London properties with the help of
the taxpayer, when a previous expenses system
 allowed them to claim back mortgage payments.
But when those claims were banned, following
 the expenses scandal, they switched to letting
out their properties, in some cases for up to
 £3,000 a month. They then started claiming
 expenses for rent and hotels in the capital.”

Among those identified was Chris Bryant, shadow
leader of the House of Commons. He had already
 bought a penthouse in London back in 2005 and
 claimed around £1,000 a month in mortgage
claims under the old system.

But after the expenses scandal, he started renting
the property out. It’s since been advertised by estate
 agents as having a private lift and a porter, with rent
 at about £3,000 a month. Meanwhile, Bryant moved
 into a new flat;- claiming his own rent on expenses.


Image: Russian scientists and Scottish ones



Russian/Scottish scientists hail long-range
secure quantum communication system.

A group of scientists from ITMO University
 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, has developed
a new
approach to constructing quantum
communication
systems for secure data
exchange.


 The experimental device based on the results of the
 research is capable of transmitting single-photon
 quantum signals across distances of 250 klmtrs
 or more, which is on par with its cutting edge
analogues, the ITMO press-service says.

"Now researchers are on a mission -- to create
 a fully-fledged quantum cryptographic system,
that will generate & distribute quantum keys
 and transmit useful data simultaneously",
 ITMO says.

Information security is becoming more and more
 of a critical issue not only for large companies,
banks and defense enterprises but even for
small businesses and individual users.

But the data encryption algorithms we currently
 use for protecting our data are imperfect - in the
 long-term, their logic can be cracked. Regardless
 of how complex and intricate the algorithm is,
 getting around it, is just a matter of time.

Unlike algorithm-based encryption, systems
 that protect information, by making use of
 fundamental laws of quantum physics, can
make data transmission totally immune to
 hacker attacks, in the future.

Information in a quantum channel is carried
by single photons that change irreversibly
 if an eavesdropper tries to intercept them.
The legitimate users will instantly know
 about any kind of intervention.


Researchers at the Quantum Information Centre
 of the International Institute of Photonics and
 Optical Information Technology at ITMO Uni.,
Russia, along with their colleagues from the
Heriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, have
 devised a new way to generate and
 distribute, quantum bits.

This makes it possible to share quantum signals
--- via optical fibres --- 250 kilometres in distance.

"To transmit quantum signals, we use the so-
called side frequencies," says Artur Gleim,
head of the Quantum Information Centre, 
at
 ITMO University,

 "This unique approach gives us a number
 of advantages -- such as a considerable
simplification of the device architecture
 and the large pass-through capacity of
the quantum channel. In terms of bit rate
 and operating distances, our system is
comparable to absolute champions in
the field of quantum communications."

According to Robert Collins, research associate
 at the Institute of Photonics & Quantum Sciences
 at Heriot-Watt University, and one of the authors
of the study, this may become a pivotal point for
 the whole field of quantum communication and
 cryptography:

 "Down the track, this new approach can enable
 smooth coexistence of numerous data streams
 with different wavelengths in one single optical
 cable. On top of it, these quantum streams can
 be fed into the already existing fibre optic lines
 --- along with conventional communications."

The research paper is published
in the Optics Express journal.


Scottish universities are to be
congratulated for their strong
& growing links with Chinese
and Russian universities....

What a shame, that Wales is
lying low --- with academics
too scared to break from
US 
military research.


Image: BRICS

Image: March 26 London anti cuts demo




KILLING THE ELDERLY BY CLOSING CARE HOMES


Did you know that each time a local authority

closes a care home for the elderly, within 8

months, around half the residents are dead?

Campaigners liken the cuts and their effect
to euthanasia of the UK's elderly.
What to do?


We can start by urging our MPs to sign EDM 2251:

EDM 2251: The contents


This House notes with deep concern the worsening
crisis for elderly care as growing numbers of local
authority and private care homes face closure

Acknowledges concerns that the loss of elderly
people's care homes causes fear, anxiety and,
in many cases, a higher mortality rate, when
vulnerable, elderly people are forced to
leave their homes

Further notes that the Southern Cross crisis
will increase needs for local authority care

And therefore calls on the government to
hold a public inquiry into the deaths after
closures, of local authority care homes,
and impose a moratorium on the closure
of local authority care homes, until that
inquiry publishes its results, to ensure
that vulnerable, elderly people's lives
are not put at further risk.


************************************************


MAKING THE CONNECTION IN WALES


Households across three more English areas
will be able to access superfast broadband
in the latest phase of a Government scheme
to connect rural homes and businesses.

The £50 million funding package for Devon and
Somerset (£30 million), Norfolk (£15 million)
and Wiltshire (£4 million) will aid the roll- out
of superfast broadband services unable to
be reached by the market alone.

Areas will also receive financial support from
their local authorities and private investors,
the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport says.


So it's Broadband Heaven for England...

and crapola for Wales' broadband - the

slowest, worst Broadband in the UK !!!


Lib Dems in Scotland might have received a
pummeling for Clegg and his betrayals, yet,
in Scotland, their campaign centred on it
becoming the "most connected country in
Europe," to massively boost their economy.


In Wales, which political party is now
willing to put into practice scientists'
recommendations:  that Wales' hilly
topography requires establishing

free 'wireless' broadband?

It could connect the people of Rhondda and the
world, boosting Wales' economic regeneration,
like no
other move.
Wireless technology is now
supplying
free broadband to an entire island
off New Zealand's coast.




Come on; if New Zealand can do it - so can we !!!



Image: China's rapeseed blossoms this Spring.

Western China has embraced "green-mode
development"
- with painful changes
from which, Wales could well learn.


Eastern China has seen fast growth and
urban mess.
The West, a mining and
agricultural area, has not.


Xi'an Chan-ba Ecological District, is a model
for
reclaiming old mining areas.


It took six hard years, but now Xi'an is showing
the world how best to change, by turning a
badly
polluted rubbish landfill site, into an all
new
environment-friendly development.


As China's economic focus moves from east to
west,
it's using the lessons learned during 30
or more years of rapid industrial development.


The green way for China's west, is to combine
green industrialization & green urbanization.

The western region's strategy is to adopt
effective energy-saving and environmental
protection technologies... AND to extend
its industry through science and products
unique to China's West, together with strong
vertical growth in agriculture and all its
ancilliary economic & professional spin-offs.

In undertaking this industrial revolution, the
western region will keep a sharp eye out - to
avoid all polluting non-sustainable industries.


*********************************************


A BIG DROP OF HONEY !!!


Spring is beekeeping and honey-processing
season
in Yunnan province, in China.


Waves of bees flit across vast fields of flowers.

Local beekeepers and many from other places,
such as Sichuan and Fujian provinces - set up
their base
in tents among the rapeseed farms.


The 430,000 hectares of rapeseed blooms in
Luoping
attract myriads of bees, which
produce 15 -
20 million tons of honey a year.

Local people
now look to brand their county
as a honey
production base & increase sales
to outside markets.


Luoping Tianyuanmiyu Bee Industry Co Chair,
Zhu Hongkun,
founded his enterprise in 2009.

It mainly
produces honey, propolis and
propolis powder.


His company works with 270 plus beekeepers,
who each earn 80,000 yuan a year on average.

Some earn 200,000 yuan annually, Zhu says.

Who says beauty endowed by nature isn't worth a fortune?

The whole of the uplands of south Wales could
be as
beautiful & productive, if used wisely!



Image: retirement China style




CHINA's PREMIER POINTS WAY FORWARD

As the Tories threaten a "bonfire of the Quangos",
perhaps Wales should take note. Now extracting
all our
mineral wealth has been stopped (apart
from sand
and rock) we find ourselves "in" the
1st World
of the UK, but with a 3rd World
economy, only just
kept going by quangos
which promise much... but
deliver little...
and rely on weak public support.


We could WAKE UP & understand that we either
do something, or stay as begging bowl cases.

China's premier points the way forward for Wales:

"Industrial restructuring is the key... only by
developing energy-efficient, indigenous innovative
and high value added products can our companies
and economy, achieve sustainable development."


*************************************************


WHILE FRANCE, GREECE, IRELAND, ETC, STRUGGLE TO
STOP THE PENSION AGE RISING HIGHER AND HIGHER...

An online survey on qq.com, a popular Chinese
news portal, finds that 91% of its
over 800,000
respondents, are against raising
the current
official Chinese retirement age.


745,123 of those surveyed say they oppose
raising retirement ages --
72,456 support it.


China's scholars & the public have been debating
whether to raise the retirement age, for the past
few years, but the issue rose to prominence after
remarks by an official.


Wang Xiaochu, the official vice minister of the
Ministry of Human Resources & Social Security,
said at a press conference that the government
was "studying the matter"...

The retirement age in China is generally set
at 60 for men and 50-55 for women.

Wow! Bet you didn't know that !!!



Image: unemployment in Wales


FARMING AND SCIENCE

COULD REGENERATE WALES



A new UN General Assembly report warns
"vast areas" of cultivated land are lost each
year, and that this could lead to unrest.

 The report says up to 30 million hectares,
 an area the size of Italy, is lost each year
to environmental degradation, industry &
 urbanization - the growth of cities - and all
because of speculative building and greed.

 The UN special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter,
 gives the example of eastern Africa, where
the
amount of cultivated land has declined
by half ---
in just one generation! "


As rural populations grow and competition
with
large industrial units increases, plots
cultivated
by smallholders are shrinking
year after year,"
says De Schutter.


 "Farmers are often relegated to soils that
are arid,
hilly or without irrigation."


 The UN officer also mentions India as another
example,
where the average landholding fell
from 2.6 hectares
in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in
2000. A cut of nearly half
in 40 years!


He says 500 million small farmers suffer
from hunger, partly because their right to
land
is being violated.


The expert warns of the devastating
consequences,
as foreign investors
compete for larger and larger areas of
the
world's land for "their" agriculture.


 Rhondda Records says Wales could rebuild
its new
economy by basing it on a fresh
approach to high-value
added products,
using science and agriculture... such as

 the Altzeim project in Gwent.

 What have we got to lose?




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