Headline News 21/02/2018

Headlines:

Zionist entity to Supply Egypt with $15 billion of Gas

China Holds Secret Talks with Baloch Separatists

The Massacre of Ghouta

Details:

Zionist entity to Supply Egypt with $15 billion of Gas

Companies operating from the Zionist entity’s largest offshore gas field have agreed to supply $15 billion worth of natural gas to Egypt, a deal which one analyst called a "coup for Israel". According to the agreement signed on Monday, ‘Israeli’ company Delek Group and Texas-based Noble Energy will supply gas from Leviathan, Israel’s largest field, and a second field, Tamar, over the next decade to Egyptian company Dolphimus Holdings. The Jewish entity’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the deal will bring “billions of dollars to state coffers.” Egypt was once a net exporter of gas, but years of political instability and mismanagement left it to import gas for its rising population.

China Holds Secret Talks with Baloch Separatists

China has been quietly holding talks 'with Pakistani tribal separatists for more than five years in an effort to protect the $60 billion worth of infrastructure projects it is financing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Three people with knowledge of the talks told the UK's Financial Times that Beijing had been in direct contact with militants in the south-western state where many of the scheme's most important projects are located. Chinese officials did not comment on the talks though the Chinese ambassador to Islamabad said in a recent interview with the BBC that militants in Baluchistan were no longer a threat to the Economic Corridor. One provincial tribal leader said many young men had been persuaded to lay down their weapons by the promise of financial benefits. "Today, young men are not getting attracted to join the insurgents as they did some 10 years ago," he said. "Many people see prosperity" as a result of the China-Pakistan corridor; he said.

The Massacre of Ghouta

Bashar al-Assad’s forces bombed the northeastern suburbs of the Syrian capital for a second straight day on Tuesday (Feb 20) killing more than 100 people and raising the specter of a full-scale offensive that could spell catastrophe for the nearly 400,000 residents trapped under siege. Rescuers raced to reach survivors in the devastated Damascus suburbs - eastern Ghouta as warplanes and helicopter gunships circled overhead, bombing hospitals, apartment blocks, markets and other civilian targets. The suburbs are the last major stronghold for rebels in the capital region.At least 250 civilians were killed during the 48 hours of unrelenting onslaught that began Monday 19, including 58 children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group. Another 1,000 people were wounded, it said. The towns of eastern Ghouta were among the first to organize into self-governing collectives and shake off government rule after popular demonstrations against Assad swept through the country in 2011. They are also among the last to resist Assad's determined campaign to bring every last rebellious corner of the country to heel. Assad and his allies maintain they are fighting a war on terrorism.