SYRIA UPDATE

Two Christmas trees lit up in Sqeilbieh, Mhardeh in Hama

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=152931

Syrian railways recovering their vitality and preparing for reconstruction stage

The rehabilitation and maintenance of railways, particularly those damaged due to terrorism, constitute an economic and services necessity, as the railways play a key role in shipping goods to dry ports and transporting passengers between areas and cities. Aleppo is currently witnessing the implementation of a number of railway projects, head of the General Establishment of Syrian Railways Najib al-Faris told SANA.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=152971

Terrorists breach demilitarized zone agreement, army responds and destroys their hideouts

In Hama, SANA reporter said, an army unit destroyed mortars launching pads and machine guns for terrorists in the villages Lahaya and Ma’rkebeh in retaliation for targeting a military point with explosive bullets and machineguns in the northern countryside.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=152923

Two Turkish Battle Tanks, Armoured Vehicles Enter Syria’s Idlib

On December 7, two convoys of the Turkish military entered the northern Syrian governorate of Idlib through the Kafr Lusen border crossing, according to the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Enab Baladi. While some local observers believe that Turkey is stepping up its military presence in Idlib as a part of the agreement with Russia, others say that Ankara is actually taking advantage of the agreement to expand its influence in northern Syria.

https://southfront.org/two-turkish-battle-tanks-armoured-vehicles-enter-syrias-idlib/

Syrian Army Eliminates Several ISIS Fighters During Combing Operation In Al-Safa

On December 7, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) eliminated three ISIS fighters during an ongoing combing operation in the area of al-Safa, which is located in the area between the northern al-Suwayda countryside and the Damascus desert. Images in link.

https://southfront.org/syrian-army-eliminates-several-fighters-of-isis-during-combing-operation-in-al-safa/

Russian Special Forces And Syrian Troops Ambush ISIS Unit In Homs Province

The Russian Special Operations Forces [marked on the photo above] and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) have ambushed a group of ISIS terrorists in the province of Homs.

According to released photos, at least one vehicle was destroyed and two vehicles were captured. 23 ISIS members were reportedly eliminated.

https://southfront.org/russian-special-forces-and-syrian-troops-ambush-isis-unit-in-homs-province/

Jaysh Al-Izza Claims Its Fighters Repelled Syrian Army Attack In Northern Hama

“A counter attack was immediately launched and the position was recaptured,” Jaysh al-Izza said in a short press release.

Iba’a, the news network of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), claimed that the SAA artillery shelled several positions in the northern Hama countryside after the failure of the supposed attack.

Syrian-state media and pro-government activists have not confirmed or denied Jaysh al-Izza claims so far. If confirmed, the attack attempt was likely was a response to the militants’ repeated violations of the Russian-Turkish demilitarized zone agreement.

https://southfront.org/jaysh-al-izza-claims-its-fighters-repelled-syrian-army-attack-in-northern-hama/

Lavrov: Foreign interference in internal affairs of sovereign states is major source of international tension

Lavrov said foreign interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states in the Middle East and North Africa has been a major source of international tension and serious threats such as terrorism, illegal immigration, drug trafficking and organized crime.

https://www.sana.sy/en/?p=152911

Fresh US-led airstrikes kill nearly dozen Syrian civilians in Dayr al-Zawr

Nearly a dozen civilians have lost their lives and sustained injuries when the so-called US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group carried out a number of aerial attacks in Syria's troubled eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr.

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/12/07/582248/Fresh-USled-airstrikes-kill-nearly-dozen-Syrian-civilians-in-Dayr-alZawr

Infant ibuprofen recalled from Walmart and CVS: Tests revealed it had such high concentrations it could cause permanent kidney damage

Tris Pharma, Inc recalled lots of its infant liquid ibuprofen sold at Walmart, CVS Pharmacy and Family Dollar stores

The drug maker says the ibuprofen contains higher concentrations, which could lead to permanent renal or kidney damage

Ibuprofen reduces the amount of prostaglandins - a type of lipid - your body makes when you have an injury which contribute to inflammation

Prostaglandins regulate body fluid pressure and protect the stomach lining, and low production could result in kidney failure or stomach acid damage

More:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6467625/Infant-ibuprofen-recalled-Walmart-CVS-kidney-damage-fears.html

Lawyers stopping Comey from answering questions in Hill testimony, Issa says

Former FBI Director James Comey’s lawyers have prevented him from answering a number of questions during Friday’s closed-door testimony before House lawmakers, according to a lawmaker in the room.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told reporters that some lawmakers have been frustrated with the testimony so far and that Comey didn’t seem upset about being told by his lawyers that he doesn’t have to answer certain questions.

"One of the disappointments of this deposition so far has been the amount of times in which the FBI believes that Congress doesn’t have a right to know," Issa said.

Issa said Comey has two attorneys, including one from the DOJ, who have “instructed” the former FBI director not to answer “a great many questions that are clearly items at the core of our investigation.” Issa said the instructions have been followed with Comey’s “gleeful acceptance.”

"The Department of Justice is going to have to agree to allow him to come back and answer a great many questions that currently he is not answering," Issa said.

Comey, who may publicly speak at some point Friday, initially fought the committee’s subpoena to appear in court but finally forged an agreement to appear. The committee is expected to release a transcript of the interview, perhaps as early as Saturday.

"The details of what's going on in there will remain private until after the deposition," Issa said. "… [T]here is an amazing amount of things that reasonably the public will need to know that the Department of Justice and FBI attorney are guiding him not to answer."

He later told Fox News’ “Outnumbered Overtime” that the questions not being answered generally concerned the Hillary Clinton email probe, surveillance warrants and the anti-Trump dossier.

The former FBI director declined to answer shouted questions from Fox News as he entered the hearing room Friday morning. The questioning will go until 4:15 p.m. ET, North Carolina GOP Rep. Mark Meadows told reporters.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/lawyers-stopping-comey-from-answering-questions-during-hill-testimony-gop-rep-says

PANIC

Tillerson: Trump ‘undisciplined,’ wanted to break law

Washington (AFP) – Former US secretary of state Rex Tillerson says that President Donald Trump repeatedly wanted to violate the law, describing him as “undisciplined” and uninterested in details.

Tillerson, who was fired in March, made no attempt to deny his poor relationship with Trump during a rare interview Thursday night as part of a charity dinner in his native Texas.

“I think part of it was obviously we are starkly different in our styles. We did not have a common value system,” Tillerson told veteran journalist Bob Schieffer of CBS News, which broadcast an excerpt Friday.

“I’d have to say to him, ‘Well, Mr President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way — it violates the law, it violates a treaty.’

“He got really frustrated,” he said. “I think he grew tired of me being the guy every day that told him you can’t do that and let’s talk about what we can do.”

Tillerson, a former chief executive of oil giant ExxonMobil, had no government experience and had never met Trump when his nomination was promoted by Republican Party insiders, who hoped for a stable figure who could nonetheless appeal to the tycoon-turned-president with his outsider status and business background.

Tillerson immediately struggled to fit in, focusing on internal State Department streamlining rather than broader foreign policy goals as his relationship frayed with Trump.

“It was challenging for me coming from the disciplined, highly process-oriented ExxonMobil Corp to go to work for a man who is pretty undisciplined, doesn’t like to read, doesn’t read briefing reports, doesn’t like to get into the details of a lot of things,” Tillerson said.

Trump is proudly anti-intellectual, saying that he succeeds by following his instincts and knows better than experts.

Asked about his reading habits in an interview shortly after taking office, Trump said he was “looking at a book” but was distracted by phone calls every time he tried to get started.

Trump’s most visible foreign policy actions include pulling out of international agreements including the Paris accord on climate change and a denuclearization deal with Iran.

Trump announced Tillerson’s firing by tweet and, in a final indignity, the White House made it known that the nation’s top diplomat was on the toilet when he learned the news.

He was replaced by Mike Pompeo, a brusque former congressman and CIA chief whose style appears more to Trump’s liking.

https://www.breitbart.com/news/tillerson-trump-undisciplined-wanted-to-break-law/

More Zuckerberg crimes EXPOSED: Internal documents prove that Facebook is a lawless, data-mining criminal operation

After weaseling his way through a series of congressional hearings this past spring, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is back in the news following the revelation that his social media empire committed even more crimes with its mishandling of private user data.

A bombshell cache of documents recently handed over to lawmakers in the United Kingdom prove once and for all that Facebook repeatedly disregarded the law to get where it is today – as well as show that every single one of its movers and shakers, including Zuckerberg himself, belongs in prison.

According to the contents of these internal documents, Facebook used a virtual private network (VPN) from Onavo, a company that it later acquired, to spy on the activities of major competitors like Snapchat and WhatsApp, both of which were also targets of acquisition for Facebook. Facebook also selectively targeted the applications of its competitors, disallowing them from fully functioning as designed.

Furthermore, after thoroughly reviewing these same documents, top U.K. lawmakers discovered that secretive “whitelisting agreements” had been established by Facebook with select companies, giving them preferential access “to vast amounts of user data” – information that had previously been sealed by a California court.

“A trove of internal correspondence, published online Wednesday by U.K. lawmakers, provides a look into the ways Facebook bosses, including Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg, treated information posted by users like a commodity that could be harnessed in service of business goals,” revealed Nate Lanxon and Sarah Frier in a piece for Bloomberg about these revelations.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-12-07-internal-documents-prove-facebook-lawless-data-mining-criminal-operation.html

Australian Court Overturns Conviction Against Most Senior Catholic Cleric Ruled Guilty Of Abuse Cover-Up

The most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted of sexual abuse cover-up succeeded Thursday in his appeal to overturn his conviction.

An Australian appeals court overturned Archbishop Philip Wilson’s May conviction of concealing a priest’s sexual abuse of two altar boys in the 1970s. Presiding Judge Roy Ellis ruled that there was not enough evidence against Wilson to prove beyond reasonable doubt that he knew of and concealed the abuse of the two boys.

Wilson, who suffers from the early stages of Alzheimer’s, maintained his innocence from the outset of the accusations against him, and argued that he did not remember either boy coming to him and telling him in graphic detail of the abuse they suffered. Newcastle Court Magistrate Robert Stone convicted Wilson, however, and accused him of showing no remorse and of desiring only to protect the Catholic church.

Still, Wilson claimed he was innocent and refused to reason as Archbishop of Adelaide until he exhausted all of his appeals options and former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull pleaded with the Vatican in July to intervene.

Wilson had served four months of his one year house arrest sentence as of Thursday. He watched the decision via video-link to avoid heavy media attention.

While the church welcomed the conclusion of Wilson’s legal battle, Peter Creigh, one of his two accusers and a victim of abuse, left the courtroom in tears. Other abuse victims echoed Creigh’s bitter disappointment.

“I’m very disappointed as you’d expect. I’m disappointed at a personal level … but more importantly, I’m very disappointed for the other people, good, honest, reliable people,” Peter Gogarty, a victim of the same priest who abused Creigh, told The Associated Press.

Creigh had hailed Wilson’s previous conviction as a landmark historical event.

“That is a landmark case right across the world … the conviction sticks,” Creigh said in July.

https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/06/australia-court-catholic-cleric-abuse/

PROJECT GREATNESS