NATO leaders have agreed to deploy thousands of troops in Poland and the Baltic states in a bid to strengthen the 28-nation alliance’s eastern borders in Europe against Russia. The Western military alliance announced on Friday that it will move four battalions totaling up to 4,000 troops to northeastern Europe on a rotating basis to display its readiness to support Eastern European member states against the so-called Russian aggression.

“These battalions will be robust and they will be multinational. They make clear that an attack on one ally will be considered an attack on the whole alliance,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference after the first working session of a two-day summit in the Polish capital Warsaw on Friday.

Stoltenberg said the plan is justified under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which states that if an “armed attack against one or more” NATO member states is launched “in Europe or North America,” it “shall be considered an attack against them all,” and all members will have to take the necessary actions to assist the invaded ally.

The UK will send 500 troops for a battalion based in Estonia, while Germany and Canada will lead two more battalions in Lithuania and Latvia, respectively. US President Barack Obama said at the summit that under the plan, his country would deploy an armored brigade of 1,000 troopers as the fourth battalion in Poland next year “to enhance our forward presence in Central and Eastern Europe.”

“In other words, Poland will be seeing an increase in NATO and American personnel and in the most modern military equipment,” Obama said.

Presstv

A human rights attorney says US investigations into police killing of two African-Americans in Louisiana and Minnesota recently will not lead to the administration of justice.  A video that shows the aftermath of police shooting can be investigated as a federal crime, but the investigation “will not ensure there is going to be justice for the victim,” human rights attorney from New York Roger Wareham told Press TV.

Two graphic videos shot in the US states of Louisiana and Minnesota shocked the American nation this week which showed the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile in the hands of US police officers. “In an almost all those cases the officer who killed an unarmed black civilian does not even get indicted, much less prosecuted, much less convicted or even go to jail,” Wareham said.

He said African Americans are the constant victim of a system in which the law enforcement or white vigilantes can kill black people with impunity and without any sort of retribution and accountability. “So, there is a culture of white supremacy, there is an attitude that says you can do anything to a black or brown person, because you will not be punished for it,” he added. Lawrence Korb, a former assistant secretary of the US Department of Defense, said the police officer who killed Philando Castile should be held accountable

It is “because the act is tragic and a video record proves that the victim was unarmed, but he was shot four times,” Korb said. The use of excessive force by US law enforcement forces has become the focus of national debate, particularly over high-profile killings of African Americans by mainly white officers during the last several years. Police in the United States killed over 1,150 people in 2015, with the largest police departments disproportionately killing at least 321 African Americans.

Presstv

The sister of a British soldier killed in the Iraq war has called former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair the world’s “worst terrorist” after hearing the Chilcot inquiry report into the UK role in the 2003 Iraq invasion. “There is one terrorist that the world needs to be aware of and his name is Tony Blair, the world’s worst terrorist,” said Sarah O’Connor, the sister of Bob O’Connor who died in Iraq in 2005, at a press conference called by some of the dead soldiers’ families.

“When he (Blair) gave his evidence, it was definitely the Tony Blair show. He thinks he’s the puppet master pulling the strings,” she said. She made clear that her family, along with a number of other families, would take legal action against Blair. O’Connor said terrorists killed my brother, but “in that sentence of terrorists, I include Mr Blair.” The Chilcot inquiry report said that military action was “not a last resort” and that the UK chose to go to war before the peaceful options had been exhausted.

The father of another soldier killed in the war said that Blair tried to write his own Iraq war report that was “completely” different from Chilcot report as he tried to defend his decision for the Iraq invasion during a press conference. Roger Bacon, whose son Matthew died in the Iraqi city of Basra in 2005, said he was “amazed” while listening to Blair’s statement that was a response to Chilcot report released earlier on Wednesday.

Presstv

Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Uganda at the start of a four-country trip to East Africa, becoming the first Israeli prime minister to visit the continent in at least 30 years. Arriving at Uganda’s Entebbe’s airport on Monday, Netanyahu said Israel’s raid to end a hostage crisis 40 years ago, in which his brother was killed, “changed the course” of his life.

The Entebbe rescue is widely seen as one of Israel’s greatest military successes. It also was a monumental event for Netanyahu, as the death of his brother, Yonatan, pushed him into the public eye and on a track that would take him to the country’s highest office.

“This is a deeply moving day for me,” he said. “Forty years ago they landed in the dead of night in a country led by a brutal dictator who gave refuge to terrorists. Today we landed in broad daylight in a friendly country led by a president who fights terrorists.”

Netanyahu travelled to Uganda with soldiers and pilots who were members of the rescue team. An Israeli band played sombre tunes at the airport on the shore of Lake Victoria, to mark the anniversary of the Israeli rescue mission, during which three hostages were killed.

Aside from Uganda, Netanyahu is also scheduled to visit Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia. In Uganda, Netanyahu will meet African leaders to discuss further cooperation and business opportunities, in a special summit to be attended by President Yoweri Museveni, as well as leaders from Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania.

Aljazeera

British Prime Minister David Cameron announces his resignation after UK’s vote to exit the European Union. Cameron, who was speaking at Number 10, Downing Street in London, said Friday that he would leave office in fall- by October-  when his ruling Conservative Party will hold a conference. The premier said the British people’s will must be respected after UK voters chose to leave the 28-nation European Union in a historic vote on Thursday.

Cameron said there is no doubt about the result of the referendum but that he is not the “captain” that will steer the ship through difficult negotiations with the EU. The PM, however, noted that there will be no initial change in how British goods and services are sold in Europe.

The decision comes after a majority of Britons voted to leave the 28-member bloc after 43 years of membership. This comes as some 51.90 percent of British voters opted to leave the EU, while roughly 48.10 percent of people voted to stay in the union. More than 17.4 million Britons said the country should leave the bloc, as just over 16.14 million others favored remaining in the EU.

The ‘Leave’ campaign passed the winning post with a lead of more than one million votes and a margin of four percent. Voter turnout has been at around 72 percent.  In an earlier reaction to the results, the office of the prime minister said Britain is now in an “uncharted territory” following the ‘Brexit’ vote. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage was among the first to assume a celebratory tone, saying the country was taking its independence back.

Prestv