US President Barack Obama has issued a “major disaster” declaration for the state of Louisiana, where historic flooding has killed at least five people and stranded thousands more.

Obama called Governor John Bel Edwards to inform him of the decision, the White House said in a statement on Sunday night, two days after Edwards requested a state emergency as heavy rains soaked southeast Louisiana southern Mississippi.

The president told Edwards that the federal government will help Louisiana with its ongoing rescue and recovery missions.

“We are thankful for the federal government’s quick response to our request for an emergency declaration,” Edwards said in response.

The declaration makes federal funding available to those who were affected by the flood in at least four parishes of Tangipahoa, St. Helena, East Baton Rouge and Livingston that were hit the hardest.

Presstv

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a message to the former Cuban president and revolutionary leader, Fidel Castro, congratulating him on his 90th birthday. “You enjoy deep respect in Russia as an outstanding statesman who devoted his entire life to serving the people of Cuba,” Putin wrote in a telegram message posted on the Kremlin’s website on Saturday.

Putin underlined Castro’s “personal contribution to the development of friendship and cooperation” between Russia and Cuba. The Russian leader wished Castro “good health, longevity, vitality and prosperity.” Castro served as the president of Cuba from 1976 to 2008 and as the first secretary of the central committee of the Communist party of the country from 1961 to 2011.

The revolutionary leader is one of the giant figures of modern history who defied the United States to turn his island nation into a firm ally of the Soviet Union. Cuba and Russia have maintained diplomatic relations since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Moscow-Havana ties increased after Putin came into power in 2000. In December 2000, Putin visited Cuba, where he along with Castro called for the lifting of US sanctions against Cuba. Russia is still Cuba’s leading creditor and the two countries maintain close economic ties.

Presstv

Russia has deployed a regiment of its advanced S-400 air defense missile system to Crimea as a dispute deepens between Moscow and Kiev over the security situation in the Black Sea peninsula. Russian news agencies made the announcement on Friday, citing a statement from Russia’s Defense Ministry.

The ministry had earlier in the day announced that its navy would start to hold three-day military exercises in the Black Sea to practice repelling underwater attacks by saboteurs. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet based in Crimea is taking part in the military exercises. More than 10 warships, MI-8 and Ka-27PS helicopters are participating in the training.

“During the drill we are going to practice the issues of both operational and technical support. These include operations to counter underwater sabotage, navigational and hydrographic exercise, search and rescue missions,” said Russian Navy Commander Admiral Viktor Chirkov. Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Friday that Moscow could break diplomatic relations with Kiev over the security incidents in Crimea.

Presstv

Military experts from the United States of America have shared rural border patrol skills with twenty three elements from the National Gendarmerie’s elite Multipurpose Intervention Group (GPIGN) and the National Police Force. The trainees received their end-of-course certificates on August 11, 2016 at GPIGN’s shooting range in the Mbankomo locality, near Yaounde in the presence of the Director of Central Coordination of the National Gendarmerie, Brigadier General Elokobi Daniel Ndjock who represented the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Defence in charge of the National Gendarmerie.

The major highlight of the event was the “dynamic” demonstration exercise by the trainees who simulated a foiled planned terrorist attack on four strategic places in Yaounde from a Boko Haram base in the Mbankomo neighbourhood. In effect, a counter-operation enabled an arms supplier and three accomplices from the armed group to be followed, intercepted, neutralised and their arms cache raided thanks to the efficiency of raid, reconnaissance and interception units backed by a central crisis command unit.

Amazed at the effectiveness of the exercise like other senior Gendarmerie and Police officers present, General Elokobi instructed the trainees to daily use the skills acquired to be really operational in border areas. He also hailed the US for the continuing multifarious technical military assistance to boost the capacity of Cameroon’s defence and security forces in the fight against Boko Haram. On his part, the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Yaounde, Stewart Wilson used the opportunity to reaffirm his country’s commitment to continue assisting the National Gendarmerie and the National Police Force to perform their role in fighting terrorism in Cameroon.

Cameroon Tribune

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has purportedly appointed a new leader for its Nigeria-based affiliate, Boko Haram. According to Daesh-linked media, Abu Musab al-Barnawi, a former spokesman for Boko Haram, has replaced Abubakar Shekau, who had been in charge since 2009.

It was not clear why the change has taken place. Later on Thursday, Shekau released an audio message saying, “People should know we are still around,” apparently defying Daesh and the decision to oust him.

Barnawi claimed his group remains “a force to be reckoned with,” adding that the fight would go on against West African countries. “They strongly seek to Christianize the society… They exploit the condition of those who are displaced under the raging war, providing them with food and shelter and then Christianizing their children,” he said, referring to the West African states.

Al-Barnawi said the Takfiri militant group will respond to that threat by “booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those (Christians) who we find from the citizens of the cross.”

Presstv

As many as 45,000 members of the Daesh (ISIL) Takfiri group have been killed in the Middle East during the past two years, a senior American military official says.

US Army Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland made the announcement during a press briefing on Wednesday, adding that the terrorist group has now become an easier target after losing thousands of its members.

“We don’t see them operating nearly as effectively as they have in the past, which makes them even easier targets for us, so as a result their attrition has accelerated here of late,” he noted.

The American commander attributed some of the success in the battle against Daesh to the US-led campaign that started in late 2014, claiming that the coalition has killed 25,000 terrorists over the past 11 months.

The general’s claim comes at a time when Washington is under fire for the high rate of civilian deaths arising from its airstrikes.

In late July, more than a dozen civilians were killed or injured after US warplanes conducted airstrikes in Syria’s northern province of Aleppo.

Presstv

The UK is playing a substantial role in tackling security threats across Africa, with deployments in Nigeria and Somalia. Around 30 British troops have recently arrived in Somalia to bolster a United Nations mission, while a 35 strong Royal Air Force (RAF) team have been training Nigerian personnel helping to fight Boko Haram. An RAF Short Term Training Team have been advising the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) in how to defend their airbases from threats such as that from extremist group Boko Haram, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said. Personnel from No.5 Force Protection Wing and 51 Squadron RAF Regiment are also helping to boost the NAF’s skills in improvised explosive devices (IEDs), tracking insurgents, identifying weapons caches and navigation. They have also worked with the Nigerian Army on improving ground-to-air coordination.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said that, “We stand united with Nigerian efforts to defeat this brutal terrorist organisation. That is why we are increasing our support to their armed forces as they fight extremism. This mission is part of a step up in UK support announced by the Defence Secretary in December, paving the way for multiple deployments of up to 300 UK military personnel across 2016.” More than 5,000 members of the Nigerian Armed Forces have now benefited from UK training since April 2015, which has also included medical training, infantry skills, media operations, command and leadership, and support to Nigerian military training schools.

Around 30 British troops have recently arrived in Somalia to bolster a United Nations mission helping to ensure security against the threat of extremism. In a demonstration of the flexibility and global reach of the UK’s armed forces, the personnel will provide medical, logistical and engineering support as part of UN support to the African Mission in Somalia, which is working to build stability and help counter the threat posed by terrorist group Al-Shabaab. Fallon said that, “We are determined to tackle terrorism wherever it appears and this deployment demonstrates our commitment to help stabilise Somalia.”

The extra 30 troops brings the current number in-country to around 40, after an initial British team arrived in May to help strengthen infrastructure ready for this deployment. Up to 70 UK personnel will travel to Somalia in 2016 as part of the deployment.

Defenceweb

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran will never back down from distancing itself from the United States. “Keeping a distance from the head of the arrogant movement i.e. the US is one of the most important definitive principles of the great founder of the Islamic Republic (the late Imam Khomeini) and there is no room for any compromise or negligence in this regard,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Iran’s Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi and other senior personnel of the ministry on Tuesday.

Ayatollah Khamenei hailed the relentless efforts of the ministry, describing it as a “very important and crucial bastion” and “the wakeful and observant eye of the Islamic establishment.” “The Intelligence Ministry is the hard shell of the Islamic establishment and should never become vulnerable,” the Leader added. The Leader further called for the presence and operation of the ministry anywhere suspected of becoming a hideout for the enemy to deal a blow to the Islamic Republic.

Ayatollah Khamenei also said the survival and victory of the Islamic Revolution are tied to maintaining faith, adding, “The failure of the global arrogance against the Islamic establishment, despite massive and varied plots and methods that they have deployed since the first day against the [Islamic] Revolution, could not have been possible without the support of faith.”

The Leader stated that any move to weaken the faith of the Iranian people and officials would be treason and added, “The defensive force that has sustained the country throughout all these years has been the power of faith and if this strong and efficient weapon is undermined, it will lead to many plights.”

Presstv

Former Saudi intelligence chief and long-time Ambassador to Washington Prince Bandar bin Sultan has been linked to an al-Qaeda operative by the co-chair of a recent US probe into the 9/11 terror incidents. The recently declassified part of the 9/11 report regarding suspected Saudi ties to some of the hijackers involved in the terror events revealed that a phone log maintained by an alleged senior al-Qaeda operative, identified as Abu Zubaydah, included the unlisted phone number of a Colorado company associated with Bandar as well as the phone number of a bodyguard working at the Saudi Embassy in Washington at the time, CNN reported Friday.

The company in Aspen, Colorado used to manage Prince Bandar’s estate in the Western US state. “Both of those numbers were unpublished, so they had to have gotten into Zubaydah’s phone book through a personal contact who knew what those numbers were and what they represented,” said former Senator Bob Graham, who co-chaired the congressional commission that compiled the 28 pages of the 9/11 report that remained secret until its release last month.

Although both US intelligence agencies, the CIA and FBI, concluded that there was no evidence that anyone from the Saudi royal family knowingly provided support for the 9/11 attacks, Graham insisted that connection between Zubaydah’s contact list and the company associated with the senior Saudi official was “one of the most stunning parts of the investigation” and worthy of further investigation.

Bandar served as the Saudi ambassador to the US from 1983 to 2005, during the administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He later served as secretary general of Saudi Arabia’s National Security Council and the head of the kingdom’s General Intelligence Presidency, the equivalent of the CIA, until last year.

Bandar “is probably the most effective ambassador in Washington ever. Full stop,” said former CIA analyst Bruce Riedel. “He was highly regarded by every president.” The senior Saudi official was known to have the closest relationship with George H. W. Bush, in part due to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in the 1990 Persian Gulf War, in which Riyadh viewed the Iraqi aggression as a threat and supported the subsequent US military action.

“Bandar was in the Bush White House, I would say, every other day and in some periods every day. It was a very, very close relationship,” Riedel added. “And I think the president and Bandar genuinely liked each other.” Saudi authorities have denied allegations on their involvement in the September 2001 incidents in which nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Fifteen of the 19 hijackers involved in the 9/11 attacks were Saudi nationals.

Presstv

A passenger plane has declared a mid-air emergency and seemingly disappeared from radar, according to reports.

The Air Algerie Boeing 737-600 took off from Algiers this afternoon on a flight to Marseille but let out an emergency call shortly after take-off.

Flight radar showed the plane turn around and head back towards the point where it took-off but before arriving, the jet disappeared from radar.

Plane tracking site Flight Radar 24 currently lists the plane’s status as “unknown”. Some flight enthusiasts have claimed the plane may have not been picked up below 17,000ft if it landed safely.