Excerpts: Trump with CIA 1,000 percent. Israel approves 566 settler

Excerpts: Trump with CIA 1,000 percent. Israel approves 566 settler homes.
Open-eyed Amman citizen saves many lives. Soak pits, extra floors cause
Amman buildings collapse January 22, 2017

+++SOURCE:Naharnet (Lebanon)22 Jan.’17:”Trump to CIA:’I Am with You I,000
Percent’ “, by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Trump with CIA 1,000 percent
FULL TEXT:President Donald Trump told the CIA Saturday[21Jan] it had his
full support as he paid a visit to mend fences after publicly rejecting its
assessment that Russia tried to help him win the U.S. election.

“I am with you 1,000 percent,” Trump said in a short address to CIA staff
after his visit to the agency headquarters in Virginia.

In his first full day in office, Trump moved swiftly to confront simmering
tensions left by U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in the
U.S. election to try to tip the outcome in Trump’s favor.

“I love you, I respect you,” he told members of the U.S. intelligence
community.

“We’re all on the same wavelength, right?” he asked, referring in particular
to the fight against the Islamic State group.

“We have not used the real abilities that we have. We’ve been restrained. We
have to get rid of ISIS.”

Mike Pompeo, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, has not yet been confirmed by the
US Senate.

A 53-year-old Republican lawmaker, Pompeo is considered a foreign policy
hawk and was an ardent opponent of former president Barack Obama’s
administration.

Outgoing CIA director John Brennan had stern words for Trump last Sunday[15
Jan], saying he needed to be more “disciplined” in his public comments.

“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s
intentions and actions,” ​Brennan said of Trump on Fox News Sunday[22 Jan].

Trump, likening U.S. intelligence to Nazis, suggested Brennan himself may
have leaked an unsubstantiated report that the Russians had gathered
damaging salacious personal information about him.

The intelligence agencies had given both Trump and Obama a summary of the
dossier, which later was published in full by BuzzFeed.

Brennan said the U.S. intelligence chiefs considered it their responsibility
to make Trump aware that it was in circulation.

+++SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon) 22 Jan.’17:”Israel Approves 566 East Jerusalem
Settler Homes”,by Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:Israel approves 566 settler homes

FULL TEXT:sraeli authorities on Sunday[22Jan]approved building permits for
566 settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem, plans that had been postponed
until U.S. President Donald Trump took office, the city’s deputy mayor said.

Meir Turjeman told AFP that city officials approved the plans that had been
previously postponed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s request in the
wake of a U.N. Security Council resolution in December against Israeli
settlement building.

Turjeman said plans for some 11,000 other homes were also in process in east
Jerusalem, though he did not say when they could be moved forward.

The new permits are for homes in the settlement neighborhoods of Pisgat
Zeev, Ramot and Ramat Shlomo, according to Turjeman, who also heads the
planning committee that approved them.

“The rules of the game have changed with Donald Trump’s arrival as
president,” he said.

“We no longer have our hands tied as in the time of Barack Obama. Now we can
finally build.”

Netanyahu said Sunday[22 Jan] he was to speak with Trump later in the day,
their first conversation since the billionaire businessman took office.

Trump has pledged strong support for Israel and vowed during his campaign to
recognize Jerusalem as the country’s capital despite the city’s contested
status.

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 22 Jan,’17:” The ‘unsung hero’ who saved hundreds of
lives in Jofeh”,by Maoyad Awad
SUBJECT:open-eyed Amman citizen saves may lives
FULL TEXT:AMMAN — “It was only a minute or two after my brother left the
building when it collapsed. He was the last to leave,” said Nasser Al Hajj,
a retired municipal official and a resident of the first of three buildings
that collapsed in Jabal Al Jofeh neighbourhood in east Amman.

The five-storey building was inhabited by five families, and all those who
were there were saved, thanks to Moayad Awad, an unemployed civil engineer,
and the whistleblower of the story.

The young man, a resident of the crowded neighbourhood overlooking downtown,
was passing by when a boy, a relative of his, came running to him, telling
him of “falling sand” in the basement floor of the building.

“I went to see what he was talking about to discover that there was a crack
in a pillar, and as a civil engineer, I knew there was immediate danger, so
the first thing I did was call the Civil Defence [Department (CDD)] and then
I hurried upstairs and asked residents to leave immediately.”

He was even pushing furniture in the apartments above to opposite side “to
ease the weight on the pillar downstairs”.

Hajj confirmed the story. He had no reason to question what the engineer was
saying, “because the building started trembling. I felt it and I went down
and saw the cracking pillar”.

In no time, everyone was knocking on doors until all were out.

The owner of the building, Haitham Ramadan, was also there.

Living in an adjacent building, he saw the cracks in the façade of the
property and decided, with neighbours, to evacuate.

The time between the emergency call to the CDD and the collapse was one
hour, Awad told The Jordan Times over the phone.

He shared the information and his expertise with the CDD and other officials
who arrived at the scene.

Awad warned that the adjacent buildings were not safe, and they were
evacuated. The next morning, they were in ruins.

Top officials who met Saturday blamed “unlicensed” additions to the
buildings for the crack, and “soak pits”.

Awad and Hajj said there is already a sewage system in the neighbourhood,
which has seen frequent blocks for decades, and each time, the municipality
would solve the problem temporarily, and each time, there were leaks running
under the buildings.

The engineer, from a professional point of view, blamed the faulty sewage
system and poor services.

The residents stressed that their buildings were licensed and in compliance
with regulations.

The whistleblower was celebrated on social media sites and on one or two
news websites.

“I was not looking for praise. I am just happy that no one was hurt,” the
Egypt graduate engineer said.

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 22 Jan.’17:” Collapse of Amman buildings blamed on
unlicensed extra floors, ‘soak pits’”,byMohammad Ghazal,Laila Azzeh

SUBJECT: “Soak pits”,extra floors cause Amman buildings collapse

FULL TEXT:AMMAN – Arbitrary construction and “soak pits” are the primary
causes of the collapse of three buildings in Amman’s Jofeh area, the Jordan
National Building Council maintained on Saturday[21Jan], an account
challenged by residents.

“The old buildings, which date back to the eighties, were incapable of
tolerating the arbitrary construction of additional storeys throughout the
years. The soak pits in the area made the situation even worse,” Public
Works and Housing Minister Sami Halaseh told The Jordan Times.

The council held an urgent meeting on Saturday[21 Jan]with HRH Princess
Sumaya, the interior and public housing ministers and Amman Mayor Aqel
Biltaji to discuss the collapses, and began an investigation into the
incidents.

Authorities were initially notified on Thursday[19 Jan] that part of a
residential building in Jofeh collapsed.

Reports said a young engineer from the area saw the cracks in one building
and called the Civil Defence Department (CDD) after which he managed to
convince the residents to evacuate before the first building collapsed,
while the CDD took care of evacuating hundreds from the surrounding
buildings, with the help of police and social development officials .

The concerned agencies evacuated dozens of families consisting of more than
380 individuals and provided them with alternative accommodation upon
directives by His Majesty King Abdullah.

While at the site, the rescue units also noticed that the surrounding
buildings had “deep” cracks, prompting them to evacuate 350 people from two
buildings adjacent to the one that collapsed.

“The two evacuated buildings collapsed on Friday[20 Jan] morning. We were
fortunate that we took the decision to clear the buildings on the spot,”
Social Ministry Spokesperson Fawaz Ratrout told The Jordan Times.

“It was really scary when I saw the buildings collapse,” Adel, an
eyewitness, who preferred to be called by his first name, told The Jordan
Times.

Neighbours challenged the official accounts, saying that the faulty sewage
system, despite constant complaints to municipal authorities, was the reason
behind the disaster.

“I live in the neighborhood. This area has suffered from many problems in
the past. The owners of these houses have been complaining for a very long
time that there was a sewage leakage under the buildings and it kept
reoccurring,” Adel said.

No injuries were reported and the families, who included landlords and
tenants, were taken by the ministry to furnished apartments, with their
basic needs taken care of in cooperation with CARE-Jordan and the Islamic
Charitable Centre, according to Ratrout.

King Abdullah on Thursday[19Jan] issued directives to Minister of Social
Development Wajih Azaizeh and Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab to check on
the site.

A technical committee of members from the social development and public
works ministries, the Public Security Department (PSD), the CDD and the
Greater Amman Municipality was formed by Interior Minister, Ghaleb Zu’bi to
investigate incident, while taking immediate action to ensure the safety of
citizens.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported that Prime Minister Hani Al-Mulki
called Zu’bi as he was chairing the meeting and directed the officials to
carry out a scan of all areas in Amman to detect any similar threat, as a
step to conduct such a probe nation-wide.

The council said the collapsed buildings were old and that additional
storeys had been arbitrarily added over the years, according to Halaseh, who
added that the total number of buildings evacuated in the area reached 17.

He highlighted that “soak pits” in the neighbourhood contributed to the
collapse, saying that participants at the meeting called for an immediate
study of the location.

During the meeting, PSD Director Lt. Gen. Talal Kofahi blamed officials for
allowing citizens to build five and six-storey buildings in Jofeh, saying
that many areas in Amman suffer from arbitrary construction and are in need
of intervention.

Residents of the same buildings insisted that the property was duly licensed
and there were no additional storeys.

In a statement, the Jordan Engineers Association said it is committed to
putting all its expertise at the disposal of the concerned authorities in
order to identify the reasons behind the Jofeh incident.

Several charity societies on Saturday provided support and donations to the
families affected by the collapsing incident and the other evacuees, Ratrout
said in remarks later Saturday.
==================
Sue Lerner – Associate, IMRA