Donald Trump has praised late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for killing off &quot;terrorists&quot;, reprising previous comments in support of dictators in the Middle East and earning a swift rebuke from White House rival Hillary Clinton. 
 
The United States &quot;shouldn&#39;t have destabilised&quot; Iraq, now a hotbed for the Islamic State (IS) group 13 years after the US-led invasion, said Trump, who showed lukewarm support for the war before it took place and later opposed it. 
 
&quot;He was a bad guy -- really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good,&quot; Trump told supporters. 
 
&quot;They didn&#39;t read them the rights. They didn&#39;t talk. They were terrorists. It was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism,&quot; the Republican firebrand added, referring to the prestigious US university. 
 
Rival Clinton&#39;s campaign pounces after remark&nbsp; 
 
Shortly after the remarks, Clinton&#39;s campaign pounced on Trump&#39;s apparent support of a strongman, who was hanged in Iraq in 2006 for ordering the sectarian killings of nearly 150 Shiites two decades earlier. 
 
&quot;Tonight, Trump yet again lauded Saddam Hussein as a great killer of terrorists, noting with approval that he never bothered to read anyone their rights. In reality, Hussein&#39;s regime was a sponsor of terrorism,&quot; Clinton&#39;s senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement. 
 
&quot;Trump&#39;s cavalier compliments for brutal dictators, and the twisted lessons he seems to have learned from their history, again demonstrate how dangerous he would be as Commander-in-Chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks,&quot; he added.&nbsp; 
 
Republican speaker calls Saddam &#39;one of 20th century&#39;s most evil people&#39; 
 
Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, did not back Trump when asked about the comments.&nbsp;Saddam &quot;was one of the 20th century`s most evil people. He was up there, and he committed mass genocide against his own people using chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy,&quot; Ryan said on Fox News. 
 
Last year, Trump said the world would be &quot;100 per cent&quot; better off if Saddam and slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were still in power, adding that human rights abuses are &quot;worse than they ever were&quot; in Iraq and Libya. 
 
&quot;I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He (Saddam) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it`s the Harvard of terrorism,&quot; Trump said at the time.&nbsp; 
 
(AFP)&nbsp;

Last year, Trump said the world would be '100%' better off if Saddam and slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were still in power

Donald Trump has praised late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for killing off "terrorists", reprising previous comments in support of dictators in the Middle East and earning a swift rebuke from White House rival Hillary Clinton. The United States "shouldn't have destabilised" Iraq, now a hotbed for the Islamic State (IS) group 13 years after the US-led invasion, said Trump, who showed lukewarm support for the war before it took place and later opposed it. "He was a bad guy -- really bad guy. But you know what he did well? He killed terrorists. He did that so good," Trump told supporters. "They didn't read them the rights. They didn't talk. They were terrorists. It was over. Today, Iraq is Harvard for terrorism," the Republican firebrand added, referring to the prestigious US university. Rival Clinton's campaign pounces after remark Shortly after the remarks, Clinton's campaign pounced on Trump's apparent support of a strongman, who was hanged in Iraq in 2006 for ordering the sectarian killings of nearly 150 Shiites two decades earlier. "Tonight, Trump yet again lauded Saddam Hussein as a great killer of terrorists, noting with approval that he never bothered to read anyone their rights. In reality, Hussein's regime was a sponsor of terrorism," Clinton's senior policy advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement. "Trump's cavalier compliments for brutal dictators, and the twisted lessons he seems to have learned from their history, again demonstrate how dangerous he would be as Commander-in-Chief and how unworthy he is of the office he seeks," he added. Republican speaker calls Saddam 'one of 20th century's most evil people' Paul Ryan, the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, did not back Trump when asked about the comments. Saddam "was one of the 20th century`s most evil people. He was up there, and he committed mass genocide against his own people using chemical weapons. Saddam Hussein was a bad guy," Ryan said on Fox News. Last year, Trump said the world would be "100 per cent" better off if Saddam and slain Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were still in power, adding that human rights abuses are "worse than they ever were" in Iraq and Libya. "I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He (Saddam) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it`s the Harvard of terrorism," Trump said at the time. (AFP)

Trump hails Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for 'killing terrorists'

<div style="text-align: justify;">US&nbsp;President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia&#39;s powerful deputy crown prince on Friday and the two are expected to discuss conflicts in the Middle East including the campaign against Islamic State, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. 
 
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the United States aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington and to promote a plan to slash the kingdom&#39;s dependence on oil revenues. Friday&#39;s meeting will take place at the White House. 
 
White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss issues including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and &quot;our cooperation with the Saudis in the campaign against ISIL,&quot; as Islamic State is also known. 
 
U.S. officials have expressed unease about the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in large-scale civilian casualties, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. 
 
Reuters reported last week that the UN&nbsp;had removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a child rights blacklist after intense pressure by Riyadh. 
 
Prince Mohammed, whose influence in Saudi governing counsels appears to be growing rapidly, is being given wide access to Obama&#39;s administration. 
 
He will visit the White House on Thursday afternoon to meet with Obama&#39;s National Economic Council to discuss the plan the prince is championing to transform the Saudi economy by 2030. US&nbsp;treasury secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be present. 
 
&quot;A lot of our economic officials this afternoon will be meeting with him about how to move that programme forward and adopt best practices,&quot; Schultz said 
 
Prince Mohammed, who is also the Saudi defence minister, also is due to meet US&nbsp;defence secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon on Thursday. 
(Reuters)</div>

Deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the US aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington

US President Barack Obama will meet with Saudi Arabia's powerful deputy crown prince on Friday and the two are expected to discuss conflicts in the Middle East including the campaign against Islamic State, a White House spokesman said on Thursday. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the son of King Salman, is on a visit to the United States aimed at restoring frayed relations with Washington and to promote a plan to slash the kingdom's dependence on oil revenues. Friday's meeting will take place at the White House. White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the meeting would provide an opportunity to discuss issues including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen and "our cooperation with the Saudis in the campaign against ISIL," as Islamic State is also known. U.S. officials have expressed unease about the Saudi-led campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, which has resulted in large-scale civilian casualties, according to the United Nations and human rights groups. Reuters reported last week that the UN had removed the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a child rights blacklist after intense pressure by Riyadh. Prince Mohammed, whose influence in Saudi governing counsels appears to be growing rapidly, is being given wide access to Obama's administration. He will visit the White House on Thursday afternoon to meet with Obama's National Economic Council to discuss the plan the prince is championing to transform the Saudi economy by 2030. US treasury secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be present. "A lot of our economic officials this afternoon will be meeting with him about how to move that programme forward and adopt best practices," Schultz said Prince Mohammed, who is also the Saudi defence minister, also is due to meet US defence secretary Ash Carter at the Pentagon on Thursday. (Reuters)

Obama to meet Saudi deputy crown prince on Friday:  White House

The oil market is now in balance thanks to unplanned outages and robust demand, particularly from emerging economies, but this equilibrium will tilt into surplus again early next year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. 
 
The agency said in its monthly report that demand growth in 2017 is likely to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), the same level at which it estimates growth for this year, having revised up its May 2016 forecast of 1.2 million bpd. 
 
&quot;Again, on the planning assumption that OPEC oil production grows modestly in 2017, we expect to see global oil stocks build slightly in the first half of 2017 before falling slightly more in the second half of 2017. For the year as a whole, there will be a very small stock draw of 0.1 million bpd,&quot; &nbsp; said&nbsp;the IEA. 
 
&quot;At halfway in 2016, the oil market looks to be balancing; but we must not forget that there are large volumes of shut-in production, mainly in Nigeria and Libya, that could return to the market, and the strong start for oil demand growth seen this year might not be maintained,&quot; said&nbsp;the Paris-based agency . 
 
Most of the anticipated demand growth this year and in 2017 is expected to come from nations that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the agency said. 
 
&quot;We must stress that this is our first look at 2017 and the huge number of moving parts will see us amend our numbers accordingly. However ... the direction of travel seems to be clear,&quot; said&nbsp;the IEA. 
 
The IEA&#39;s latest demand estimate for the first three months of this year shows global oil deliveries rising by 1.6 million bpd to 95.2 million bpd, with nine out of every 10 extra barrels going to a non-OECD economy. 
 
On the supply side, the IEA said output fell by 590,000 bpd year-on-year to 95.4 million bpd in May, the first major decline since the start of 2013, as spending cuts and outages reduced non-OPEC production by 1.3 million bpd from a year earlier. 
 
Having fallen by 900,000 bpd in 2016, non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, lifting output to 57 million bpd, the IEA said. 
 
Crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 100,000 bpd in May to 32.61 million bpd, after a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria offset higher output from the Middle East. Production was still 500,000 bpd higher than in May last year. 
 
&quot;Iran has clearly emerged as OPEC&#39;s fastest source of supply growth this year, with an anticipated annual gain of nearly 700,000 bpd,&quot; the IEA said. 
 
The only other substantial increase from OPEC in 2017 could be from Nigeria, should security issues in the Niger Delta be resolved. 
(Reuters)

Large volumes of shut-in production from Nigeria and Libya can return to the market and that may change oil demand growth

The oil market is now in balance thanks to unplanned outages and robust demand, particularly from emerging economies, but this equilibrium will tilt into surplus again early next year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today. The agency said in its monthly report that demand growth in 2017 is likely to reach 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd), the same level at which it estimates growth for this year, having revised up its May 2016 forecast of 1.2 million bpd. "Again, on the planning assumption that OPEC oil production grows modestly in 2017, we expect to see global oil stocks build slightly in the first half of 2017 before falling slightly more in the second half of 2017. For the year as a whole, there will be a very small stock draw of 0.1 million bpd," said the IEA. "At halfway in 2016, the oil market looks to be balancing; but we must not forget that there are large volumes of shut-in production, mainly in Nigeria and Libya, that could return to the market, and the strong start for oil demand growth seen this year might not be maintained," said the Paris-based agency . Most of the anticipated demand growth this year and in 2017 is expected to come from nations that are not part of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the agency said. "We must stress that this is our first look at 2017 and the huge number of moving parts will see us amend our numbers accordingly. However ... the direction of travel seems to be clear," said the IEA. The IEA's latest demand estimate for the first three months of this year shows global oil deliveries rising by 1.6 million bpd to 95.2 million bpd, with nine out of every 10 extra barrels going to a non-OECD economy. On the supply side, the IEA said output fell by 590,000 bpd year-on-year to 95.4 million bpd in May, the first major decline since the start of 2013, as spending cuts and outages reduced non-OPEC production by 1.3 million bpd from a year earlier. Having fallen by 900,000 bpd in 2016, non-OPEC supply growth is expected to rise by 200,000 bpd in 2017, lifting output to 57 million bpd, the IEA said. Crude output from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 100,000 bpd in May to 32.61 million bpd, after a spate of attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria offset higher output from the Middle East. Production was still 500,000 bpd higher than in May last year. "Iran has clearly emerged as OPEC's fastest source of supply growth this year, with an anticipated annual gain of nearly 700,000 bpd," the IEA said. The only other substantial increase from OPEC in 2017 could be from Nigeria, should security issues in the Niger Delta be resolved. (Reuters)

IEA sees oil market balance in 2016, surplus to re-emerge next year

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus today, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said. 
 
The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria&#39;s holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq who are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country&#39;s five-year-old civil war.

Amaq news agency said that in today&#39;s attack, militants detonated an explosives-laden car in Sayeda Zeinab while two suicide bombers blew themselves up nearby. Syrian state media showed footage of wide-scale damage in a busy marketplace.

A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon&#39;s powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad&#39;s government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria.

They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria's holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for car and suicide bomb blasts that killed at least eight people and injured scores in a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus today, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency said. The Sayeda Zeinab suburb contains Syria's holiest Shiite shrine and is a base for Shiite militant groups from Lebanon and Iraq who are on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in the country's five-year-old civil war. Amaq news agency said that in today's attack, militants detonated an explosives-laden car in Sayeda Zeinab while two suicide bombers blew themselves up nearby. Syrian state media showed footage of wide-scale damage in a busy marketplace. A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad's government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria. They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

Islamic State claims responsibility for bombings near Damascus Shiite shrine

At least eight people were killed and scores wounded in twin suicide and car bomb blasts today in a Damascus suburb that contains Syria&#39;s holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, state television said. 
 
State media, which flashed the news, did not give further details about the bombings in the Sayeda Zeinab area, where at least three bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State militants have killed and injured scores of people this year. 
 
A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street. 
 
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon&#39;s powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. 
 
Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad&#39;s government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria. 
 
They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

A Shiite religious cleric was quoted saying that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in main al-Taen street

At least eight people were killed and scores wounded in twin suicide and car bomb blasts today in a Damascus suburb that contains Syria's holiest Shiite Muslim shrine, state television said. State media, which flashed the news, did not give further details about the bombings in the Sayeda Zeinab area, where at least three bomb attacks claimed by Islamic State militants have killed and injured scores of people this year. A Shiite religious cleric said on the state-run Ikhbariyah TV channel that the car bomb blast was not far from the shrine area in the main al-Taen street. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said the death toll was at least nine. The heavily garrisoned area is a well known stronghold of Lebanon's powerful Shiite Hezbollah group, a major backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Thousands of Iraqi and Afghan Shiite militia recruits, who volunteer to fight against the Sunni rebel groups trying to bring down Assad's government, normally come to the area before being sent to frontlines across Syria. They say they come to Syria to defend the Sayeda Zeinab shrine from radical Sunni extremists.

Suicide, car bomb blasts hit Damascus suburb, at least 8 dead, says Syrian state media

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Trump hails Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein for 'killing terrorists'

Obama to meet Saudi deputy crown prince on Friday: White House

IEA sees oil market balance in 2016, surplus to re-emerge next year

Islamic State claims responsibility for bombings near Damascus Shiite shrine

Suicide, car bomb blasts hit Damascus suburb, at least 8 dead, says Syrian state media