The suicide bomber who detonated a bomb at a Manchester pop concert killing 22 people including young children has been named as 22-year-old Salman Abedi.

According to the UK Daily Mail the bomber was previously known to authorities. He died at the scene and police carried out a controlled explosion at what is believed to be his home during raids around the city today.

(UK Daily Mail) […] Abedi is understood to have been born in Britain but is from a Libyan family. A school friend told MailOnline had grown a beard when he last saw him and neighbours claimed he had been ‘acting strangely’ recently.

A 23-year-old man, believed to be Abedi’s brother, was also arrested by anti-terror officers as police and security services attempt to work out if the suicide bomber was part of a cell.

Security sources have told MailOnline that initial analysis of the ‘sophisticated’ device suggests it was made by an expert.

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♦ Massive explosion at conclusion of singer Ariana Grade concert in Manchester England. ♦ At least two ‘explosions’. ♦ US officials briefed on the incident say UK officials suspect it was caused by suicide bomber, NBC News reported. ♦ Police confirm 19 people were killed and at least 50 more were wounded. ♦ Mostly teen girls. ♦ 10:30pm Local Time.

(UK Daily Mail) Nineteen people have been confirmed dead and around 50 injured after a terrorist attack inside Manchester Arena at the end of a teen concert tonight.

Video footage showed thousands of people fleeing in tears from the venue, many covered in blood, after the Ariana Grande concert finished.

Horrifying footage showed petrified children leaping over fences as they desperately tried to escape the 21,000-seat venue.

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The Saudi people and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are very proud of what they were able to accomplish during this historic visit by President Donald Trump to the summit of a united Arab coalition. (Summit Production Video):

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The entire region should be proud.

Despite the popular western dismissive media narrative, the summit was a resounding success. Beyond the royal pageantry, we can only imagine the internal anxiety if our beloved America was defined by the abhorrent behavior of the Westboro Baptist Church.

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President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump join President Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt) and Saudi King Salman to participate in the inauguration of The Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology.  [two videos below]  ‘Hearts and Memes’?

Essentially the center appears to be a Saudi data hub for monitoring multiple media and social media platforms, detecting extremist sentiments and countering the concerning rhetoric with positive social media messaging. In the U.S. we have the NSA cyber command monitoring system, a ‘big brother’ per se’.  The Saudi version appears to be a non military enterprise which might be considered ‘Big Allah’.

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Given First Lady Melania’s interests in combating social media bullying, this Saudi enterprise and exhibit was likely interesting.

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson holds a press briefing in Saudi Arabia at the conclusion of President Trump’s speech at the Arab Islamic American Summit:

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More than any other Arab leader Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led the way in confronting Islamic terrorism.

It was President al-Sisi who exiled the Muslim Brotherhood and formed a coalition of Arab nations to confront the extremist elements promoting violence.

President al-Sisi’s call to confront extremism was joined by King Abdullah III (Jordan) in 2014; and that eventually led to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States uniting and forming an anti-extremism Arab coalition. [Backstory Here]

President al-Sisi delivered a 2015 New Year speech to the the most influential Islamic scholars and faith leaders calling upon internal reform to confront the radical elements within the Muslim faith. Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz honored President al-Sisi for his efforts at creating a stable coalition for peace just prior to his death a few weeks later in late January 2015.

After taking power in 2015 Saudi King Salman took up the cause for al-Sisi’s peace coalition, and that was the beginning of a series of events that culminated in this 2017 Arab Islamic American Summit.  If regional peace is achieved, history will show how significant Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was in that result.

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[TRANSCRIPT] I want to thank King Salman for his extraordinary words, and the magnificent Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for hosting today’s summit. I am honored to be received by such gracious hosts. I have always heard about the splendor of your country and the kindness of your citizens, but words do not do justice to the grandeur of this remarkable place and the incredible hospitality you have shown us from the moment we arrived.

You also hosted me in the treasured home of King Abdulaziz, the founder of the Kingdom who united your great people. Working alongside another beloved leader – American President Franklin Roosevelt – King Abdulaziz began the enduring partnership between our two countries. King Salman: your father would be so proud to see that you are continuing his legacy – and just as he opened the first chapter in our partnership, today we begin a new chapter that will bring lasting benefits to our citizens.

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President Trump is scheduled to deliver a historic speech in Saudi Arabia during the Arab Islamic American Summit.  The venue is The King Abdulaziz Conference Center and the scheduled time is approximately 9:15am EDT / 4:45pm local.

Update Video Added:

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In January of 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi began a journey of peace by asking the holiest and most influential Islamic Scholars in the Arab world to join him in stepping away from the noise of extremist voices and engaging in long-term introspective review of their Islamic faith.  President al-Sisi called for a religious revolution to focus Islam toward a future of peace.  The engaged Dar al-Iftaa scholarly audience erupted in applause.

President al-Sisi stood up, resolute, spoke of large truths with bold leadership, and took great risk upon himself.  After the speech a coalition of like-minded voices began to grow in number and consequence.   That moment became the pebble dropped in the shoe of the Arab leadership of consequence – the emphasis shifted toward peace.

That influential speech, and more importantly the leadership of all joining member states, including the praise of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia before his untimely death, paved the way forward toward this upcoming weekend.   King Abdullah’s successor, his brother King Salman, is now positioned to put his own footprint in history.

All of the necessary elements, many of them taking years to organize, are aligned in common purpose for this specific moment in time.

More than a dozen heads of state from Arab and Islamic nations have been invited by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend the conference with President Trump including: Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (Egypt), King Abdullah III (Jordan), Muhammad Fuad Masum (Iraq), Mamnoon Hussain (Pakistan) and all six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE).  All are expected to be in attendance.

We are living in one of those rare moments when we are fortunate enough to see the building blocks of historic enterprise being erected while we watch.  The results of these next several days will shape how our children view the landscape of the middle east in all the years to come.

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Important Stuff – Watch how the actual (non fake) news cycle from the administration rolls out in coordination with President Trump’s trip to the mid-east.  There’s a larger, coordinated, geopolitical strategy message being sent to the world by the peace coalition President Trump has assembled over the past four months…

WASHINGTON DC – Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is crediting changes in tactics ordered by President Trump for increasing the pressure on the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and leaving the beleaguered fighters with no avenue of escape.

“He directed a tactical shift from shoving ISIS out of safe locations in an attrition fight to surrounding the enemy in their strongholds so we can annihilate ISIS,” Mattis said Friday during a Pentagon briefing on the counter-ISIS campaign. (more…)