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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U.S. President Trump and PA President Mahmoud Abbas participate in joint remarks at the Presidential Palace in Bethlehem:  Approx 3:40am EDT

Update – Video Added – President Trump begins by discussing the Manchester Terror Attack.

Manchester Response:

Schedule below:

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President Donald Trump Participates in Arrival Ceremony with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem.

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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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Together with his family and diplomatic team, U.S. President Donald Trump became the first president to visit Jerusalem’s Western Wall on Monday.  President Trump stood before the holiest place where Jews are permitted to pray before inserting a note between the monumental stones.

President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were accompanied by the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinowitz, who said on Israel Radio that he recited two psalms with the U.S. leader. One of them, Psalm 122, speaks of Jerusalem as a “city that is united together”.

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President Trump and First Lady Melania arrive in Tel Aviv, Israel and participate in the Airport Welcome Ceremony.  Greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin – Ben Gurion International Airport:

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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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