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'Strong' Franco-British defense relationship won't be hit by Brexit: Fallon says | PARIS (Reuters) - Britain s exit from the European Union will not have an impact its defense ties with France despite concerns they could be harmed by tough divorce talks, Defence Minister Michael Fallon said. In an interview with Reuters, Fallon sought to stress the close relationship between Europe s two largest military powers, who agreed in Paris on Thursday to hold joint exercises in September and November in eastern Europe and Kenya. I know French and British companies are concerned that we should not lose any cooperation after Brexit because we are working together on combat aircraft programs and new missiles systems that we need to progress on together, Fallon said. Shrinking budgets, a less indulgent United States and Europe s diminishing military clout in the world have in recent years bolstered the two countries determination to work together. But in July, Paris and Berlin unexpectedly announced plans for a joint fighter jet, catching many in Britain off guard. Asked whether this and other Europe-wide efforts for closer defense integration could hamper the ties, Fallon said he was confident that the two traditional allies would continue as usual. This is a strong relationship and it is not going to be diverted by Brexit, he said. Britain s exit negotiations with the European Union this week failed to make the kind of progress needed to open talks on their future relationship in October, the bloc s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said earlier on Thursday. Fallon said there was bound to be the odd stumble as both sides jostled for position, but that it was in the interests of Britain and EU to end the uncertainty as quickly as possible. Everyone knows that in the end there has to be a settlement, he said. Both permanent veto-wielding members of the United Nations Security Council, Britain and France are engaged in air strikes on Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, and Fallon said he believed the militant group would soon be defeated in its Syrian bastion of Raqqa. The battle to liberate Mosul took nine months and we re seeing some of the heaviest urban fighting we ve seen since the Second World War, he said. We won t set a timetable ... but I hope it won t be too long before Daesh is driven out of Raqqa, he said referring to an Arabic acronym for the hardline Islamist group. Fallon also said a military victory should not be achieved to the detriment of stabilizing the city and restoring civilian rule once Raqqa was taken. One thing we learnt from Iraq is that we mustn t let the military campaign get too far ahead of the political process, he said. Islamic State is on back foot in Syria and Iraq and losing territory. We have every prospect of Raqqa being liberated, but after that we have to work for proper governance to make sure Sunni populations have a stake in the future, he said. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Arsonists attack building used by controversial Russian director | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Attackers set fire to a building used by a Russian director whose film about the last czar s romance with a ballerina has been condemned by religious conservatives, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday. A Molotov cocktail was thrown in through a window, igniting a fire in a building in the city of St Petersburg that houses, among other organizations, the studio of director Alexei Uchitel, the news agencies reported. The fire caused minor damage to a part of the building occupied by a different film studio, Lendok. Uchitel s forthcoming film, called Matilda, is about a reputed love affair between Tsar Nicholas II, before his coronation, and ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska. Some conservatives have called for the film to be banned, saying it besmirches the reputation of the late czar. The Russian Orthodox Church has designated him a saint. He and his family were executed soon after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. I cannot think of any motivation (for the attack) other than it being a reaction to Alexei Uchitel making the film Mathilda , TASS news agency quoted Lendok director Alexei Telnov as saying. The attack resulted in broken windows and a burned window sill in a part of Lendok s premises used for movie viewings, concerts and conferences. It was a miracle there was not a big fire, the agency quoted Telnov as saying. A spokesman for the St Petersburg police told Reuters officers were making checks after fire and smoke were spotted at the studio s address. An assistant to Telnov said he was busy making a film so could not comment. Uchitel s representatives could not be reached for comment. Uchitel s movie is to be released in October. Natalia Poklonskaya, a member of the Russian parliament, has said she asked prosecutors to have the film s release stopped, saying it would insult the religious feeling of believers. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
After North Korea missile, Britain and Japan agree closer security ties | TOKYO (Reuters) - Britain and Japan said on Thursday they would cooperate in countering the threat posed by North Korea, two days after it fired a missile over northern Japan, and will call on China to exert its leverage. Prime Minister Theresa May, looking to strengthen relations with one of her closest allies ahead of Brexit, is visiting Japan as it responds to an increasing military threat. Terming North Korea s missile program a global threat , Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a news conference that Japan and Britain would cooperate. It is very meaningful that Prime Minister May and I agreed to further strengthen pressure on North Korea and to call on China to play a larger role, he added. May agreed, noting that China, North Korea s lone major ally, had been involved in U.N. Security Council debate earlier this week. China does have a particular position in this, they have leverage on North Korea and I believe we should be encouraging China to exercise that leverage to do what we all want - which is to ensure that North Korea is not conducting these illegal acts. May toured Japan s flagship Izumo helicopter carrier for a military briefing with Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera before attending a national security meeting. May and Abe agreed on a joint declaration on security cooperation, including plans for British soldiers to take part in military exercises on Japanese soil and for collaboration to address the threat of cyber and militant attacks when Japan hosts the Olympics in 2020. North Korea featured heavily in the talks after it launched a ballistic missile on Tuesday that passed over Japanese territory, prompting international condemnation. May s office had said the two leaders were expected to discuss the possibility of further sanctions on North Korea, but neither Abe nor May touched on the issue at the news conference. The Global Times, a publication of the official People s Daily of China s ruling Communist Party, criticized an earlier comment of May s comment calling for more pressure from China. Beijing does not need London to teach it how to deal with North Korea, the newspaper said. Asked about the United States, Japan and Britain looking to impose new sanctions on North Korea, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the situation could only be resolved peacefully through dialogue. We think it is regrettable that some countries selectively overlook the relevant Security Council resolutions demand to advance dialogue, and stubbornly emphasize pressure and sanctions, she told a daily news briefing. OUTWARD-LOOKING Apart from security, May s trip has focused on trade and investment. She is keen to convince nervy investors that Britain s exit from the European Union will not make it a less attractive business partner. Both May and Abe addressed a delegation of British business leaders and senior representatives from major Japanese investors in Britain, such as carmakers Nissan, Toyota and conglomerate Hitachi. Abe told the gathering that May had assured him Britain s negotiations on leaving the European Union would be transparent. May said Japanese investment after Britain s vote to leave the EU was a vote of confidence and she pledged to build close trade ties with Japan. I very much welcome the commitment from Japanese companies such as Nissan, Toyota, Softbank and Hitachi, May said. I am determined that we will seize the opportunity to become an ever more outward-looking global Britain, deepening our trade relations with old friends and new allies. During a two-hour train ride between Kyoto and Tokyo late on Wednesday, the two leaders discussed Brexit, with May talking Abe through the details of a series of papers published in recent weeks setting out her negotiating position. May said on Wednesday Japan s upcoming trade deal with the EU could offer a template for a future Japan-Britain trade agreement, the latest attempt to show investors that Brexit will not lead to an overnight change in business conditions. Japan has been unusually open about its concerns over Brexit, worrying that 40 billion pounds ($51.68 billion) of Japanese investment in the British economy could suffer if trading conditions change abruptly when Britain leaves the bloc. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
France unveils labor reforms in first step to re-shaping economy | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron s government announced reforms to loosen labor regulations and drive down unemployment, drawing criticism from unions but limited support for the street protests that have hindered previous reform bids. After weeks of negotiations with unions over the summer, the centrist government revealed measures including a cap on payouts for dismissals adjudged unfair and greater freedom to hire and fire. The plan would also give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions. The labor code reform is the first big test of Macron s drive to re-shape the euro zone s second biggest economy with its near double-digit jobless rate, double that in Britain and markedly higher than Germany. He also seeks a grand bargain with Germany over broader reforms of the euro zone. For decades, governments of the left and right have tried to reform France s strict labor rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests. The reform makes no direct reference to France s 35-hour week but gives employers more flexibility to negotiate deals with employees to work around it. Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud described the five decrees laying out the reforms as a transformation of labor rules on an unprecedented scale . Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said they were necessary to fight France s stubbornly high unemployment. The truth is that for bosses, especially of small companies, and foreign investors, the existing labor law is seen as a brake on hiring and investment, Philippe said. Trade unions were less upbeat at what they perceived as the loss of long-cherished workers rights. All of our fears have been confirmed, said Philippe Martinez, head of the hard-left CGT union, after the government presented the decrees to unions and employers. He said the union would press ahead with its plan for a protest on Sept. 12. But Macron s assiduous courting of the unions over the summer appeared to have born fruit. France s biggest union, the reformist CFDT, said it was disappointed with what amounted to a missed opportunity to improve labor relations. But both the CFDT and the smaller Force Ouvriere, one of the spearheads of last year s anti-reform protests, said they would not be joining the CGT s protest. This reform does not rise to the occasion , CFDT leader Laurent Berger told reporters, but he added: Taking to the streets is not the only mode of action for unions. It sets a cap on compensation for a dismissal judged in a labor court to be unfair. This will be set at three months of wages for two years in the company with the amount rising progressively depending on how long a worker was with the firm. In a concession to unions, normal severance pay would be increased from 20 percent of one month s wage for each year in a company to 25 percent. Economists drew parallels with Germany and Spain. This very much resembles the labor reform carried out in Germany in 2004-2005, said Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg Bank. This could very well propel France to a golden decade like Germany had. Dutch bank ING said: The ceiling on dismissal compensation is a milestone in labor flexibility and a real positive for permanent contract creation. In Spain, a similar reform kick-started an unprecedented labor market recovery. Pierre Gattaz, the head of the MEDEF employers federation, described the reforms as an important first step which would boost confidence within companies. The CPME, a small business lobby, was even more positive. At last!, it said in a statement. After months of negotiations, we got results. The reform we had been waiting for so long is there. The labor reforms comes as the 39-year-old president suffers a steep drop in popularity ratings. Early policy announcements including an overhaul of the wealth tax and cuts to housing assistance have left a swathe of voters feeling his policies favor the rich, pollsters say. The government plans to start talks on overhauling unemployment benefits in October before tackling pension reform next year. Parliament, where Macron s Republic on the Move party has a commanding majority, has already voted to allow the government to issue the decrees without a vote in the assembly. The government plans to adopt the decrees on Sept. 22. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Somalia hands over ONLF rebel leader to Ethiopia: group | ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Somali authorities have handed over to Ethiopia a senior official of the ONLF rebel group, which is fighting for the secession of Ogaden from Ethiopia, the group said. Abdikarin Sheikh Muse, an executive committee member who lived in the Somali capital Mogadishu, was detained by security in Galkayo in Somalia s semi-autonomous Galmudug state on August 23, the ONLF said in a statement. Quoting sources close to the Somali cabinet, it said the Somali government had forcefully handed over Abdikarin Sheikh Muse to Ethiopia without his consent in violation of U.N. convention relating to the status of refugees. Ethiopian officials were not available for comment. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) launched its bid for secession of the Somali Region, also known as Ogaden, in eastern Ethiopia in 1984. In 2007, Ethiopian forces waged a large-scale offensive against them after the group attacked a Chinese-run oil facility, killing 74 people. Analysts say the rebels have since been severely weakened but are still able to launch hit-and-run attacks. The region they operate may contain 4 trillion cubic feet of gas and major oil deposits, mining experts say. China s GCL-Poly Petroleum Investments signed a production sharing deal with the government in late 2013 to develop two gas fields. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
U.S. pressure or not, U.N. nuclear watchdog sees no need to check Iran military sites | VIENNA (Reuters) - The United States is pushing U.N. nuclear inspectors to check military sites in Iran to verify it is not breaching its nuclear deal with world powers. But for this to happen, inspectors must believe such checks are necessary and so far they do not, officials say. Last week, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley visited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is scrutinizing compliance with the 2015 agreement, as part of a review of the pact by the administration of President Donald Trump. He has called it the worst deal ever negotiated . After her talks with officials of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Haley said: There are... numerous undeclared sites that have not been inspected. That is a problem. Iran dismissed her demands as merely a dream . The IAEA has the authority to request access to facilities in Iran, including military ones, if there are new and credible indications of banned nuclear activities there, according to officials from the agency and signatories to the deal. But they said Washington has not provided such indications to back up its pressure on the IAEA to make such a request. We re not going to visit a military site like Parchin just to send a political signal, an IAEA official said, mentioning a military site often cited by opponents of the deal including Iran s arch-adversary Israel and many U.S. Republicans. The deal was struck under Trump s Democratic predecessor Barack Obama. IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano frequently describes his Vienna-based agency as a technical rather than a political one, underscoring the need for its work to be based on facts alone. The accord restricts Iran s atomic activities with a view to keeping the Islamic Republic a year s work away from having enough enriched uranium or plutonium for a nuclear bomb, should it pull out of the accord and sprint towards making a weapon. The deal also allows the IAEA to request access to facilities other than the nuclear installations Iran has already declared if it has concerns about banned materials or activities there. But it must present a basis for those concerns. Those terms are widely understood by officials from the IAEA and member states to mean there must be credible information that arouses suspicion, and IAEA officials have made clear they will not take it at face value. We have to be able to vet this information, a second IAEA official said, asking not to be identified because inspections are sensitive and the agency rarely discusses them publicly. Despite Haley s public comments, she neither asked the IAEA to visit specific sites nor offered new intelligence on any site, officials who attended her meetings said. A U.S. State Department spokesman confirmed this. She conveyed that the IAEA will need to continue to robustly exercise its authorities to verify Iran s declaration and monitor the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the spokesman added, using the deal s official name. Under U.S. law, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days of Iran s compliance with the deal. The next deadline is October. Trump has said he thinks by then Washington will declare Iran to be non-compliant - a stance at odds with that of other five world powers including U.S. allies in Europe. An IAEA report published in 2015 as part of the deal formally drew a line under whether Iran pursued nuclear weapons in the past, which is why new information is needed to trigger a request for access. The IAEA has not visited an Iranian military facility since the agreement was implemented because it has had no reason to ask for access, the second agency official said. The deal s Access section lays out a process that begins with an IAEA request and, if the U.N. watchdog s concerns are not resolved, can lead to a vote by the eight members of the deal s decision-making body - the United States, Iran, Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the European Union. Five votes are needed for a majority, which could comprise the United States and its Western allies. Such a majority decision would advise on the necessary means to resolve the IAEA s concerns and Iran would implement the necessary means , the deal s Access section says. That process and wording have yet to be put to the test. Iran has reiterated commitment to the terms of the deal despite Trump s stance, but has also said its military sites are off limits, raising the risk of a stand-off if a request for access were put to a vote. That adds to the pressure to be clear on the grounds for an initial request. If they want to bring down the deal, they will, the first IAEA official said, referring to the Trump administration. We just don t want to give them an excuse to. During its decade-long impasse with world powers over its nuclear program, Iran repeatedly refused IAEA visits to military sites, saying they had nothing to do with nuclear activity and so were beyond the IAEA s purview. Shortly after the 2015 deal, Iran allowed inspectors to check its Parchin military complex, where Western security services believe Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations more than a decade ago. Iran has denied this. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Despite derision, Britain's PM May might well be able to carry on... for now | LONDON (Reuters) - It was meant to silence her critics, but by pledging to lead the Conservative Party into the next election, British Prime Minister Theresa May instead unleashed a wave of derision from her foes. Still, with no challenger in sight and a party wary of a leadership fight, the 60-year-old prime minister is probably safe for now. The London Evening Standard, now edited by George Osborne, the Conservative sacked by May as finance minister when she became prime minister last year, described her pledge to run again as Like the Living Dead in a second-rate horror film . The premiership of Theresa May staggers on oblivious. This was not supposed to be in the script. Others chimed in. Party grandee Michael Heseltine, who was also sacked as a government adviser by May for rebelling over Britain s planned exit from the European Union, deadpanned: I don t think she s got a long term. And another critic, Nicky Morgan, who lost her position as education minister when May entered power after the Brexit referendum last year, said it would be difficult for May to lead the Conservatives into the next election due in 2022. We have got to think about how we renew our franchise, she told the BBC. But many Conservatives kept silent. After being bruised this year when May called an early election only to see her party lose its parliamentary majority, several said keeping the party in power was the main priority. And with no one willing to challenge May, it made more sense to keep her as leader to guide Britain through what could become a messy Brexit. There are people who are fed up and hurt after the election, and there s muttering, but not a lot of them are muttering publicly. The loudest ones are those who have no chance of getting big jobs, a veteran party member said. But no one is putting their hand up to take over. There s no appetite from any of the big players ... Her future is all about Brexit. Asked during a visit to Japan whether she wanted to lead the Conservative Party into the next election, May said: Yes ... I m here for the long term and it s crucial, what me and my government are about is not just delivering on Brexit, we are delivering a brighter future for the United Kingdom. I m not a quitter, she said. She hoped to silence weeks of media reports that she could leave office as early as the annual party conference in October, an event where political careers have been made or broken in the past. But instead of increasing her authority, damaged by the June election, she attracted derision from critics in her own party as well as the opposition. The Labour Party was quick to accuse May of deluding herself . Theresa May leads a zombie government, said Jon Trickett, a senior member of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn s team. The sooner the public has the chance to vote out her and her government the better for our country s future. But it is the threat from Labour, which has seen its standing in the polls increase since the election, that in part might keep May in her position for longer than some think. Few Conservatives dare risk doing anything that might trigger an early parliamentary election and hand a chance of victory to Corbyn. Also, despite several leading Conservatives thought to be eyeing her job, none appears willing to step in now when Britain is engaged in difficult talks to leave the European Union, which officials say are making little or no progress. The veteran party member, who discussed May s prospects on condition of anonymity, said he thought May was sincere in pledging to stay on until the next election, despite the chorus of calls from foes within the party for her to step aside. She told the truth. She s up for staying on. But it all depends on Brexit, the party member said. If she comes out of it with jobs up, and is seen to have told the EU to get off and prospects are good ... well you can go hero to zero and vice versa. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Russia gears up for major war games, neighbors watch with unease | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia is preparing to hold large-scale military exercises it says will be of a purely defensive nature, amid concerns in neighboring nations that the drills may be used as a precursor for an invasion. A total of around 12,700 servicemen will take part in the war games, code named Zapad 2017, which will be held on Sept. 14-20 in western Russia, Belarus and Russia s exclave of Kaliningrad. These will include around 5,500 Russian troops. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the U.S. Army s top general in Europe, told Reuters last month that U.S. allies in eastern Europe and Ukraine were worried the exercises could be a Trojan horse aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus. This week Russia s Defence Ministry rejected what it said were false allegations it might use the drills as a springboard to launch invasions of Poland, Lithuania or Ukraine. The following graphic shows the breakdown of the troops and military hardware, including warships and aircraft, to be used in the exercises, according to data provided by Russia s Defence Ministry. It also shows the locations of the drills. For a graphic on Russia's Zapad war games, click: here | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Heavy civilian casualties in Raqqa from air strikes: U.N. | GENEVA (Reuters) - Civilians caught up in the battle for the Syrian city of Raqqa are paying an unacceptable price and attacking forces may be contravening international law with their intense air strikes, the top United Nations human rights official said on Thursday. A U.S.-led coalition is seeking to oust Islamic State from Raqqa, while Syrian government forces, backed by the Russian air force and Iran-backed militias are also advancing on the city. Some 20,000 civilians are trapped in Raqqa where the jihadist fighters are holding some of them as human shields, the world body says. U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein said that his office had documented 151 civilian deaths in six incidents alone in August, due to air strikes and ground-based attacks. Given the extremely high number of reports of civilian casualties this month and the intensity of the air strikes on Raqqa, coupled with ISIL s use of civilians as human shields, I am deeply concerned that civilians who should be protected at all times - are paying an unacceptable price and that forces involved in battling ISIL are losing sight of the ultimate goal of this battle, Zeid said in a statement. ...the attacking forces may be failing to abide by the international humanitarian law principles of precautions, distinction, and proportionality, he said. The U.S.-led coalition has said it conducted nearly 1,100 air strikes on and near Raqqa this month, up from 645 in July, the U.N. statement said. Russia s air force has reported carrying out 2,518 air strikes across Syria in the first three weeks of August, it added. Meanwhile ISIL fighters continue to prevent civilians from fleeing the area, although some manage to leave after paying large amounts of money to smugglers, Zeid said. We have reports of smugglers also being publicly executed by ISIL. U.S.-led warplanes on Wednesday blocked a convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families from reaching territory the group holds in eastern Syria and struck some of their comrades traveling to meet them, a coalition spokesman said. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
France unveils labor reforms in first step to re-shaping economy | PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron s government announced reforms to loosen labor regulations and drive down unemployment, drawing criticism from unions but limited support for the street protests that have hindered previous reform bids. After weeks of negotiations with unions over the summer, the centrist government revealed measures including a cap on payouts for dismissals adjudged unfair and greater freedom to hire and fire. The plan would also give companies more flexibility to adapt pay and working hours to market conditions. The labor code reform is the first big test of Macron s drive to re-shape the euro zone s second biggest economy with its near double-digit jobless rate, double that in Britain and markedly higher than Germany. He also seeks a grand bargain with Germany over broader reforms of the euro zone. For decades, governments of the left and right have tried to reform France s strict labor rules, but have always diluted them in the face of street protests. The reform makes no direct reference to France s 35-hour week but gives employers more flexibility to negotiate deals with employees to work around it. Labour Minister Muriel Penicaud described the five decrees laying out the reforms as a transformation of labor rules on an unprecedented scale . Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said they were necessary to fight France s stubbornly high unemployment. The truth is that for bosses, especially of small companies, and foreign investors, the existing labor law is seen as a brake on hiring and investment, Philippe said. Trade unions were less upbeat at what they perceived as the loss of long-cherished workers rights. All of our fears have been confirmed, said Philippe Martinez, head of the hard-left CGT union, after the government presented the decrees to unions and employers. He said the union would press ahead with its plan for a protest on Sept. 12. But Macron s assiduous courting of the unions over the summer appeared to have born fruit. France s biggest union, the reformist CFDT, said it was disappointed with what amounted to a missed opportunity to improve labor relations. But both the CFDT and the smaller Force Ouvriere, one of the spearheads of last year s anti-reform protests, said they would not be joining the CGT s protest. This reform does not rise to the occasion , CFDT leader Laurent Berger told reporters, but he added: Taking to the streets is not the only mode of action for unions. It sets a cap on compensation for a dismissal judged in a labor court to be unfair. This will be set at three months of wages for two years in the company with the amount rising progressively depending on how long a worker was with the firm. In a concession to unions, normal severance pay would be increased from 20 percent of one month s wage for each year in a company to 25 percent. Economists drew parallels with Germany and Spain. This very much resembles the labor reform carried out in Germany in 2004-2005, said Florian Hense, European economist at Berenberg Bank. This could very well propel France to a golden decade like Germany had. Dutch bank ING said: The ceiling on dismissal compensation is a milestone in labor flexibility and a real positive for permanent contract creation. In Spain, a similar reform kick-started an unprecedented labor market recovery. Pierre Gattaz, the head of the MEDEF employers federation, described the reforms as an important first step which would boost confidence within companies. The CPME, a small business lobby, was even more positive. At last!, it said in a statement. After months of negotiations, we got results. The reform we had been waiting for so long is there. The labor reforms comes as the 39-year-old president suffers a steep drop in popularity ratings. Early policy announcements including an overhaul of the wealth tax and cuts to housing assistance have left a swathe of voters feeling his policies favor the rich, pollsters say. The government plans to start talks on overhauling unemployment benefits in October before tackling pension reform next year. Parliament, where Macron s Republic on the Move party has a commanding majority, has already voted to allow the government to issue the decrees without a vote in the assembly. The government plans to adopt the decrees on Sept. 22. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
German minister favors longer ban on Syrian refugees bringing families | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said he favors extending a temporary ban on Syrian migrants bringing their families to Germany, a move that reflects growing popular opposition to family reunifications. De Maiziere, a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, told the Heilbronner Stimme newspaper that a huge number of Syrians were expected to enter Germany unless the ban was extended when it expires in March 2018. Officials expect every refugee to bring at least one family member to Germany, he said in an article published on Thursday. Bild newspaper said this week that internal government estimates showed that about 390,000 Syrians who had been recognized as asylum seekers could request visas for family members when the two-year ban on reunifications expires next March. Merkel, who is expected to win a fourth term in Sept. 24 elections, has said the government will decide the issue after the election. The government has sought to tighten asylum rules after suffering regional election losses over Merkel s 2015 decision to leave borders open to over a million migrants. Concern about migration has fueled support in particular for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is expected to win seats in the national parliament for the first time at the election. A poll conducted by the INSA institute for daily newspaper Bild this week showed that 58.3 percent of Germans opposed family reunifications for recognized asylum seekers, although they are allowed under German law. The poll showed that 95.8 percent of AfD supporters and 66.8 percent of supporters of the pro-business Free Democrats opposed family reunifications. About 54.3 percent of conservatives were also opposed, compared to 42.7 percent of backers of the Social Democrats, junior partners in the current coalition government. Richard Hilmer, head of the Berlin-based Policy Matters think tank, said migration remained a key issue for German voters in the 2017 election. He said German law allowed family reunifications to help ensure good integration of asylum seekers whose applications were accepted. Otherwise you wind up with single men who are not integrated into the social fabric, and in the worst cases, even a sort of ghettoisation, he said. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Japan seeks funds to boost missile ranges days after North Korea threat | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s defense ministry on Thursday sought $160 million in a record budget request to develop swift, longer-range missiles to extend its military punch in East Asia, countering growing Chinese strength and an increasing North Korean threat. If approved, the proposal for a rise of 2.5 percent in defense spending to 5.26 trillion yen ($48 billion) for the year starting April 1 would be the sixth straight annual increase as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bolsters the military. The funds will pay for ballistic missile defense upgrades, six F-35 stealth fighters, four V-22 Osprey tilt rotor troop carriers, besides orders for new naval vessels, including a submarine and two compact warships. Around $90 million of the requested missile development funds of $160 million will go on studying hypersonic missiles to quickly penetrate enemy defenses. The rest will pay for research on extending missile range, technology that could potentially be used to help develop strike weapons. South Korea s air force conducted an exercise with two U.S. nuclear-capable bombers above the Korean peninsula on Thursday, two days after a North Korean missile fired over Japan sharply raised tension. The research and development is for island defense, a Ministry of Defence official told a briefing, referring to the southwestern Okinawa island chain skirting the East China Sea, where Japan is embroiled in a territorial dispute with China. The funding for missile development, though relatively small, could nonetheless spark controversy, since Japan s war-renouncing constitution imposes restrictions on strike weapons for the military. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Japan had consistently hyped the so-called China threat to increase its defense spending, and urged it to learn the lessons of history and pay heed to its neighbors security concerns. Regardless of what its reasons are, Japan s defense spending is increasing every year and has reached a new historical high. We express concern about this, Hua told a regular press briefing. Some lawmakers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) argue that Japan needs weapons able to strike North Korean missile sites, so as to deter attacks by Pyongyang. The longest range missiles in Japan s arsenal, which includes anti-aircraft and anti-ship munitions, have ranges of less than 300 kilometers. A group of LDP lawmakers that recommended Japan acquire strike weapons was led by Minister of Defence Itsunori Onodera before he took up his post in August. But such a proposed shift in military strategy would face stiff political opposition from critics in Japan who say Abe s hawkish policies have gone too far, hurting his already soggy popularity. Striking enemy bases after an attack to stop subsequent launches would seem like a natural thing to do, but that would be difficult for people in Japan to accept under the current constitution, an LDP lawmaker said, asking not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The proposed defense budget will face scrutiny by Ministry of Finance officials who may seek to rein in military outlays as they juggle demands for higher spending on health and welfare for Japan s aging population. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
After Taiwan alarm, China says air force drills were routine | BEIJING (Reuters) - China s Defence Ministry said on Thursday that a recent series of air force exercises around self-ruled Taiwan were routine, after Taiwan s military said this month it was on a high state of alert following three straight days of drills. The Chinese aircraft, which have included bombers and advanced fighter jets, staged exercises flying through the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan from the Philippines and up to the north of Taiwan, by Japan s Miyako island, according to Taiwan s government. The drills were the latest in a series of exercises conducted by China near Taiwan and Japan in the past several weeks. China said nothing out of the ordinary had happened. These activities are routine exercises by the Chinese air force, Defence Ministry spokesman Ren Guoqiang told a monthly news briefing when asked about the most recent drills around Taiwan. He did not elaborate. China frequently refers to such exercises as routine. China has been increasingly asserting itself in territorial disputes in the South and East China Seas. It is also worried about Taiwan, run by a government China fears is intent on independence. Beijing has never ruled out the use of force to bring proudly democratic Taiwan under its control, and has warned that any moves towards formal independence could prompt an armed response. China is in the midst of an ambitious military modernization program that includes building aircraft carriers and developing stealth fighters to give it the ability to project power far from its shores. Taiwan is well armed with mostly U.S. weaponry, but has been pressing Washington to sell it more high-tech equipment to better deter China. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Several wounded after blast hits bus in Turkey's Izmir | ANKARA (Reuters) - Seven people were wounded when an explosion hit a shuttle bus carrying prison guards in the Turkish coastal province of Izmir on Thursday, and authorities were investigating a possible terrorist attack, the local mayor said. The bus was hit as it passed a garbage container at around 7:40 a.m. (0440 GMT), Levent Piristina, the mayor of Izmir s Buca district, said on Twitter. Photographs he posted on social media showed its windows blown out and its windscreen shattered. The force of the blast appeared to have blown out some of the bus s panels, and the nearby street was littered with debris. We are getting information from police sources and they are focusing on the possibility of a terrorist attack, he said, adding that all seven wounded were in good condition. Both state-run TRT Haber and private broadcaster Dogan news agency said the explosion was caused by a bomb placed in the garbage container that exploded when the shuttle bus passed. No one immediately claimed responsibility. Both Kurdish militants and jihadist Islamic State militants have carried out suicide and bomb attacks in major Turkish cities in recent years. Kurdish militants have previously targeted buses carrying security personnel. In December, a bomb killed at least 13 soldiers and wounded more than 50 when it ripped through a bus carrying off-duty military personnel in the central city of Kayseri, an attack the government blamed on Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), considered a terrorist organization by the United States, Turkey and the European Union, has waged a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state. The outlawed PKK wants autonomy for Turkey s largely Kurdish southeast. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Campaign hits TV screens as Australian same-sex marriage vote looms | SYDNEY (Reuters) - The first public campaigns ahead of Australia s vote on legalizing same-sex marriage have hit television screens, sparking a truth-in-advertising debate on an issue that threatens to destabilize the ruling center-right coalition. Australians can take part in a non-binding postal ballot in September on whether to change the Marriage Act to allow same-sex couples to marry. The process will inform the government on whether to pursue legislative change and join 24 other countries around the world where it is legal. The no and yes campaigns launched their first television adverts on Tuesday and Thursday, drawing immediate rebukes from their rivals. The no campaign linked same-sex marriage to paving the way for radical gender study program to be introduced in schools. Lyle Shelton, the head of the Australian Christian Lobby and spokesman for Coalition for Marriage, cited a case in Canada, and another in Britain. Look at the UK where a Jewish school in London faced the prospect of closure because it won t teach radical LGBTIQ education, he told Reuters in a phone interview, referring to the acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer/questioning people. Australia s Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the two issues were not linked while non-government organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the ad was factually inaccurate. Because the postal vote is not a formal election it is not subject to the same rules on political advertisements. You can have posters and ads peddling outright lies, said Elaine Pearson, Australian HRW director. Australian Marriage Equality responded on Thursday with an advert saying same-sex marriage would give young gay people the same dignity as everyone else. Spokeswoman Kerryn Phelps said gay and lesbian counseling services were inundated by people distressed that their lives and relationships had been put up for judgment. It s humiliating and it s anxiety provoking, Phelps said. The marriage debate has dogged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the past two years as he wrestles to sell the idea of a public vote to appease conservatives in his ruling government, many of whom only agreed to support Turnbull s leadership if he went ahead with the ballot. Conservatives expect any proposal to allow same-sex marriage would be rejected in a vote. The postal vote is subject to a High Court legal challenge to be resolved next week, with opponents of the process hoping it will be struck down before the issue is put to the people. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
Japan's Abe, UK May pledge cooperation on North Korea threat | TOKYO (Reuters) - The leaders of Japan and Britain pledged on Thursday to cooperate in countering the threat posed by North Korea, two days after it fired a missile over northern Japan. North Korea s reckless action is a threat to Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told his National Security Council. Japan and Britain will cooperate to counter this. British Prime Minister Theresa May, attending the meeting during a visit to Japan, said: Through our deepened security partnership, we must work together to enhance our collective response to the threats to international order and global peace and stability. And that must include confronting the threat that North Korea poses and ensuring that this regime in North Korea stops its aggressive acts. | worldnews | August 31, 2017 |
U.S.-led jets strike in Syria to block Islamic State evacuation deal | BEIRUT (Reuters) - U.S.-led warplanes on Wednesday blocked a convoy of Islamic State fighters and their families from reaching territory the group holds in eastern Syria and struck some of their comrades traveling to meet them, a coalition spokesman said. The strikes were aimed at stopping an evacuation deal for Islamic State fighters to leave their enclave on the Lebanon-Syria border for areas they hold in eastern Syria, arranged by the Lebanese Hezbollah group and the Syrian army. It was part of a ceasefire agreed after offensives last week by the Lebanese army on one front, and the Syrian army and Hezbollah on another, that pushed Islamic State back into a small part of its enclave straddling the frontier. The deal has been criticized by the coalition and by Iraq, whose army is also fighting Islamic State in areas contiguous with the eastern Syria region to which the convoy was headed. The convoy, carrying 308 militants and 331 civilians according to Hezbollah, is now effectively stranded, unable to move forward into Islamic State territory. It shows how easily such evacuations to other areas, which the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has increasingly used to push rebel pockets to surrender, can be derailed in a conflict with many sides. A commander in the military alliance supporting Assad said the coalition had contacted the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, which is accompanying the convoy and warned that if it entered Islamic State territory, it might attack. Islamic State is on the back foot in both Syria and Iraq, losing swathes of its territory and its most important towns and cities after taking advantage of chaos including the six-year civil war in Syria to win ground. In Syria, the U.S.-led coalition is backing an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias in the north which are assaulting the jihadist group s former de facto capital of Raqqa. The Russian-backed Syrian army and allied Shi ite militia from Iraq and Lebanon including Hezbollah have this year seized most of the central desert from the group, and are advancing eastwards to relieve the army s besieged enclave in Deir al-Zor. The coalition strikes to block the convoy moving into Islamic State territory took place east of Humeima, near the edge of land held by the Syrian government, coalition spokesman Ryan Dillon told Reuters. We did crater the road and destroyed a small bridge to prevent this convoy from moving further east, Dillon told Reuters by phone. He later said the coalition had struck vehicles containing Islamic State fighters that were heading to that area from deeper inside the territory they control to the east. He did not know if the evacuation convoy, which contains buses of fighters and their family members, as well as ambulances carrying wounded fighters, was now in Islamic State or Syrian government territory. On Tuesday morning a Hezbollah-run military media unit reported the convoy had reached an exchange point into Islamic State territory. The evacuation deal also involved Islamic State revealing the fate of nine Lebanese soldiers it took captive in its border enclave in 2014, and surrendering Hezbollah and Syrian army prisoners and bodies in east Syria. The commander in the pro-Assad military alliance said it was considering an alternative location for the convoy to cross into Islamic State territory. Now things are moving to change the place from Humeima and head north towards Sukhna, the commander said. We re not bound by these agreements, Dillon said, apparently referring to the ceasefire deal. They re clearly fighters and they re moving to another location to fight yet again. In accordance with the law of armed conflict ... we will strike them if we are able to do so, he said, adding that direct strikes on the convoy would only take place if the militants could be separated from civilians. Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition, criticized the evacuation deal in a statement early on Wednesday before the strikes were reported, saying: Relocating terrorists from one place to another for someone else to deal with is not a lasting solution . Separately, the leader of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, defended the Lebanese group s involvement in the evacuation deal in a statement responding to criticism of the move from Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. Abadi said on Tuesday: Transporting this number of terrorists from long distance to eastern Syria adjacent to Iraqi borders is unacceptable . Nasrallah said it was a Hezbollah deal agreed upon by the Syrian leadership, that the fighters were few in number, and were being moved from one front Hezbollah was fighting in to another. Lebanon is a major recipient of U.S. and British military aid. It says its offensive against Islamic State last week was separate to the simultaneous one made against the same pocket from inside Syria by the Syrian army and Hezbollah, regarded by the U.S. and Britain as a terrorist group. On Wednesday the Lebanese army said its head General Joseph Aoun had been phoned by the commander of U.S. Central Command Joseph Votel congratulating him on the offensive and pledging to continue arming Lebanon s army. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
U.S. conducts missile defense test off Hawaii coast | (Reuters) - The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the Navy successfully conducted a missile defense test off the coast of Hawaii, MDA said in a statement on Wednesday. The test, scheduled well in advance, was done from the USS John Paul Jones and comes a day after North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan. The test, using Standard Missile-6 guided missiles, intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target. North Korea said its missile launch was to counter U.S. and South Korean military drills, and was a first step in military action in the Pacific to contain the U.S. territory of Guam. The launch was condemned by the United Nations as an outrageous act. The MDA said the test gives the naval component of the missile defense system higher ability to intercept ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. Japan has been worried that the United States has so far declined to arm it with a powerful new radar, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Japan is seeking a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense system, operational by 2023, as a new layer of defense to help counter North Korea s missile advances. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Trial against Guatemalan president's brother, son begins | GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - A fraud trial against the brother and son of Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales began on Wednesday amid a scandal touched off by the president s attempt to expel the leader of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption unit investigating the case. Guatemala s top tribunal, the Constitutional Court, ruled definitively on Tuesday against Morales internationally criticized push to expel from the country Ivan Velasquez, the Colombian who leads the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG).[nL8N1LF4RY] The CICIG and the prosecutor s office accuse Samuel Sammy Morales, the president s brother and one of his closest advisers, and Jose Manuel Morales, one of the leader s four sons, of facilitating false receipts that defrauded the national property registry in 2013, two years before Morales was elected. They deny any wrongdoing. Neither of the two gave a declaration before a judge on Wednesday, where they appeared together with another 20 other defendants. The scandal has hurt the popularity of Jimmy Morales, a former comedian, who won election in late 2015 after riding a wave of public discontent over the corruption scandals that brought down his predecessor Otto Perez Molina. The president has said the investigation into his family was not related to his controversial decision to declare Velasquez persona non grata. Last week, Velasquez and Guatemalan Attorney General Thelma Aldana asked to remove Morales immunity, in order to investigate him for accusations of illegal campaign financing. The case involves payments linked to the mother of Jose Manuel Morales then-girlfriend in 2013. She allegedly sent the national property registry a $12,000 bill made out in the name of a local restaurant for 564 breakfasts, according to the attorney general. The breakfasts were never delivered. Samuel Morales recognized the acts as a favor to his nephew, but he denied that he had benefited or been implicated in the network of fraud that deprived the institution of thousands of dollars. Both were detained in January, then put under house arrest and barred from leaving the country. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Thousands more Rohingya flee to border as Myanmar violence flares | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - More than 18,000 Rohingya Muslims, many sick and some with bullet wounds, have fled the worst violence to grip northwest Myanmar in at least five years, while thousands more are stuck at the Bangladesh border or scrambling to reach it. Friday s series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Myanmar s Rakhine state and ensuing clashes triggered the Rohingya exodus, while the government evacuated thousands of Rakhine Buddhists. Since the attacks, about 18,445 Rohingya - mostly women and children - have registered in Bangladesh, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday. They are in a very, very desperate condition, said Sanjukta Sahany, who runs the IOM office in the southern town of Cox s Bazar near the border. The biggest needs are food, health services and they need shelter. They need at least some cover, some roofs over their heads. Sahany said many crossed with bullet injuries and burn injuries, and that aid workers reported that some refugees gave a blank look when questioned. People are traumatized, which is quite visible. The United Nations, while condemning the militant attacks, has pressured Myanmar to protect civilian lives without discrimination and appealed to Bangladesh to admit those fleeing the military counteroffensive. At least 109 people have been killed in the clashes with insurgents, Myanmar says, most of them militants but also members of the security forces and civilians. The United Nations Security Council was briefed behind closed doors on Wednesday on the escalating violence at the request of Britain. There s a lot of concern about the situation in the country. We all condemned the violence, we all called on all the parties to de-escalate, British U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters after the briefing. The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar is the biggest challenge facing national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been accused by Western critics of not speaking out for a minority that has long complained of persecution. Rycroft said the Security Council looks to Suu Kyi to to set the right tone and to find the compromises and the de-escalation necessary in order to resolve the conflict. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and regarded as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots that date back centuries. The violence marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a similar, but much smaller, series of Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a fierce military response, in which the U.N. has said security forces probably committed crimes against humanity. The situation is very terrifying, houses are burning, all the people ran away from their homes, parents and children were divided, some were lost, some are dead, Abdullah, 25, a Rohingya from the region of Buthidaung, told Reuters, struggling to hold back tears. Abdullah said four of the six hamlets in his village of Mee Chaung Zay had been burned down by security forces, prompting all its residents to flee toward Bangladesh. He was among the thousands of terrified people who left their village to gather at the foot of the Mayu mountain range. Together with his wife and 5-year-old daughter, Abdullah brought sticky rice, fetched plastic sheets and empty water bottles, preparing to trek in monsoon rain for days on a 20-km (12-mile) route through the mountains to the border. I am waiting for all of my relatives to leave together with my family as soon as possible, he added. Myanmar officials have said the country had the right to defend itself from attack, adding that security personnel were told to keep innocent civilians from harm. Mine explosions and fighting continued, the government said, blaming Rohingya militants for burning down houses and fleeing to the mountains after attacks. Bangladesh is already host to more than 400,000 Rohingya refugees who have fled Buddhist-majority Myanmar since the early 1990s. Dhaka has asked the U.N. to pressure Myanmar over its treatment of the Muslim minority, saying it cannot take any more. At least 4,000 people were stranded in no man s land between the two countries, with temporary shelters stretching for several hundred meters on a narrow strip between the Naf River and Myanmar s border fence. On Tuesday, Reuters reporters saw women, some carrying children and sick people, wade through the river, which narrows to less than 10 meters (11 yards) there. Bangladeshi border guards allowed groups of about six to cross to reach a stack of donated medicines. Many Rohingya trying to cross were sick and at least six died after crossing over, one aid worker said, adding that some refused to seek help for fear of being caught and sent back. Shaheen Abdur Rahman, a doctor at a hospital in Cox s Bazar, said 15 people admitted since last week had gunshot wounds, varying from grazes to bleeding in the lung. Four serious cases were sent for treatment to nearby Chittagong. Injuries also included fractures that could have been suffered in beatings or accidental falls while fleeing, he said. We don t discriminate, said Rahman. Everyone coming to this hospital, whether they re Bangladeshi or not from Bangladesh, we provide due service to them. In Kuala Lumpur, capital of neighboring Muslim-majority Malaysia, police said they arrested about 155 of roughly 1,200 mostly Rohingya demonstrators who protested against the renewed violence. Tens of thousands of Rohingya have fled to Malaysia over the years, few with valid travel or identity papers. (For a graphic on Rohingya conflict click tmsnrt.rs/2gjxOdv) | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
In call with Saudi king, Trump urges end to Qatar dispute: White House | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Saudi King Salman on Wednesday and urged all the parties in the Qatar dispute to find a diplomatic resolution to end a crisis that has embroiled several Gulf countries, the White House said in a statement. Saudi Arabia, along with Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, have cut political and trade ties with Qatar since June because they say Doha supports regional foe Iran and Islamists. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
France's Macron says his job not 'cool', cites talks with Turkey's Erdogan | PARIS (Reuters) - France s young new president, Emmanuel Macron, said life as a world leader is less cool than it might seem, citing talks with Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan as an example. Asked by Le Point magazine in an interview if he was trying to be the new cool kid on the global stage, Macron replied: The global stage is not really a cool scene, you know. Asked to give an example, he said: I am the one who has to talk with Erdogan every 10 days. He did not elaborate. Erdogan is often criticized by leaders in Western Europe and he has clashed with the European Union over human rights and other issues. The last known conversation between Macron and Erdogan was on Aug. 27, when they discussed the fate of a French journalist jailed in Turkey. An aide to Macron later said the French president had not meant to mock or criticize his Turkish counterpart. The conversations with Mr. Erdogan are always very serious, the aide explained. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Frankfurt to evacuate 60,000 people to defuse British WWII bomb | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Around 60,000 inhabitants of Germany s financial capital Frankfurt will be ordered to leave their homes on Sunday while a large World War Two bomb discovered at a building site is made safe, the police said. Germany s central bank, the Bundesbank, Frankfurt s Goethe University, and at least two hospitals will also be evacuated, in one of the largest evacuations in German post-war history. The 1.4-tonne HC 4000 bomb dropped by the British air force during World War Two was uncovered on a building site on Wismarer Strasse in Frankfurt s leafy Westend where many wealthy bankers live. Bomb disposal experts who examined it said the massive evacuation could wait until the weekend. We are still working on the modalities of the evacuation plan, a spokeswoman for Frankfurt police said on Wednesday. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Rebels say South Sudan's use of Uganda territory could spread instability | KAMPALA (Reuters) - South Sudanese soldiers are passing through the territory of neighboring Uganda to launch assaults against rebels, raising the risk of the civil war spilling over into neighboring East African countries, South Sudanese rebels and witnesses said. The four-year-old conflict in oil-rich South Sudan, the world s newest country, has created Africa s biggest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, displacing nearly a third of its 12 million citizens. More than one million have sought refuge in Uganda. In the latest development, rebel spokesman Lam Paul Gabriel said government soldiers from the Sudan People s Liberation Army (SPLA) crossed into Uganda at the border post of Nimule on Friday. They drove through the Ugandan towns of Moyo and Koboko before crossing back into South Sudan s Yei River state, he said. The Ugandan military and the SPLA both denied any incursions by SPLA troops in Uganda Kaya, a town on Yei River 10 km (6 miles) from the Ugandan border, was the site of fighting between the military and rebels on Saturday that left 19 people dead, including an American journalist. A Reuters journalist in Uganda saw three SPLA pickup trucks loaded with uniformed soldiers wearing red berets driving in the direction of Kaya on Friday. Another eyewitness in the Ugandan border town of Moyo told Reuters he saw trucks with men in South Sudanese military uniforms moving through the town on Friday morning. Ugandan military spokesman Brigadier Richard Karemire denied these accounts: There s absolutely no foreign military on Ugandan soil. We don t allow that. Colonel Santo Domic Chol, a SPLA spokesman, also denied troops had passed through Ugandan territory. South Sudanese soldiers have been passing through northwest Uganda to reach rebel-held territory, residents there say. The route allows them to avoid poor roads and rebel blockades. In June, men wearing South Sudanese military uniforms launched town raids in a hamlet over the border in Uganda and stole cattle, in the first reported attacks on Ugandan soil since the start of South Sudan s civil war. Gabriel said they did not believe the Ugandan government had officially allowed the South Sudan military to use its territory but blamed individual officials for colluding with South Sudan. It will spoil relations between us, he said. What the (Uganda) government needs to do is to crack down on those individuals. Uganda deployed its military in South Sudan to back President Salva Kiir shortly after the war begun, in late 2013. Ugandan troops only withdrew after a regionally-brokered 2015 peace deal collapsed within months. On Wednesday, Ugandan state-owned paper New Vision reported the country had beefed up security on its South Sudan border. Ugandan military spokesman Karemire denied the story. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Guatemala top court sides with U.N. graft unit in fight with president | GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala s top court on Tuesday ruled definitively against President Jimmy Morales internationally criticized push to expel the head of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption unit probing his campaign financing. The decision by the Constitutional Court ratifies a provisional ruling that the government could not expel Ivan Velasquez, a veteran Colombian prosecutor who leads Guatemala s International Commission against Impunity, known as CICIG. Morales on Sunday ordered the expulsion of the prosecutor, who has been a thorn in the president s side by investigating his son and brother, and then seeking to remove his own immunity from investigation over more than $800,000 in potentially unexplained campaign funds. He has denied any wrongdoing. Within the United Nations, Velasquez has the rank of assistant secretary general. He is widely respected and the president s moved unleashed a series of resignations from his cabinet and a storm of criticism from Western nations. Earlier in the day, Morales, 48, said he would respect the court s decision, stepping back from brinkmanship he displayed at the weekend when he said the court had overstepped its mandate by ruling on the case. He has sought support from Guatemala s mayors, possibly to try to counter the diplomatic pressure and street protests by activists calling him corrupt. I am not defending corrupt people, I am not against the anti-corruption fight, I am not even against the CICIG. Is a machete good or bad? It depends on who is wielding it, said the former comedian at a meeting with mayors. Morales won office in 2015 running on a platform of honest governance after his predecessor Otto Perez Molina was forced to resign and imprisoned in a multi-million dollar graft case stemming from a CICIG investigation. The United Nations on Tuesday said it was disturbed by Morales moves against Velasquez, while the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said failure to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling could constitute obstruction of justice , a criminal offense. The president s decision to declare Ivan Velasquez as non grata and ordering his immediate removal from the country is in clear breach of international law, the ICJ said in a statement. Hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets on Monday in support of Velasquez, some shouting Take Jimmy Morales to court! Some groups came out in support of the president and against foreign interference. The U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, Todd Robinson, told Reuters the president s moves could put at risk a U.S. development plan in Central America to reduce poverty and crime. There will probably be consequences from the president s decision, Robinson said, while emphasizing that any U.S. measures would have to be carefully thought through so as not to affect the economy or migration to the United States. Many politicians in Guatemala consider the foreign-led body, which is unusual among U.N. bodies for its powers to bring cases to prosecutors, to be a violation of national sovereignty. Anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
France sees talks on post-Iran nuclear deal, ballistic missile use | PARIS (Reuters) - France suggested on Wednesday that the nuclear deal Iran struck with world powers in 2015 could be supplemented through future consultations to include the post-2025 period and tackle Iran s development of ballistic missiles. Under the deal, most international sanctions were lifted in return for Iran undertaking long-term curbs on its nuclear program, which the West suspected was aimed at developing the means to build an atomic bomb. Iran agreed to mothball for at least a decade the majority of its centrifuges used to enrich uranium and sharply reduce its low-enriched uranium stockpile. It also agreed restrictions on its ballistic missile programs for eight years. The President (Emmanuel Macron) on Aug. 29 indicated that the Vienna accord could be supplemented by work for the post-2025 period (and) by an indispensable work on the use of ballistic missiles, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters at a daily briefing. This work could be the object of future consultations with out partners, she said, referring to Macron s comments. The United States, Britain, France and Germany have complained several times to the United Nations about Iran s tests of ballistic missiles, which they contend are in defiance of a 2015 U.N. resolution enshrining the nuclear deal. Diplomats said Macron s comments, in which he also stressed that the deal was good , came amid concerns in Paris that U.S. President Donald Trump could walk away from the nuclear accord, which he has called the worst deal ever . Trump has ordered a review of the accord, negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, and allies including France fear Washington could renege on the deal in some way and risk Iranian retaliation, escalating instability in the Middle East. The Vienna accord on Iran s nuclear program is essential for regional and international security and non-proliferation, Romatet-Espagne said. There is no credible alternative. She added that France, which has struck several multi-billion dollar deals in Iran since the 2015 agreement, neither wanted to reopen or renegotiate the accord, but to ensure it was being implemented rigorously. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Sore at Macron's 'dictatorship' criticism, Venezuela blasts France | CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela accused France on Wednesday of joining an imperialist campaign after President Emmanuel Macron portrayed the widely criticized socialist government as dictatorial. Adding to criticism from Washington, the United Nations and major Latin American nations, Macron on Tuesday called President Nicolas Maduro s administration a dictatorship trying to survive at the cost of unprecedented humanitarian distress. Many countries are outraged at the Venezuelan government s overriding of the opposition-led congress, crackdown on protests, jailing of hundreds of foes and failure to allow the entry of foreign humanitarian aid to ease a severe economic crisis. Authorities say local opposition leaders want to topple Maduro in a coup with U.S. support, but its new Constituent Assembly will guarantee peace. Comments like this are an attack on Venezuelan institutions and seem to form part of the permanent imperialist obsession with attacking our people, the government said in a communique responding to Macron. The French head-of-state s affirmations show a deep lack of knowledge of the reality of Venezuela, whose people live in complete peace, the statement said. It added that the assembly and upcoming state elections demonstrated the health of local democracy. Leaders of the fractious opposition coalition boycotted the July 30 election of the assembly, branding it an affront to democracy. They called for an early presidential election, which Maduro would likely lose as his popularity has sunk along with an economy blighted by triple-digit inflation and food shortages. France s foreign ministry on Wednesday reiterated Macron s comments and said it was studying the best way to accompany all initiatives that would enable credible dialogue that included regional countries. It is up to the Venezuelan authorities to give quick pledges in terms of respecting rule of law and fundamental freedoms, spokeswoman Agnes Romatet-Espagne told reporters in a daily briefing. The European Union and France will evaluate their relationship with Venezuela on this basis. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
'Gates of Hell': Iraqi army says fighting near Tal Afar worse than Mosul | (Story corrects third paragraph to show Mosul fell in July, not June, after nine, not eight, months of urban warfare in August 29th instance.) By Ahmed Rasheed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi forces battling to retake the small town of al- Ayadiya where militants fleeing Tal Afar have entrenched themselves, saying on Tuesday the fighting is multiple times worse than the battle for Mosul s old city. Hundreds of battle-hardened fighters were positioned inside most houses and high buildings inside the town, making it difficult for government forces to make any progress, army officers told Reuters. Iraqi government troops captured the town of Mosul from Islamic State in July, but only after nine months of grinding urban warfare. But one Iraqi officer, Colonel Kareem al-Lami, described breaching the militants first line of defense in al- Ayadiya as like opening the gates of hell . Iraqi forces have in recent days recaptured almost all of the northwestern city of Tal Afar, long a stronghold of Islamic State. They have been waiting to take al- Ayadiya, just 11 km (7 miles) northwest of the city, before declaring complete victory. Tough resistance from the militants in al- Ayadiya has forced the Iraqi forces to increase the number of air strikes, as well as bring in reinforcements from the federal police to boost units from the army, air force, Federal Police, the elite U.S.-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) and some units from the Shi ite Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). Up to 2,000 battle-hardened militants were believed to be defending Tal Afar against around 50,000 government troops last week. Military intelligence indicated that many militants fled Tal Afar to mount a staunch defense in al- Ayadiya. Many motorcycles carrying the Islamic State insignia were seen abandoned at the side of the road outside al- Ayadiya. Though the exact numbers of militants on the ground in al- Ayadiya was still unclear, al-Lami, the Iraqi Army colonel, estimated they were in their hundreds. Daesh (Islamic State) fighters in their hundreds are taking positions inside almost every single house in the town, he said. Sniper shots, mortars, heavy machine guns and anti-armored projectiles were fired from every single house, he added. We thought the battle for Mosul s Old City was tough, but this one proved to be multiple times worst, al-Lami said. We are facing tough fighters who have nothing to lose and are ready to die. Two army officers told Reuters that no significant advances had yet been made in al- Ayadiya. They said they were waiting for artillery and air strikes to undermine the militants power. The extra Federal Police troops that were called in said late on Tuesday that they had controlled 50 percent of the town, deploying snipers on the high buildings and intensified shelling the militants headquarters with rockets, a federal police spokesman said in a statement. Tal Afar became the next target of the U.S.-backed war on the jihadist group following the recapture of Mosul, where it had declared its caliphate over parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
British princes mark anniversary of Diana's death with garden visit | LONDON (Reuters) - Princes William and Harry paid a quiet tribute to their mother Princess Diana on Wednesday, a day before the 20th anniversary of her death that has reignited interest in one of the world s most famous women. Diana s two sons met representatives of the charities she supported in a public garden at Kensington Palace, their home and where their mother lived until she was killed in a car crash in Paris on Aug. 31, 1997. Outside the palace gates supporters of the royal family gathered in the rain to mark the occasion, with many praising Diana s sons for keeping her in the public memory. Everyone remembers where they were the day she died, and when they heard about it, said 74-year-old Nancy Purinton, on holiday with her husband from the United States. It was pretty dramatic. Sheltering under umbrellas, William, Harry and Kate took a tour of the renamed White Garden, which has been transformed temporarily with white English roses and forget-me-nots planted earlier this year. The palace s head gardener and a gardener who knew Diana from her frequent visits to the spot, usually known as the Sunken Garden, explained the design and pointed out some of the princess s favorite plants. The gathering follows weeks of renewed interest in Diana, the first wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles. She has once again become front page news with new revelations about her life and a raft of TV documentaries to mark the anniversary. Previous anniversaries of her death have passed with little fuss, suggesting that the People s Princess , as she was dubbed by then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, had perhaps lost some of her allure and relevance. But with the popular William and Harry coming to the fore, the 20th anniversary has sparked a re-examination of the role Diana played in Britain and the royal family, from her lavish wedding in 1981 to her bitter divorce. The princes have also been increasingly willing to speak about the trauma of her death and its lasting impact. I m glad that they ve finally loosened up a little bit to talk about her and how really hard it was for them, Purinton said of the princes. I think they were stiff upper lip for so long and now they re able to talk about it, which I think helps other people if they re grieving. Diana s death in a Paris underpass sparked an outpouring of grief that stunned many Britons, with thousands of mourners descending on the palace to leave flowers and letters to pay tribute to a woman who had become a global fashion icon and charity campaigner. I was here the first time around, Alexia McDonald, 54 and a full-time carer, told Reuters. We were similar age ... (I remember) seeing the fairytale wedding. She was my generation and I just felt a connection. I felt I needed to pay my respects to Diana. Outside the palace on Wednesday, Britons again left flowers, photographs and messages attached to the front gates, although in far fewer numbers than immediately after her death. After touring the garden, the princes met representatives from causes Diana had supported, including Great Ormond Street Hospital, the National Aids Trust and The Leprosy Mission. On Thursday, they will reflect on their mother s life in private. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Stung by reputation, Taiwan looks to turn corner on money laundering | TAIPEI (Reuters) - After Taiwan s state-run Mega Financial Holding Co was fined $180 million by U.S. authorities for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch, the bank started a rigorous training program for its staff. Now, like Mega Financial, companies across Taiwan are working to get staff and systems up to speed after the island passed laws to meet international standards on combating money laundering and was taken off a watchlist by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG). Unfortunately, Taiwan has earned a name for itself as a paradise for money laundering, Deputy Justice Minister Tsai Pi-chung told Reuters. Money laundering and cybercrime connections to Taiwan, which is also in the process of pushing through a cyber security bill, have grabbed global headlines. U.S. authorities fined Mega Financial $180 million last year for lax enforcement of anti-money-laundering rules at its New York branch. Some money from the $170 million cyber heist of India s Union Bank of India was transferred through Taiwan s Bank SinoPac. An international crime ring used malware to steal $2.6 million from the ATMs of Taiwan s First Bank. Taiwan was one of the six most targeted countries of the Wannacry ransomware attack earlier this year, according to security company Avast. Since 2011, 800 people from China and Taiwan have been deported from Cambodia on suspicion of telecoms fraud. Following its U.S. fine, Mega Financial said cleaning up its act is a top priority. U.S. authorities had said the Mega branch had been indifferent to the risks associated with transactions involving Panama, a high-risk area for money laundering. What happened at our New York branch was just terrible, said Robert Tsai, a senior executive vice president, referring to the fine and ensuing scandal. Half of our 6,000 clerks have been certified with anti-money laundering training. How each of our branches implements the rules and ensures proper training is the top priority for our business. To gain international confidence in its anti-money laundering measures, Taiwan will have to demonstrate it is putting the laws into practice. The APG will review Taiwan in 2018. The visit will focus on how effectively Taiwan will have actually implemented the anti-money laundering rules, said Liang Hung-lieh, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Taiwan. The APG s on-site review will be new to most of the assessed, including banks, non-bank financial institutions and in particular non-financial institutions such as lawyers, public certified accountants and other professional service providers. Under the anti-money laundering laws, these financial professionals will be required to report suspicious transactions, including bank transfers exceeding T$500,000 (US$16,500). They will have to determine where the money came from, provide details about the client and report that to Taiwan s newly established Anti-Money Laundering Office. These are similar to regulations that countries that have signed up to global anti-money laundering rules overseen by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have adopted. The cost to companies of implementing the new rules may be significant as they put processes, workers and data systems in place. There s a lot of extra work for them to do now, such as determining the identities of their clients beneficiaries, said an official with the Financial Supervisory Commission, the island s financial regulator. He declined to be identified in the absence of permission to speak to the media. They don t yet know exactly what they have to do, and to what extent, to be considered compliant with the new regulations. They re going to need some time to digest all of these new rules, he said. The potential costs and increased difficulty of getting transactions done under the new rules worry those in the property market, said Wong Jui-chi, the spokesman for Taiwan s Chinese Association of Real Estate brokers, while emphasizing that his industry intends to fully comply with the regulations. The property market is already in a bad shape and these new rules will make things worse by making the process of real estate transactions more complicated. More or less everyone in our industry is complaining about it, he said. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
At least 11 Afghan civilians killed in air strike, local official says | KABUL (Reuters) - At least 11 Afghan civilians were killed and 16 wounded on Wednesday when a NATO helicopter attacked a house where Taliban insurgents had taken shelter in Logar province, east of the capital, Kabul, the local governor said. There was no immediate confirmation that NATO or U.S. aircraft were involved, but a spokesman for Resolute Support, the NATO-led mission in Kabul, said in an emailed statement it was aware of the reports and was looking into them. Logar Governor Halim Fedaee said the incident occurred in Dashte Bari district near the provincial capital Pul-e Alam. The Taliban took position in a civilian house and fired a rocket at a NATO helicopter, the governor said. The house owner begged the Taliban to leave, but they didn t. The helicopter took a turn, came and hit this house that caused these deaths. The incident, a day after reports that an Afghan air strike killed at least 13 civilians in the western province of Herat, underlines the risk that a recent increase in air raids by U.S. and Afghan forces will increase civilian casualties. United Nations figures showed a 43 percent spike in civilian casualties from both Afghan and U.S. air strikes in the first half of the year, with 95 killed and 137 wounded, as the pace of air operations has increased. Civilian casualties caused by U.S. air strikes have long been a source of friction in Afghanistan, and the risk of further casualties may increase if the U.S. steps up operations as part of President Donald Trump s new strategy for Afghanistan. Earlier, Resolute Support denied a Taliban statement that a U.S. helicopter had been shot down in Logar province. It said a helicopter had made a precautionary landing for a maintenance issue. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
U.S. send extra fighters to police Baltic skies during Russian exercise | SIAULIAI AIR BASE (Reuters) - The United States has sent a reinforced detachment of fighter planes to police the skies over NATO members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia during a major Russian military exercise in the Baltic region next month. The Zapad war games from Sept. 14 to 20 in Belarus, western Russia and Russia s exclave of Kaliningrad, have caused unease in the region, though Russia has said the large-scale exercise will rehearse a purely defensive scenario and will not be a springboard for invasion. Seven U.S. F-15C fighters landed at Siauliai airfield this week to patrol skies over the Baltic countries, three more than normally used since the NATO policing mission was upgraded after the Crimean crisis in 2014. The three Baltic states do not operate their own fighter aircraft and rely on their NATO allies for patrols. We are reinforcing the air police mission for the period (of Zapad). And we are glad to also have additional land troops here, Lithuanian Deputy Defense Minister Vytautas Umbrasas told reporters at Siauliai, referring to 600 extra U.S. airborne troops being deployed during Zapad in the Baltic states. This is very helpful in a situation like this, he said. Tod Wolters, the top U.S. Air Force commander in Europe, said fighter numbers had been increased due to training opportunities in Lithuania, without mentioning Russia during the news conference in Siauliai. The air policing mission will remain as it has been. And the purpose of the air policing mission is to protect the sovereign skies of the three Baltic nations, said Wolters. Moscow says almost 13,000 Russian and Belarussian servicemen will take part in Zapad, as well as around 70 planes and helicopters and 700 pieces of military hardware including tanks, artillery and rocket systems. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the U.S. Army s top general in Europe, told Reuters last month that U.S. allies in eastern Europe and Ukraine were worried the exercises could be a Trojan horse aimed at leaving behind military equipment brought into Belarus. A Russian deputy defense minister said on Tuesday there was no truth in allegations Russia would use the exercise as a cover to invade and occupy Lithuania, Poland or Ukraine. Suggestions that Russia posed a threat were myths , the deputy minister, Alexander Fomin, said. Three U.S. exercises will be underway at the same time as Zapad, in Sweden, Poland and Ukraine, and a U.S. armored brigade has already deployed in Europe. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
PM May seeks to ease Japan's Brexit fears during trade visit | LONDON/TOKYO (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will look to ease corporate Japan s worries about Brexit during a three-day visit to the country from Wednesday focused on progress on a bilateral trade deal for when Britain leaves the European Union. May s first trip to Japan as prime minister comes at a difficult moment, with Japanese attention focused on North Korea s Tuesday missile test and Britain s Brexit negotiators recently on the receiving end of sharp criticism from EU officials. May will lead a 15-strong business delegation, including Standard Life Investment (SLA.L) chief executive Keith Skeoch, and carmaker Aston Martin s CEO Andy Palmer, pitching Britain and Japan as the perfect partners for the future . She will meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Kyoto before traveling to Tokyo for an investment conference and banquet. May and Abe are due to speak publicly on Thursday following one-to-one talks. My discussions with Prime Minister Abe will focus on how we can prepare the ground for an ambitious free trade agreement after Brexit, based on the EU-Japan agreement which I very much hope is nearing conclusion, May said in a statement ahead of her departure. May will also discuss defense cooperation, describing Japan as our closest security partner in Asia . She will become the first European leader to attend a meeting of Japan s National Security Council and will also visit its flagship helicopter carrier Izumo for a briefing with military officials. North Korea fired a ballistic missile over Japan s northern Hokkaido island into the sea early on Tuesday, prompting warnings to residents to take cover and drawing a sharp reaction from Abe. May also strongly condemned the launch. Japan s foreign ministry said the two leaders are expected to agree on the importance of China s role in ramping up pressure on North Korea. Japan has been unusually outspoken about its concerns that Britain s departure from the EU, which was decided by a public vote in 2016, could affect current and future Japanese investments in Britain. Britain is the second most important destination for Japanese investment after the United States, with firms like Nissan (7201.T), Toyota (7203.T) and Hitachi (6501.T) investing billions in carmaking, energy and transport. During a visit to London by Abe in April, Britain said that Japanese companies had already invested over 40 billion pounds ($52 billion) in the British economy. But Japan is also an important destination for British investment. Aston Martin said on Tuesday it will open an advanced product planning office next year in Japan to better understand the needs of Asian buyers and tap into new technologies. The firm is hoping to boost demand from Japan and the United States partly as a way to mitigate against any risks from Brexit which could add costs and delays to the 15 percent of cars it currently sells into the European Union. Speaking ahead of May s visit, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said Tokyo had to react to a sense of crisis among businesses over Brexit, and gather information about the British negotiating strategy. Britain has published a series of papers setting out how it wants to settle its divorce with the EU, and is pushing for talks to move on to discuss the future relationship between the two - something of critical importance to investors. But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker insisted on Tuesday that the new relationship could not be discussed until initial differences had been resolved, and the EU s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Monday he was concerned at the slow progress made so far. Japan s foreign ministry said Abe is expected to ask May to maintain transparency and predictability regarding Brexit so that any impact on corporate activity will be minimized - echoing concerns Abe expressed in April about a Brexit cliff-edge. May s spokeswoman said the prime minister would reiterate Britain s position that it is seeking to agree a time-limited Brexit transition period after March 2019 to avoid a sudden change in trading and regulatory conditions for businesses. What they will discuss in private I can t pre-empt, but that is our position and she ll be setting that out if he (Abe) asks, the spokeswoman said. ($1 = 0.7724 pounds) | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Qatar says no sign Arab states willing to negotiate over boycott | DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country was willing to negotiate an end to a Gulf diplomatic rift but had seen no sign that Saudi Arabia and other countries imposing sanctions on Doha were open to mediation. Kuwait and the United States are trying to heal a bitter dispute between Qatar and four Arab countries that has damaged business ties and disrupted travel for thousands of citizens in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Emirates severed political and trade ties with the small gas-rich country on June 4, accusing it of supporting terrorism. Doha denies the charges. A visit this week to the UAE and Qatar by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed no signs of having eased tensions among the Gulf Arab powers. Qatar maintains its position that this crisis can only be achieved through a constructive dialogue ... but the blockading counties are not responding to any efforts being conducted by Kuwait or other friendly countries, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told reporters in Doha on Wednesday at a news conference with his Russian counterpart. The UAE s ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, in an interview with U.S.-based magazine the Atlantic on Monday, said his country would negotiate with Qatar so long as Doha did not set any preconditions for talks. Sheikh Mohammed said on Wednesday Qatar planned to bolster trade with Russia, one of the world s biggest gas exporters, and that Qatar could no longer rely on neighboring states to support its economy or guarantee food security. Lavrov said if face-to-face negotiations started, Russia would be ready to contribute to the mediation and that it was in Russia s interest for the GCC to be united and strong . | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Trump attacking freedom of the press: U.N. rights boss | GENEVA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump s criticism of journalists amounts to an attack on the freedom of the press and could provoke violence against reporters, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday. Zeid Ra ad al-Hussein said Trump had also made worrying remarks about women, Mexicans and Muslims and went on to question the president s approach to immigration and decision to pardon former Arizona lawman Joe Arpaio. There was no immediate response from the White House on the wide-ranging rebuke of Trump s repeated references to the fake media and some of his other statements and decisions. It s really quite amazing when you think that freedom of the press, not only sort of a cornerstone of the U.S. Constitution but very much something that the United States defended over the years is now itself under attack from the President, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said. It s sort of a stunning turnaround. And ultimately the sequence is a dangerous one, he told a news conference in Geneva. Referring to the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN, he added: To call these news organizations fake does tremendous damage and to refer to individual journalists in this way, I have to ask the question is this not an incitement for others to attack journalists? Zeid voiced concern that a journalist from the Guardian had been assaulted in the United States most recently but gave no details. Trump rounded on journalists last week, calling them truly dishonest people and criticizing their coverage of a white supremacist-organized rally in Virginia and the political fallout from his comments that violence there was caused by many sides . Nazi salutes, swastikas, anti-Semitic slurs and racist references to African-Americans had no place in the United States or beyond , Zeid said, in his first comments on the events in Charlottesville. Trump has also made worrying remarks about women, Mexicans and Muslims, mocked a person with disabilities publicly and issued a directive on a transgender ban in the military, he said. The President prides himself as a taboo breaker, indeed his supporters see him as such. But at the time I expressed my feeling that this was grossly irresponsible, because it has consequences, it emboldens those who may think similarly to sharpen their assaults on these communities, he said. Zeid voiced deep concern at Trump s pardon of Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt in a racial profiling case that highlighted tensions over immigration policy. Does the President support racial profiling, of Latinos in particular, does he support abuse of prisoners? Arpaio referred at one stage to the open-air prison that he set up as a concentration camp, he later recanted said it was a joke, Zeid said. Does the president support this? These actions have consequences. Zeid, comparing the leadership role of a U.S. president to a bus driver, said: I almost feel that the President is driving the bus of humanity and we re careening down a mountain path. And in taking these measures, at least from a human rights perspective, it seems to be reckless driving. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Jordan border crossing with Iraq to reopen in major boost to ties | AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordan will open its main border crossing with Iraq on Wednesday for the first time since 2015, now that Iraqi forces have gained control of the main highway to Baghdad from Islamic State militants, both governments said. Iraqi troops pulled out of the Tureibil post, on the 180 km (110 mile) border, in summer 2014 after the militants secured nearly all the official crossings of the western frontier as they swept through a third of the country. Commercial traffic continued for a year after until Iraq launched an offensive in July 2015 to reclaim the predominately Sunni Anbar province and deprive the militants of funds raised from truck drivers forced to pay a tax on cargo coming in from Jordan. Tureibil would open on Wednesday after the road was secured from attacks and criminal gangs, the Iraqi and Jordanian governments said in a joint statement. Officials have said that customs and border arrangements have been finalised, with security measures in place to ensure the 550 km highway from the border to Baghdad was safe. The opening of the crossing is of great importance to Jordan and Iraq ... It s a crucial artery. Jordan and Iraq have been discussing reopening it for a while, Interior Minister Ghaleb al Zubi said last week. Several trade and business officials had said they had been invited to an event on Wednesday to mark the re-opening that would include senior Jordanian and Iraqi officials. Since last year, the Iraqi army has regained most of Anbar province s main towns that fell to the ultra-hardline jihadist group. The vast desert province is an historic hotbed of the hardline Sunni insurgency sparked by 2003 s U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which empowered the oil-rich nation s Shi ite majority. Iraq has also been working on securing the highway that connects Iraq s Basra port in the south to Jordan, where the Red Sea port of Aqaba has long served as a gateway for Iraqi imports coming from Europe. Although the highway has been secured after driving out the jihadists, the threat of hit-and run attacks on convoys and the army are ever present, according to security experts. There have been several attacks by militants near al-Rutba town, the last town before the border with Jordan. A senior Western diplomatic said Iraqi authorities have awarded a contract to a U.S. security company that will employ a local force to secure the highway. The source gave no further details. Jordan hopes the reopening of the route will revive exports to Iraq, once the kingdom s main export market, accounting that accounted for almost a fifth of domestic exports or about $1.2 billion a year, according to the International Monetary Fund. They have fallen by more than 50 percent from pre-crisis levels. This will increase industrial exports and also revive the two countries trucking industry. It s a major boost to the economy, Nael Husami, general manager of the Amman Chamber of Industry, adding transport costs would fall by nearly half. Jordanian exporters have had to use more expensive sea routes to Iraq s Um Qasr port or another land route across Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, businessmen have said. The restoration of trade links will also give a push to an oil pipeline project running from Basra to Aqaba. Prime Minister Hani al Mulki had visited Baghdad earlier this year to revive the frozen project. Jordanian officials are hopeful the crossing with Syria on its northern border can also open by the end of the year once a U.S.-Russian de-escalation zone in southwest Syria that includes the area is cemented. The International Monetary Fund recently said that prolonged conflicts in neighbouring Syria and Iraq were weighing on the kingdom s debt-ridden economy and the opening of these export routes would boost economic growth. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Lebanon finds soldiers' bodies after retaking Islamic State-held area | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon has identified the bodies of six of its soldiers found along the Syrian border in an area held by Islamic State until three days ago, sources in the president s office said. The Lebanese army launched an offensive this month which ended with Islamic State militants leaving their last foothold along the border on Sunday. Since then the army has found 10 bodies in the area. DNA tests confirmed that six of those belonged to Lebanese soldiers, the sources and local media reported on Wednesday. Islamic State militants had for years held territory along the border, and captured 10 Lebanese soldiers in 2014 when they briefly overran the town of Arsal, one of the worst spillovers of the Syrian conflict into Lebanon. The militants and their families left the border area on Sunday under a ceasefire deal. The agreement included IS militants identifying where they had buried the soldiers bodies, Lebanese army chief General Joseph Aoun said on Wednesday. I had two choices: either I continue the battle and not know the soldiers fate, or I submit to the situation and find out. Their souls are my responsibility, he told reporters. It was not immediately clear if all six belonged to those captured in 2014, however - one of the bodies discovered is believed to belong to a soldier killed in the recent fighting. Of the 10 captured in 2014, one was killed shortly after and footage of his execution was published by the militants. Another is believed to have joined Islamic State. His whereabouts is unknown. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Spanish archaeologists dig up more civil war dead from mass graves | MADRID (Reuters) - Archaeologists in Spain have unearthed more bodies from mass graves dating back to the 1936-1939 civil war and the ensuing dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, including some still wearing rotting leather boots. The digs in a local cemetery in Valladolid, central Spain, come amid renewed efforts by volunteer associations and victim campaign groups to shed a light on the bloody past and bring closure for relatives still searching for family members. Four mass graves have now been excavated in Valladolid and 228 bodies recovered there since April 2016. These graves are believed to be among more than 2,000 mass burial sites thought to exist across Spain from the civil war - an ideological struggle between right and left - more than 80 years ago. Historians estimate as many as 500,000 combatants and civilians were killed on the Republican and Nationalist sides in the war. After it ended, tens of thousands of Franco s enemies were killed or imprisoned in a campaign to wipe out dissent. I hope that with forensic analysis we can find out who they once were, said Julio del Olmo, one of those working on the exhumations. The local council in Valladolid partly financed the excavation, in one of the few examples to date of authorities backing such digs. After Franco died in 1975, Spain passed an amnesty law in a bid to smooth the transition from dictatorship to democracy, pardoning the crimes of the fascist regime. But there is increasing interest from new generations to face up to the past. For some, this lack of accountability meant that some of their relatives were never laid to rest. Another similar, smaller-scale dig also took place in the village of Huesca near Zaragoza in northern Spain, at the request of a man searching for his great uncle. Two bodies were found there. August 30 is the international day commemorating the victims of enforced disappearances. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Flamboyant Hong Kong businessman David Tang dies aged 63 | HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong businessman and socialite David Tang, known for founding the eponymous Shanghai Tang fashion brand, has died at the age of 63. Tang, who split his time between the Asian financial hub of Hong Kong and London, was well known for his satirical sense of humor as a weekly columnist in the Financial Times weekend edition. Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, tweeted: RIP Sir David Tang, businessman, philanthropist, networker supreme. He will be sorely missed as a friend and FT columnist. Media reported he had battled liver cancer for some time. Tang, the father of two children and husband of British-born Lucy Tang, moved to England at the age of 13 where he said he began boarding school without speaking a word of English. He set up his high-end tailor in 1994 and turned it into a global brand before Richemont took a controlling stake in 1998. Hong Kong-born Tang aimed to fuse east and west through his business ventures such as the members-only China Club in the former British colony and the China Tang restaurant at the Dorchester hotel in London. Tang, who was awarded a Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE), was the grandson of Tang Shiu Kin, a famous philanthropist who founded the Kowloon Motor Bus company. Friends with celebrities including Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and the late Princess Diana, Tang was a constant feature in society magazines, known for his lively parties and exotic holidays in places such as Bhutan and the Sahara desert. An honorary consul of Cuba and the sole distributor of Cuban cigars in the Asia-Pacific, Tang had been planning a big party with close friends at the Dorchester after doctors gave him a month to live, British media reported in August. It is not clear if the party took place. The Dorchester declined to comment. Tang said in an interview with the Financial Times in 2010, that he would like to be remembered by a Hilaire Belloc quote: When I am dead, I hope it may be said: His sins were scarlet, but his books were read. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Japan's Aso retracts Hitler comment after criticism | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on Wednesday retracted a remark to lawmakers of his faction in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that could be interpreted as a defense of Adolf Hitler s motive for genocide during World War Two. Tuesday s comment by Aso, who also serves as finance minister, drew criticism from a U.S.-based Jewish group. The incident followed a rare June apology by Japan s central bank over a board member s praise for Hitler s economic policies. It is clear from my overall remarks that I regard Hitler in extremely negative terms, and it s clear that his motives were also wrong, Aso said in a statement. Aso said he wanted to stress the importance of delivering results, but not defend Hitler. It was inappropriate that I cited Hitler as an example and I would like to retract that. Aso is no stranger to gaffes, having retracted a comment in 2013 about Hitler s rise to power that was interpreted as praising the Nazi regime. Referring at the time to Japan s efforts to revise its constitution, he said the constitution of Weimar Germany had been changed before anyone realized, and asked, Why don t we learn from that technique? On Tuesday, Kyodo news agency quoted Aso as saying, I don t question your motives (to be a politician). But the results are important. Hitler, who killed millions of people, was no good, even if his motives were right. The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Center expressed distress and disappointment at Aso s comment. This is just the latest of a troubling list of misstatements and are downright dangerous, the center s head, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, said in a statement on Tuesday. These words damage Japan s reputation at the very time when all Americans want to show their solidarity with Japan, our sister democracy and ally, following the missile launch from Kim Jong Un s North Korea, he added. Aso s gaffe came after U.S. President Donald Trump drew sharp criticism for comments that blamed many sides for this month s violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. In June, Bank of Japan board member Yutaka Harada told a seminar Hitler s economic policies had been appropriate and wonderful but had enabled the Nazi dictator to do horrible things. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
South Korea's Moon, Japan's Abe agree to raise pressure to max on North Korea | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in said North Korea s launch of an intermediate ballistic missile that flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido amounted to violent conduct to a neighbouring country, his office said on Wednesday. Moon agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Abe in a telephone call on Wednesday that pressure must be raised to the maximum on the North to leave Pyongyang with no choice but to come to dialogue, the presidential Blue House said in a statement. | worldnews | August 30, 2017 |
Vietnam's Facebook dissidents test the limits of Communist state | HANOI (Reuters) - This isn t like China, says Vietnamese activist Anh Chi at a noisy bar off one of the narrow streets of Hanoi s Old Quarter. They can t shut Facebook down here. His 40,000 Facebook followers make him one of Vietnam s better-known critics, but by no means the biggest in a Communist state whose attempts to crack down on dissidents have collided with the rapidly expanding reach of foreign-owned social media. Vietnam s President Tran Dai Quang this month called for unspecified tougher internet controls in the face of hostile forces that he said threatened not only cybersecurity but also undermined the prestige of the leaders of the party and the state . But taming the internet in a young, fast-growing country is not easy, especially when the companies providing the platform are global. China, in contrast, allows only local internet companies operating under strict rules. Vietnam is among Facebook s top 10 countries, by number of members. It now reports more than 52 million active accounts to advertisers, according to research provided to Reuters by social media agencies We Are Social and Hootsuite. Google s YouTube and Twitter are popular too. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, social media underpins business and communications as well as government critics. Some dissidents posting on social media have been caught in a major crackdown that has followed changes in the ruling party hierarchy. At least 15 people have been arrested this year. High profile bloggers Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as Mother Mushroom , and Tran Thi Nga have been jailed for 10 and nine years respectively. Government critics also complain of beatings by unidentified assailants and intimidation. But dozens of activists still post critical comment every day. Several have more than 100,000 followers and at least one has over 400,000 - more than double that for the government s own Facebook page and nearly a 10th the size of the Communist Party s national membership. We use any chance we have to raise our voice: environmental issues, territorial issues, land issues, said Anh Chi , 43, a Vietnamese teacher, translator and publisher whose real name is Nguyen Chi Tuyen. Vietnam tried to pressure Facebook (FB.O) and Google (GOOGL.O) to take down thousands items of anti-government content in March by leaning on advertisers, but the continued prevalence suggests limited success. One reason it is hard to take tougher action is business: From brewers to insurers to the makers of the motorbikes buzzing Vietnam s streets, social media is a key marketing route to young and increasingly affluent consumers in an economy growing at more than 6 percent a year, one of the fastest rates in Asia. For small businesses it is crucial: One new silk flower shop in Hanoi told Reuters 95 percent of customers found it through Facebook or Instagram. You ve got kids that are building businesses on these platforms and generating significant success, said Simon Kemp, founder of the Kepios marketing consultancy. While it accounts for only a tiny part of Facebook or Google parent Alphabet s revenue, Vietnam is a hot target for global consumer brands. Asia-Pacific was Facebook s fastest growing region by revenue last year, up nearly 60 percent. Tighter Internet controls could dampen innovation and impact the growth of Vietnam s digital economy and its competitiveness, said Jeff Paine, managing director of the Asia Internet Coalition, whose members include Facebook, Google and Twitter. Facebook did not respond to a request for comment. Google declined to comment. Vietnam s foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang told Reuters the government was an advocate of the internet but tried to minimize behaviors that harm users and illegal acts such as inciting violence and a depraved lifestyle . China blocked Facebook in 2009 and only local sites such as WeChat and Weibo are permitted, operating under laws that ban content that is obscene, violent or offends the Communist Party. China has had remarkable success controlling discussion, said David Bandurski, co-director of the China Media Project and a fellow of the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin. Tools include keyword filtering by the local internet companies and the close monitoring of big networks, he said. Even so, China has said it is investigating its top social media sites for failing to comply with its laws. Facebook has been blocked in Vietnam occasionally - sometimes at sensitive moments - but never for long. Vietnamese authorities have tried for years and so far failed to stop independent journalists and bloggers from using the internet, said Shawn Crispin, Southeast Asia representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists. It s a losing battle. That does not stop activists being targeted for arrest. Activist Pham Doan Trang noted on Facebook that some campaigners appeared to have withdrawn from the scene in the face of the crackdown, but said she would not be discouraged. Freedom has a very funny rule, she told Reuters Once people know the limit of freedom they will never go back. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Message from North Korean missile over Japan 'loud and clear': Trump | WASHINGTON/SEOUL (Reuters) - President Donald Trump warned on Tuesday that all options are on the table for the United States to respond to North Korea s firing of a ballistic missile over northern Japan s Hokkaido island into the sea in a new show of force. The missile test further increased tension in east Asia as U.S. and South Korean forces conducted annual military exercises on the Korean peninsula, angering Pyongyang which sees the war games as a preparation for invasion. North Korea has conducted dozens of ballistic missile tests under its leader, Kim Jong Un, in defiance of U.N. sanctions, but firing projectiles over mainland Japan is rare. Trump, who has vowed not to let North Korea develop nuclear missiles that can hit the mainland United States, said the world had received North Korea s latest message loud and clear . Threatening and destabilizing actions only increase the North Korean regime s isolation in the region and among all nations of the world. All options are on the table, Trump said in a statement. Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe spoke and agreed that North Korea poses a grave and growing direct threat to the United States, Japan and South Korea, the White House said. Investors flocked to safe-haven assets after the missile firing. The dollar fell to its lowest in more than 2-1/2 years against a basket of major currencies .DXY but then rebounded, while benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note US10YT=RR yields fell and the price of gold XAU= hit more than a nine-month peak. U.S. stocks .SPX recovered from a sharply lower open. Initial assessment indicates the North Korean missile was an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), the Pentagon said in a statement. Two U.S. officials said it appeared to be a KN-17, or Hwasong-12. North Korea s Kim guided a launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday in a drill to counter the joint exercises by South Korean and U.S. militaries, the North s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday. The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam, KCNA quoted Kim as saying. Pentagon spokesman Colonel Robert Manning said diplomacy was still Washington s preferred option with Pyongyang. North Korea was defiant. The U.S. should know that it can neither browbeat the DPRK with any economic sanctions and military threats and blackmail nor make the DPRK flinch from the road chosen by itself, North Korea s official Rodong Sinmun said, using the initials of the North s official name, the Democratic People s Republic of Korea. The North vows to never give up its weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter hostility from the United States and its allies. The United States has said before that all options, including military, are on the table, although its preference is for a diplomatic solution. The United States is technically still at war with the North because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Relations worsened last year when North Korea staged two nuclear bomb tests. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the launch was absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible and that the Security Council now needed to take serious action. Saying enough is enough, Haley said she hoped China and Russia would continue to work with the rest of the Security Council when it meets on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what more can be done about North Korea s nuclear and missile programs. The Security Council earlier this month unanimously imposed new sanctions on North Korea after it staged two long-range missile launches in July. In response to Trump s statement that all options are on the table, Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters: It s troubling, because tensions are high and whose nerves are stronger, we don t know. A U.S. official denied a report by Japan s Nikkei newspaper that the United States and Japan will call at Tuesday s meeting for an international embargo on oil exports to North Korea. Securing diplomatic agreement to such a ban would likely be extraordinarily difficult. Diplomats say China and Russia typically only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions. Negotiations on the past three substantial U.N. sanctions resolutions have taken between one and three months. The United States has proposed that the Security Council adopt a statement on Tuesday condemning North Korea s ballistic missile launch and imploring all states to strictly, fully, and expeditiously implement U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang, according to a copy of the draft statement seen by Reuters. The draft statement does not threaten new Security Council action against North Korea. In China, North Korea s lone major ally, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the crisis was approaching a critical juncture , but it might also be a turning point to open the door to peace talks. The launch was North Korea s second since U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson appeared to make a peace overture last week, by welcoming what he called the restraint Pyongyang had shown by not conducting tests for several weeks. Trump also expressed optimism last week about a possible improvement in relations, saying of North Korea s Kim: I respect the fact that he is starting to respect us. Some experts in Asia said Kim was trying to pressure Washington to get to the negotiating table with the latest missile tests. (North Korea) thinks that by exhibiting their capability, the path to dialogue will open, said Masao Okonogi, professor emeritus at Japan s Keio University. HIGH-FLYING MISSILESouth Korea s military said the missile was launched from near the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, just before 6 a.m. (2100 GMT on Monday) and flew 2,700 km (1,680 miles), reaching an altitude of about 550 km (340 miles). Four South Korean fighter jets bombed a military firing range on Tuesday after President Moon Jae-in asked the military to demonstrate capabilities to counter North Korea. South Korea and the United States had discussed deploying additional strategic assets on the Korean peninsula, South Korea s presidential Blue House said in a statement, without giving more details. Earlier this month, North Korea threatened to fire four missiles into the sea near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam after Trump said it would face fire and fury if it threatened the United States. North Korea fired what it said was a rocket carrying a communications satellite into orbit over Japan in 2009 after warning of its plan. The United States, Japan and South Korea considered it a ballistic missile test. The latest missile fell into the sea 1,180 km (735 miles) east of Hokkaido, the Japanese government said. In many northern Japanese towns, sirens wailed and loudspeakers urged residents to take precautions, sending some scrambling to leave their houses while others confessed they had no idea what they should do. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
North Korea says launched Hwasong-12 rocket to counter South Korea-U.S. drills: KCNA | SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un guided a launch of its Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile on Tuesday in a drill to counter the joint military exercises by South Korean and U.S. militaries, the North s official KCNA news agency said on Wednesday. The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam, KCNA quoted Kim as saying. KPA stands for the Korean People s Army, the North s military. North Korea threatened to fire four Hwasong-12 missiles into the sea near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam earlier this month after U.S. President Donald Trump said the North would face fire and fury if it threatened the United States. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Guatemala top court sides with U.N. graft unit in fight with president | GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala s top court on Tuesday ruled definitively against President Jimmy Morales internationally criticized push to expel the head of a U.N.-backed anti-corruption unit probing his campaign financing. The decision by the Constitutional Court ratifies a provisional ruling that the government could not expel Ivan Velasquez, a veteran Colombian prosecutor who leads Guatemala s International Commission against Impunity, known as CICIG. Morales on Sunday ordered the expulsion of the prosecutor, who has been a thorn in the president s side by investigating his son and brother, and then seeking to remove his own immunity from investigation over more than $800,000 in potentially unexplained campaign funds. He has denied any wrongdoing. Within the United Nations, Velasquez has the rank of assistant secretary general. He is widely respected and the president s moved unleashed a series of resignations from his cabinet and a storm of criticism from Western nations. Earlier in the day, Morales, 48, said he would respect the court s decision, stepping back from brinkmanship he displayed at the weekend when he said the court had overstepped its mandate by ruling on the case. He has sought support from Guatemala s mayors, possibly to try to counter the diplomatic pressure and street protests by activists calling him corrupt. I am not defending corrupt people, I am not against the anti-corruption fight, I am not even against the CICIG. Is a machete good or bad? It depends on who is wielding it, said the former comedian at a meeting with mayors. Morales won office in 2015 running on a platform of honest governance after his predecessor Otto Perez Molina was forced to resign and imprisoned in a multi-million dollar graft case stemming from a CICIG investigation. The United Nations on Tuesday said it was disturbed by Morales moves against Velasquez, while the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said failure to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling could constitute obstruction of justice , a criminal offense. The president s decision to declare Ivan Velasquez as non grata and ordering his immediate removal from the country is in clear breach of international law, the ICJ said in a statement. Hundreds of Guatemalans took to the streets on Monday in support of Velasquez, some shouting Take Jimmy Morales to court! Some groups came out in support of the president and against foreign interference. The U.S. ambassador to Guatemala, Todd Robinson, told Reuters the president s moves could put at risk a U.S. development plan in Central America to reduce poverty and crime. There will probably be consequences from the president s decision, Robinson said, while emphasizing that any U.S. measures would have to be carefully thought through so as not to affect the economy or migration to the United States. Many politicians in Guatemala consider the foreign-led body, which is unusual among U.N. bodies for its powers to bring cases to prosecutors, to be a violation of national sovereignty. Anti-corruption activists credit it with cleaning up government. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Iran rejects U.S. demand for U.N. visit to military sites | ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran has dismissed a U.S. demand for United Nations nuclear inspectors to visit its military bases as merely a dream . It also said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was unlikely to agree anyway. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, last week pressed the IAEA to seek access to Iranian military bases to ensure that they were not concealing activities banned by the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major powers. U.S. President Donald Trump has called the nuclear pact negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama the worst deal ever . In April, he ordered a review of whether a suspension of nuclear sanctions on Iran was in the U.S. interest. Iranian government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht responded at a weekly news conference broadcast on state television on Tuesday. Iran s military sites are off limits, he said. All information about these sites are classified. Iran will never allow such visits. Don t pay attention to such remarks that are only a dream. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani followed up later by saying the U.S. call was unlikely to be accepted by the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The International Atomic Energy Agency is very unlikely to accept America s demand to inspect our military sites, Rouhani said in a televised interview. Rouhani gave no indication why he believed the IAEA would decline the request. Under the deal, the IAEA can request access to Iranian sites including military ones if it has concerns about activities there that violate the agreement, but it must show Iran the basis for those concerns. That means new and credible information pointing to such a violation is required first, officials from the agency and major powers say. There is no indication that Washington has presented such information to back up its call for inspections of Iranian military sites. Under U.S. law, the State Department must notify Congress every 90 days of Iran s compliance with the nuclear deal. The next deadline is October, and Trump has said he thinks by then the United States will declare Iran to be non-compliant. So far, IAEA inspectors have certified that Iran is fully complying with the deal, under which it significantly reduced its enriched uranium stockpile and took steps to ensure no possible use of it for a nuclear weapon. This was in return for an end to international sanctions that had helped cripple its oil-based economy. During its decade-long stand-off with world powers over its nuclear program, Iran repeatedly rejected visits by U.N. inspectors to its military sites, saying they had nothing to do with nuclear activity and so were beyond the IAEA s purview. Shortly after the deal was reached, Iran allowed inspectors to check its Parchin military complex, where Western security services believe Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations more than a decade ago. Iran has denied this. Under the 2015 accord, Iran could not get sanctions relief until the IAEA was satisfied Tehran had answered outstanding questions about the so-called possible military dimensions of its past nuclear research. Iran has placed its military bases off limits also because of what it calls the risk that IAEA findings could find their way to the intelligence services of its U.S. or Israeli foes. The Americans will take their dream of visiting our military and sensitive sites to their graves ... It will never happen, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran s highest authority, told reporters. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Rouhani says IAEA unlikely to accept U.S. demand for Iran military site inspection | ANKARA (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday the U.S. demand for U.N. nuclear inspectors to visit Iran s military facilities were unlikely to be accepted by the nuclear watchdog. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is very unlikely to accept America s demand to inspect our military sites, Rouhani said in a televised interview. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, last week pressed the IAEA to seek access to Iranian military bases to ensure that they were not concealing activities banned by a 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran and six major powers. He gave no indication why he believed the IAEA would decline the request. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Iraq's Kirkuk province to vote in Kurdish independence referendum | KIRKUK, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq s oil-producing region of Kirkuk will vote in a referendum on Kurdish independence on Sept. 25, its provisional council decided on Tuesday, a move that could increase tension with Arab and Turkmen residents. The ethnically mixed region is claimed by both the central government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq. The vote is definitely happening on Sept. 25, Kirkuk Governor Najmuddin Kareem told Reuters after a majority of the provincial council voted in favor of taking part. Only 24 of the 41 council members attended Tuesday s vote, with 23 voting in favor of participating in the referendum. One abstained. The remaining council members - all Arabs and Turkmen - boycotted the vote. Instead, they issued statements denouncing the vote as unconstitutional. The KRG had said it was up to the local councils of Kirkuk and three other disputed regions of Iraq to decide whether to join the vote on the independence of the Kurdish region. The vote in the disputed regions would amount to deciding whether to join the KRG or remain under the jurisdiction of the Shi ite Arab-led government in Baghdad. Baghdad says the referendum is unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters following a meeting of his council of ministers, Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi denounced Tuesday s decision as wrong . Issues are not handled like this, he added. Sunni MP Mohammed al-Karbouli told Reuters that Tuesday s decision would help trigger ethnic fighting in the region and would also extend the life of Islamic State in the country. It s a stark violation of the constitution and a determined move to confiscate the rights of the Arab and Turkmen in Kirkuk. The government should intervene to stop this violation, al-Karbouli said. The United States and Western nations fear the vote could lead to conflicts with Baghdad and neighboring Turkey and Iran, which host sizeable Kurdish populations, diverting attention from the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. A senior Kurdish official has said Iraq s Kurds might consider postponing the referendum in return for financial and political concessions from the central government. Those who ask for a postponement - including Baghdad and the U.S. and Europe and whoever - should give us a time, Kareem said. Why don t they propose a date? Kurdish peshmerga fighters seized control of Kirkuk in 2014 when the Iraqi army fled from Islamic State s offensive across northern and western Iraq, preventing the region s oil fields from falling into the hands of the militants. The Kurds have been seeking an independent state since at least the end of World War One, when colonial powers divided up the Middle East and left Kurdish-populated territory split between modern-day Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Britain asks for U.N. Security Council to discuss Myanmar violence | UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Britain has asked for the U.N. Security Council to meet on Wednesday to discuss escalating deadly violence between Rohingya insurgents and Myanmar security forces in Rakhine state, Britain s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Tuesday. Need to address long-term issues in Rakhine, urge restraint by all parties, Rycroft posted on Twitter. A series of coordinated attacks by Rohingya insurgents on security forces in the north of Myanmar s Rakhine state on Friday has triggered a fresh exodus to Bangladesh of Rohingya Muslim villagers trying to escape the violence. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
UAE criticizes 'colonial' role of Iran, Turkey in Syria | ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates urged Iran and Turkey on Tuesday to end what it called their colonial actions in Syria, signaling unease about diminishing Gulf Arab influence in the war. Allied to regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia, the UAE opposes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his backer Iran, and is wary of Turkey, a friend of Islamist forces the UAE opposes throughout the Arab world. UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan urged the exit of those parties trying to reduce the sovereignty of the Syrian state, and I speak here frankly and clearly about Iran and Turkey. He was speaking at a news conference with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, whose country helps Assad militarily. If Iran and Turkey continue the same historical, colonial and competitive behavior and perspectives between them in Arab affairs, we will continue in this situation not just in Syria today but tomorrow in some other country, Sheikh Abdullah said. The six-year-old war in Syria has dragged in regional and international players who have sought to advance their interests there: Iran has sent troops and military support to shore up Assad s rule as he has battled mostly Sunni Muslim rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states. The Syrian army and its allies have regained lost territory with the help of Russian air strikes since 2015. At the same time, Islamic State is being pushed back from strongholds in Eastern Syria by the Syrian army and a rival offensive by Kurdish and Arab rebels backed by the United States. Fearing expanded Kurdish influence along its border with Syria, U.S. ally Turkey has grown increasingly uneasy about the rebels armed thrust. Turkey and Iran have discussed possible joint military action against Kurdish militant groups, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. Lavrov and Sheikh Abdullah said they agreed on a need for a negotiated end to the war. Russia is helping shepherd talks in the Kazakh capital Astana which has already produced de-escalation zones to reduce combat in three parts of Syria. Lavrov said Russia hoped that efforts to unify the positions of Syria s disparate opposition would aid the peace process. There were some deep disagreements in the past which led to the failure of some meetings, but we will continue encouraging the participation of all the platforms, he said through a translator. (This story corrects day in first paragraph) | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Germany keen to avoid new 'ice age' in ties between Russia, West | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Germany and Europe want to ensure that new U.S. sanctions against Russia do not lead to a new ice age in ties between Russia and the West, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Tuesday. Gabriel said he spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson about the sanctions in a meeting in Washington, adding that he was grateful that U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to coordinate on further measures with U.S. allies. We as Europeans have great concerns that this will have unintended consequences for Europe. We don t want to completely destroy our business relations with Russia, especially in the energy sector, Gabriel said. Trump this month approved new sanctions on Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Ukraine s Crimea peninsula and for what U.S. intelligence agencies say was its meddling in the U.S. presidential election, a charge Russia denies. Gabriel has criticized the United States for the move, saying the new punitive measures expose European companies involved in energy projects in Russia to fines for breaching U.S. law. Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries even urged the EU to retaliate against the United States if the new sanctions on Russia should end up penalizing German firms. Gabriel said European leaders were concerned that the latest sanctions would not only have economic consequences, but could also lead to a new ice age between Russia and the United States and the West. Despite European concerns about the sanctions, Gabriel insisted that Moscow must do its part to implement a fragile ceasefire agreement in place for eastern Ukraine, including the withdrawal of heavy weapons. That would be a starting point for improved relations, Gabriel said. Kurt Volker, the newly appointed U.S. special representative for Ukraine, told broadcaster Deutsche Welle, that Washington would not forge any agreement with Moscow over the heads of the Ukrainians or behind the backs of the Europeans. The U.S. has made clear we fully support the Normandy process, and it s not our intention to become a part of it or to try to go over the top of it, Volker told Deutsche Welle. He acknowledged Russian concerns about Washington s decision to consider arming Ukraine in the conflict, but said it was quite reasonable for Ukrainians to want to be better able to defend themselves. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President on Monday called for Russia and Ukraine to increase their efforts to implement the ceasefire agreement. The conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists has claimed more than 10,000 lives since it erupted in 2014. Germany and France have tried to convince both sides to implement a peace deal agreed in Minsk in 2015 under the so-called Normandy process but with little success so far. Merkel told reporters on Tuesday that sanctions against Russia would be lifted when the situation in eastern Ukraine improved. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Juncker blasts Britain for 'huge' unanswered Brexit questions | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker blasted Britain s failure to answer huge numbers of questions on its Brexit plans as negotiators held a new round of talks on Tuesday on a divorce due in less than two years. Hours after his chief negotiator Michel Barnier urged his British counterpart to start negotiating seriously when they met in Brussels on Monday, European Commission President Juncker echoed the bloc s refusal to discuss the future free trade deal London wants before penciling in terms for leaving the EU. Juncker scoffed at a raft of British negotiating papers published over the summer which Prime Minister Theresa May s government said had shown London was responding seriously to the detailed proposals agreed by the other 27 EU states. I would like to be clear that I did read with the requisite attention all the papers produced by Her Majesty s government; I find none of them truly satisfactory, he told European Union envoys gathered in Brussels for an annual conference. So there are huge numbers of questions that need to be settled. These included issues of rights for EU citizens in Britain and Britons in Europe after Brexit and the EU-UK border that will stretch across the island of Ireland, he said. We need to be crystal clear that we will begin no negotiations on the new economic and trade relationship between the UK and the EU before all these questions are resolved ... that is the divorce between the EU and the UK, Juncker said. We cannot mix these issues up, he continued. Barnier, he said, had firm instructions from the other 27 governments on the phasing of talks, even if he accepted that some issues could not be fully settled without knowing how trade will work. First of all we settle the past before we look forward to the future, he insisted. The head of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, joined Juncker in piling pressure on London: The British government must come forward with clear positions in order for talks to advance, he said in a statement on Tuesday evening. Negotiators who began two full days of talks on Tuesday morning are also trying to settle how much Britain may owe the Union on departure - a particularly explosive issue as both sides hope to reach some kind of outline divorce terms this year so as to give time to work out a transition to free trade. British negotiators, of whom over 100 were taking part in up to five separate forums at the EU headquarters, presented their legal assessment of an EU demand that Juncker has said might leave London paying Brussels some 60 billion euros ($72 billion) - a sum May s ministers have dismissed as unacceptable. Despite the EU rhetoric, which some in Britain see as ill-judged, government officials played down any tensions and described Monday s hour-long meeting between Barnier and Brexit Secretary David Davis as cordial and constructive. May s spokeswoman said Britain feels it is in a good position in the negotiations and wants to agree with the European Union to move on to discussions about its future relationship by October, when EU leaders next hold a summit. We believe we re in a good position and we would like to move on to discuss our future relationship, May s spokeswoman told reporters. We believe that we need the EU to show some more imagination and flexibility when it comes to these discussions, she said. We are seeking to agree by October Council that we can move to talk about our future relationship. Davis is due back in Brussels late on Wednesday and to hold a final news conference with Barnier on Thursday to sum up the results of what is the third formal round of talks. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Thailand's Buddhism chief removed after pressure from religious groups | BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand s junta has removed the head of the national Buddhism office, the prime minister said on Tuesday, after religious groups called on the government to sack him over his plans to clean up scandal-hit monasteries. But Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said it wasn t a punishment. Pongporn Pramsaneh, who joined the National Office of Buddhism in February, had vowed to reform Thailand s more than 40,000 temples by forcing them to open their finances to the public. They take billions of dollars in donations every year. The former policeman was appointed amid a standoff between security forces and the influential Dhammakaya temple in February. Authorities wanted to question the temple s chief abbot on money-laundering charges. Pongporn will now move to a lower profile post of inspector-general in Prayuth s office. He has got some of the jobs done. He came in to solve temple issues, Prayuth told reporters. I ll now bring him close to me, to help me work on religious reform... This is not a punishment. Pongporn told Reuters: I have done my duties to the best of my ability. Buddhism is one of the three traditional pillars of Thai society alongside the nation and monarchy. It has largely eluded the junta s control as it has stamped its authority on other aspects of Thai life since a 2014 coup. The National Office of Buddhism is responsible for state administration of the religion followed by 90 percent of Thailand s 67 million people, but religious affairs are handled by a Sangha Supreme Council of elderly monks. Despite high-profile temple scandals over murder, drugs and sex as well as improper financial dealings, Pongporn s call for change had jarred on some monks. A group called the Thailand Buddhists Federation submitted a petition to the prime minister s office this month, calling for Pongporn to be removed to prevent further damage to monks . He painted monks as villains in Thai people s eyes, the group s secretary-general, Korn Meedee, said in a statement on Facebook. In July, another Buddhist group had called for Pongporn s removal, saying he had damaged the Buddhist institution. Phra Buddha Issara, a firebrand monk who called for reform of Buddhism, said the junta gave in to pressure too easily given government promises to fight corruption. Are they still serious about tackling corruption or are they only moving against certain people and groups? he said, adding that when it came to monks: No one can touch them. Reuters reported exclusively in March that the junta was drafting a law which would significantly weaken the Sangha Council. The draft is expected to be brought to parliament this year. Thai security forces besieged the Dhammakaya Temple in February to try to catch its former abbot, wanted for questioning on money laundering. But police failed to catch him and he is still on the run. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
U.N. must take 'serious' action against North Korea over missile: Nikki Haley | WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that North Korea s launch of a missile over Japan was absolutely unacceptable and irresponsible and that the Security Council now needed to take serious action. No country should have missiles flying over them like those 130 million people in Japan. It s unacceptable, Haley told reporters. North Korea has violated every single U.N. Security Council resolution that we ve had and so I think something serious has to happen, she added. Saying enough is enough, Haley said she hoped China and Russia would continue to work with the rest of the U.N. Security Council when it meets on Tuesday afternoon to discuss what more can be done about North Korea s nuclear and missile programs. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Losing immunity, German anti-immigrant party's co-head may face perjury charge | BERLIN (Reuters) - A regional parliament has lifted the immunity of the best known politician in the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, opening the way for prosecutors to pursue possible perjury charges against her. Frauke Petry, who is the AfD s co-chairwoman, has been dogged by allegations that she lied under oath to a committee of the Saxony parliament about how the party s campaign for the 2014 election in the state was financed. The ending of her immunity from prosecution adds to the right-wing party s problems less than four weeks before a national election. Weakened by infighting, it has bled support over the last year as voters concerns about immigration have eased. Prosecutors have pursued the case against Petry, who denies the allegations, for more than a year. Her immunity as a member of the Saxony s parliament ended at midnight, a spokesman for the assembly said. A spokesman for prosecutors in the state capital Dresden said they would await written confirmation of that from the parliament s president before any further proceedings could be agreed upon. The AfD is polling between 7 and 10 percent in opinion surveys - well down from a high of 15.5 percent at the end of 2016 but still clearing the 5-percent threshold needed to enter the federal parliament in the Sept. 24 national election. Petry cuts an increasingly isolated figure in the AfD, which she transformed from an anti-euro party at its founding in 2013 into a group that taps into voters concerns about migration. The party soared in the polls after Chancellor Angela Merkel s decision in 2015 to open Germany s borders to migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, of whom more than a million have since arrived. At a party conference in April, Petry suffered a humiliating defeat when delegates refused to discuss her plan to shift the party towards the mainstream. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Digging dung: South Africa's amaBhungane heaps pressure on Zuma | JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A group of investigative journalists whose slogan is digging dung, fertilizing democracy is holding South African President Jacob Zuma to account over his widely criticized links to a family of wealthy businessmen. AmaBhungane, which means dung beetles in the Zulu language, was founded by three veteran reporters to expose wrongdoing in South Africa. Together with online news site the Daily Maverick, amaBhungane in June released leaked emails and documents that they said showed allegedly improper dealings in government contracts and influence peddling by the Guptas, a family with close ties to Zuma. Zuma and the Gupta family, which has said the emails were fake, have denied wrongdoing. Co-founder Stefaans Brummer said amaBhungane, which was founded in 2010, had spent several years probing Zuma s family business dealings, and had verified the authenticity of the leaked documents. Our very first stories as amaBhungane was a series called Zuma Inc and we looked at the Zuma family and how its business fortunes had grown since Zuma took the office of president, Brummer said. He said the Gupta name popped up in several of amaBhungane s inquiries into Zuma s family business links and the organization was well placed to process the trove of information in more than 100,000 emails and documents. You fight hard for every piece of information and when something like this happens it s like Christmas, you suddenly have a lot of information, said Brummer. Brummer said amaBhungane, which mostly uses external hard drives to store documents for safety reasons, had sent a copy of the leaked Gupta emails to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project - a global consortium of investigative journalism centers. Reuters has not independently been able to verify the allegations in the so-called GuptaLeaks emails, sent between the Gupta brothers and their associates. The allegations, which came after an anti-corruption watchdog report into claims of influence peddling, opened Zuma up to renewed scrutiny and deepened divisions within the ruling African National Congress. Zuma survived an attempt in parliament to force him from office on Aug. 8, but he was left politically wounded after some ANC members voted with the opposition. It s quite amazing that people in South Africa have woken up to state capture now in 2017 when amaBhungane have been exposing this for a decade, said Glenda Daniels, a senior media studies lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand. Perhaps the nature of their exposes were rather intense and detailed for people to follow. Maybe they have now let some air into their writing and everyone is getting it. As a non-profit company, amaBhungane s 8 million rand ($600,000) annual budget is funded by grants from charitable foundations and public donations. It does not sell adverts or accept funds from the government or from companies. Sam Sole, another amaBhungane co-founder, said his desire to expose society s injustices drove him into journalism. Both Sole and Brummer started their journalism careers before the end of apartheid in 1994. During my subsequent conscription into the defense force I came face to face with the sharp, brutish reality of apartheid - and that was the impetus for my first piece of journalism, said Sole. Journalism, for me, was a way to fight against injustice. The third amaBhungane co-founder, Adriaan Basson, is now editor of News24, an online news site. Sole and Brummer have won numerous journalism awards, including for their reporting on a 30 billion rand ($2.3 billion) deal to buy military equipment in the late 1990s that was plagued by allegations of fraud and corruption. Zuma was linked to the deal through his former financial adviser, who was jailed for corruption. The president said last year that an investigation into the deal found no evidence of wrongdoing, but critics denounced the findings as a cover-up. All charges against Zuma were dropped in 2009, but a court last year ordered a review of the decision. Zuma is appealing the ruling. The arms deal scandal lasted much longer and was much slower burning, which gave us time to develop some of the skills we use now, Sole said. For amaBhungane, the aim was to probe the link between politics and money. We set ourselves a target of trying to find that sweet spot of where organized crime, politics and business intersect, Brummer said. Politics has its good side but it has its bad side, business has its good side and its bad side, organized crime is all bad, but there is always that intersection where the three come together and that s where you get the worst wrongdoing. But amaBhungane has been accused by a group called Black First Land First and some on social media of being run by racist white men and not doing enough stories on white monopoly capital , a phrase used to describe the fact that the white minority still control much of the economy. Brummer said the criticism has not deterred amaBhungane. We are not going to roll over and die. Investigative journalism is what we do and what we like to do, he said. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
EU urges swifter Brexit talks as London seeks 'flexibility' | BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Monday he was concerned at the slow progress of Brexit talks, while his British counterpart David Davis called for imagination and flexibility to move on. British officials arrived in Brussels on Monday hoping to push the EU toward talks about their post-Brexit ties, which the bloc refuses to launch until there is agreement on London s exit bill and other pressing divorce matters, including the rights of EU citizens in Britain after March 2019. To be honest, I am concerned. Time passes quickly, Barnier told reporters as he welcomed Davis back for a new round of talks. The third formal session since the process began in June, it is due to wind up on Thursday. We must start negotiating seriously, Barnier said. The sooner we remove the ambiguity, the sooner we will be in a position to discuss the future relationship. He welcomed a series of proposals London made over the summer break, but made clear they fell short of what EU leaders want to see before they will agree to open negotiations on the future free trade agreement the British government wants. Impatient with the structure of talks agreed among the 27 other states and now binding Barnier s negotiators, the British position papers made frequent reference to a future relationship with the EU rather than just the immediate task of bringing legal clarity for people and business when Britain leaves. The UK government has published a large number of papers covering important issues related to our withdrawal and our vision for a deep and special partnership, Davis said. We want to lock in the points where we agree, unpick the areas where we disagree and make further progress on the whole range of issues, he added. To do that would require flexibility and imagination from both sides , he said. But the EU wants to settle the major separation issues of ensuring expatriate rights, agreeing a divorce bill and squaring the circle of the future Irish border before jumping into talks about post-Brexit ties with London. The EU 27 and the European Parliament are united. They will not accept that separation issues are not addressed properly, Barnier said. I am ready to intensify negotiations over the coming weeks in order to advance. British officials took a relaxed view of Barnier s implied criticisms, noting it was a familiar line from the former French minister, and dismissed a suggestion talks were going badly. The EU has already signaled that the slow progress so far has made talks about a new accord with Britain less likely to start after an EU summit in October, as had been hoped. The EU and Britain seem far apart on agreeing how much London should pay the bloc on departure to account for previous commitments. The Irish issue is extremely delicate because of the history of political violence there, as well as the complex economic consequences of Brexit. Dublin said on Monday much of the future border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland could be solved before Brexit talks enter the next phase. Neither side expects major breakthroughs this week in talks aimed at unraveling more than 40 years of union. Neither seems ready for major political concessions at this stage. An EU official said it was clearly worrying that we have major differences of core issues ... with very little time to land all this, even if Britain moves . Britain s opposition Labour Party on Sunday offered an alternative to the policy pursued by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May by saying it would stay in the European single market for a transitional period after Brexit. The British and German chambers of commerce together urged negotiators on Monday to start talks about future trading relations, and particularly customs arrangements, swiftly. Writing in Le Monde in his native France, Barnier said the EU and Britain must remain allies for their common defense: The Union of 27 and the United Kingdom will have to join forces to stand up to common threats, he said. The security of our citizens cannot be haggled over. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
U.N. nuclear watchdog opens uranium bank in Kazakhstan | ASTANA (Reuters) - The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. global nuclear watchdog, opened a uranium bank in Kazakhstan on Tuesday, a $150-million facility designed to discourage new nations from enriching the nuclear fuel. The Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) Bank in the city of Oskemen, in eastern Kazakhstan, will store up to 90 tonnes of the fuel, enough to power a large city for three years, and sell it to IAEA members if they are unable to procure it elsewhere. The LEU Bank will serve as a last-resort mechanism to provide confidence to countries that they will be able to obtain LEU for the manufacture of fuel for nuclear power plants in the event of an unforeseen, non-commercial disruption to their supplies, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said in a statement on Monday. Countries such as Iran have said they need enrichment facilities to ensure a steady supply of fuel for nuclear power plants, and the idea behind the bank is to make such supply available without domestic enrichment. Russia has operated a similar bank since 2010 but the one in Kazakhstan will be the first one fully owned and operated by the global nuclear watchdog. By hosting the IAEA LEU bank, Kazakhstan has made another contribution to strengthening the global non-proliferation regime, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said as he handed Amano a symbolical key to the facility at a ceremony in the Kazakh capital, Astana. I am confident that the IAEA LEU Bank will make a valuable contribution to international efforts to ensure the availability of fuel for nuclear power plants, Amano said. The IAEA said in a statement it would begin buying uranium soon, with the aim to ship it to the bank next year. The project was funded by donors, including the United States, the European Union, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Norway and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Europeans, Africans agree renewed push to tackle migrant crisis | PARIS (Reuters) - Europe s big four continental powers and three African states agreed a plan on Monday to tackle illegal human trafficking and support nations struggling to contain the flow of people across the desert and Mediterranean sea. The 28-nation European Union has long struggled to reach a coherent answer to the influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty and political upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and the crisis is testing cooperation between member states. After hosting the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, Chad, Niger and Libya, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was time for greater coordination. We must all act together - from the source countries to Europe and passing by the transit countries, especially Libya - to be efficient, he told reporters. It s a challenge as much for the EU as for the African Union. While the meeting was sparse on concrete details, the leaders agreed on the principle of setting up a mechanism to identify legitimate migrants who are fleeing war and persecution, and to use the United Nations to register them in Niger and Chad so as to prevent them being exploited by traffickers. At the core of it, it s all about fighting illegal migration, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference. She said that Berlin was willing to increase its efforts. If we want to stop human traffickers, then this can only be achieved through development aid, she said. The migrant crisis has put Paris and Rome at odds. Italy has accused France and other EU states of not sharing the migrant burden and has also asked the EU Commission for more budget flexibility to help it tackle the crisis. Nearly 120,000 migrants, including refugees, have entered Europe by sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2,400 have drowned while making the dangerous journey, often without enough food or water in overcrowded dinghies run by people smugglers. We are all committed to reducing the damage, the death of Africans in the desert, the death of Africans crossing the Mediterranean, Chad President Idriss Deby said. The fundamental problem will always remain development. We need resources, he said. The informal meeting did not outline any new specific financing and the leaders repeated that stabilizing chaotic Libya, where thousands of migrants end up before embarking on a perilous Mediterranean sea journey to Europe, would be key to any long-term solution. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Exclusive: Bloomberg charity scrutinized by India for anti-tobacco funding, lobbying - documents | NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has been investigating how Bloomberg Philanthropies, founded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, funds local non-profit groups for anti-tobacco lobbying, government documents show, making it the latest foreign non-government organization to come under scrutiny. Prime Minister Narendra Modi s government has since 2014 tightened surveillance of non-profit groups, saying they were acting against India s national interests. Thousands of foreign-funded charities licenses have been canceled for misreporting donations. Critics, however, say the government has used the foreign funding law as a tool to silence non-profit groups which have raised concerns about the social costs of India s rapid economic development. The intelligence wing of India s home ministry last year drafted a note on Bloomberg Philanthropies, raising concerns that the foundation was running a campaign to target Indian tobacco businesses and aggressively lobby against the sector. Though the three-page note, reviewed by Reuters, said the Bloomberg initiative s claimed intention to free India of tobacco cannot be faulted given the known risks from tobacco, it highlighted the sector s importance, noting it brings in nearly $5 billion in annual revenue for governments, and provides a livelihood for millions of people. Foreign interests making foreign contributions ... for purposes of lobbying against an established economic activity raises multiple concerns, the note said, including, it said, an adverse economic impact on 35 million people. The June 3, 2016 note, marked SECRET and circulated to top government officials, including in Modi s office, has not previously been reported. The probe continued until at least April this year, another government document showed. Rebecca Carriero, a spokeswoman for Michael Bloomberg and New York-based Bloomberg Philanthropies, declined to comment as they were unaware of any investigation. A home ministry spokesman said queries which relate to security agencies cannot be answered. Modi s office did not respond to an email seeking comment. The ministry s note was one of the factors behind the rejection of a foreign funding license renewal of at least one Bloomberg-funded India charity last October, said a senior government official aware of the investigation. Michael Bloomberg, one of the world s richest people and a former New York City Mayor, has committed nearly $1 billion to support global tobacco control efforts. One of his focus countries is India, where tobacco kills 900,000 people a year. Other than funding Indian NGOs, Bloomberg s charity has in the past worked on improving road safety and supported federal tobacco-control efforts. In 2015, Modi called Michael Bloomberg a friend , and the two agreed on working together on India s ambitious plan to build so-called smart cities. The home ministry note said the Bloomberg charity successfully lobbied for the introduction of bigger health warnings on cigarette packs, contrary to the recommendations of a parliamentary panel. While the panel called for the size of warnings to be more than doubled to 50 percent of a pack s surface area, the health ministry sought a higher figure of 85 percent. Despite protests from India s $10 billion cigarette industry, the Supreme Court last year ordered manufacturers to follow the more stringent health ministry rules. That, the note said, was the first of the three-phase Bloomberg campaign targeting India s tobacco industry. It did not explain how exactly the Bloomberg charity lobbied. While the note mirrored some of India s tobacco lobby s positions - such as how anti-smoking policies could adversely impact farmers - the government official said the investigation was not done at the behest of the industry. Anti-tobacco lobby wants to kill revenue generating activities, the official said. A health ministry official, however, said: We don t see tobacco as an economic activity. He added that the health ministry was unaware of the home ministry s note on Bloomberg Philanthropies. India has stepped up scrutiny of NGOs registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA). In 2015, the home ministry put the Ford Foundation on a watch list and suspended Greenpeace India s FCRA license, drawing criticism from the United States. Earlier this year, the government banned foreign funding for the Public Health Foundation of India, a group backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, saying it used foreign donations to lobby for tobacco-control policy issues, which is prohibited under FCRA. In the Bloomberg case, the home ministry note included a chart showing how funds flowed from Bloomberg Philanthropies to its partner, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which was then funding five local FCRA-registered NGOs. These NGOs, the note said, were being used by the Bloomberg charity for anti-tobacco lobbying activities. The FCRA license of at least one of them - the Institute of Public Health (IPH) Bengaluru - was not renewed in October, in part due to the home ministry s note, the government official said. The IPH said it was told by the home ministry that its license was not being renewed on the basis of a field agency report , but no details were given. It was unaware of the investigation on Bloomberg Philanthropies. In April, the home ministry wrote to the federal health ministry, citing an inquiry into foreign funding for lobbying to change laws in India. The letter, seen by Reuters, mentioned the Bloomberg initiative and directed the health ministry to report on anti-tobacco lobbying by foreign donors in other countries where tobacco is widely used. The health ministry has not yet sent that report, another government official said. The health ministry did not respond to questions. For a graphic on Bloomberg's efforts to reduce tobacco use globally click tmsnrt.rs/2iD1QcX | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
India and China agree to end border standoff | NEW DELHI/BEIJING (Reuters) - India and China have agreed to an expeditious disengagement of troops in a disputed border area where their soldiers have been locked in a stand-off for more than two months, India s foreign ministry said on Monday. The decision comes ahead of a summit of the BRICS nations - a grouping that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa - in China beginning on Sunday, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend. Indian and Chinese troops have been confronting each other at the Doklam plateau near the borders of India, its ally Bhutan, and China, in the most serious and prolonged standoff in decades along their disputed Himalayan border. The Indian ministry said the two sides had agreed to defuse the crisis following diplomatic talks. In recent weeks, India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Doklam, the ministry said in a statement. On this basis, expeditious disengagement of border personnel at the face-off site at Doklam has been agreed to and is on-going, it said in a statement. It did not offer more details of the terms of disengagement from the area which had raised fears of a wider conflict between the Asian giants who fought a brief border war in 1962. China said Indian troops had withdrawn from the remote area in the eastern Himalayas. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Chinese troops would continue to patrol the Doklam region. China will continue to exercise sovereignty rights to protect territorial sovereignty in accordance with the rules of the historical boundary, she said. The Chinese defense ministry said troops would remain on a state of alert. We remind the Indian side to learn the lesson from this incident, earnestly respect the historical boundary and the basic principles of international law, meet China half way and jointly protect the peace and tranquillity of the border region, spokesman Wu Qian said in a statement. The world is not peaceful, and peace needs to be safeguarded. The Chinese military has the confidence and the ability to protect the country s sovereignty, security and development interests, Wu added. The trouble started in June when India sent troops to stop China building a road in the Doklam area, which is remote, uninhabited territory claimed by both China and Bhutan. India said it sent its troops because Chinese military activity there was a threat to the security of its own northeast region. But China has said India had no role to play in the area and insisted it withdraw unilaterally or face the prospect of an escalation. Chinese state media had warned India of a fate worse than its crushing defeat in the war in 1962. Indian political commentator Shekhar Gupta said there was too much at stake for the two countries to fight over a small piece of territory. Hopefully, Doklam is a new chapter in India-China relations. Too much at stake for both big powers to let legacy real-estate issues linger, he said in a Twitter post. India and China have been unable to settle their 3,500-km (2,175-mile) frontier and large parts of territory are claimed by both sides. Lin Minwang, an India expert and the deputy director of the Center for South Asia Studies at China s Fudan University, said the detente would ensure a smooth BRICS meeting. Both sides should be happy. Modi is also happy. They can conduct a meeting smoothly and naturally. If there was still a stand-off, how could they meet? | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Kazakh president names two new deputy PMs | ASTANA (Reuters) - Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev named Yerbolat Dosayev and Askar Zhumagaliyev deputy prime ministers on Tuesday, according to documents published on his website. Dosayev has previously run Baiterek, a state holding company in charge of banking and finance, while Zhumagaliyev has served as chief executive of state-owned nuclear company Kazatomprom, one of the world s biggest uranium miners. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
TPP countries consider amendments to stalled trade deal: sources | SYDNEY (Reuters) - The 11 countries committed to the Trans-Pacific Partnership are considering amendments to the trade deal, three sources said on Tuesday, as officials meet in Sydney for talks to re-energize the stalled agreement. Among the areas being discussed, Vietnam has raised the prospect of changes to labor rights and intellectual property (IP) provisions in the original pact, one source familiar with the talks told Reuters. Vietnam had been one of the countries expected to enjoy the biggest economic benefits from TPP through greater access to U.S. markets. However, the original 12-member TPP, which aims to cut trade barriers in some of Asia s fastest-growing economies, was thrown into limbo in January when U.S. President Trump withdrew from the agreement. Trump s move fulfilled a campaign pledge to put America first - a policy that aimed to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States. Although the remaining members have publicly said they remain committed to the deal, implementation of the agreement linking 11 countries with a combined GDP of $12.4 trillion has stalled - raising fears that other countries will follow the U.S. lead and withdraw. Eager to keep all members onboard, representatives from the remaining countries are considering changes to the original TPP deal, three sources familiar with the talks said. We re all open to evaluating what we can do and what viable alternatives there may be, Edgar Vasquez, Peru s deputy trade minister, told Reuters. While no agreement is expected at the end of the three-day meeting, Vietnam s desire to shelve the IP provisions around pharmaceutical data is likely to win broad support, with Japanese and New Zealand officials also indicating their support for the change, two other sources said. The original TPP agreement was seen as particularly onerous on Vietnam, which be forced to make significant reforms, analysts said. There s not much sense to agree to provisions they don t really want such as stronger monopolies on medicines if they are not going to get access to the U.S. market, said Patricia Ranald, research associate, University of Sydney. The original TPP offered an eight-year window before competitors can have access to proprietary pharmaceutical data, which critics said would impede development of cheap generics. Potential amendments, however, require delicate positioning. While Trump has said he will not change his mind on TPP, the remaining members are hopeful a future U.S. president will commit to the agreement, a cornerstone of former President Barack Obama s pivot to Asia. But analysts said wholesale changes, while ensuring the support of smaller members, would repel the United States. The more you change the agreement, it is going to be harder to get the U.S. to sign on when it is ready to, said Shiro Armstrong, research fellow at the Crawford School of Economics in Canberra. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Myanmar army battles Rohingya insurgents; thousands flee | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh (Reuters) - Myanmar security forces intensified operations against Rohingya insurgents on Monday, police and other sources said, following three days of clashes with militants in the worst violence involving Myanmar s Muslim minority in five years. The fighting - triggered by coordinated attacks on Friday by insurgents wielding sticks, knives and crude bombs on 30 police posts and an army base - has killed 104 people and led to the flight of large numbers of Muslim Rohingya and Buddhist civilians from the northern part of Rakhine state. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is deeply concerned by reports that civilians have been killed in Rakhine state and appealed for neighboring Bangladesh to allow fleeing Rohingya to seek safety, his spokesman said on Monday. Many of those fleeing are women and children, some of whom are wounded, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. (The Secretary-General) calls for humanitarian agencies to be granted unfettered and free access to affected communities in need of assistance and protection. The United Nations stands ready to provide all necessary support to both Myanmar and Bangladesh in that regard, Dujarric said. The violence marks a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since October, when a similar but much smaller series of Rohingya attacks on security posts prompted a brutal military response dogged by allegations of rights abuses. The treatment of about 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has condemned the attacks and commended the security forces. The Nobel peace laureate has been accused by some Western critics of not speaking out on behalf of the long-persecuted minority, and of defending the army s sweep after the October attacks. The Rohingya are denied citizenship in Myanmar and classified as illegal immigrants, despite claiming roots there that go back centuries, with communities marginalized and occasionally subjected to communal violence. Now the situation is not good. Everything depends on them - if they re active, the situation will be tense, said police officer Tun Hlaing from Buthidaung township, referring to the Rohingya insurgents. Rohingya villagers make up the majority in the area. We split into two groups, one will provide security at police outposts and the other group is going out for clearance operation with the military, he said. A Buthidaung-based reporter, citing police sources directly involved in events, said three police posts in northern Buthidaung had been surrounded by Rohingya insurgents. Many houses had been burning since Sunday in parts of neighboring Maungdaw town, another journalist and a military source in Maungdaw told Reuters. A Rohingya villager in the area said the army attacked three hamlets in the Kyee Kan Pyin village group with shotguns and other weapons, before torching houses. Everything is on fire, he said by phone. Now I m in the fields with the people, we re running away. A military source in Rakhine state confirmed that houses were burned in the area but blamed the insurgents, who he said opened fire when soldiers came to find them and clear landmines. The insurgents fled, he said, adding there were no casualties. The Myanmar military reported clashes over the weekend involving hundreds of insurgents, taking the death toll to at least 104, the majority militants, plus 12 members of the security forces and several civilians. There were no official updates from the army or the government on Monday. The unrest has exposed the dark side of Myanmar s historic opening: an unleashing of ethnic hatred that was suppressed during 49 years of strict military rule that ended when the generals stepped back from direct rule in 2011. The following year, hundreds of people, most of them Rohingya, were killed in communal clashes in Rakhine state and about 140,000 people were displaced. In neighboring Bangladesh on Monday, border guards tried to push back refugees stranded in no man s land near the village of Gumdhum. Reuters reporters have heard gun fire from the Myanmar side in the last three days. A Bangladesh foreign ministry official told reporters Bangladesh was willing to work with Myanmar to crack down on the insurgents. The main purpose is to ensure Myanmar can t accuse us of harboring them to use against them, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly to media. An Islamist group called the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, which Myanmar has declared a terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the Friday attacks. It was also behind the violence in October. In a video posted online on Monday, ARSA leader Ata Ullah, flanked by two gun-toting men in masks, warned Myanmar against oppressing Rohingya and vowed to keep fighting to protect the rights of the community. Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar since the early 1990s and there are now about 400,000 in Bangladesh, which has said no new refugees will be allowed in. Bangladeshi police threatened refugees already in the country with arrest if they help new arrivals, refugee sources said. How can we go back there? Just to get killed? asked Mujibur Rahman, standing on the border. Nevertheless, an estimated 5,000 people have crossed into Bangladesh in the past few days, with more than 1,000 coming early on Monday, according to Rohingya refugees in camps in the border district of Cox s Bazar. Myanmar has urged Rohingya civilians to cooperate with security forces, assuring those with without ties to the insurgents they would not be affected. The government has evacuated thousands of non-Muslim villagers from the north of Rakhine state to towns, monasteries and police stations. About 500 people arrived in the state capital, Sittwe, on Monday, the government said. A lot of Kalar were coming and we had to run away, said Nyo Nyo Win, 52, using a racial slur for Rohingya. They followed us and we ran and ran. (For a graphic on Myanmar's ethnic groups click tmsnrt.rs/2wY3MSQ) | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
South Korea says strongly condemns North Korea missile launch | SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea said on Tuesday it strongly condemned the ballistic missile launch by North Korea earlier in the day that flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific waters off Hokkaido. We will respond strongly based on our steadfast alliance with the United States if North Korea continues nuclear and missile provocations, the South s foreign ministry said in a statement. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Colombia halts Cano-Limon pipeline after rebel attack: sources | BOGOTA (Reuters) - A bomb attack by Colombia s leftist ELN rebel group has halted pumping operations along the country s second-largest oil pipeline, the Cano-Limon Covenas, sources from the military and state oil company Ecopetrol said on Monday. The attack took place in rural El Carmen municipality in Norte de Santander province, near the border with Venezuela, the sources said. The bombing caused a crude spillage into a nearby river. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement has not yet been made. Production at the Cano Limon oilfield, operated by U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp, and exports have not been affected, the sources said. Ecopetrol officials said a team from the company was in the area to carry out clean-up operations. Repairs are expected to take several days, they said. Attacks against the pipeline have left 751 victims over the last 17 years, including 167 deaths. Since 1986 the pipeline has been out of service 3,800 days, or 10.4 years, 30 percent of its life. Some 66 million gallons of crude have been spilled since 2000, according to Ecopetrol figures. The 485-mile (780-km) pipeline can carry up to 210,000 barrels per day. The National Liberation Army (ELN), considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, has frequently attacked Colombia s oil infrastructure during the group s five-decade war with the government. Despite peace talks begun with the government in February, the ELN has continued pipeline attacks. It opposes the presence of multinational companies in the mining and oil sector, claiming that they seize natural resources without leaving benefits to the country s population or economy. | worldnews | August 29, 2017 |
Colombia protests what it says was Venezuelan military incursion over border | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia has sent a letter of protest to Venezuela after it said security forces from the socialist country crossed the border into the Colombian province of La Guajira over the weekend, two government sources said on Monday. The sources told Reuters the Colombian Foreign Ministry had given the letter to Venezuela s embassy in Bogota, although the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denied on Sunday that the crossing into Paraguachon, La Guajira, took place. The governor of La Guajira criticized the crossing on Twitter over the weekend, saying the security forces came over the border on Saturday night and stole money and cellphones from residents. Long-standing tensions between the neighboring countries have escalated since Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos joined with other countries in the region to criticize Maduro and said Venezuela was heading toward a dictatorship. Venezuela s former top prosecutor, who has accused Maduro of involvement with corruption, fled to Colombia this month. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
In war-torn Darfur, new U.S. aid chief stresses need for humanitarian access | ZAM ZAM CAMP, North Darfur (Reuters) - Washington s top aid official, Mark Green, visiting Sudan s North Darfur state, stressed on Monday the importance of unfettered humanitarian access as a key demand for easing U.S. sanctions against the government of President Omar al-Bashir. Just two weeks into the job as U.S. President Donald Trump s new aid administrator, Green is on a fact-finding mission to Sudan before an Oct. 12 deadline for when the administration will decide whether to permanently lift 20-year-old sanctions. The United Nations has reported progress in the opening of aid corridors by Sudan s military to get food and medicine into once tightly-controlled areas of Darfur. Last month for the first time in seven years, aid workers were allowed into Jebel Marra, a mountainous region in central, north and south Darfur where fighting persists. There they found acute malnutrition and high levels of child mortality, according to a USAID report. Before sanctions can be lifted the Sudanese government needs to comply with five U.S. demands, including improved humanitarian access, more cooperation between the U.S. and Sudan on fighting extremism and an end to internal conflicts. While Green acknowledged there had been progress on all fronts, the question was whether it was enough for Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to permanently lift the sanctions, he said. Certainly there has been progress particularly in recent weeks, Green told Reuters and the Washington Post in a joint interview. This is not a matter of whether things look perfect on the date that a decision made, it s whether or not long-lasting changes have been made. It s not meant to be one-off, it s not meant to be a single moment, a snap shot, but instead the product of real change, Green added. He said dialogue with Khartoum was an opportunity for a new and closer relationship and could mean a significant change in the lives of a population hard hit by the sanctions. Then-U.S. President Barack Obama temporarily lifted sanctions for six months in January, suspending a trade embargo, unfreezing assets and removing financial sanctions. But any sanctions relief would not remove Sudan from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation it shares with Iran and Syria. The sanctions about which we re talking are but one set of sanctions, said Green. At this point in time we re engaging in conversations with Sudan to see what is possible, and that is really all that these conversations are really about. We will all know more about what is possible come October, so no one is pretending, or suggesting there is a magic wand and that everything changes on October 12, he said. Senior U.S. officials, who spoke before Green s trip on condition of anonymity, have expressed concern that once sanctions are lifted progress by the Bashir government could backslide. Others worry that if sanctions are not lifted in October the government will halt cooperation with Washington. Darfur s conflict began more than a decade ago when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum. The government responded with force, using militias known as the janjaweed, which were drawn from nomadic Arab tribes and blamed for much of the killing. Less than 10 miles (16 km) outside the North Darfur city of El Fashir, the Zam Zam camp was once a village that has become a sprawling home for 230,000 people who have fled Darfur s conflict. As he toured the camp Green saw for himself US-funded programs that help mothers and malnourished children. I want to go home but it isn t safe, said Hawad Abdullah Mohamad, 33, a mother of seven who has lived in Zam Zam for 13 years. Nearby, under a large tree, Green spoke with about a dozen men, who complained about access to food and camp life. Where do you see yourself in five years from now? Green asked Ahmed Nour Mohamed from Tawila village. When he did not get a straight answer, Green persisted with the line of questioning. In my village or in the grave, Mohamed replied. Green said later he was trying to understand what was keeping people at Zam Zam from returning home. These are important questions for us to ask because for an agency like USAID ... we should be thinking about what it would take to tackle conditions so people can leave the camps, he said. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Armed men destroy two dozen logging trucks in Chile indigenous dispute | SANTIAGO (Reuters) - A group of armed men claiming to represent the nation s indigenous Mapuche people hijacked and burned 29 logging trucks in southern Chile on Monday morning as a years-long conflict with forestry companies heated up. The government convened an emergency meeting less than two weeks after a similar hijacking in which 18 trucks were burned, and several high-ranking officials denounced the attack later in the day. We re going to combat violence and we are not going to allow minoritarian groups, which don t value dialogue, to ruin the great effort all regional actors in the south are doing to promote development and overcome exclusion, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said in televised remarks. It was not clear to what extent the attacks have broader support among Mapuche communities. Many Mapuche leaders doubt all such attacks are carried out by indigenous people, saying non-indigenous groups with a radical political agenda may be involved. The group Weichan Auka Mapu, or Fight of the Rebel Territory in the local Mapudungun tongue, claimed responsibility, national media reported. According to local authorities, at least two people were responsible for the arson attack, although local media reported that as many as seven people were responsible. Around 600,000 Mapuche live in Chile, concentrated in Araucania and Bio Bio, two lush and hilly provinces roughly 400 miles (645 km) south of Santiago, the nation s capital. Ever since the Chilean army invaded Mapuche territory in a brutal campaign in the late 1800s, relations with the state have been fractious. The conflict has accelerated in recent years, with armed groups burning houses, churches, trucks, and forest plantations. It has also spread geographically. The Monday attack occurred in the region of Los Rios, south of the traditional conflict zone. The trucks belonged to Sotraser, a subcontractor that mainly serves subsidiaries of Chilean forestry companies Empresas CMPC and Arauco [ANTCOC.UL]. The company reported $6 million in damages. While that figure is not significant in relation to Chile s larger timber industry, subcontractors have begun to register dozens of attacks annually in recent years, weighing on the sector. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Canada's Trudeau shuffles cabinet, focuses on aboriginal woes | OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday reshuffled his cabinet to put more emphasis on helping aboriginal people, who complain he has broken repeated promises to improve their lives. Trudeau is splitting the federal indigenous and northern affairs ministry in two, with the most important role given to Jane Philpott, who has been praised across the political spectrum in her previous job as health minister. Trudeau, who took office in 2015 promising to repair ties with Canada s 1.4 million aboriginals, said the former ministry had been designed in an earlier colonial era when governments dictated to indigenous peoples rather than talking to them. There s a sense we have pushed the creaky old structures around (the ministry) about as far as they can go ... it could not deliver the reconciliation that we need, Trudeau told reporters after the reshuffle. Philpott will become the minister of indigenous services, in charge of overseeing steps to boost living standards. Carolyn Bennett, who headed the old ministry, will be responsible for ties between Ottawa and aboriginal groups. Aboriginals make up about four percent of the population. Many are mired in poverty and crime and suffer from bad health, exacerbated by widespread lack of access to safe drinking water. Suicides have plagued several isolated towns. Indigenous activists say despite Trudeau s pledges, which include billions of dollars in new spending, they have seen little improvement on the ground. A group of aboriginals mounted a high-profile protest to disrupt the July 1 Canada Day festivities, erecting a tent on Parliament Hill. The Association of First Nations umbrella organization for aboriginals said the changes announced by Trudeau were a significant step. Despite the negative publicity, public opinion polls show Trudeau s Liberals still command a healthy lead. The next election is scheduled for October 2019. In all, the shuffle involved six ministers. Political insiders told Reuters in late May that Trudeau would change his cabinet to revive a flagging agenda. In another significant move, Trudeau promoted sports minister Carla Qualtrough to be the new public works and procurement minister. She replaces Judy Foote, who quit last week for personal reasons. Qualtrough s biggest task will be to sort out a trouble-plagued bid to buy a new fleet of fighter jets. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Majority of people in France now dissatisfied with Macron: poll | PARIS (Reuters) - Most French voters are now dissatisfied with Emmanuel Macron s performance, a poll showed on Sunday, a dramatic decline for a president who basked in a landslide election victory less than four months ago. The poll, conducted by Ifop for newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), showed Macron s dissatisfaction rating rising to 57 percent, from 43 percent in July. Forty percent expressed satisfaction with the centrist leader - down 14 points from July. French government spokesman Christophe Castaner said the ruling party was going through a tricky time, but added that displeasing some people was a price worth paying if the government wanted to push through reforms. Yes, we are encountering difficulties, but you cannot just spend your time only looking at polls when you re in government. We are there to transform the country. Our country needs us to take risks, and we are taking risks, Castaner told BFM TV. Macron, for his part, spent Sunday holding a telephone dialogue with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, in which the two discussed the Syria and Middle East crisis and the fate of a French journalist detained in Turkey. Macron has pushed himself onto the international stage since winning power in May. He hosted high-profile visits from Russian leader Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump and he is midway through a series of visits to various European capitals. However, he has suffered some setbacks at home, including tough debates in parliament over labor reforms, a standoff with the military and cuts to housing assistance. Social media commentators and political opponents criticized the president after it emerged he spent 26,000 euros ($31,000) on makeup during his first 100 days in office and his office also backed down on plans to give his wife a formal, paid role after a public backlash. Bernard Sananes, head of French polling company Elabe, said the latest survey could encourage Macron s political opponents, after his party won a commanding majority in parliament. It could mean, for the government, that the opposition mobilizes itself again, Sananes told BFM TV. The Ifop poll showed the cumulative drop in Macron s popularity ratings since May was bigger than that of previous Socialist president Francois Hollande over the same period. The poll also showed a drop in popularity for Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, with 47 percent expressing satisfaction with him - down 9 points from last month. Macron, France s youngest leader since Napoleon, faces a big test next month when the far-left CGT trade union leads a rally to protest against plans to deregulate the jobs market. Now is the key time, with the labor executive orders to be presented, said Francois Savary, chief investment officer at Geneva-based investment firm Prime Partners. ($1 = 0.8386 euros) | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |
Europeans, Africans agree renewed push to tackle migrant crisis | PARIS (Reuters) - Europe s big four continental powers and three African states agreed a plan on Monday to tackle illegal human trafficking and support nations struggling to contain the flow of people across the desert and Mediterranean sea. The 28-nation European Union has long struggled to reach a coherent answer to the influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty and political upheaval in the Middle East and Africa, and the crisis is testing cooperation between member states. After hosting the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, Chad, Niger and Libya, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was time for greater coordination. We must all act together - from the source countries to Europe and passing by the transit countries, especially Libya - to be efficient, he told reporters. It s a challenge as much for the EU as for the African Union. While the meeting was sparse on concrete details, the leaders agreed on the principle of setting up a mechanism to identify legitimate migrants who are fleeing war and persecution, and to use the United Nations to register them in Niger and Chad so as to prevent them being exploited by traffickers. At the core of it, it s all about fighting illegal migration, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference. She said that Berlin was willing to increase its efforts. If we want to stop human traffickers, then this can only be achieved through development aid, she said. The migrant crisis has put Paris and Rome at odds. Italy has accused France and other EU states of not sharing the migrant burden and has also asked the EU Commission for more budget flexibility to help it tackle the crisis. Nearly 120,000 migrants, including refugees, have entered Europe by sea so far this year, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2,400 have drowned while making the dangerous journey, often without enough food or water in overcrowded dinghies run by people smugglers. We are all committed to reducing the damage, the death of Africans in the desert, the death of Africans crossing the Mediterranean, Chad President Idriss Deby said. The fundamental problem will always remain development. We need resources, he said. The informal meeting did not outline any new specific financing and the leaders repeated that stabilizing chaotic Libya, where thousands of migrants end up before embarking on a perilous Mediterranean sea journey to Europe, would be key to any long-term solution. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Exclusive: U.S.-backed Raqqa battle should end in two months, says senior SDF commander | RAQQA, Syria (Reuters) - The battle to oust Islamic State from its stronghold in the Syrian city of Raqqa should end within two months, a top-ranking Kurdish commander told Reuters, but said she expects the fighting to intensify. Nowruz Ahmed sits on the military council of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and as one of a small number of members of its Raqqa general command is one of the most senior commanders in the offensive. Islamic State has lost swathes of territory since 2015 in both Syria and Iraq, including the Iraqi city of Mosul. In Syria, under separate attacks from a U.S.-led coalition and from the Russian-backed Syrian army, it is falling back on its strongholds along the Euphrates valley east of Raqqa, the de facto capital of the caliphate it declared in 2014. We cannot determine the time period in which the battle of Raqqa will end precisely because war has its conditions. But we do not expect it to last long, and according to our plans the battle will not take longer than two months from now, Ahmed said. The SDF alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias is fighting inside Raqqa s city center, with the help of air strikes and special forces from the U.S.-led coalition. They pushed into the city in June after battling for months to encircle it. Ahmed said the SDF was focused on the Raqqa battle for now and had not yet set plans to launch an assault in Deir al-Zor province, which is further down the Euphrates towards the Iraqi frontier and remains almost entirely under IS control. Ahmed, a women s rights activist before Syria s civil war began in 2011, heads the all female counterpart to the Kurdish YPG militia. The YPG is the most powerful component of the SDF, and the female unit has played a leading frontline role on the battlefield during the Raqqa campaign. She spoke to Reuters in Raqqa in what she said was her first interview with the media. She estimated Islamic State had between 700 and 1,000 fighters left in Raqqa, mainly at the center of the city. The SDF has encircled the militants and captured around 60 percent of the city. The SDF had a solid core of about 15,000 fighters in the Raqqa offensive, Ahmed said. Before the fighting began late last year, it had over 50,000 forces and has continuously enrolled new ones, she added. The presence of an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 civilians besieged in Raqqa, including families of IS fighters from outside the city, has hampered the advance, said Ahmed. During our incursions, we try to open safe passages for them so they would not be a target of our attacks, but there are also many mines that led to the deaths of civilians, she said. Islamic State will fight until the end, and many of its remaining militants in Raqqa are foreign fighters who will carry out suicide attacks, Ahmed said. The SDF and its allies have set up a civilian council to run Raqqa after Islamic State is defeated in the city. Ahmed said the SDF has no plans to stay inside Raqqa after it is freed unless we are asked . The major role of the Kurdish YPG in the battle for Raqqa, a mostly Arab city, is a point of sensitivity for many of the city s former residents, according to activists from Raqqa. It is also sensitive for Turkey, a U.S. ally which fears expanded Kurdish influence along its border with Syria. Ahmed said 60 percent of the SDF s 50,000 fighters were Arab, 30 percent Kurdish, and 10 percent from other ethnic groups. The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition backing the SDF said earlier this month that there are 24,000 Arabs and 31,000 Kurds in the alliance. Last week, the head of the Deir al-Zor military council, a part of the SDF, said an offensive to capture the eastern province of Deir al-Zor from Islamic State would start soon. However, Ahmed said the SDF has no plans now to advance into the province because of the focus on Raqqa, and that a Deir al-Zor campaign had not been discussed with the U.S.-led coalition. There are demands for us to free Deir al-Zor and we are currently studying this, she said, adding that the SDF had enough forces to capture the province. The Syrian army and its allies are advancing eastwards through central Syria along several fronts in their own offensive towards Deir al-Zor, where a government enclave has been besieged by Islamic State for years. If the regime doesn t attack us and make a target of us, we will not attack it, Ahmed said. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
German admits selling gun to Munich attack shooter | BERLIN (Reuters) - A 32-year-old German man admitted in court on Monday that he sold the weapon used by a teenage gunman who killed nine people in Munich last year, a court spokesman said, adding that the defendant told relatives he felt sorry for his actions. David Ali Sonboly, 18, killed nine people before shooting himself dead. Another 27 people were injured. Police concluded the German-born Sonboly was a deranged lone gunman obsessed with mass killings who drew no inspiration from Islamist militancy. The Munich public prosecutor s office has charged the accused, identified only as Philipp K., as is customary in German law, with selling weapons illegally and nine counts of negligent homicide as well as five counts of negligently causing grievous bodily harm. A written statement was read, acknowledging that the accused had traded with weapons. The defendant expressed his regret that one of these firearms was used in the rampage here in Munich, court spokesman Florian Gliwitzky said. He offered his apologies to the relatives and with this, he also expressed that he was regretting his actions. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor said the suspect so far only had admitted to the charge of selling weapons illegally. She added that evidence revealed during the hearing showed that the suspect had far-right attitudes. A defense lawyer said his client would not give any more statements in the course of the trial. Authorities arrested the man in Marburg, about 100 km (65 miles) north of Frankfurt a year ago, after contacting him on the so-called dark net and posing as buyers for an automatic weapon and a Glock 17 pistol for 8,000 euros ($9,550). During a sting operation, the suspected arms dealer said he had sold the 18-year-old Iranian-German another Glock 17 pistol during a meeting in Marburg, followed by 350 rounds of ammunition during a second meeting. Authorities around Europe are concerned that secretive marketplaces make it too easy for criminals and militants to obtain weaponry that has traditionally been highly regulated across Europe. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
German killer nurse suspected of 84 more murders, police say | FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A German nurse jailed for murdering two patients is suspected of killing at least 84 other people, police said on Monday. The man, identified only as Niels H. under reporting rules, has confessed in many of those cases , a police statement said, but could not remember all the details of his actions. If confirmed, the death toll would be among the worst ever compiled by a German serial killer. In past hearings, Niels H. admitted deliberately injecting patients at two clinics in northern Germany with deadly drugs and then trying to revive them in order to play the hero, German broadcaster NDR said. He was convicted of two charges of attempted murder and two counts of murder by an Oldenburg court in 2015. Police said on Monday that they had investigated additional deaths at hospitals in the northern German cities of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst after exhuming the remains of 134 people with links to Niels H. They said he had used five different drugs on the patients, including alkaloid ajmaline and arrhythmia drug sotalol, between 1999 and 2005. Toxicological reports for 41 people have not been completed, which means the number of victims could rise, police said. Prosecutors have also charged six people who worked with Niels H. at the Delmenhorst hospital on suspicion of failing to stop the killing even though they were aware of it. Ten years ago, a German nurse was convicted of killing 28 elderly patients. He said he gave them lethal injections because he felt sorry for them. He was sentenced to life in prison. In Britain, Dr. Harold Shipman was believed to have killed as many as 250 people, most of them elderly and middle-aged women who were his patients. Known as Dr. Death, Shipman was sentenced to 15 life terms in 2000; he died prison in 2004, apparently a suicide. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Poland tells EU its overhaul of judiciary in line with EU standards | WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland said on Monday that the legislative process overhauling its judiciary is in line with European standards and called the European Commission s concerns about rule of law in the country groundless. On July 26, the Commission said it would launch legal action against Poland over the reforms and gave Warsaw a month to respond to concerns that the process undermines the independence of judges and breaks EU rules. Last month, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed into a law a bill giving the justice minister the power to replace heads of ordinary courts, but after mass street protests blocked two other bills. The vetoed bills would have empowered the government and parliament to replace Supreme Court judges and most members of a high-level judicial panel. In response ... the Polish side emphasized that the legislative process which has the primary goal of reforming the justice system is in line with European standards and answers social expectations that have been growing for years, therefore the Commission s doubts are groundless, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The ministry also said that in the spirit of loyal cooperation it has provided the European Commission with all necessary information on the situation in Poland. Poland s right-wing, eurosceptic government says the reforms are needed to streamline a slow, outdated legal system and make judges more accountable to the people. It has already tightened control of state media and took steps that critics said politicized the constitutional court. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Kabul mosque attack: four-year-old called to safety | KABUL (Reuters) - A four-year-old boy photographed in a Kabul mosque last week as police desperately tried to call him to safety during an attack by Islamic State gunmen is back with his family but still suffering nightmares, his father said. Ali Ahmad was with his grandfather in the Shi ite Imam Zaman mosque on Friday when at least two attackers in police uniforms stormed in, one exploding a suicide-bomb vest and the other firing indiscriminately at the hundreds of worshippers inside. A picture by Reuters photographer Omar Sobhani showed Ali standing alone in the courtyard of the mosque as policemen taking cover behind a doorway called and waved to him. He survived the attack but his grandfather was among at least 20 killed. Click here for a photo essay - reut.rs/2wLBRG8 Sayed Bashir, Ali s father, was nearby but not in the mosque for the initial blast and ran to check on his family. Right after the explosion I thought everything was finished, he said. I called my father s mobile phone number and my son answered and said: They killed grandpa . He wanted me to bring the car and get him. We were running everywhere in search of my son but the police were stopping us and didn t let us get close, Bashir said. Bashir called the number again and was speaking to Ali when another explosion went off. I lost hope. I said to myself that everything was finished. I tried the number again but it was switched off, Bashir said. In fact, Ali had run around behind the mosque, disregarding the policeman frantically signaling to him in the courtyard. He was rescued soon afterwards but the effects of the attack may take much longer to heal. Bashir, a building worker who lives in a district with many Shi ite families, said Ali was still traumatized and having difficulty coming to terms with what happened. After the incident, my son has some problems. He s scared a lot at night, he said. The attack, the latest in a series targeting Shi ite mosques, was claimed by Islamic State Khorasan, the local branch of the group which takes the name of an old region that included what is now Afghanistan. According to the United Nations, at least 62 civilians have been killed and 119 injured in six separate attacks on Shi ite mosques this year. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Hard-right German party tells Trump to tweet less | BERLIN (Reuters) - The hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which initially embraced Donald Trump and the populism that swept him into office last year, had a message for the U.S. president on Monday - he should tweet less, and govern more. Alice Weidel, one of the AfD s top two candidates in the Sept. 24 election in Germany, said Trump s response to a recent white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, had been completely unnecessary and she had only a limited understanding for it. Donald Trump should focus more on policies and less on tweeting and Twitter, Weidel told journalists in Berlin. If I had a wish list, then I would wish that Donald Trump would focus ... more on cleaning up his own house, and being a little more devoted to his governing responsibilities. Trump was widely criticized for at first failing to condemn white supremacist groups after a man thought to have neo-Nazi sympathies drove a car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, killing a woman and injuring over a dozen other people. Trump had said both sides were to blame for the violence and there were very fine people at the rally. Weidel s comments came amid controversy over remarks made by a senior member of her own party, Alexander Gauland - the AfD s other top candidate - who said Integration Minister Aydan Ozoguz, a Social Democrat (SPD) politician born in Germany to Turkish parents, should be dumped in Turkey. Members of the SPD, and Chancellor Angela Merkel s conservatives, rejected Gauland s remarks as racist. Gauland conceded on Monday that his choice of words was a little too tough but Weidel said she agreed with his general concern about what he said was Ozoguz s lack of respect for German culture. Weidel said that although her party opposed Merkel s 2015 decision which has allowed more than a million migrants into Germany over the past two years, it condemned extremism in any form, whether it came from left-wing, right-wing or Islamic groups. Founded in 2013 as an anti-euro party, the AfD shifted its focus after the euro zone debt crisis peaked to campaigning against immigration after Merkel s move to open the borders. It is expected to enter the German parliament for the first time after the September election, although its support has dropped to 7 to 10 percent from a height of around 15 percent in 2016, according to polls. Weidel, who is openly gay, chafed at a question about whether she was racist, noting that her partner of nearly 10 years, a Swiss filmmaker, also has a Sinhalese background. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
U.N. panel urges Russia to fight racism by neo-Nazis, in sports | GENEVA (Reuters) - A United Nations human rights panel called on the Russian Federation on Monday to step up prosecutions of racist attacks by ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis and of hate speech by politicians. Russian authorities must intensify measures to vigorously combat racist behavior in sports, particularly in football, and ensure that sports regulatory bodies investigate manifestations of racism, xenophobia and intolerance, the U.N. Committee against Racial Discrimination (CERD) said. Fines or administrative sanctions should be imposed for such cases. The panel, referring to the upcoming (2018) World Cup, expresses its concern that racist displays remain deeply entrenched among football fans, especially against persons belonging to ethnic minorities and people of African descent. Russia has pledged to crack down on racism and fan violence as it faces increased scrutiny before hosting the World Cup finals next summer. Russian Premier League champions Spartak Moscow and rivals Dynamo Moscow were each fined 250,000 rubles ($4,250) over fans racist behavior, the Russian Football Union (RFU) said last month. The 18 independent experts, who reviewed Russia s record and those of seven other countries at a session that ended on Friday, issued their findings on Monday. Igor Barinov, head of the Federal Agency for Ethnic Affairs of the Russian Federation, told the panel on Aug. 4 that Moscow had taken measures against the propagation of racist ideas. Russia consistently combats the glorification of Nazism - made a crime in 2014 - the propaganda of Nazi ideas and attempts at racial hatred or discrimination, he said. In 2016, officials had identified 1,450 extremist crimes, 993 had been sent to court and 934 people were found guilty, he said. The U.N. panel said violent racist attacks had decreased in recent years, but added: Violent racist attacks undertaken by groups such as neo-Nazi groups and Cossack patrols, targeting particularly people from Central Asia and the Caucasus and persons belonging to ethnic minorities including migrants, the Roma and people of African descent, remain a pressing problem. It called for an end to de facto racial profiling by the police , decrying arbitrary identity checks and unnecessary arrests . Racist hate speech is still used by officials and politicians, especially during election campaigns, and remains unpunished, it said, recommending investigations. Russia still lacks anti-discrimination legislation and the definition of extremist activity in its federal law remains vague and broad , it said. Regarding Crimea, seized by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, the panel voiced concern at the fate of Crimean Tatar representative institutions, such as the outlawing of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar s semi-official legislature, the closure of several media outlets, and allegations of disappearances, criminal and administrative prosecutions, mass raids, and interrogations . | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Hostility grows towards Syrian refugees in Lebanon | BEIRUT (Reuters) - Abu Yazan has rarely stepped out of his apartment in northern Lebanon since he was beaten up on the street in June. The 32-year-old father from Syria was leaving a pharmacy around midnight, when two strangers came up to him asking for a light. Then they asked if he was Syrian. They both got off the motorcycle and beat me, said Abu Yazan, who lives near the port city of Tripoli. The second guy took off his belt and hit me with it on my back, my head. I couldn t do anything. His wife cried for help but onlookers did nothing. For six years, tensions have simmered as 1.5 million Syrians poured into Lebanon, equal to around a quarter of its population. Refugees have faced waves of hostility since the conflict in neighboring Syria took hold. But the debate over their presence has taken a harder edge in recent months, fueled by political leaders who say Lebanon has lost patience with the social and financial burden of the refugee crisis. As they press demands for refugees to return to Syria, Lebanese politicians have warned of rising public anger. Like Abu Yazan, other refugees say they have hidden in their homes or camps for fear of assault, arrest, or humiliation. In recent months, most of Lebanon s main parties have united in pushing for repatriation, a difficult demand as war has ravaged much of Syria. Rights groups have warned against forced return, and refugees often say they fear conscription into the Syrian army. Calls for refugees to return come as the Syrian government shores up its rule over the main urban centers and ceasefire deals have eased fighting with rebels in parts of western Syria. The United Nations refugee agency has not seen a growing trend of reported attacks against Syrians, but has voiced concern about mounting tensions. Reports of attacks remain isolated incidents, spokeswoman Lisa Abou Khaled said, but refugees do feel more anxious and afraid. Tensions escalated in June after Lebanon s army arrested hundreds of Syrians in a raid on refugee camps near the border, during which suicide bombers attacked soldiers. When four detainees later died in custody, the military said it was from chronic illness. Activists and refugees challenged this account, some blaming the deaths on torture. In this climate, a video circulated widely on social media of three Lebanese men beating up a refugee on the street. Authorities detained the attackers. Syrians in Lebanon say they have faced widespread harassment. Some of those Reuters interviewed said they felt it deteriorate in recent weeks, but others described it as just part of their daily existence as refugees. I don t dare walk down the street, said one refugee living amid makeshift tents in the Akkar region, who declined to be named because of security fears. I get swear words. Abu Yazan, who came to Lebanon five years ago, said many people had since extended sympathy to his family, but hostility from strangers and the recent assault scarred him. The attackers threatened to shoot him if they saw him again. We hear a lot of talk. You Syrians have robbed us. Go back to your country, he said. When we came to Lebanon, it wasn t by choice. We were fleeing a war. We considered them our people, our brothers. Many Lebanese worry refugees threaten the country s security and burden its sluggish economy, which has been hard-hit by Syria s war. Others say refugees take jobs or strain Lebanon s already dysfunctional public services. The Lebanese government has long avoided setting up official refugee camps. So, many Syrians live in tented settlements, languishing in poverty and facing restrictions on legal residence or work. During a mass last month, the head of Lebanon s Maronite Christian church, Patriarch Beshara al-Rai, urged politicians to work on returning Syrians to their own country. The patriarch accused refugees of snatching (the Lebanese people s) daily bread from their mouths, throwing them into a state of poverty and deprivation. Nasser Yassin, a researcher of refugee policy at the American University of Beirut, said Lebanese communities were growing weary of hosting large numbers of refugees. While resentment existed before, things have changed drastically in the last couple of weeks ... mostly fueled by politicians and other leaders , he said. Yassin warned against politicians fanning the flames by inflating the actual burden of the refugee crisis. Imagine that things go out of control, that s a recipe for civil war, he said. It is an ominous warning in a country whose own 15-year war involved Palestinian refugees. Politicians fret that any long-term presence of mainly Sunni Syrian refugees could destabilize Lebanon by shifting its delicate sectarian balance. Syria s conflict has inflamed political rivalries and sectarian divisions that have far from healed since Lebanon s 1975-1990 war. The United Nations, security forces, and local officials have all mobilized to ease tensions, said Ziad El Sayegh, senior national policy adviser for Lebanon s ministry of displaced. Rights groups and activists have criticized Lebanon for ignoring the crisis in its early years with no national policy to handle the influx of people. The ministry was now developing a policy to coordinate the work of state agencies, he said. The socio-economic strains have crossed the limit, Sayegh added. All of Lebanon wants returns. There is no dispute over that. Syrians should go back with the help of the United Nations under the right safety guarantees, he said - an issue that has deeply divided Lebanon s political blocs. Shi ite Hezbollah and its allies, who side with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have pressed the Lebanese state to work with Damascus, which their critics strongly oppose. Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, allied to Sunni Saudi Arabia, and others insist the United Nations must oversee any repatriation. Iranian-backed Hezbollah has played a major role in driving Sunni militants from the border, and has sent thousands of its fighters into Syria to support Assad s government. Under evacuation deals that Hezbollah has brokered, thousands of refugees have left Lebanon s northeast border region for Syria since July. Rights groups fear refugees went back because they felt under pressure in Lebanon. The United Nations says it is still early for safe returns. It took no part in those local deals and raised concerns they did not meet legal standards and humanitarian principles . Still, the thousands who have gone back represent a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of Lebanon s refugee crisis. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
China says sanctions won't help as Trump targets Venezuela | BEIJING (Reuters) - Venezuela s close ally China said on Monday that history shows external interference and unilateral sanctions only make things more complex and will not help resolve problems, after the United States imposed new sanctions on Venezuela. U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order that prohibits dealings in new debt from the Venezuelan government or its state oil company on Friday in an effort to halt financing that the White House said fuels President Nicolas Maduro s dictatorship . Maduro, who has frequently blamed the United States for waging an economic war on Venezuela, said the United States was seeking to force Venezuela to default but he said it would not succeed. Asked about the new U.S. measure, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China s position had consistently been to respect the sovereignty and independence of other countries and not to interfere in their internal affairs. The present problem in Venezuela should be resolved by the Venezuelan government and people themselves, she told a daily news briefing. The experience of history shows that outside interference or unilateral sanctions will make the situation even more complicated and will not help resolve the actual problem, Hua added. China and oil-rich Venezuela have a close diplomatic and business relationship, especially in energy. This month, China said it believed voting in Venezuela s Constituent Assembly election was generally held smoothly , brushing off widespread condemnation from the United States, Europe and others and evidence of voting irregularities. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Energy Secretary Perry cancels Kazakhstan visit due to hurricane | ALMATY (Reuters) - United States Energy Secretary Rick Perry has canceled a planned visit to Kazakhstan on Monday, the U.S. embassy in Kazakhstan said, due to Hurricane Harvey. Due to Hurricane Harvey and the Department of Energy s duty to react to emergencies related to power supply and energy infrastructure, the planned visit by Energy Secretary Rick Perry to Astana is canceled, the embassy said in a Russian-language statement. Deputy Secretary Dan Brouillette would lead the U.S. delegation instead of Perry, it said. Perry was due to meet Kazakh Energy Minister Kanat Bozumbayev later on Monday. U.S. companies are among the biggest investors in the oil-rich Central Asian nation. Harvey, which wreaked havoc along the U.S. Gulf coast over the weekend, is the most powerful hurricane to hit Texas in more than 50 years, killing at least two people, causing large-scale flooding, and forcing the closure of Houston port as well as several refineries. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Exclusive: India and Pakistan hit by spy malware - cybersecurity firm | MUMBAI (Reuters) - Symantec Corp, a digital security company, says it has identified a sustained cyber spying campaign, likely state-sponsored, against Indian and Pakistani entities involved in regional security issues. In a threat intelligence report that was sent to clients in July, Symantec said the online espionage effort dated back to October 2016. The campaign appeared to be the work of several groups, but tactics and techniques used suggest that the groups were operating with similar goals or under the same sponsor , probably a nation state, according to the threat report, which was reviewed by Reuters. It did not name a state. The detailed report on the cyber spying comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region. India s military has raised operational readiness along its border with China following a face-off in Bhutan near their disputed frontier, while Indo-Pakistan tensions are also simmering over the disputed Kashmir region. A spokesman for Symantec said the company does not comment publicly on the malware analysis, investigations and incident response services it provides clients. Symantec did not identify the likely sponsor of the attack. But it said that governments and militaries with operations in South Asia and interests in regional security issues would likely be at risk from the malware. The malware utilizes the so-called Ehdoor backdoor to access files on computers. There was a similar campaign that targeted Qatar using programs called Spynote and Revokery, said a security expert, who requested anonymity. They were backdoors just like Ehdoor, which is a targeted effort for South Asia. To install the malware, Symantec found, the attackers used decoy documents related to security issues in South Asia. The documents included reports from Reuters, Zee News, and the Hindu, and were related to military issues, Kashmir, and an Indian secessionist movement. The malware allows spies to upload and download files, carry out processes, log keystrokes, identify the target s location, steal personal data, and take screenshots, Symantec said, adding that the malware was also being used to target Android devices. In response to frequent cyber-security incidents, India in February established a center to help companies and individuals detect and remove malware. The center is operated by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In). Gulshan Rai, the director general of CERT-In, declined to comment specifically on the attack cited in the Symantec report, but added: We took prompt action when we discovered a backdoor last October after a group in Singapore alerted us. He did not elaborate. Symantec s report said an investigation into the backdoor showed that it was constantly being modified to provide additional capabilities for spying operations. A senior official with Pakistan s Federal Investigation Agency said it had not received any reports of malware incidents from government information technology departments. He asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter. A spokesman for FireEye, another cybersecurity company, said that based on an initial review of the malware, it had concluded that an internet protocol address in Pakistan had submitted the malware to a testing service. The spokesman requested anonymity, citing company policy. Another FireEye official said the attack reported by Symantec was not surprising. South Asia is a hotbed of geopolitical tensions, and wherever we find heightened tensions we expect to see elevated levels of cyber espionage activity, said Tim Wellsmore, FireEye s director of threat intelligence for the Asia Pacific region. The Symantec report said the Ehdoor backdoor was initially used in late 2016 to target government, military and military-affiliated targets in the Middle East and elsewhere. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Ireland calls for realism from UK on border issue in latest Brexit talks | DUBLIN (Reuters) - Much of the future border arrangements between Northern Ireland and Ireland can be solved before Brexit talks enter the next phase, Ireland s foreign minister said, urging Britain to be realistic in negotiating terms to leave the European Union. British officials arrive in Brussels on Monday to push the EU towards talks about their post-Brexit ties, which the bloc refuses to do without an agreement first on London s exit bill and other divorce issues. Among those issues is the conundrum of the currently invisible border between EU member state Ireland and Britain s province of Northern Ireland, a matter fraught with economic consequences and politically complexities. We want some realism. There is a suggestion in the British government papers on Ireland that really the Irish border issues can only be solved in the context of a free trade agreement and I think there is a lot we can do in advance of that, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told national broadcaster RTE. As part of a series of papers published by London this month it hopes will push forward talks with the EU, Britain said there should be no border posts or immigration checks on the neighboring island of Ireland once London quits the EU in 2019. At the same time, Britain s Conservative government intends to regain complete control over immigration as part of Brexit, raising questions how this would work if there was a back door into Britain along an open land frontier with Ireland. The Irish government, which had grown critical Britain s approach to the talks, welcomed what it called significant progress in the papers but reiterated on Monday that London now must spell out in detail how their plan could be implemented. It s up to the UK this week to outline how the position papers, particularly in relation to Ireland and the border issues, can actually work, Coveney said. Many in the EU, while they accept what Britain wants, they don t see how the negotiating approach can achieve that. The European Parliament s Brexit point-man, Guy Verhofstadt, has dismissed the British government s outline approach, calling the idea of an invisible border a fantasy . The issue of how the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland will fare after Britain leaves the EU is particularly sensitive given the decades of violence in the province over whether it should be part of Britain or Ireland. Around 3,600 people were killed before the 1998 peace agreement between pro-Ireland Catholic nationalists and pro-British Protestant unionists. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
Former Uzbek leader's daughter to resign as ambassador | SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan (Reuters) - Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, the second daughter of Uzbek president Islam Karimov who died last year, will step down soon as Uzbekistan s representative at UNESCO, she said on Monday. Karimova-Tillyaeva, 39, said she would focus on helping run a charitable foundation named after her father who died last September after running the ex-Soviet Central Asian state with an iron fist for 27 years. In the near future, I plan to step down from my role as ambassador in order to focus on my family, personal goals, (and) projects being implemented by the Islam Karimov foundation as well as other creative, charitable and cultural projects, Karimova-Tillyaeva said at a conference on Uzbekistan s Islamic cultural and scientific heritage. Her once powerful elder sister, Gulnara Karimova, fell out with their father around 2014, and since his death Karimova-Tillyaeva has been his only close relative holding a prominent government post. Gulnara Karimova was sentenced in 2015 to five years probation - a measure which may equal house arrest in Uzbek law - for acquiring through extortion or embezzlement stakes in a number of companies, and for tax evasion. She is also being investigated on charges of fraud, evading customs and foreign exchange regulations, and money laundering. Karimova-Tillyaeva, who is married to Uzbek businessman Timur Tillyaev, has said she was estranged from her sister for years. It was unclear from her speech on Monday whether she planned to move back to Uzbekistan after leaving the post of ambassador at the Paris-based U.N. agency. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
U.S. navy recovers remains of all sailors missing after USS McCain collision | SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy on Monday confirmed recovery of the remains of all 10 sailors killed after the warship John S. McCain collided with a merchant vessel in waters near Singapore and Malaysia. The guided-missile destroyer collided with the Alnic MC east of Singapore last week while approaching the city state on a routine port visit. The U.S. navy and marine corps divers have now recovered the remains of all 10 USS John S.McCain sailors, the Seventh Fleet said in a statement on its website. The news follows the navy s Thursday announcement that it had suspended wider search and rescue operations after finding and identifying the remains of one sailor. The navy found the remains of missing sailors inside sealed sections of the damaged hull of the warship, which is moored at Singapore s Changi Naval Base. The incident is under investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the collision, the statement added. Aircraft, divers and vessels from Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the United States joined a search-and-rescue operation for the missing sailors over an area of about 5,500 sq. km. (2,124 square miles) around the crash site. The pre-dawn collision, the fourth major accident for the U.S. Pacific Fleet this year, has prompted a review of its operations. The Navy has removed Seventh Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin from his post, citing a loss of confidence in his ability to command after the run of accidents. Rear Admiral Phil Sawyer takes command of the fleet from Aucoin, who had been due to step down next month. The U.S. navy has also flagged plans for temporary and staggered halts in operations across its global fleet to allow staff to focus on safety. In a one-day operational pause last Wednesday, officers and crew of Seventh Fleet ships deployed at a facility in Yokosuka, Japan, received fresh training in risk management and communications. The Seventh Fleet, headquartered in Japan, operates as many as 70 ships, including the U.S. navy s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, and has about 140 aircraft and 20,000 sailors. | worldnews | August 28, 2017 |
After decades of war, Colombia's FARC rebels debut political party | BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia s leftist FARC rebel group is introducing its political party at a conference that began on Sunday, a major step in its transition into a civilian organization after more than 50 years of war and its first chance to announce policy to skeptical voters. The six-day meeting in Bogota of FARC members, who have handed in more than 8,000 weapons to the United Nations during their demobilization, is expected to conclude on Friday with a platform that the party will campaign on in elections next year. Under its 2016 peace deal with the government to end its part in a war that has killed more than 220,000 people, the majority of fighters in the group formally known as Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia were granted amnesty and allowed to participate in politics. Whether the rebels will get backing from Colombians, many of whom revile them, remains to be seen. The FARC s often old-fashioned Marxist rhetoric strikes many as a throwback to their 1964 founding, but proposals for reforms to complicated property laws may get traction with rural voters who struggle as subsistence farmers. The peace accord, rejected by a less than 1 percent margin in a referendum before being modified and enacted, awards the FARC s party 10 automatic seats in Congress through 2026, but the group may campaign for others. In a sight that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, FARC delegates arrived by bus to the center of the capital, escorted by police on motorcycles. From this event on, we will transform into a new, exclusively political group that will carry out its activity by legal means, FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, who is known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, told hundreds of attendees at the event center in Bogota. We have in front of us many challenges and many difficulties, Londono said. Nothing is easy in politics. Rural improvements will remain a focus for the party, he added. Many delegates wore conference t-shirts with the slogan A new party for a new country and carried branded tote bags. A painting featuring images of Cuban revolutionary leaders Fidel Castro and Ernesto Che Guevara, deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Jesus Christ was on display. The party will initially be called the Revolutionary Alternative Force of Colombia, preserving the FARC initials in Spanish. Both legislative and presidential elections will take place in 2018. It is not yet clear in which races the FARC will run candidates. I think the FARC will try for a regional consolidation, using the presence and influence they have in certain provinces, said Catalina Jimenez, politics professor at Externado University. At a national level, they need a large amount of votes they still don t have. The FARC is open to coalitions, the group said this week. Fractured by infighting, leftist parties have long struggled in conservative-leaning Colombia, despite some success in winning urban positions. Widespread corruption scandals will probably be a top issue for the crowded field of 2018 presidential candidates. Campaigns are also likely to focus on proposals to improve the daily lives of Colombians, many of whom say they desperately need better security, public education and healthcare. The FARC says the government of President Juan Manuel Santos, which gives a certain amount of regulated funding to each party, should help carry the costs of the conference, given the rebels have handed over their assets as reparations for victims of the war. But while the peace deal is the cornerstone of Santos legacy, the government has raised doubts about the veracity of the rebels $324 million asset list. The government said this week that it was forming a commission to verify that the FARC had included all profits it may have earned from extortion, ransoms and drug trafficking, and the group must play by the same rules as any other party. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Father of Philippine Islamist militant leaders dies in government custody | MANILA (Reuters) - The father of the leaders of the pro-Islamic State Maute group that seized control of a southern Philippine town in May died while in government custody, authorities said on Sunday. Cayamora Maute was taken to a hospital on Sunday afternoon after his blood pressure rose but he died along the way, the Philippines prison bureau said. The May 23 occupation of Marawi City by the Maute group, led by his two sons and which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, triggered a brutal urban battle with military forces that entered its fourth month last week. It has raised concern that Islamic State, on a back foot in Syria and Iraq, is building a regional base on the Philippine island of Mindanao that could pose a threat to neighboring Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore too. More than 700 people, including 130 soldiers, have been killed since the militants, aided by foreign fighters from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle East, seized control of city of 200,000. Maute had several ailments when he was taken into custody in June, including diabetes and hypertension, Xavier Solda, spokesman at the Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology told reporters. The extent of his involvement in the group is not immediately clear but when he was arrested in June, a military spokesman expressed hope he could persuade his sons to stop fighting and surrender. This is an unfortunate incident for his family, but more so to the victims of terrorism in Marawi and their relatives who are awaiting justice and expecting that Cayamora would answer and atone for his involvement in the Marawi rebellion, Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Eduaro A o said in a statement. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has extended martial law on the southern island of Mindanao until the end of the year, to give him time to crush the rebel movement. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Merkel has no regrets over refugee policy despite political cost | BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she has no regrets about her 2015 decision to open the country s borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees and added she will not be deterred from campaigning by angry hecklers. In an interview with the Welt am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday, Merkel denied she had made any mistakes with her open-door policy even though the arrival of a million refugees over the last two years from Syria and Iraq opened deep rifts in her conservative party and depressed its support. Four weeks before the Sept. 24 election, an Emnid opinion poll on Sunday showed Merkel s conservatives would win 38 percent, or 15 points ahead of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). That is up from 32 percent in February but well below the 41.5 percent her party won in the last election in 2013. I d make all the important decisions of 2015 the same way again, Merkel said. It was an extraordinary situation and I made my decision based on what I thought was right from a political and humanitarian standpoint. Those kinds of extraordinary situations happen every once in a while in a country s history, she added. The head of government has to act and I did. Her decision to open the borders contributed to a surge in support for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which pollsters say could win up to 10 percent in the September election. Merkel, seeing a fourth term, has had to contend with loud and sustained heckling from demonstrators strongly opposed to her refugee policies so far on the campaign trail. The volume and intensity of the protests have been especially strong in her home region in formerly communist eastern Germany. But the 63-year-chancellor said she would not be kept away from areas where animosity towards her runs high. We re a democracy and everyone can freely express themselves in public the way they want, she said. It s important that we don t go out of our way to avoid certain areas only because there are a bunch of people screaming. Support for Merkel and her party has recovered somewhat after the influx of refugees slowed in 2016 to 280,000 and fell even further to about 106,000 in the first seven months of this year. Merkel said it was unfair that Greece and Italy were left on their own carrying the full burden of the refugee crisis simply because of their geography . She added she would not stop pushing for the fair distribution of refugees across the European Union. That some countries refuse to accept any refugees is not on. That contradicts the spirit of Europe. We ll overcome that. It will take time and patience but we will succeed. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Dozens killed, wounded by car bomb in Afghan province | KABUL (Reuters) - As many as 13 people, including both Afghan army soldiers and civilians, were killed and 18 wounded by a car bomb in the southern province of Helmand on Sunday, officials said. Omar Zwak, the Helmand governor s spokesman who gave the casualty figures, said the attack occurred in a market in Nawa, a district in the center of the province, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks as government forces have battled for control with Taliban insurgents. Afghan forces said they had retaken Nawa district in July but there has been continued fighting in the area since. There was no claim of responsibility and no immediate comment from the Taliban, which has carried out regular suicide attacks in Helmand, where it controls much of the area outside the provincial capital Lashkar Gah. The hospital in Lashkar Gah run by the Italian aid group Emergency said it had received 3 dead and 19 wounded while Bost Hospital, another facility, said it had received 10 wounded. It was unclear whether any of the wounded had died after being taken to the hospitals. The attack comes just days after a suicide bomber in Lashkar Gah killed at least seven people and wounded 40 as the Taliban continued its push to restore strict Islamic rule to Afghanistan and drive out foreign forces backing the government in Kabul. U.S. President Donald Trump last week announced a stepped-up military campaign against Taliban insurgents who have gained ground steadily in Afghanistan since a NATO-led coalition ended its main combat mission in 2014. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Canadian pastor escaped execution due to foreign citizenship: CBC | TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian pastor whom North Korea released this month after two years of imprisonment escaped execution and torture during his captivity because of his nationality, he told CBC News in his first interview since his return. Hyeon Soo Lim, the pastor from Toronto, said in an interview broadcast on Saturday that he was never harmed and that he would not hesitate to go back to North Korea if the country allowed him. A transcript of the interview was posted on the Canadian public broadcaster s website. If I m just Korean, maybe they kill me, Lim said. I m Canadian so they cannot, because they cannot kill the foreigners. Lim, formerly the senior pastor at one of Canada s largest churches, had disappeared on a mission to North Korea in early 2015. He was sentenced to hard labor for life in December 2015 on charges of attempting to overthrow the Pyongyang regime. He said North Korea treated him well despite forcing him to dig holes and break coal by hand all day in a labor camp. Lim told CBC News that he was coached and coerced into confessing that he traveled under the guise of humanitarian work as part of a subversive plot to overthrow the government and set up a religious state. North Korea let him go on humanitarian grounds. The announcement came during heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang, although authorities have not said there was any connection between his release and efforts to defuse the standoff over North Korea s nuclear program. Lim said he felt no anger at the Kim Jong Un regime for sentencing him to prison. No, I thanked North Korea, he said. I forgive them. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
After deadly protests, Indian states in lockdown for 'godman's' rape sentencing | NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India is deploying thousands of riot police and shutting down internet services in two northern states, as it prepares for the sentencing on Monday of a self-styled godman whose followers went on the rampage after he was convicted of rape on Friday. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh s cult Dera Sacha Sauda has a vast rural following in Punjab and Haryana states, where frenzied mobs burned down gas stations and train stations and torched vehicles after a local court found him guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case. At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the violence in Haryana, officials said, drawing sharp criticism for the state government run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The case has also highlighted the Indian heartland s fascination with spiritual gurus, who enjoy immense political clout for their ability to mobilize millions of followers frustrated by the shortcomings of the state. Security forces have cordoned off a jail in Rohtak city, 70 km (44 miles) from New Delhi, where Singh - also known as the guru of bling for the clothes he wears in the movies he has starred in - is being held. The judge who convicted Singh will hold a special hearing inside the prison in Rohtak around 2.30 pm local time (0900 GMT) on Monday to decide the punishment, in a move that officials hope will prevent his followers from gathering in the streets like they did on Friday. Singh faces a minimum of seven years in prison. The town of Sirsa, home to Dera s headquarters, is already under lockdown, BS Sandhu, Haryana s police chief, told Reuters. School and colleges have been ordered shut, the government said. We re fully prepared, we have a contingency plan in place, Sandhu said, adding that more than 10,000 police would patrol the state as it awaits Singh s sentencing. Neighboring Punjab, where violence was sporadic, has summoned more than 8,000 paramilitary and police, banned large gatherings and switched off mobile internet connections across the state until Tuesday, its top administrator said. Our intelligence reports caution that there could be arson and some other incidents, Karan Avtar Singh, the chief secretary to Punjab government, told Reuters. In godman Singh s two films, Messenger of God and its sequel, there are sequences in which he fights off villains and tosses burning motorbikes into the air. In his spiritual avatar, Singh dresses in plain white traditional clothes, giving sermons or planting trees. In the movies he dons bejeweled costumes, rides motorbikes and sends bad guys flying. The Haryana government has faced severe criticism from opposition Congress and a state court for failing to stop the rioting and vandalism. Singh, whose verified Twitter profile calls him a saint, philanthropist, sportsman, actor, singer, movie director, writer, lyricists, and autobiographer, has been photographed with senior BJP leaders including Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. Last year a Haryana minister announced the state would donate 5 million Indian rupees ($78,000) to Singh s Dera to promote sports. Bir Kumar Yadav, BJP s Haryana spokesman, said the party had been associated with Singh only in his capacity as a social worker who had spread awareness about public sanitation and cleanliness. Modi also weighed in on Sunday, vowing tough action against anyone trying to break the law. I want to assure my countrymen that people who take the law into their own hands and are on the path of violent suppression - whether it is a person or a group - neither this country nor any government will tolerate it, he said in his monthly radio address, without directly mentioning the recent violence. Singh s conviction in a rape case is the latest in a series of cases involving spiritual leaders who have been accused of sexually abusing followers, amassing untaxed money and finding favor with politicians. Besides the rape charges, he is also under investigation over allegations that he convinced 400 of his male followers to undergo castration, allegations he denies. ($1 = 64.0000 Indian rupees) | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Three missing after Japan military helicopter loses contact over Sea of Japan | TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Defense Ministry on Sunday said it was searching for three crew members of a Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) helicopter in the Sea of Japan after contact was lost with the chopper. One crew member had been rescued uninjured. The ministry said the SH-60J anti-submarine warfare helicopter lost contact around 90 km (56 miles) off the coast of Aomori Prefecture late on Saturday. It said the flight data recorder had been located, but did not say what had actually happened to the helicopter, whether it crashed or ditched into the sea. The MSDF has launched an investigation into the incident. Earlier this month, four Japanese crew members were injured after their CH-101 chopper crashed on land during a training exercise at Iwakuni Air Base in Yamaguchi Prefecture in western Japan. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Thousands of Rohingya flee for Bangladesh as fresh violence erupts in Myanmar | COX S BAZAR, Bangladesh/YANGON (Reuters) - Thousands of Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar are trying to cross the border with Bangladesh, Bangladeshi security officials said on Saturday, as fresh fighting erupted in Myanmar s northwestern Rakhine state. The death toll from widespread attacks staged by Rohingya insurgents on Friday has climbed to 96, including nearly 80 insurgents and 12 members of the security forces, the government said, prompting it to evacuate staff and villagers from some areas. The attacks marked a dramatic escalation of a conflict that has simmered since last October, when a similar offensive prompted a major military sweep beset by allegations of serious human rights abuses. The treatment of approximately 1.1 million Muslim Rohingya in mainly Buddhist Myanmar has emerged as the biggest challenge for national leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who late on Friday condemned the morning raids - in which insurgents wielding guns, sticks and homemade bombs assaulted 30 police stations and an army base. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been accused by some Western critics of not speaking out for the long-persecuted Muslim minority, and of defending the army s counteroffensive after the October attacks. Some 3,000 Rohingya arrived at the Naf river separating Myanmar and Bangladesh on Saturday, Manzurul Hassan Khan, a Bangladeshi border guard commander, told Reuters. About 500 Rohingya, mostly women and children, spent the last night in a marshy area waiting to cross over, said Khan. We protected them the whole night. Today they went back. Reuters reporters saw hundreds of Rohingya crossing into Bangladesh near the border village of Gumdhum as gun shots could be heard from the Myanmar side. They could be seen squatting in a marshy area, hiding in the bushes from border guards. We managed to escape the shooting in Myanmar and tried to enter Bangladesh. We waited all night after we were pushed backed by Bangladesh border guards last night. This morning, we managed to enter somehow, said Hamid Hossain, 42, who crossed into Bangladesh on Saturday with a group of three families. A 25-year-old man whose relatives said he had been shot by Myanmar security forces on Friday died as he was carried to Bangladesh for treatment. He was buried near a refugee camp close to the border on Saturday, according to camp resident Mohammed Shafi, who said he witnessed the burial. Bangladesh s foreign ministry on Saturday said it was concerned that thousands of unarmed Myanmar nationals had assembled near the border to enter the country. Rohingya have been fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh since the early 1990s and there are now around 400,000 in the country, where they are a source of tension between the two nations who both regard them as the other country s citizens. In Myanmar, the government said there had been several large clashes involving hundreds of Rohingya across northwestern Rakhine on Saturday. The fiercest fighting took place on the outskirts of the major town of Maungdaw, near the Alodaw Pyae Buddhist monastery. Maungdaw resident Nay Myo Lin, 27, told Reuters by telephone that security forces opened fire on scores of what appeared to be Muslim men with guns near the monastery. Police shot at them to break up the group and then the men shot back in the direction of the entrance gate of the city, said Nay Myo Lin. As the fighting went on throughout the day, I was stuck in the monastery and didn t dare to go out. When the sound of gunshots stopped, I ran to my house, he said. Fearful Rakhine Buddhist residents in Maungdaw town gathered in homes while men stood guard by the windows, said Ohmar Lin, a female resident of the town. We don t go out of the house, but I am ready to fight - we are prepared with knives and sticks to protect ourselves if they come here, she said. The United Nations security team has sent an internal update to staff about the clashes, seen by Reuters, saying that Myanmar government officials had assured the U.N. about their readiness to provide troops to secure our compounds if it becomes necessary . The government said in a statement that: Extremist Bengali terrorists are attacking using man-made mines ... swords, sticks, guns. They also killed Islamic religious people of their own faith who were village administrators. The term Bengali is seen as derogatory by many Rohingya as it implies they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, although many can trace family in Myanmar for generations. The Myanmar army operation last year was heavily criticised internationally amid reports of civilian killings, rape and arson that a United Nations investigation said probably constituted crimes against humanity. Suu Kyi is blocking the U.N.-mandated probe into the allegations. Aid workers and monitors worry that the latest attacks, across a wider area than October s violence, will spark an even more aggressive army response and trigger communal clashes between Muslims and Buddhist ethnic Rakhines. Nearly 200 people were killed and around 140,000 displaced in communal violence in the state in 2012. In a statement late on Friday, Suu Kyi strongly condemned brutal attacks by terrorists on security forces in Rakhine State . I would like to commend the members of the police and security forces who have acted with great courage in the face of many challenges, she added. The government said it had evacuated officials, teachers and hundreds of villagers to army bases and main police stations. Some will be evacuated by helicopters and some will be taken out by the security forces, a military source based in Rakhine told Reuters. The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) which instigated the October attacks claimed responsibility for the offensive, presenting it as a defence against the Myanmar army. Myanmar declared ARSA, previously known as Harakah al-Yaqin, a terrorist organisation in the wake of the attacks. | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |
New law needed to allow torture victims to sue Afghan government: activists | KABUL (Reuters) - Human rights activists are urging Afganistan s President Ashraf Ghani to expand anti-torture laws enacted months ago to allow victims abused by security forces to seek restitution and compensation. A Redress Annex attached to the anti-torture law would allow victims to take the government to civil court, something not currently allowed under the law, say activists. The annex has been drafted and its backers hope Ghani will sign a decree making it an official part of the law. A spokesman for Ghani s office did not respond to requests for comment. As of now, it is up to the government to investigate and prosecute members of its own security forces who are accused of torture, something activists and investigators say is rare. The pervasiveness of torture in Afghanistan makes its criminalization and the prosecution of alleged torturers an urgent priority, Human Rights Watch senior researcher Patricia Gossman wrote in a post calling for the annex to be enacted. But the government also needs to enshrine in law the rights of torture victims to redress for their suffering. If prosecutors delay, a compensation system would create a new avenue for holding the government accountable, she said. Human rights investigators have praised recent moves by Ghani s administration to criminalize torture, but at a practical level reports of torture continue to be widespread. In April, a U.N. report said measures by the government had failed to reduce torture, with nearly 40 percent of conflict-related detainees interviewed by the investigators reporting that they had been tortured or mistreated by Afghan security forces, mostly the police and intelligence services. Among the methods described in the report were severe beatings to the body and soles of the feet with sticks, plastic pipes or cables, electric shocks, including to the genitals, prolonged suspension by the arms, and suffocation. Allowing victims to sue in civil court would ensure that they receive compensation and create a public record of torture cases, said Shaharzad Akbar, a civil society activist who works on anti-torture causes. Governments across the world are hesitant to prosecute their employees, so redress creates a civil mechanism for the public to hold government accountable, she said. This leads to an internal conversation in the government about the responsibility of government entities to prevent torture. | worldnews | August 27, 2017 |
Explain your results, beaten Angola party head tells electoral commission | LUANDA (Reuters) - The leader of Angola s main opposition party called on the country s electoral commission on Saturday to explain how it compiled provisional election results giving the ruling MPLA party a landslide victory. Isaias Samakuva said his UNITA party, which has rejected the published results of Wednesday s national ballot, was conducting a parallel count using polling station records and computer software that did not tally with the commission s figures. Where did those results come from? Samakuva asked supporters at the party s campaign headquarters in Luanda. The CNE (commission) must explain to Angolans what it did wrong and why it did it. Based on nearly 98 percent of the vote counted, CNE figures announced on Friday put the People s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) on 61.1 percent and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) on 26.7 percent. Definitive results may not be announced until Sept. 6. International observers described the election as reasonably free and fair and the mood in Luanda has remained calm. UNITA said the results released so far were not legally binding and it would release its national tally early next week. The country still doesn t have a President-elect, Samakuva said. President-in-waiting Joao Lourenco, a former defense minister, is set to become the country s first new leader for 38 years, replacing Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who will continue as head of the MPLA. UNITA and smaller opposition party CASA-CE say the provisional results were processed without input from provincial counting centers or certain representatives on the electoral commission, going against Angolan law. The commission has said the process of vote-counting was going well but has not extensively explained how provisional numbers were tallied. Even if the parties have summary records of the polling stations and minutes of electoral operations, it is necessary to realize there is another set of elements and documents that will contribute to the provincial and national tally and this information is not available to the parties, commission spokeswoman Julia Ferreira said on Friday, without elaborating. UNITA published on Friday its parallel count for four provinces Huambo, Bie, Cabinda and Luanda which in all cases showed the party doing better than the commission results indicated. The MPLA, which emerged victorious over UNITA after 27 years of civil war in 2002, has dismissed the complaints, saying its old foe always take issue with election results. | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |
U.S. journalist among 19 killed in South Sudan fighting: rebels | NAIROBI (Reuters) - A United States citizen working in South Sudan as a freelance journalist was among 19 people killed on Saturday during fighting between government troops and rebels in Yei River state, the rebels and the military said. Christopher Allen, who worked for various news outlets, was killed in heavy fighting in the town of Kaya. South Sudan has been convulsed by conflict since late 2013, pitting President Salva Kiir s troops against those of rebel leader Riek Machar. On the ground, about 16 (bodies) have been found around the defensive position of the SPLA including this white man, Santo Domic Chol, a military spokesman, told Reuters. Three government soldiers were also killed, he said. The rebels identified him as Allen, who had been embedded with them for the past week. We are sad for his family. He came here to tell our story , said one rebel who knew Allen. He asked not to be named but said Allen had been in the middle of the fighting and wearing a jacket marked PRESS. Chol said the rebels had attacked an army base in Kaya but they were repulsed after an hour-long fight. The U.S. government did not respond immediately when Reuters sought comment. The country spiraled into civil war, with fighting along ethnic lines, after Kiir sacked Machar in late 2013. A peace accord was signed in August 2015 and Machar returned to the capital in April last year to share power with Kiir, before the deal fell apart less than three months later and Machar and his supporters fled the capital. The conflict has forced about 4 million people to flee their homes. Uganda currently hosts more than a million South Sudanese refugees, while over 330,000 have fled to neighboring Ethiopia. | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |
North Korea tests short-range missiles as South Korea, U.S. conduct drills | SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea fired several short-range missiles into the sea off its east coast early on Saturday, South Korea and the U.S. military said, as the two allies conducted annual joint military drills that the North denounces as preparation for war. The U.S. military s Pacific Command said it had detected three short-range ballistic missiles, fired over a 20 minute period. One appeared to have blown up almost immediately while two flew about 250 km (155 miles) in a northeasterly direction, Pacific Command said, revising an earlier assessment that two of the missiles had failed in flight. The test came just days after senior U.S. officials praised North Korea and leader Kim Jong Un for showing restraint in not firing any missiles since late July. The South Korean Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the projectiles were launched from the North s eastern Kangwon province into the sea. Later on Saturday, the South Korean Presidential Blue House said the North may have fired an upgraded 300-mm caliber multiple rocket launcher but the military was still analyzing the precise details of the projectiles. Pacific Command said the missiles did not pose a threat to the U.S. mainland or to the Pacific territory of Guam, which North Korea had threatened earlier this month to surround in a sea of fire . Tensions had eased somewhat since a harsh exchange of words between Pyongyang and Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump had warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un he would face fire and fury if he threatened the United States. North Korea s last missile test on July 28 was for an intercontinental ballistic missile designed to fly 10,000 km (6,200 miles). That would put parts of the U.S. mainland within reach and prompted heated exchanges that raised fears of a new conflict on the peninsula. Japan s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the missiles did not reach its territory or exclusive economic zone and did not pose a threat to Japan s safety. The South Korean and U.S. militaries are in the midst of the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drills involving computer simulations of a war to test readiness and run until Aug. 31. The region where the missiles were launched, Kittaeryong, is a known military test site frequently used by the North for short-range missile drills, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul. So rather than a newly developed missile, it looks to be short range missiles they fired as part of their summer exercise and also in response to the Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill, he said. The United States and South Korea are technically still at war with the North because their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. The North routinely says it will never give up its weapons programs, saying they are necessary to counter perceived U.S. hostility. Washington has repeatedly urged China, North Korea s main ally and trading partner, to do more to rein in Pyongyang. China s commerce ministry late on Friday banned North Korean individuals and enterprises from doing new business in China, in line with United Nations Security Council sanctions passed earlier this month. The White House said Trump had been briefed about the latest missiles but did not immediately have further comment. The U.S. State Department did not immediately comment about the Saturday launches. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson earlier this week credited the North with showing restraint by not launching a missile since the July ICBM test. Tillerson had said he hoped that the lack of missile launches or other provocative acts by Pyongyang could mean a path could be opening for dialogue sometime in the near future. Trump also expressed optimism earlier this week about a possible improvement in relations. I respect the fact that he is starting to respect us, Trump said of Kim. North Korea s state media reported on Saturday that Kim had guided a contest of amphibious landing and aerial strike by its army against targets modeled after South Korean islands near the sea border on the west coast. The official KCNA news agency quoted Kim as telling its Army that it should think of mercilessly wiping out the enemy with arms only and occupying Seoul at one go and the southern half of Korea. A new poster on a North Korean propaganda website on Saturday showed a missile dealing a retaliatory strike of justice against the U.S. mainland, threatening to wipe out the United States, the source of evil, without a trace. On Wednesday, Kim ordered the production of more rocket engines and missile warheads during a visit to a facility associated with North Korea s ballistic missile program. Diagrams and what appeared to be missile parts shown in photographs published in the North s state media suggested Pyongyang was pressing ahead with building a longer-range ballistic missile that could potentially reach any part of the U.S. mainland including Washington. (For an interactive package on North Korea's missile capabilities click here) (For a graphic on North Korea missile trajectories, ranges click tmsnrt.rs/2vLMdVm) | worldnews | August 25, 2017 |
Saudi-led force admits strike in Yemen's capital hit civilians | RIYADH (Reuters) - A Saudi-led Arab coalition on Saturday conceded that an air raid in Yemen s capital a day earlier had resulted in civilian casualties, blaming the incident on an unspecified technical error . The early morning attack in the Faj Attan area of Sanaa hit a vacant building but caused an adjacent apartment block to collapse, killing at least 12 people, six of them children, residents have said. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki defended the strike as having a legitimate military target , which he said was a Houthi command and control center. He accused the fighters of using civilians as human shields. A technical error was the reason for the unintentional accident and the house in question was not directly targeted, he said a statement carried by Saudi state news agency SPA. Maliki said the coalition expressed remorse for collateral damage to civilians but did not specify the extent of casualties. However, a senior ICRC official visited the site of the strike on Friday and said, From what we saw on the ground, there was no apparent military target. Yemen s long war involving competing Yemeni factions and regional power struggles has killed at least 10,000 people. Millions more have been forced to leave their homes and face disease and hunger. The Houthis and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, control much of the north of the country, including Sanaa. Yemen s internationally recognised government is backed by the Saudi-led military coalition and is based in the south. The United States and Britain provide arms and logistical assistance to the alliance for its campaign. The issue has caused controversy in Britain over the toll on civilians. As well as military targets, air strikes have hit hospitals and ports, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |
Italy's interior minister meets Libyan mayors over people smuggling | MILAN (Reuters) - Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti met Libyan mayors on Saturday to renew a commitment to fight people trafficking as part of an agreement signed earlier this year between Rome and Tripoli. The meeting, which Libya s interior minister also attended, focused on fostering alternatives to human smuggling and trade in contraband in Libyan towns heavily affected by illegal immigration. Youngsters in those areas and the whole of Libya deserve a future of hope, free from the threats of criminal organisations... both sides said in a statement issued by Italy s Interior Ministry. In February, Italy pledged money, training and equipment to help the U.N.-backed Libyan government curb the flow of migrants to Europe. More than 600,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea from North Africa since 2014, most of them from Libya where people smugglers have operated with impunity in the turmoil that followed the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The subject of immigration is dominating Italy s political agenda ahead of general elections due before May next year, with public opinion increasingly hostile to migrants. After a surge in migrant arrivals from Libya at the start of the year, numbers have recently slowed and Minniti said earlier this month those trends would continue in August. Saturday s meeting also included, among others, Italy s ambassador to Tripoli and representatives of the European Commission. | worldnews | August 26, 2017 |