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Month: April 2017
US Intercepts Two Russian Bombers Off Alaska’s Coast
The U.S. military says it intercepted two Russian bombers in international airspace off Alaska’s coast.
Navy Commander Gary Ross, a Pentagon spokesman, said a pair of F-22 Raptor aircraft intercepted the Russian TU-95 Bear bombers on Monday.
Ross said the intercept was “safe and professional.”
North American Aerospace Defense Command monitors air approaches to North America and defends the airspace.
Fox News said Tuesday that the Russian planes flew within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of Alaska’s Kodiak Island.
It said the American jets escorted the Russian bombers for 12 minutes. The bombers then flew back to eastern Russia.
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Migrants Flee Libya as Weather Warms and Libyan Patrols Loom
Warm weather and calm seas usually spur smugglers to send migrants across the Mediterranean come spring. But aid groups say another timetable might be behind a weekend spike: the looming start of beefed-up Libyan coast guard patrols designed to prevent migrants from reaching Europe.
Over Easter weekend, rescue ships plucked some 8,360 people from 55 different rubber dinghies and wooden boats off Libya’s coast, Italy’s coast guard said. Thirteen bodies were also recovered.
While such numbers are not unheard-of for this time of year, they come as Italy is preparing to deliver patrol boats to Libya as part of a new European Union-blessed migration deal.
Italy and Libya inked a deal in February calling for Italy to train Libyan coast guard officers and to provide them with a dozen ships to patrol the country’s lawless coasts. EU leaders hailed the accord as a new commitment to save lives and stem the flow of migrants to Europe, where the refugee influx has become a pressing political issue.
Aid groups, however, have criticized it as hypocritical and cruel, arguing that migrants who have already endured grave human rights abuses in Libya will face renewed violence, torture, sexual assault and other injustices if they are returned by the Libyan coast guard. Doctors Without Borders called it “delusional” while even the Vatican’s own Caritas charity said it was worrisome.
International Organization of Migration spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said improved weather conditions certainly are fueling renewed flows in recent days. But he said smugglers are also telling their customers, “`You have to hurry up and leave the country right now because otherwise in a couple of months you will be rescued by the Libyan coast guard and you will be sent back,’ which is the last things that migrants would like to do.”
The United Nations refugee agency also cited the pending arrival of Italian patrol boats as a possible cause for the weekend’s high numbers, although spokeswoman Barbara Molinario said it was too early in the season to identify trends.
“For now it’s premature, even if 8,300 in 55 operations is a high number,” Molinario said.
Overall, Some 35,700 people have been rescued in the central Mediterranean route in 2017, up from 24,974 in 2016, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said. Molinario noted that the numbers are constantly in flux and a week or two of poor weather could alter the year-on comparison. The IOM reports some 900 people are known to have died so far this year.
Some 800 people rescued over the weekend arrived in Sardinia on Tuesday, where officials struggled to find accommodation for them after some 900 were brought to the island by rescue boats last month. They hailed from Syria, Egypt and Libya, as well as more than a dozen other African countries.
The entry into force of the new Libyan patrols could heighten tensions that have already flared between the European Union and humanitarian organizations, which have assumed increasing role in rescuing migrants as their vessels tend to patrol closer to Libya’s territorial waters, and their numbers have skyrocketed in the last two years.
The European border agency Frontex has said these humanitarian aid ships in 2016 were responsible for 40 percent of all rescues, up from 5 percent a year earlier. Frontex has essentially accused them of encouraging smugglers to set migrants off in increasing numbers and on increasingly flimsy vessels, since rescue is so close at hand.
“While there is no question that saving lives is an obligation of whoever operates at sea … it seems the Libyan smugglers are taking full advantage of this fact, and they do so with impunity,” Frontex spokeswoman Izabella Cooper said.
The aid groups have denied being in cahoots with smugglers, but Catania’s chief prosecutor, Carmelo Zuccaro, testified to parliament last month about the phenomenon, in particular the funding behind the aid groups’ operations.
Cooper says there are both “push and pull” factors at play in the Libyan migration saga, with wars, poverty and famine pushing the migrants to Libya and the relative ease with which they then can reach Europe pulling them to make the risky crossing.
But behind it all is money: Europol reported that smugglers made some 5-6 billion euros in 2015, a peak year for arrivals in the EU, making it one of the most profitable activities for organized criminals in Europe. On the Libyan end, an EU military task force reported in December that Libyan coastal communities earned around 270-325 million euros a year from smuggling operations.
Trisha Thomas in Rome contributed to this report.
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Indian Business Tycoon Arrested in London
A flamboyant Indian business tycoon, wanted in India on charges of fraud and defaulting on loans worth over one billion dollars, was arrested Tuesday in Britain on behalf of Indian authorities.
Vijay Mallya was released on bail by a London court a few hours later.
His arrest came a year after he quietly left the country and went to live in London after state-owned banks sued him to recover loans amounting to $1.4 billion.
In New Delhi, the government hailed the arrest of the one-time liquor and aviation baron, saying they will pursue his extradition back to India.
Junior Finance Minister Santosh Gangwar told reporters that Mallya will be brought back to India and the due process of the law will be followed.
Mallya’s case is being seen as a litmus test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pledge to crack down on corruption.
The flashy businessman has become a poster boy for defaults on massive loans piled up by corporate tycoons and for a cozy nexus that many say has existed in India between businessmen and politicians.
After Mallya went to live in London, the government faced huge criticism from the public and from opposition lawmakers for not preventing him from leaving the country and bringing him to trial. He had refused to return to India to appear in court.
Mallya, who owned a liquor business, ran into trouble when a premium airline he launched in 2005 went bankrupt. Despite the massive loans he had accumulated, the man who called himself “the king of good times” continued to lead a lavish lifestyle and was as much in the news for his flashy parties as his debts, prompting huge public anger.
His arrest follows considerable diplomatic lobbying by New Delhi. Britain had turned down the initial request for his deportation last year, saying he entered the country on a valid passport.
In its latest extradition request, India had said that if the request is honored, it would show “British sensitivity toward our concerns.”
Soon after his arrest, Mallya tweeted “Usual Indian media hype. Extradition hearing in Court started today as expected.”
The businessman has repeatedly denied charges of wrongdoing, and calls the collapse of his airline a genuine commercial failure. He has also accused government agencies of pursuing a “heavily biased investigation” and holding him guilty without trial.
However, extraditing Mallya from London to India may not be easy. Indian authorities will have to prove that they have enough evidence to prosecute him, while Mallya is likely to maintain that he will not get a fair trial in India.
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Europe Fears Turkey’s Erdogan Will Tear Up Migration Deal
The crowd of diehard supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan cheered at a referendum-eve rally in the Umraniye district of Istanbul when Turkey’s Islamist leader called on them to drive the West, as well as terrorists, mad by voting “yes” in the next day’s plebiscite.
“Let’s pass such a reform that the West goes crazy,” he said.
Western officials may not be going crazy, but they are alarmed by Sunday’s vote. The slim majority that backed Erdogan’s bid to dramatically expand his executive power has set Ankara and the European Union on a collision course, European officials fear. On Monday, Erdogan challenged Brussels with a renewed demand that Turks be allowed visa-free travel across Europe and a threat to restore the death penalty.
Greek officials have drafted emergency plans to cope with a new migrant crisis. They predict Erdogan won’t be cautious about how he governs in the wake of the referendum, and will opt to pick fights with the EU in a bid to rally his divided country. Sunday’s “yes” vote for constitutional change marks the biggest shift in the country’s governance since the founding of modern Turkey in 1923.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned that restoring the death penalty is a “red line” for the EU. He and other senior European officials say reinstating capital punishment would end Turkey’s long-standing bid to join the EU.
On Monday, Erdogan shrugged off EU objections, while slamming a European monitoring group’s criticism of Sunday’s plebiscite. On Turkey’s EU candidacy, Erdogan told a crowd of loyalists: “It is also not very important for us either. … They have made us wait at the gates of the EU for 54 years. So, we will sit and talk and hold a referendum on that, too.”
EU concerns growing
Most European leaders have been keen to avoid stoking Erdogan’s wrath and have been circumspect in reacting to Sunday’s vote, hoping that Turkey’s deputy prime minister, Mehmet Simsek, was right when he predicted Monday the “noise” between Ankara and Europe would die down soon.
Speaking Monday to Reuters, Simsek said the focus would be on areas of shared interest between Europe and Turkey. The British Foreign Office said it was concerned by the conduct of the vote, but that it would remain an ally of Turkey provided Ankara “enacts these constitutional changes in a way that sustains democracy.”
Behind the scenes in EU capitals, the mood is gloomy. Gianni Pittella, the Italian leader of the socialist bloc in the European parliament, said his lawmakers will discuss whether to veto next week a proposal for visa-free travel for Turks. “We’ve always been very reluctant to ensure a visa-free regime to Turkey as Ankara does not match the democratic criteria,” he said in a statement. “Now after the referendum, our concerns are even bigger.”
Pittella said the referendum amounted to “yet another decisive step away from Europe.” He called for the termination of Turkey’s EU accession talks, because “with such a constitution, Turkey cannot join the EU.” Erdogan, he warned, “is increasingly turning Turkey into a personal authoritarian regime.”
Last Friday, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned Ankara would tear up the migration deal formed with the EU last year if visa-free travel for Turks is not granted. With the 2016 migration agreement, the Turkish government promised to help curb the flood of migrants into Europe from its territory in return for visa-free travel for Turks to Europe. Turkey also received enhanced EU aid to cope with Syrian and Iraqi refugees.
“If we get a negative response from the EU, we have the right to re-evaluate and suspend all of these agreements,” Cavusoglu told a local broadcaster.
Visa-free travel isn’t the only issue on which Turkey and the EU are at loggerheads. Brussels has demanded modifications to the country’s anti-terrorism law, which it deems as overarching. The Turkish government has used the law against Erdogan’s domestic critics, including journalists.
Predictions of restraint
Relations between Turkey and the EU deteriorated sharply in the run-up to Sunday’s referendum. There were rhetorical clashes over Turkey’s spying activities against Turkish dissidents in Europe. Separately, European officials objected to referendum campaigning across the continent by Turkish ministers seeking expatriate votes. Erdogan repeatedly accused the German and Dutch governments of acting like Nazis after they banned referendum campaign rallies by Turkish officials on security grounds.
“It’s high time we disarmed verbally. The Nazi insults are unbearable,” German Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Roth told Welt am Sonntag newspaper.
Senior Greek officials say they have drawn up detailed emergency plans to cope with a new refugee crisis. They say their cash-strapped country would find it hard to contain the financial fallout from a renewed flood of asylum-seekers, and would be plunged deeper into debt by an influx. That scenario, in turn, would put pressure on Brussels to assist with funding.
Some analysts believe that Erdogan, for all his threats, will be forced to show restraint both domestically and in relations with Europe.
“This large an opposition is hard for Erdogan to ignore,” wrote analysts Aykan Erdemir, a former member of the Turkish parliament, and Merve Tahiroglu, both with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institution.
“He may claim to have won a slight majority, but he lost in five of Turkey’s six largest cities, including its economic center Istanbul, where he has never lost an election since becoming mayor in 1994,” they wrote. “He also lost in Turkey’s other economic powerhouses — including the capital Ankara and Izmir — suggesting the country’s poor economic performance could become his weak spot in the days and weeks to come.”
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Trump Faces Foreign, Domestic Challenges Amid Low Approval Rating
President Donald Trump is fast closing in on his first 100 days in office, and his public approval rating continues to hover around 40 percent, still a low mark for a new president. Trump’s rating on foreign policy has improved slightly in the wake of recent U.S. military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, but the president’s domestic agenda seems stuck in neutral.
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Pence Says Trade Relationship with South Korea is ‘Falling Short’
During his visit to South Korea this week U.S. Vice President Mike Pence described the security alliance between the two countries as unwavering, unshakable and ironclad, but in an address to business leaders in Seoul Tuesday, he said the bilateral economic relationship is in trouble.
“Despite the strong economic ties between the United States and South Korea, we have to be honest about where our trade relationship is falling short,” Pence said.
Deficit doubled
The South Korea/U.S. free trade agreement (KORUS FTA) that took effect in 2012 was the largest trade deal implemented during the administration of former President Barack Obama. Since it was implemented the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea has more than doubled. U.S. exports to South Korea fell by $1.2 billion, while U.S. imports from South Korea grew by more than $13 billion. In 2016, the surplus measured at $23.2 billion, according to U.S. official data.
A recent United States Trade Representative (USTR) Trade Policy Agenda report criticized the U.S. trade deficit with South Korea saying, “This is not the outcome the American people expected from that agreement.”
The vice president reiterated concerns voiced by the American business community that South Korea has used non-tariff related environmental and inspection regulations to undermine the FTA.
“That’s the hard truth of it. And our businesses continue to face too many barriers to entry, which tilts the playing field against American workers and Americans growth,” he said.
America First
Pence said the U.S. will seek to renegotiate some terms of the trade agreement with South Korea to give American companies increased and equitable market access.
“We will pursue trade that is both free and fair. And that will be true in all of our trade relationships, including KORUS. We are reviewing all of our trade agreements across the world to insure that they benefit our economy as much as our trading partners,” Pence said.
U.S. President Donald Trump campaigned on a platform of economic nationalism that he called “America First.” He promised to overhaul trade agreements that he said hurt U.S. jobs. After taking office he immediately withdrew from the multi-lateral Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal that was to include the U.S., Japan and ten other Pacific Rim countries, that together accounted for 40 percent of the world economy.
The Trump administration has also indicated it intends to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, and a U.S. trade agreement with Central American countries as well.
KORUS support
While business leaders in Seoul have been critical of the South Korean practice of imposing non-tariff related trade barriers, especially in the auto industry that accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. trade deficit, they are overall supportive of the KORUS FTA.
American Chamber of Commerce leaders have voiced concern that the Trump administration is being overly critical of the trade agreement by putting too much emphasis on a trade deficit that is just one aspect of a complex and evolving economic relationship.
For example, Korean investment in the United States, from companies like Samsung and Hyundai, have created more than 45,000 American jobs. “Direct investments Korean companies have made in the United States since KORUS have exceeded trade deficits with Korea,” said James Kim, chairman of both GM Korea and the American Chamber of Commerce Korea, in a recent Korea Times interview.
South Korea had much higher tariffs than the U.S. prior to the bilateral free trade deal and Kim Jong-hoon, the former director of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, says the agreement yielded major concessions and cuts from his country.
Former American Chamber of Commerce Korea Chairman Jeffery Jones also argues the KORUS FTA may have prevented an even bigger drop off of U.S. imports into Korea. He notes that that all foreign imports into South Korea have been in decline in recent years, but U.S. imports dropped by only 2.8 percent, while Japanese imports were down 15 percent, Australian imports were down by 20 percent, and imports from the EU were down almost 10 percent.
On to Japan
After his meeting with business leaders in Seoul Tuesday, Vice President Pence traveled to Tokyo for meetings with Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso on bilateral trade options in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from TPP.
Last year, Japan had a $69 billion trade surplus with the United States, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Trump has in the past complained that Japan keeps its currency artificially low, though a Treasury Department report last week did not label Japan a currency manipulator.
Tokyo is the second stop on Pence’s 10-day tour of Asia, a trip aimed at emphasizing that U.S. President Donald Trump still intends to boost U.S. trade in the region despite his opposition to TPP.
Youmi Kim contributed to this report.
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Trump Faces Foreign and Domestic Challenges Amid Low Approval Rating
Donald Trump is fast closing in on his first 100 days in office, and his public approval rating continues to hover at around 40 percent, still a low mark for a new U.S. president. Trump’s rating on foreign policy has improved slightly in the wake of recent U.S. military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan, but his domestic agenda seems stuck in neutral.
The latest Gallup Daily Tracking Poll has the president’s approval rating at 41 percent, with 53 percent disapproval. That is an improvement from about three weeks ago when the approval level had dropped to 35 percent.
The latest Marist College survey found Trump’s approval at 39 percent, little changed from before the U.S. strike on Syria. “Trump is facing a critical test as commander-in-chief,” according to Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. “Americans are still looking for President Trump to provide leadership,” Miringoff said in a statement that accompanied the latest survey.
Watch: A tough 100 days for President Trump
Growing international focus
After a rough few months on the domestic front, President Trump has increasingly turned his attention to foreign policy concerns including North Korea’s missile program and the recent military strikes in Syria and Afghanistan.
“Right now, the world is a mess,” Trump told reporters at a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg last week. “But I think by the time we finish, I think it is going to be a lot better place to live, and I can tell you that speaking for myself, by the time I’m finished it is going to be a lot better place to live in because right now it is nasty.”
The flexing of U.S. military muscle against the Assad regime in Syria was welcomed by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who called the missile strikes “an interesting message to a lot of our adversaries around the world and our allies around the world that this administration is going to be more assertive than the previous one.”
An uncertain domestic agenda
Trump’s standing at home remains complicated. Protesters were out in force in recent days demanding that the president release his tax returns, including a violent clash in California between anti-Trump and pro-Trump demonstrators.
Congress returns to work next week, but the president’s efforts on health care and other domestic priorities remain stalled, frozen by polarized politics in the view of Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. “He’ll have trouble constantly unless he moves to the middle. We are waiting for him to do it.”
At a recent political round table discussion hosted by Marist College, NBC News senior political editor Mark Murray said presidents have the most political leverage at the beginning of their term. “If you don’t do health care now, you are not going to get it done over four years. If you don’t end up getting tax reform (now), it is never going to happen.”
Catering to his base
Another panelist, liberal Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, said Trump appears to have trouble looking beyond his core supporters. “And you can’t just govern with your base. No one can. And I think his base has been his obsession and that just doesn’t work in the long run.”
From the beginning of his presidency, Trump has struggled to broaden his base of support, said Brookings Institution analyst Sarah Binder. “Starting with historically low approval ratings, and even those approval ratings remain reasonably high with Republicans but even those numbers have come down a bit. So it is very hard going forward to build big coalitions in American politics from a very narrow base.”
Historical partisan divide
To be fair, Trump is also the inheritor of decades of growing political polarization, according to American Enterprise Institute scholar Michael Barone. “And we have had a period of about the last 20 years in which we have had very durable, static party divisions, with each party getting approximately equal numbers of votes and many voters just not changing their party.”
Trump’s best hope for progress on domestic issues may be to enlist support from Democrats, even if it risks angering Republicans, predicted Brookings analyst William Galston. “If the administration really wants to move in that direction, they ought to initiate discussions with Democrats on issues such as tax reform and infrastructure (improvement) right away, in my judgment.”
Others believe Trump has the capacity to change. “Every president learns on the job,” said Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass in an interview for VOA’s Press Conference USA. “No president emerges the same after his first crisis.”
Haass, who has worked for four presidents, said he believes Trump is likely already a different person from the one who walked into the Oval Office just a few months ago. “I don’t know exactly what he’ll learn…but the potential is there for change.”
Fewer than 100 days into his presidency, Trump is now trying to balance the pressing needs of his domestic agenda amid the backdrop of an uncertain and ever-changing world. In order to move his domestic agenda forward, however, he may have to enlist help from Democrats, a politically risky move that could turn off the very core supporters who continue to stand by him today.
your ad hereTurkey’s President Rejects Criticism from International Monitors Over Referendum
Turkey’s president has rejected international monitors’ criticism of the referendum that approved expanded presidential powers Sunday, saying the vote was the “most democratic election” seen in any Western country.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told supporters Monday outside his palace in Ankara that international election monitors should “know their place.”
He said Turkey will ignore findings by monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, calling the reports “politically motivated.”
Fairness questioned
The monitors have questioned the fairness of Sunday’s referendum, saying it was contested on an uneven playing field. At a news conference in Ankara, monitors from the OSCE said the “No” campaign faced numerous obstacles, including a lack of freedom of expression, intimidation and access to the media.
They also questioned the controversial decision by Turkey’s Supreme Court to allow the use of ballots that did not have an official stamp on them. The main opposition CHP alleges that as many as one-and-a-half million unstamped ballots could have been used, more than the winning margin in the referendum.
Opposition calls for new vote
Bulent Tezcan, deputy head of the CHP demanded the referendum be reheld, saying that would be the “only decision that will end the debate about the legitimacy” and ease people’s concerns.
Unofficial election results from Turkey’s electoral board said the “yes” vote took more than 51 percent while the “no” vote took just under 49 percent. Official tallies were expected to be released within 12 days of the vote.
The approval means the Turkish parliament will be largely sidelined, the prime minister and Cabinet posts will be abolished, and ministers will be directly appointed by the president and accountable to him. The president also will set the budget.
The constitutional amendments also end the official neutrality of the president, allowing him to lead a political party. The president will have the power to dissolve parliament and declare a state of emergency, while enjoying enhanced powers to appoint judges to the high court and constitutional court.
A divided nation
The referendum has divided the nation, with both supporters and opponents arguing that the future of the country is at stake.
Erdogan insists the reforms will create a fast and efficient system of governance that will allow Turkey to face the challenges of fighting terror and the slowing economy. Critics argue the constitutional reforms will usher in an elected dictatorship.
Erdogan spoke by telephone Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump, who according to a White House statement congratulated the Turkish leader on the referendum win. The statement further said the two men talked about the situation in Syria, both the fight against Islamic State and holding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad accountable for a chemical attack earlier this month.
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Judge Orders US Doctor Charged with Female Genital Mutilation to Remain in Jail
A federal judge in Detroit has ordered a doctor to stay in jail pending trial for alleged female genital mutilation of two 7-year-old girls.
The judge ruled Monday that Dr. Jumana Nagarwala is a danger and a flight risk.
Authorities arrested Nagarwala last week on charges of carrying out the illegal procedure on two young girls whose families brought them to Detroit after allegedly failing to find anyone in Minnesota to do it.
Nagarwala denies cutting the girls. She says all she did was remove mucus membranes from their genitals in a religious ceremony for a ritualistic burial.
Nagarwala belongs to an exclusive Muslim sect called Dawoodi Bohra, which is primarily concentrated in India.
Female genital mutilation involves cutting some of the most sensitive parts of a young girl’s private parts to initiate them into adulthood, control their sexual desire, and the belief it will make them more desirable as marriage partners.
The World Health Organization says the practice is primarily carried out in about 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. It has no benefits and can cause severe short- and long-term health problems.
Contrary to what many people believe, female circumcision is not exclusive to Muslims, and many followers of Islam condemn it.
“In general, this is simply something that is not done and is found to be extremely repugnant,” the Michigan head of the Council of American-Islamic Relations Dawud Walid said. “This is something that is overwhelmingly not acceptable amongst the mainstream Muslim community in America.”
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Former Pope Benedict Celebrates 90th Birthday
Retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 90th birthday on Monday with a mug of beer and a small gathering with family and friends.
Footage by Vatican TV showed Benedict sitting with guests on a sunny day outside his home on Vatican grounds where he has lived since he resigned as pontiff in 2013.
He was joined by his elder brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, as well with other visitors from his native Bavaria in Germany.
Pope Benedict turned 90 on Sunday, but since his birthday coincided with Easter this year, he celebrated the occasion Monday.
On Thursday, Benedict’s successor, Pope Francis, visited the former pontiff at his home to wish him a happy birthday.
Benedict’s personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said in an interview last week with Italy’s la Repubblica daily that the former pope was still “very lucid, but his physical strength is lessening. His legs are tired.”
Benedict stepped down as pope in 2013 citing his increased frailty, stunning the Catholic Church and becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. Since his resignation, Benedict has kept a low profile and has rarely been since in public.
Pope Benedict was born Joseph Ratzinger on April 16, 1927, in southern Germany. He trained as a theologian and was a long-time Vatican official in charge of ensuring doctrinal orthodoxy when he was elected pope in 2005. His papacy was often hounded by the Catholic Church’s child abuse scandals.
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Referendum’s Mixed Reaction Reflects Turkey’s Key Role
Turkey’s status as a bridge between East and West was clear and shaky after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carved out a narrow victory in a referendum that raises questions about democracy’s future in the country.
Erdogan’s steady path toward authoritarian rule was bolstered by the Sunday election that drew 80 percent of eligible voters. It was decided by support from the rural countryside and Turks living abroad, while the country’s three largest cities voted against the package that will get rid of parliament and give most of its powers to the presidency.
The result left Turkey embraced by the Arab world and increasingly estranged from Europe, where leaders walked a fine line between diplomacy and criticism.
The key question now is whether Erdogan, who has moved decisively since an attempted military coup last July to jail and otherwise marginalize his opponents, will make any moves toward reconciliation or will continue to foster animosity among the Kurdish community and other minorities.
Analysts raised the possibility of a further crackdown and a possible backlash.
“The Turkish public seems to have given Erdogan and the (ruling) AKP license to reorganize the Turkish state, and in the process raze the values on which it was built,” Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in Foreign Policy.
“Even if they are demoralized in their defeat, Erdogan’s project will arouse significant resistance among the various ‘No’ camps. The predictable result will be the continuation of the purge that has been going on since even more last July’s failed coup, including more arrests and the additional delegitimization of Erdogan’s parliamentary opposition.”
Legal challenge
Erdogan already faces a legal challenge on the election itself, which European monitors said took place on an “uneven playing field” amid a crackdown on the media and opponents being labeled as terrorists. The referendum also was criticized for boiling down 18 complex issues into a single “yes” or “no” ballot.
The result was 51.4 percent in favor of the changes and 48.6 percent opposed, far from the 60 percent clear mandate that Erdogan had hoped for.
“While the parliament is required to have two-thirds majority to amend the constitution, (it is strange) to have absolute majority of the people to change the governing style of the Republic of Turkey,” one Ankara resident told VOA. “But it is now in the past. If the people approved it that way, everyone has to respect it. Let’s wish for the best.”
European leaders said they respected the decision of the Turkish people, while hoping that Erdogan will pause before starting to implement the changes.
“The (German) government expects that the Turkish government will now seek respectful dialogue with all political and social forces in the country, after this tough election campaign,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement with Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel. “The tight referendum result shows how deeply divided Turkish society is, and that means a big responsibility for the Turkish leadership and for President Erdogan personally.”
“Strange to see democracy restrict democracy,” Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen added on Twitter.
Defiant to Europe
But Erdogan remained defiant of Europe, which he had accused of meddling in the vote.
“The crusader mentality on the West and its servants at home have attacked us,” he said. “We have put up a fight against the powerful nations of the world. We did not succumb. As a nation we stood strong.”
And he appeared ready to put the final nail in the coffin of the country’s pursuit of European Union membership by again suggesting legalization of the death penalty a chilling prospect given that about 40,000 people have been jailed since the coup attempt, including the co-leaders and nine other legislators from the second largest opposition party in parliament on allegation of links with Kurdish terrorists.
The president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, said a death penalty referendum would be a “red line” for the European Union.
‘New partnership’
Instead, European officials were talking about cobbling together some kind of “new partnership” with Turkey and offering whatever support they can provide in the country’s ongoing transition.
Several countries in the Arab world, including Pakistan, welcomed Erdogan’s victory as a successful “democratic” experience, reflecting his shift away from the country’s history as a secular state.
The result also seemed to reflect a recent global move toward strong leaders after the elections of President Donald Trump, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and others, with France’s election looming Sunday and Germany’s scheduled for September.
your ad hereOhio Dealer Behind West Virginia Overdoses Sentenced
A 22-year-old Ohio man accused of selling heroin laced with an elephant tranquilizer that led to 28 overdoses in West Virginia on a single day has been sentenced to more than 18 years in federal prison.
“Heroin is like driving intoxicated,” U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers said. “You may not mean harm to anybody, but you have to serve a sentence commensurate with the harm you did.”
Bruce Lamar Griggs of Akron faced up to 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine at his sentencing Monday.
Laboratory tests of the victims’ blood and urine showed heroin mixed with fentanyl and carfentanil — considered cheaper synthetic opioid alternatives that heroin dealers use to stretch their supplies.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration issued a warning in March 2015 that fentanyl, a powerful prescription painkiller, was a threat to public health and safety. And last September, the DEA warned the public and law enforcement nationwide about the health and safety risks of handling carfentanil, which is considered 10,000 times stronger than morphine. It is used as an elephant tranquilizer and is not approved for human consumption, according to the DEA.
Chambers said no deaths were caused by Griggs’ sales. “You’re lucky. If that happened, you’d be facing far worse” penalties, he said.
West Virginia has the nation’s highest drug overdose death rate by far, with 41.5 deaths per 100,000 people in 2015, the latest year available, compared with a national average of 16.3.
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Finding Chibok Girls May Take Years, General Warns
Nigeria’s defense minister has warned it may take years to find all the Chibok girls kidnapped by the militant group Boko Haram.
Speaking to VOA’s Hausa service, General Manir Dan Ali said the military is searching Boko Haram’s hideouts in the Sambisa Forest, a vast area covering parts of three states in northeastern Nigeria.
He noted that it took a long time for the United States to find 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
“It took the U.S. up to seven, eight, up to 10 years before they could get to bin Laden,” he said. “We are continuing our campaigning in the Sambisa Forest in all its nooks and corners.”
Ali spoke to VOA as activists mark the third anniversary of the girls’ abductions. Boko Haram kidnapped 276 students from a secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok on April 13, 2014. There are 195 girls still missing.
In 2014, Boko Haram seized control of much of northeastern Nigeria but has been driven back by a Nigerian-led, multinational military campaign.
Despite the success, the government’s inability to find the girls or determine their fate is overshadowing the military victory.
Sheikh Nuru Khalid, a member of the influential Interfaith group that tries to ensure peace between Nigerian Muslims and Christians, says failure to find the girls would translate into a victory for Boko Haram.
“We can never allow the terrorists to win the war. If they got [away] free with those girls, then they have relatively won the war,” he said.
Human rights lawyer Abdu Bulama Bukar told VOA Hausa that the government needs to address the psychological trauma suffered by the families of the missing girls and other victims of Boko Haram brutality.
“Married women have been made single again; kids have been orphaned; homeowners are without shelter; Nigerians have been turned into refugees in their own homeland,” he said.
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Kenyans Sweep Titles in 121st Boston Marathon
Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya won the 121st Boston Marathon on Monday, leading a sweep for his nation of the men’s and women’s divisions.
Kirui pulled away from three-time U.S. Olympian Galen Rupp with 2 miles (3 kilometers) to go in the 26.2-mile (42 km) run to take the title in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 37 seconds. Rupp was 21 seconds back, and Suguru Osako of Japan placed third, 51 seconds behind the winner.
“In my mind, I was sure that one day I would win this race,” said the 25-year-old Kirui, competing in his third marathon. “To come here to Boston, I knew I was going to face my colleagues who have run many times here. … I knew I would challenge some of the champions who have been competing here.”
Edna Kiplagat won the women’s race in 2 hours, 21 minutes, 52 seconds for the Kenyan sweep. Rose Chelimo of Bahrain was runner-up, 59 seconds back, and American Jordan Hasay was another 9 seconds behind to take third place.
Ethiopians swept the titles last year. Kenyans had won either the men’s or women’s race every year since 1991 before being shut out in 2014 and again last year.
Temperatures were much warmer than normal this year, with the thermometer hitting 79 degrees (26 C) at the 20-kilometer mark.
Americans dominated the men’s division with six runners placing in the top 10.
“It’s so exciting to see Americans being competitive here,” said Rupp, the Olympic bronze medalist who was making his Boston debut. “It’s a real exciting time. And it’s awesome to see American distance running on the upswing and being competitive in these races.”
“American distance running is looking good today,” said sixth-place finisher Abdi Abdirahman, a Somali immigrant and Arizona resident who is a four-time Olympian. “We have the podium for both men and women, so the future is great.”
It was the first time since 1991 that two U.S. women had finished in the top four, with Desi Linden placing fourth.
Earlier Monday, Boston city officials announced plans for memorials to mark the sites near the finish line where two bombs exploded during the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 260 others.
Two brothers who immigrated from Russia, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were identified as the perpetrators. Tamerlan was killed during a shootout with police four days after the twin explosions that came 12 seconds apart. Dzhokhar remains in a federal prison after being sentenced to death.
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Turkish Referendum Vote Challenged
International monitors have questioned the fairness of Sunday’s referendum in Turkey, saying it was contested on an uneven playing field. The referendum, which would create a powerful executive presidency from the current parliamentary system, only narrowly passed and opponents are seeking a revote.
At a news conference in Ankara, monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the “No” campaign faced numerous obstacles including a lack of freedom of expression and access to the media, and intimidation. The OSCE also alleged misuse of administrative resources by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The controversial decision to allow the use of ballots that did not have an official stamp was also criticized. “The Supreme Election Board issued instructions late in the day that significantly changed the validity criteria, undermining an important safeguard and contradicting the law,” observed Cezar Florin Preda of the monitoring group at the Ankara press conference.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying it was “saddened” by the OSCE’s finding that the referendum fell short of international standards. The ministry called it “unacceptable” and accused the OSCE of political bias.
Under Turkey’s 2010 electoral law, all ballots require an official stamp as a measure aimed at preventing vote stuffing. The main opposition CHP alleges that as many as one-and-a-half million unstamped ballots could have been used, more than the winning margin in the referendum.
The CHP is now demanding the referendum be held again. “The only decision that will end debate about the legitimacy and ease the people’s legal concerns is the annulment of this election,” declared Bulent Tezcan CHP deputy head, speaking at press conference Monday.
Protests were held in several locations across Istanbul and in the capital, Ankara, over the handling of the vote; similar demonstrations were reported in other cities.
The only legal redress the CHP has to overturn the vote is with the Supreme Election Board, which made the decision to use the unstamped ballots.
In defense of the ballots
The head of the board, Sadi Guven, strongly defended his decision to allow the controversial ballots, citing high demand for ballots and saying similar procedures had been followed in the past.
“This is not some move we’ve done for the first time,” said Guven, speaking to reporters Monday in Ankara. “Before our administration took over, there had been many decisions approving the validity of unstamped ballots.”
Critics point out the previous use of unstamped ballots was before the introduction of the electoral law banning the practice. Guven said he did not know how many of the ballots were used, and admitted he made the decision after consulting with the ruling AK Party.
Many of the ballots are suspected of being used in the predominantly Kurdish southeast where strict security measures are in force due to an ongoing fight against Kurdish insurgent group the PKK. “No” campaigners in the region said its observers were prevented from monitoring many ballot stations. The OSCE also said its monitors faced restrictions.
While the OSCE refused to be drawn in on whether the shortcomings and difficulties it highlighted were enough to affect the outcome of the vote, its assessment will likely embolden the opposition and add to growing international concern.
“The European politician will refer to the OSCE; even Americans have said it was going to wait for the OSCE report [before commenting on the referendum result],” warned political columnist Semih Idiz of Al Monitor website. “It’s a complication for Erdogan, but he will try and turn it to his advantage by saying the West is up to its old tricks again.”
Throughout the campaign, Erdogan played the nationalist card, accusing Western countries of conspiring against him and Turkey. Erdogan described the referendum as a victory against the crusaders.
Europe has so far avoided directly addressing the controversy, choosing to look beyond the result with calls on Erdogan to reach out to his opponents to ease the political polarization. The U.S. State Department called on Turkey to protect basic rights and freedoms as authorities work to resolve the contested results.
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South Africa’s President Dodges No-Confidence Vote
The showdown South Africans have been demanding for weeks is not likely to happen soon, as a no-confidence vote for the increasingly unpopular president has been postponed from Tuesday pending a ruling from the nation’s top court.
The postponement is yet another twist in South Africa’s increasingly complicated political drama.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) asked for the no-confidence vote, which was set for April 18, in response to President Jacob Zuma’s widely unpopular decision last month to fire a well-respected finance minister and reshuffle his Cabinet. That political upheaval prompted a major ratings agency to downgrade the nation’s sovereign credit rating, which has negatively impacted the economy.
But after the DA tabled the motion, the smaller United Democratic Movement opposition party asked for the vote to be held by secret ballot in what is widely seen as a bid to encourage members of Zuma’s African National Congress (ANC) to turn on their leader. That request for a secret ballot has to go through the Constitutional Court.
However, that left the original petitioners in a sticky position — whether to push for a quick, but public, vote in which the ANC majority in parliament is likely to stand behind Zuma — or to wait for a chance to have a secret vote that might actually succeed.
The DA chose the latter and pulled the motion. Parliamentary spokesman Moloto Mothapo told VOA that now puts the original motion for a no-confidence vote in an interesting limbo while the court decides.
“Any motion that is postponed remains in the program of the sitting of the assembly,” he told VOA. “And it blocks any other member of parliament from raising a similar motion during that period. So those are the dynamics that the programming committee of parliament must look into.”
The court, he says, could rule quickly, or they could take up to six months to reach a decision. Regardless, while the court is deliberating the matter, Zuma is safe from no-confidence votes in parliament.
Mothapo, a longtime member of the ANC, was quick to note that the speaker of parliament did not hesitate to schedule the no-confidence vote in the first place, and that the opposition withdrew the motion.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga told VOA that this takes the wind out of the sails of the latest, boisterous movement to force Zuma out.
“The reality is that the immediate factor upon which that motion was called upon, which was Jacob Zuma’s latest reshuffle, would have settled down to a point where by the time the the court decides whether it’s secret or not, it might not be so beneficial for the opposition parties, because the dust will have settled down,” he said.
Now, he says, the opposition needs to get to work whipping the vote and trying to convince the ANC to turn on Zuma — a tough task, as the ANC is proud of its party discipline and unity.
Zuma’s recent actions — coupled with longstanding anger over simmering corruption scandals — prompted tens of thousands of South Africans to recently take to the streets, and to the lawn of the president’s official home, to demand his resignation. At mass protests last week, opposition party leaders said they would keep the pressure on Zuma as long as it took. His term ends in 2019.
Zuma has largely brushed off the animosity, saying that those who oppose his party are racists and joking at his recent 75th birthday celebration that stress is “a white man’s disease.”
Top South African psychologists quickly refuted that assertion, noting that a recent study found that non-white South Africans experience higher levels of stress than white South Africans. The president, it appears, is an anomaly.
your ad hereUS Notes Concerns of European Monitors in Turkey Referendum
The U.S. State Department said Monday it had taken note of concerns by European monitors of Turkey’s referendum and looked forward to a final report, suggesting it will withhold comment until a full assessment was completed.
An initial assessment by the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Sunday’s referendum, which granted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers, did not meet democratic norms.
“We look forward to OSCE/ODIHR’s final report, which we understand will take several weeks,” acting spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.
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African Group Tries to Deter Illegal Immigration
The Italian coast guard says it has rescued nearly 6,000 migrants on the Mediterranean since Friday, underscoring the continued flow of people along this dangerous route. A group of Africans living in Europe visited Cameroon this week to launch a campaign against illegal migration.
The group is called “No More Death in the Desert or on the Sea.” Its mission is simple: to educate youth in Africa about the harsh realities of illegal migration.
“We want to tell them that all the information people give them before they start their journey are wrong,” said Nantcha.
The group’s leader Sylvie Nantcha was born in Cameroon. She has lived in the German town of Freiburg for 25 years. She arrived as a student and rose to become the town’s first councilor of African descent.
“I made a lot of interviews last year with Africans and they told me that when they started their journey, they thought that the journey will take them may be just two weeks, but they were one year or two years or three years on their way to Europe and they spent more than 10,000 euros,” she said. “They had other wrong information like if you arrive we will give you a job, and they arrive in Italy in Spain or in Germany and they don’t have a job.”
Of course, those are the migrants who survived the crossing. The International Organization for Migration reported that more than 5,000 people died in 2016 in the Mediterranean. That’s a 35 percent increase from deaths the previous year. (LINK FOR WEB: https://missingmigrants.iom.int/)
Nantcha joined forces with nine other Africans living across Europe to tackle the trend. They plan to visit Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Niger, Algeria and Libya by the end of this year to screen a film based on Nantcha’s interviews with migrants.
Hundreds of people gathered at each of the three screenings in Yaounde this week.
The goal of the film is to deter illegal migration. But youth at the event told VOA they know the risks already. Some of them said a lack of jobs and Europe’s restrictive immigration policies leave few options.
24-year old Nguenang Bruno says films alone will not stop Africans who believe that the only way for them to make it in the future is to sacrifice and cross the desert and sea to Europe. He says the will to leave is strong and it will take work to change that.
The young people in the audience cited stories of people they know who made it to Europe illegally. But in Yaounde it is not hard to find other Cameroonians who failed.
29-year old Robert Alain Lipoti cleans dishes in his restaurant at Etoudi neighborhood. His uncle loaned him the money to start his business after Alain returned from his sad adventure across the desert trying to make it to the Mediterranean.
He says he ran short of food and water when he spent three weeks trekking in the Sahara desert. He says he saw people dying by him and there was nothing he could do to help. He says while in the town of Damara in Algeria, he had to escape police and then he trekked many kilometers to Morocco where he couldn’t go out in public or work because his stay was illegal.
Despite the difficulties, VOA spoke to returnees who say they will try to migrate again.
Milingui Biya Paul, 35, made it to Algeria but was scammed out of his money. He had to take odd jobs to raise transport fare to go home.
He says Cameroon like other African countries buries young peoples’ talents. He says after finishing their studies, people still do not have jobs. He says why should he dream to stay in Cameroon when there are opportunities outside?
Paul hasn’t ruled out trying to make the crossing again.
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‘The National’ Newspaper of Abu Dhabi Sees Layoffs after Sale
A state-backed newspaper in the United Arab Emirates that was bought by an Emirati who oversees the English soccer club Manchester City is undergoing layoffs, those with knowledge of the firings said Monday.
They told The Associated Press that staffers at The National were informed Sunday they had been let go. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.
It wasn’t clear how wide the layoffs were or what specific plans The National’s new owner had for the daily newspaper. Repeated calls to the newspaper rang unanswered Monday.
The layoffs come after months of turmoil at The National, which was founded in 2008 and staffed with top writers and editors from Western newspapers. Its owner, the state-backed firm Abu Dhabi Media, hoped it would become the Mideast’s standard for independent, hard-nosed newspapering.
But while the paper broke local stories on skyscraper fire safety and other issues, it largely stayed away from controversial topics in a country with strict laws governing speech.
International Media Investments, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corp. owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Manchester City, bought The National in November from Abu Dhabi Media. Sheikh Mansour’s media firm has a joint venture with Britain-based Sky to run the Arab satellite news channel Sky News Arabia.
In a statement, International Media Investments said: “The National is putting together its team, made of existing and new talent,” and will undergo “a digital transformation while retaining its print product.” It answered no questions from the AP about the layoffs.
Although the newspaper sale has yet to finalize, staffers had to reapply for jobs at the paper. All this comes as low global oil prices have pinched the economy of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula.
Sheikh Mansour is a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s oil-rich capital. He also serves as a deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs.
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Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli Jails Begin Hunger Strike
Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli jails began a hunger strike on Monday in response to a call by prominent prisoner Marwan Barghouti, widely seen as a possible future Palestinian president.
Palestinians termed the open-ended strike a protest against poor conditions and an Israeli policy of detention without trial that has been applied against thousands since the 1980s.
Israel said the move by the prisoners, many of whom were convicted of attacks or planning attacks against Israel, was politically motivated.
The protest was led by Barghouti, 58, a leader of the mainstream Fatah movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization, serving five life terms after being convicted of murder in the killing of Israelis in a 2000-2005 uprising.
The strike, if sustained, could present a challenge to Israel and raise tensions between the two sides as the 50th anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip approaches in June.
Israeli troops and settlers pulled out of the Gaza Strip, now run by Hamas Islamists, in 2005, but peace talks on the creation of a Palestinian state collapsed with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2014.
In an opinion piece in the New York Times on Monday, Barghouti said a strike was the only way to gain concessions after other options had failed.
“Through our hunger strike, we seek an end to these abuses … Palestinian prisoners and detainees have suffered from torture, inhumane and degrading treatment and medical negligence. Some have been killed while in detention,” he wrote.
Field hospital
Israel denies Palestinian inmates are mistreated and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said the Barghouti-led protest was “prompted by internal Palestinian politics and therefore includes unreasonable demands”.
Palestinian officials said some 1,500 inmates affiliated with all political factions including rival Fatah and Hamas were taking part in the protest. An Israel Prisons Service spokesman said some 1,100 inmates at eight jails had joined the strike.
Almost 6,500 Palestinians are being held in 22 Israeli prisons, said Qadoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club that advocates on behalf of the inmates.
The Prisoners’ Club said a main demand was for Israel to halt detention without trial for some 500 Palestinians currently being held, and for an end to solitary confinement.
The strikers also want better medical treatment and that disabled inmates or those suffering chronic illness be freed, access to more television channels and more phone contact with relatives and more family visits.
The strike prompted a large rally in Gaza and a protest broke out near the occupied West Bank town of Bethlehem where Palestinian demonstrators clashed with Israeli forces.
Palestinians consider brethren held in Israeli jails as national heroes. Long-term mass hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners are rare, but in past cases of individual inmates who stopped eating for weeks, detention terms were shortened or not renewed after they were hospitalized in critical condition.
Erdan said a field hospital would be erected next to one prison – an apparent move to pre-empt transfers to civilian medical facilities, which could draw wider media attention.
Abbas, 82, said in a statement that efforts would continue to secure prisoners’ freedom. He condemned what he called Israel’s intransigence in the face of “fair” prisoner demands.
your ad hereClashes Erupt Between Tribes and IS Militants in Sinai
Three people were injured in clashes between militants and local tribes in the Sinai peninsula in a fight that began when militants shot at a truck smuggling cigarettes into the area, Egyptian security officials said Monday.
The officials told The Associated Press that so-called Islamic State group militants launched RPG attacks on Sunday in their stronghold around the city of Rafah in response to the kidnapping of three IS fighters by local tribes.
The unrest started when militants shot at a truck smuggling cigarettes into the area, where they impose a strict version of Islamic law that prohibits the sale of tobacco, tribal sources said.
The government sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media. The tribal sources requested anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The incident marks an escalation in tension between the two sides over the imposition of Islamic Law.
Last month, female teachers commuting from North Sinai’s urban center, El-Arish, to Rafah reported being stopped by militants twice in one week and were asked not to take the road without a male relative in compliance with Islamic law. Locals said the militants had previously intercepted trucks carrying cigarettes and punished passengers with flogging.
North Sinai residents have been caught in a violent battle between militant groups who have expanded their activity in the Peninsula since the removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and security forces waging war against them.
Militants have beheaded locals accused of collaboration with authorities and recently stepped up their attacks against the peninsula’s Coptic Christian minority, forcing hundreds to flee following a string of killings in the city of Arish in February.
your ad hereSyria’s Assad Mocks Delay of Assault on Raqqa
The start date of the offensive to oust Islamic State fighters from the city of Raqqa and end the terror group’s state-building project has been announced several times in the past few months, often with great fanfare by commanders in the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, the United States’ ground ally in northern Syria.
The last announcement came in March when Kurdish commanders said an assault on the city would begin April 1.
Two weeks later that start date, like many others, has come and gone, prompting the months-long question — when will the U.S.-backed SDF offensive shift gears from isolating Raqqa, which is hemmed in on three sides now, to mounting an assault to retake the capital of the jihadists’ self-styled caliphate?
Over the weekend, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told the French news agency AFP he would support whomever wants to oust Islamic State militants from Raqqa, but mocked the delay in an assault on the city, which U.S. officials believe is being defended by around 4,000 IS fighters.
“What we hear is only allegations about liberating Raqqa. We’ve been hearing that for nearly a year now, or less than a year, but nothing happened on the ground,” he said. “It’s not clear who is going to liberate Raqqa…It’s not clear yet.”
No firm answer about a new start date was forthcoming on Saturday from U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis when he met in Washington with his Turkish counterpart, Fikri Isik.
The Turkish defense minister again complicated the U.S. effort to choreograph an agreement among multiple local and international players about a Raqqa offensive by pressing Ankara’s long-standing demand for the U.S. to end its alliance with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, whose fighters dominate the ranks of the SDF.
There were no signs that the Turkish request made persistently by Ankara in recent months, and relayed by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a February phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, will be heeded. U.S. officials say they envisage the Raqqa battle will resemble the fight in neighboring Iraq, where local indigenous forces have been waging the struggle to retake the northern city of Mosul, the last IS major urban stronghold in that country. Some 500 U.S. special forces soldiers deployed in northern Syria are helping to train and advise SDF units.
Mattis later said at a press conference the U.S. remains in solidarity with Ankara when it comes to fighting Islamic State militants and Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, but he made no mention of discontinuing the alliance with the YPG, the armed wing of Syria’s Democratic Union Party, or PYD.
The Turks, who fear the emergence of a Kurdish state in north Syria, maintain there’s no real distinction between the PYD and the PKK, which has been waging an insurgency in Turkey for more than three decades.
Mattis cited the long security relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, dating back to 1952 when Turkey joined NATO; but, in the wake of Sunday’s constitutional referendum that greatly enhances the Turkish president’s powers, analysts say it is unclear how much Erdogan values his country’s alliance with the West, and whether his slim victory will embolden him to disrupt a Raqqa assault by the SDF.
Earlier this month, Erdogan ramped up the pressure on Washington, saying his government is planning new offensives in northern Syria this spring against groups deemed terrorist organizations by Ankara, including IS and the PYD’s militia.
In March, Turkish forces escalated attacks on the YPG in northern Syria, forcing the U.S. to deploy a small number of forces in and around the town of Manbij to the northwest of Raqqa to “deter” Turkish-SDF clashes and ensure the focus remains on Islamic State.
Meanwhile, Raqqa is being pummeled by airstrikes mounted by U.S.-led coalition forces and Syrian warplanes. Local anti-IS activists say the air raids fail to distinguish between military and non-military targets; however, with IS fighters seeded throughout the city and surrounding villages, being able to draw a distinction is become increasingly challenging, say U.S. officials.
“Civilians are now [caught] between the criminal terrorists on one side and the international coalition’s indiscriminate bombing on the other side,” said Hamoud Almousa, a founding member of the activist network Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, which is opposed to an assault on the city being led by the YPG.
“Liberating [Raqqa] does not come by burning it and destroying it over its people who have suffered a lot from the terrorist group’s violations,” he added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based monitoring group that relies on a network of activists for its information, said that four civilians — two women and two children — were killed Monday in an airstrike believed to have been carried out by coalition warplanes on the Teshreen Farm area north of Raqqa.
The Observatory says between March 1 and April 10, airstrikes killed 224 civilians. They included 38 children under the age of 18, and 37 women.
Another mainly Arab anti-IS activist network, Eye on the Homeland, complains at the lack of international condemnation about the civilian casualties from the airstrikes, arguing civilians caught in the conflict are being treated inhumanely.
“We assert that the liberation of civilians from all forms of terrorism requires that military forces acting in the area avoid civilian killing, displacement, and the destruction of their properties whenever possible,” the network said recently on its website.
It warned the deaths will “be used to by terrorist organizations in their propaganda to convince civilians that these military forces do not have their interests at heart” and will “only further fuel radicalization.”
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France’s Would-Be Presidents Rally in Paris Days Before Vote
As France’s unpredictable presidential campaign nears its finish with no clear front-runner, centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and far-right leader Marine Le Pen hope to rally big crowds in Paris with their rival visions for Europe’s future.
Meanwhile, far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, enjoying a late poll surge, is campaigning on a barge Monday floating through the canals of Paris. And conservative candidate Francois Fillon is taking his tough-on-security campaign to the southern French city of Nice, which was scarred by a deadly truck attack last year that killed 86 people.
The race is being watched internationally as an important gauge of populist sentiment, and the outcome is increasingly uncertain just six days before Sunday’s first round vote.
Le Pen’s nationalist rhetoric and Melenchon’s anti-globalization campaign have resonated with French voters sick of the status quo. Macron, meanwhile, is painting himself as an anti-establishment figure seeking to bury the traditional left-right spectrum that has governed France for decades.
The top two vote-getters Sunday of the 11 candidates on the ballot advance to the May 7 presidential runoff. The latest polls suggest that Le Pen, Macron, Melenchon and Fillon all have a chance of reaching the runoff — and as many as a third of voters remain undecided.
Socialist candidate Benoit Hamon insisted Monday that he, too, remains a contender.
“Things are evolving,” he said on Europe-1 radio.
The Socialists’ campaign has suffered from internal divisions and Socialist President Francois Hollande’s dismal image — he’s so unpopular that he declined to seek a second term.
Macron, a former investment banker well connected in the business world, fended off questions Monday about his elitist image on BFM television.
“The money I earned in my life, I earned it. I have not been given gifts,” he said.
He accused rivals of pandering to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and tried to distance himself from Fillon, whose austerity-focused campaign has been damaged by accusations that he misused taxpayer money to pay his wife and children for government jobs that they allegedly did not perform. French investigators are probing the case.
Fillon denies wrongdoing and is focusing instead on security issues that resonate with many voters after two years of deadly attacks across the country. French voters will cast their ballots under a state of emergency that’s been repeatedly extended as new violence has hit.
Macron and Le Pen are holding their last big rallies in the Paris region later Monday.
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