Month: April 2017

Trump Ally Manafort Will Register as Foreign Agent, Spokesman says

Posted on by SeeUS

Paul Manafort, who served last year as U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign manager, is planning to register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

Manafort’s lobbying for a foreign client ended before he began working on Trump’s presidential campaign “and was not conducted on behalf of the Russian government,” spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement.

Manafort’s ties to Russia are part of probes underway by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional intelligence committees into Moscow’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, according to reports by the New York Times and other media.

Manafort has denied any impropriety and has volunteered to be interviewed by the House intelligence committee. Russia has deny interfering in the election.

“Since before the 2016 election, Mr. Manafort has been in discussions with federal authorities about the advisability of registering under FARA for some of his past political work,” Mr. Maloni said, referring to the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

“Mr. Manafort received formal guidance recently from the authorities and he is taking appropriate steps in response to the guidance. The work in question was widely known,” Maloni said. He declined to be more specific.

Manafort previously worked on behalf of the political party of Viktor Yanukovich, the former Kremlin-backed leader of Ukraine.

Manafort resigned from Trump’s campaign last August, days after documents surfaced in Kiev suggesting he had received millions in undisclosed payments from Yanukovich’s party.

The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that it had obtained financial records confirming that at least $1.2 million in payments were received by Manafort’s consulting firm in the United States in 2007 and 2009.

“Any wire transactions received by my company are legitimate payments for political consulting work that was provided. I invoiced my clients and they paid via wire transfer, which I received through a U.S. bank,” Manafort told the AP.
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Iraqi Kurds Restrict Movement of US-backed Anti-IS forces in Syria

Posted on by SeeEA

A pontoon bridge that serves as a border crossing between Iraq and Syria underscores the rivalry between Kurdish factions that are fighting a common enemy in Islamic State but have simmering disputes that raise concerns about their ability to cooperate in the future.

Since its opening in 2013, the Semalka border crossing over the Tigris River in the village of Faish Kabour has been closed down completely three times, and Kurdish Regional Government restrictions on the Iraqi side regularly limit the crossing of leaders from the Syrian Democratic Forces, along with journalists and some goods like power generators and equipment needed in the rebuilding process.

The Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) has used the border as a tool for political pressure on its historical rivals that dominate the Syrian Kurdish region, said Michael Rubin, a former Pentagon official who is now an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

“The blockade of Rojava is nothing new,” Rubin said. “When I was in Rojava in 2014, it was ongoing. What the blockade shows, however, is the Kurds’ Achilles’ heel: For the KRG [Kurdistan Regional Government], everything is about internal Kurdish politics. Even the defeat of ISIS [Islamic State] is secondary to maintaining the upper hand politically.”

“What they do not seem to realize is that they are undercutting themselves: The YPG [Kurdish People’s Protection Units] has won public glory in its fight against ISIS. The KDP peshmerga may be doing well now, but its initial retreat from Sinjar – leaving the Yazidis unarmed to their fate – is something which continues to blight their public perception. Now that they seem to be undercutting the YPG, they just come off as bitter. Ultimately, however, the YPG has shown that it can survive the blockade,” Rubin added.

The KRG opened the crossing to break the siege on the Democratic Union Party (PYD)-controlled region in Syria which borders Turkey from the north, ISIS from the south, and Syria’s government from the west. The bridge has facilitated limited trade between the two regions while 300 people are allowed to cross using a boat run by border authorities in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Obstacle to building political alliances

Kurdish officials on the Syrian side have complained about the restrictions, saying they are slowing the process of building political alliances to govern areas liberated from ISIS.

“It’s a critical time for Syria and the region,” Ilham Ahmed, co-president of the Democratic Council of Syria, a political front of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told VOA.

“The SDF is advancing in many areas. Soon the SDF is going to eradicate them [ISIS] from Raqqa.” Ahmad said.

Amjad Othman, the leader of the Reform Movement in Syria, told VOA from SDF-controlled area that he is on the ban list of the KRG.

“I am myself banned from crossing the border. As an official in the Reform movement, we call on all parties not to use the boarder as a political tool,” Othman said.  “Many journalists cannot come to report on the war on ISIS, and the services sectors in the areas liberated from ISIS could have been better if the border crossing was not used in this way.”

A  KRG border security officer who talked to VOA on condition of anonymity admitted the ban on media, but denied it affected political leaders affiliated with the SDF.

“The security situation in Syria is not safe. This why we are not letting the journalists to come in,” he said, “None of the PYD leaders or the SDF have tried to come via Semalka, and they are not banned from using the border crossing.”

However, media reports claim the U.S. has used helicopters to ferry Kurdish leaders from the Syrian side to avoid worsening tensions.

A U.S Central Command spokesperson declined to comment on the specific reports related to the bridge, referring questions Wednesday to local SDF and KRG officials.

But the spokesperson did encourage all sides to focus on the more important task of defeating ISIS.

“We encourage all forces to remain focused on the counter-ISIS fight and concentrate their efforts on defeating ISIS,” the spokesperson said. “The Coalition continues to work in close coordination with partner forces, including the SDF, the KRG and allies in delivering a lasting defeat to our common enemy, ISIS.”

VOA reached Kurdistan’s Regional Government representative office in Washington for comment on the issue, and in a written statement it emphasized that restricting access to the Iraq-Syria border region does not hinder the fight against Islamic State.

“The Kurdistan Regional Government coordinates closely with our American and Coalition allies in the war against ISIS,” the statement added. “There is war on both sides of the border and access must be controlled to ensure stability. Experienced journalists and humanitarians seeking to travel to Syria are regularly granted access on a case-by-case basis.”
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Yemen Close to ‘Breaking Point’ as UN Scales Up Food Aid

Posted on by SeeEA

With Yemen close to a “breaking point” and nine million people on the brink of starvation, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on Wednesday said it was scaling up its food aid to tackle one of the world’s worst hunger crises.

More than two years of civil war have cut food deliveries by more than half and pushed the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country to the edge of famine. The United Nations says nearly 3.3 million people, including 2.1 million children, are acutely malnourished.

“The situation is getting close to a breaking point in Yemen with unprecedented levels of hunger and food insecurity. Millions of people can no longer survive without urgent food assistance,” Stephen Anderson, WFP’s country director in Yemen, said in a statement.

“We are in a race against time to save lives and prevent a full-scale famine unfolding in the country, but we urgently need resources to do this.”

WFP said the new emergency operation will cost up to $1.2 billion to feed starving Yemenis for one year.

During the next two months, the agency aims to reach almost 7 million people facing hunger, prioritizing the regions of Taiz, Hodeidah, Lahj, Abyan and Sa’ada which are quickly sinking into famine-like conditions, WFP said.

Yemen has historically imported up to 90 percent of its food, mostly through the strategic Red Sea port of Hodeidah. But cranes there have been destroyed by airstrikes, forcing dozens of ships to line up offshore because they cannot be unloaded.

The conflict pits the armed Houthi group against the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by a Saudi-led Arab alliance. More than 10,000 people have been killed by coalition airstrikes and fighting on the ground.

Earlier, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and international sanctions, Idriss Jazairy, urged the coalition to lift the aerial and naval blockade imposed on Yemen since 2015 which, he said, has led to the “humanitarian catastrophe.”

“The unwarranted restrictions on the flow of commercial and humanitarian goods and services into Yemen … are paralyzing a nation that for far too long has been a victim of war,” Jazairy said in a statement Wednesday.

“The blockade involves grave breaches of the most basic norms of human rights law, as well as of the law of armed conflict, which cannot be left unanswered,” he added.

More than 21 million people, or around 80 percent of Yemen’s population, are in need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations says.
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Egypt Beefs Up Security Outside Churches Ahead of Easter

Posted on by SeeEA

Outside of Cairo’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of the Coptic Orthodox Pope, a dozen high-ranking police officers are stationed on all entrances, searching cars and scanning the area, as security measures are visibly beefed up outside churches before Easter prayers on Sunday.

 

The usually festive occasion is tainted with fearful apprehension after twin bombings in the cities of Tanta and Alexandria killed 45 Coptic Christians this week on Palm Sunday, which marks the start of the Coptic Holy Week.

The increased security measures on display outside churches across the country are meant to restore a sense of security for Egypt’s Copts amid a war on the embattled minority declared by the Islamist State group, which claimed Sunday’s bombings.  However, the enhanced security can do little against the effect of repeated attacks on Coptic churches in recent years.

 

“No security measure can stop a suicide bomber with jihadist beliefs from blowing up a church,” Coptic engineer Emad Thomas told The Associated Press on Wednesday. However, he believes that Copts will still attend prayers on Sunday as they have continued to go to church despite earlier attacks. “Egypt’s Copts put their trust in God and not in security measures,” he said.

 

Egypt’s Ministry of Interior announced on Wednesday the identity of the Alexandria church bomber, saying that he belongs to the same terrorist cell that carried out the December bombing of a chapel adjacent to Egypt’s main cathedral. The ministry identified the suicide bomber as Mahmoud Hassan Mubarak Abdallah, a 30-year-old worker at a petroleum company, and published his picture. It also published names and pictures of others identified as fugitive members of the same cell, offering LE100 thousand ($5,510) for leads on their whereabouts.

 

Outside of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Cairo’s central downtown area, a military tank is stationed with five soldiers on top – one of the more overt manifestations of President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi’s declaration of a three-month state of emergency.  

 

In the southern city of Assiut, security barriers closed off an area of about 100-meters around large churches. A local security source told the AP that agents will be dispersed ahead of Sunday’s prayers and a special unit will be formed at the security directorate to receive reports about suspicious individuals in the vicinity of churches. A military source said that troops have started patrolling the city and will be stationed across town before Sunday. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to brief the media.

 

In the neighboring city of Minya, home to the highest Coptic Christian population in the country, the Coptic Orthodox Diocese said that celebrations will only be limited to the liturgical prayers “without any festive manifestations,” in mourning for Sunday’s victims.

 

Peter Naggar, a Coptic lawyer, saw the enhanced security around churches as an effort to appease Copts, many of whom blame the state for failing to protect them. In the Tanta attack, the bomber was able to enter the church and reach the front rows before blowing himself up.

 

“The government should have taken these measures before the Coptic celebrations season and not after disaster struck,” he said.

 

After claiming the December church bombing that killed 25 worshippers, the Islamic State group vowed in a statement circulated online to continue its war on Egypt’s Copts.

 

The group continues to target security in the Sinai Peninsula almost daily while carrying out sporadic operations in mainland Egypt. According to SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks online activity of militants, the IS-affiliated Amaq news agency announced on Tuesday that the group has killed 172 soldiers in Sinai since the beginning of the year.

 

The latest church bombings deal another blow to Egypt’s struggling tourism industry, which has suffered from political instability and a fragile security situation since the 2011 uprising. The U.S. issued a travel warning on Wednesday, advising its nationals in Egypt to stay away from places of worship for the next two weeks and to avoid crowds as long as they remain in the country.
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Turkey’s Referendum: Millions of Voters With Myriad Views

Posted on by SeeEU

There are only two options on the ballot – “yes” or “no” – but tens of millions of Turks will cast their votes in a referendum on Sunday with a myriad of motives.

The referendum could bring about the biggest change to Turkey’s system of governance since the founding of the modern republic almost a century ago, replacing its parliamentary system with an executive presidency.

The question on the ballot paper may be about the constitution, but looming large is the figure of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who could win sweeping powers and stay in office until 2029 if the changes are approved.

Polls show a close race, with a slight lead for “yes.” But the vote may yield surprises.

‘I want a democracy’

“I’m a patriot,” said Cengiz Topcu, 57, a fisherman in Rize on the Black Sea coast, Erdogan’s ancestral home town where his supporters are among the most fervent.

But Topcu is voting “no.”

“In the past, Erdogan was a good man but then he changed for the worse. I want a democracy: not the rule of one man,” he told Reuters in his boat.

The proposed changes, Erdogan and his supporters say, will make Turkey stronger at a time when the country faces security threats from both Islamist and Kurdish militants.

Violence has flared in the largely Kurdish southeast since the collapse of a cease-fire between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in 2015, and parts of the region have long been strongholds of opposition to Erdogan.

But Hikmet Gunduz, 52, a street vendor in the main regional city of Diyarbakir, hopes his “yes” vote will help bring peace.

“I like President Erdogan’s character. He is a bit angry and a bit authoritarian but his heart is full of love.”

Freedoms

Erdogan, arguably modern Turkey’s most popular but divisive politician, has long cast himself as the champion of ordinary, pious Turks exploited by a secular elite.

Although a majority Muslim country, Turkey is officially secular and the headscarf was long banned in the civil service and in universities until Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party overturned that restriction.

Aynur Sullu, a 49-year-old hotel owner in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, a bastion of the secularist opposition, said she planned to vote “yes,” dismissing suggestions that Erdogan’s Islamist ideals were encroaching on people’s private lives.

“Anyone can drink raki or swim with a bikini freely,” she said, referring to the alcoholic drink favored by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the modern secular republic. “Also, now women with headscarves have freedom.”

Businesswoman Dilsat Gulsevim Arinc, however, said Erdogan was acting like a sultan and hoped her “no” vote would help teach him a “useful lesson”.

“He is too authoritarian,” said the 68-year-old cafe owner in Cesme, an Aegean resort town. “If things go on like this, I think Turkey will be finished in the next 10 years.”
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UN Chief Wants New Talks in 40-year Western Sahara Impasse

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U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says he wants renewed negotiations to resolve the Western Sahara conflict, which has pitted Morocco against the Polisario Front independence movement for 40 years.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council this week, Guterres proposed relaunching the negotiations “with a new dynamic and a new spirit.”

The goal, he said, should be reaching “a mutually acceptable political solution” that would include “an accord on the nature and form that the exercise of self-determination” would take for the disputed and mineral-rich Western Sahara area.

Morocco annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, in 1975 and fought the Polisario Front. The U.N. brokered a cease-fire in 1991 and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor it and to help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future that has never taken place.

Morocco considers the Western Sahara its “southern provinces” and has proposed giving the territory wide-ranging autonomy. The Polisario Front insists on self-determination through a referendum for the local population, which it estimates at between 350,000 and 500,000.

Guterres said in the report that he hopes to start new negotiations “on the basis of consultations with the parties and neighboring states, members of the Friends of Western Sahara Group and the Security Council, as well as other important parties.”

Morocco’s government wants Algeria to be involved in any future talks and considers the neighboring North African country a party to the conflict. Algeria says it is not directly involved in the conflict and supports the U.N. process.

The U.N. chief expressed concern about the tense situation in Guerguerat, a town in the buffer zone on the Morocco-Mauritanian border, and asked the Polisario to “pull out completely and unconditionally” from the site.

The Guerguerat crisis began in August, when Morocco started work on a road in the area. Ragat said the work was needed to combat contraband. The Polisario Front protested and deployed armed forces, saying the road work violated the cease-fire accord. Morocco denied breaking the accord.

At the request of the U.N., Morocco pulled out of Guerguerat in February. The Polisario Front’s forces remain in place.

Guterres is expected to name a new envoy for Western Sahara. Morocco accused the previous special envoy, Christopher Ross, of having a “bias in favor of Polisario.” Ross resigned in January. 

The name most often floated to succeed Ross is former German President Horst Kohler.
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Central African Republic Militia Leaders Hit with US Sanctions

Posted on by SeeAF

The United States imposed financial sanctions on Wednesday against two militia leaders accused of collaborating on violence intended to destabilize the Central African Republic, which is struggling to end years of division and bloodshed.

The assets of Abdoulaye Hissene and Maxime Mokom were both frozen, although it was not clear whether either holds any property within U.S. jurisdiction. Generally, U.S. nationals are also prohibited from transactions with those under sanctions.

Hissene is a chief in the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition that ousted then-President Francois Bozize in 2013.

Mokom is an leader in the Christian militias known as anti-Balaka, which arose in reaction to Bozize’s ouster.

Violence between the Seleka and the anti-Balaka, which included waves of ethnic cleansing, has left the country deeply divided along religious fault lines.

“Today’s action underscores our ongoing efforts to target those responsible for fueling violence and human rights abuses in the Central African Republic,” said John E. Smith, the director of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The allegations against Hissene and Mokom, who initially hailed from rival armed factions, underline the increasingly convoluted web of alliances between rebels and militias that continue to undermine security despite successful elections.

U.S. authorities accuse them of collaborating as part of a plot to overthrow Central African Republic’s transitional government in September 2015 and attempting to derail through violence a constitutional referendum later that year.

They were suspected of planning to disrupt the arrival of President Faustin-Archange Touadera at the airport in the capital, Bangui, last June, raising fears of a possible coup attempt.

“From seemingly opposing sides of the conflict, Hissene and Mokom have in the past few years conspired to keep the war going, much for their own personal benefit,” said Ruben de Koning of The Sentry, which researches the financing of conflict in Africa.

Both Hissene and Mokom have commanded fighters during a new wave of clashes that has struck the center of the country since November.

The violence, among the worst since 2015-16 elections, has stretched the capacity of a U.N. peacekeeping mission and highlighted the chaos that still reigns in much of the former French colony.
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Hungary Appears to Backtrack in Row Over US University; Protests Persist

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Hungary denied Wednesday that a new education law was aimed at shutting down a university founded by U.S. financier George Soros, and suggested a possible compromise in a dispute that has drawn protests at home and criticism from Washington.

Central European University (CEU) found itself in the eye of a political storm after Hungary’s parliament passed the law last week setting tougher conditions for the awarding of licenses to foreign-based universities.

Critics said the new terms would hurt academic freedoms and were especially aimed at CEU, founded by the Hungarian-born Soros after the collapse of Communism and considered a bastion of independent scholarship in the region.

In an apparent change of tack, Education Secretary Laszlo Palkovics said CEU could continue to operate if it delivered its teaching and issued its degrees through its existing Hungarian sister school.

“We never wanted to close down CEU,” Palkovics told news website HVG.hu. “The question is whether CEU insists on having a license in Hungary or having courses in Hungary honored with a CEU degree … [CEU’s own] license has little significance.”

Despite this, thousands of Hungarians protested in central Budapest against what they said was a crackdown on free thought and education.

They filled the capital’s Heroes’ Square and formed a heart shape and the word “CIVIL.” It was the fourth major street demonstration in the last two weeks as the government faces growing resistance a year before elections are due.

“They have pressed ahead since 2010 with new moves every day that hurt democracy in some way,” Robert Ferenczi, a 55 year-old protester from Budapest, told Reuters.

Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs said the government would not suspend the disputed law, but added: “We are going to have talks with everyone; if the Soros university is driven by good intentions, it will be able to solve the problem.”

CEU itself was taken by surprise at Palkovics’ comments, according to an emailed statement.

“The solution evoked by State Secretary Palkovics in the press does not appear to be legally and operationally coherent and certain,” it said. “CEU has not been approached directly by Secretary Palkovics with this information.”

“Exchanges in the press are no substitute for sustained direct contact on a confidential basis. We look to the Hungarian government to initiate negotiations with CEU so that we can resolve this and go back to work, with our academic freedom secured, without limits or duration.”

The dispute over the university has come to symbolize rival visions of Hungary’s future. Soros, whose ideal of an “open society” is squarely at odds with Orban’s “illiberal democracy, ” has often been vilified by the prime minister.

Domestic protest, foreign concern

The law stipulated that the CEU must open a branch in its home state of New York alongside its campus in Budapest and secure a bilateral agreement of support from the U.S. government.

Both of those conditions would have been prohibitive by a deadline of January 2018, and CEU rejected them from the start.

The United States asked Hungary to suspend the implementation of the law, and the European Union on Wednesday threatened Orban with legal action for moves that it saw as undemocratic.

“Taken cumulatively, the overall situation in Hungary is a cause of concern,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said.

Analyst Zoltan Novak at the Centre for Fair Political Analysis said the government now appeared to have performed a U-turn.

“Calling it ‘Soros University’ for weeks was a clear way for the government to designate an enemy and attack,” Novak said. “Now they made the education secretary bring up a policy argument to back out, containing the political fallout.”

Novak said Orban, who faces elections in April 2018, may have miscalculated the resistance the CEU law could provoke, especially from Washington.
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Work Harder to Rescue Chibok Girls, UN Tells Nigeria

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Nigeria must do more to rescue the 195 Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped three years ago in the jihadist group Boko Haram’s most infamous attack, the United Nations said Wednesday.

About 220 girls were taken from their school in Chibok in Borno state, where Boko Haram has waged an insurgency aimed at creating an Islamic state, killing thousands and displacing more than 2 million people.

Twenty-one Chibok girls were released in October in a deal brokered by Switzerland and the International Red Cross, while a handful of others have escaped or been rescued.

“It is deeply shocking that three years after this deplorable and devastating act of violence, the majority of the girls remain missing,” several U.N. human rights experts said in a statement. “As more and more time passes, there is a risk that the fate of the remaining girls will be forgotten. There must be more that the government of Nigeria, with the support of the international community, can do to locate and rescue them.”

Nigerian government officials were not immediately available for comment.

For more than two years, there was no sign of the Chibok schoolgirls, whose kidnapping sparked global outrage and a celebrity-backed campaign, publicized with the hashtag #bringbackourgirls.

But the discovery of one of the girls with a baby last May fueled hopes for their safety, with a further two girls found in later months and a group of 21 released in the October deal.

“We must also remember that the Chibok girls are not the only ones who have been suffering such violence at the hands of Boko Haram,” the U.N. special rapporteurs said. “Thousands of women and children are thought to have been abducted since 2012.”

Boko Haram has kidnapped at least 2,000 boys and girls since 2014, with many used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers, according to Amnesty International.

Boko Haram’s use of children as suicide bombers is increasing in the Lake Chad region, with 27 such attacks recorded in the first three months of the year compared with nine for the same period in 2016, the U.N. children’s agency said.

Despite having lost most of the territory it held in 2015, Boko Haram continues to wage its insurgency, which is now in its eighth year.
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Communist-era Spy Rooms Found Near Giant Cave in Slovenia

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Four surveillance rooms believed to date back to communist-era Yugoslavia and filled with dust-covered listening equipment have been discovered behind a Slovenian hotel situated next to one of the world’s largest limestone caves.

The wiretapping rooms were found behind a solid steel door during renovation work at the back of the Hotel Jama and lead directly to the Postojna Cave’s interior.

The spy rooms were likely built around 1969 when the hotel was under construction, according to Marjan Batagelj who heads the company managing the hotel and cave, a major tourist attraction in the former Balkan state.

The absence of humidity in the rooms made them ideal locations to store sensitive equipment, Batagelj said, while the thick layers of dust suggest the rooms have laid undisturbed for years.

“Those centers were part of a wider wiretapping system operated by UDBA, the secret political police,” said researcher Igor Omerza, who has published books on Slovenian history.

“They used this for surveillance of people they believed were their political opponents.”

Omerza said Yugoslavia’s former communist leader Josip Broz Tito used to stay at the hotel, as did foreign and local dignitaries. Cables running from the surveillance rooms to the hotel indicate some hotel rooms had also been tapped, he said.

“I don’t think Tito himself was wiretapped, they probably wouldn’t dare to do that, but anything is possible. I think they primarily wiretapped guests who met with him there, foreigners,” he said.

Batagelj said he might open up the rooms to tourists.

Slovenia, an Alpine state of two million people, was part of communist Yugoslavia until 1991 when it declared independence, an event followed by a brief 10-day war.
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Russia Vetoes Resolution Condemning Gas Attack in Syria

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Russia deployed yet another U.N. Security Council veto Wednesday to protect Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad from international condemnation for last week’s deadly chemical weapons attack.

“With its veto, Russia said ‘no’ to accountability, Russia said ‘no’ to cooperation with the United Nations’ independent investigation, and Russia said ‘no’ to a resolution that would have helped promote peace in Syria,” U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council. “Russia has once again chosen to side with Assad,” she said in reference to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad.

In a vote of 10 in favor, two against and three abstentions, Moscow blocked the measure put forward by Britain, France and the United States. China, in a rare break with Russia, abstained, while non-permanent members Bolivia voted no, and Ethiopia and Kazakhstan joined China in abstaining.

The draft resolution sought to condemn the gas attack and strengthen an international investigation into what happened. An earlier, similar draft resolution failed to make it to a vote last Thursday.

“If the regime is innocent, as Russia claims, the information requested in this resolution would have vindicated them,” Haley said. “By its failure, Russia will continue to be isolated.”

Haley also had a warning for the Assad regime in Damascus: “The United States is watching your actions very closely. The days of your arrogance and disregard of humanity are over,” she said. “I suggest you look at this vote very carefully, and heed this warning.”

The Trump administration believes the Assad regime launched the April 4 gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun from the Shayrat airfield. After seeing images of dying children in the chemical attack, President Donald Trump said he decided a military response was necessary. The United States launched a targeted missile attack against the airfield two days after the chemical attack.

Russia’s U.N. deputy envoy Vladimir Safronkov rejected the Western draft resolution, saying it “appointed the guilty party prior to an independent and objective investigation.”

Finding definitive evidence

At an earlier session of the council Wednesday, also about Syria, Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said his government shares the U.S. assessment that it is highly likely the Assad regime was responsible for a sarin attack on the town last week.

“Chemical weapons scientists at Porton Down, in the United Kingdom, have analyzed samples obtained from Khan Sheikhoun, and these have tested positive for the nerve agent sarin, or a sarin-like substance,” he told council members.

“We need to find out the facts, conduct a comprehensive investigation,” Russia’s Safronkov told the council. He questioned how foreign experts already could have concluded that Damascus is responsible. “I am amazed this was the conclusion. No one has yet visited the site of the crime. How do you know that?” he asked.

Syria’s Ambassador Bashar al-Jaafari said it is all “lies and accusations” against his country, and Syria no longer possesses chemical weapons, as confirmed by the United Nations in June 2014.

Seeking a political solution

Council members also were briefed by U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura, who is tasked with trying to bring the opposing Syrian sides together in a political settlement.

He recently completed a fifth round of intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, the first time the two sides have spoken directly instead of through him. De Mistura said that while there were no breakthroughs, there also were no breakdowns, and that the parties held substantive talks for nine full days on all the issues.

“Yes, the gaps are still wide,” he said. He warned that the talks were overshadowed by an intensification of fighting on the ground and urged the restoration of a nationwide cease-fire.

“This is a time for clear thinking, strategy, imagination, cooperation,” de Mistura said.

He welcomed the talks Wednesday in Moscow between U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. He said he knows the two powers have “serious differences,” but they also have “common interests and responsibilities.”

“They must find a way to work together, to stabilize the situation, in a deliberate, realistic and concerted way, in support of the political process,” de Mistura said.

Ultimately, de Mistura said there is a choice: Either the killing and destruction continue, or there is a shift to serious discussion and real de-escalation and a cease-fire to reach a political settlement. “The stakes in Syria are very high.”
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Russia Says It is Struggling to Source Gas Turbines for Crimea Power Plant

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Russia is struggling to source gas turbines for two new power plants it is building in Crimea, Russian Energy Ministry Alexander Novak said Wednesday.

European Union sanctions bar European individuals and companies from providing energy technology to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. The Black Sea peninsula has suffered electricity shortages since then.

Three sources told Reuters last year that turbines for the Crimean plants would be made by Siemens Gas Turbine Technologies LLC, a joint venture in which Siemens has a 65 percent share.

The German company categorically denied it intended to send turbines to Crimea.

The joint venture’s factory is the only one in Russia capable of making turbines which will be compatible with the Crimean power plants.

“Work is continuing despite problems related to the delivery of equipment from a Western company. We are working on buying other equipment,” Novak told the upper house of Russia’s parliament on Wednesday. He did not name the Western company.

Novak later told reporters Russia was considering various options, including sourcing equipment from other countries, using Russian machinery, or using foreign equipment on Russian territory that was imported before sanctions were introduced.

The two new power plants were due to be commissioned at the end of 2017, but Novak said last month their launch had been delayed by a few months.
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Lebanese President Blocks Expected Extension of Parliament’s Term

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Lebanese President Michel Aoun suspended a parliamentary session for a month on Wednesday, temporarily blocking proposed plans to extend parliament’s term for the third time in a row since 2013.

Parliament was expected to vote on Thursday to extend its own mandate again until 2018 without an election, officials said. Current lawmakers were elected in 2009 for what was meant to be four-year terms.

Activists had called for protests against the extension, which they decried as a blow to democracy. The two previous extensions triggered massive protests in central Beirut.

In a televised address to the nation, Aoun said the delay would give politicians more time to agree on a new electoral law and help protect the Lebanese people’s right to vote.

“To allow for more communication between all the parties … I have decided to postpone the parliamentary session for one month based on article 59 of the Lebanese constitution,” Aoun said.

Lebanon’s main political parties have been unable to agree on a new electoral law for years. Parliament has already extended its own mandate twice since 2013, a move that critics including the European Union have condemned as unconstitutional.

Most political parties have rejected holding parliamentary elections based on the existing system, a sectarian-based electoral law that dates back to 1960.

The next round of elections had previously been scheduled for May.

Some politicians say the law divides up the country’s population into constituencies that do not fairly represent the sectarian political preferences of their supporters. Christian lawmakers have been the most vocal in demanding a new law.

Lebanese politics have long been dogged by sectarian divisions, with the war in neighboring Syria exacerbating party rivalries. The government has long struggled to make basic decisions and institutional paralysis often plagues parliament.

Regional rivalry between Iran and Saudi Arabia has also complicated Lebanon’s sectarian divisions.

Critics and activists accuse Lebanese politicians of using regional upheaval as an excuse to dodge elections.

Parliament elected former army commander Aoun in October, ending a 29-month presidential vacuum in a political deal that secured victory for his Lebanese Shi’ite ally Hezbollah, Iran and Syria.

Aoun become head of state in a power-sharing deal that saw Saad al-Hariri, Lebanon’s leading Sunni Muslim politician, appointed premier in a unity cabinet including nearly all Lebanon’s main parties.
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Somali President Vows to Eradicate Militants as He Offers Peace Talks

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Somali’s president vowed Wednesday that his administration will eradicate the terrorist militant group al-Shabab across Somalia within two years, and he offered its leaders peace talks.

Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, better known as Farmajo, was speaking at a ceremony marking the 57th anniversary of the foundation of the Somali National Army, which was held at the compound of the Ministry of Defense in Mogadishu.

“We confirm to the Somali people that we are prepared and within two years’ period we will eradicate al-Shabab from all areas they are present in Somalia,” the president said.

He said that, after more than a decade of the insurgency, al-Shabab still is not capable of overthrowing the Somali government. Mohamed says his government, therefore, is calling on al-Shabab leaders to engage in peace talks before they are forcibly dislodged from their hideouts across the country.

“We are ready to talk to al-Shabab, including its leaders. We say to the leadership of al-Shabab that you have been fighting for more than 10 years and still you cannot overthrow the government, which has international support and military power. We tell you if you do not accept peace, we will come to you at your hideouts,” Mohamed said. “You cannot destroy the government, but you have been destroying the hope of the Somali people.”

Mohamed’s remarks come a week after he declared that the country is at war with al-Shabab, and he gave the group 60 days to surrender in return for education and jobs. He also replaced the country’s military and intelligence chiefs, while instructing the army to prepare a new offensive against al-Shabab extremists.

Increased attacks

In response to the president’s declaration of war with al-Shabab, the militants have increased their attacks in Mogadishu, the country’s capital.

In one of the attacks on Sunday, the new Commander of the Somali National Army (SNA), Gen. Mohamed Ahmed Jimale, escaped a car bomb explosion close to the Defense Ministry where Wednesday’s army anniversary commemoration was held.

On Monday, a suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest penetrated a fortified Somali National Army base in the city, killing at least five soldiers.

Government critics say publicly declaring war will only help the militants by inspiring them to carry out additional attacks aimed at disrupting any ongoing military plan against them.

“I think it is not a good decision to declare a war in public while you are still in preparation. You see, the militants are carrying out attacks because they are either desperate or want to disrupt any plans of a military move against them,” said Mohamed Omar Dalha, a member of Somali parliament.

“Whenever the militants feel there is a military threat against them, or when the country is in transition from one government to another, they carry out such excessive attacks to take advantage of the situation and, most importantly, to send a message that they are still capable of harm,” said Dahir Amin Jesow, a Somali lawmaker.

Abdirashid Hashi, director of Mogadishu-based research group Heritage Institute for Policy Studies (HIPS), said the group has always been at war and serious about their insurgence.

“Somali governments come and go, and it takes them time to adjust, but al-Shabab has been in serous insurgency for 10 years, so they have been always ready to attack in opportunistic way,” said Hashi.

With the help of the international community, and technical and training support from the United States, Somalia has put together a Somali national army of more than 20,000 troops. They are poorly equipped, however, and lack regular salaries.

The Somali government depends on the 22,126-strong force operating under the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

This month marks 10 years since the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) started. The mission is set to withdraw from Somalia by 2020.

Despite inflicting military setbacks and territory loss upon al-Shabab, the militants continue to create chaos in the country, as fears grow that al-Shabab and Islamic State are too much for the country to handle.

Sahra Ahmed contributed this report.
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Senator McCain: Montenegro in NATO Important for Keeping Russia at Bay

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Montenegro’s accession to NATO is vital for regional stability and the joint effort of the Western allies to resist a resurgent Russia, U.S. Senator John McCain said on Wednesday.

The visit of McCain, the Republican chairman of the influential Senate Armed Services Committee, to Montenegro comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed the U.S. ratification for the tiny Adriatic republic’s accession to NATO, which Russia opposed.

“There is also evidence that Russians are trying to undermine the democratic process in other parts of the world,” McCain told reporters.

“I believe the Russian behavior requires our solidarity and our strength, in order to preserve principles and fundamentals of democracy,” McCain said.

Montenegro has population of 650,000 and a military of only 2,000, but it is strategically positioned along the Adriatic coast and surrounded by NATO members or hopefuls, except Serbia which maintains a military neutrality.

The U.S. Senate backed Montenegro’s bid to join the alliance Last month.

“The behavior on the part of the Russians throughout the region and the world is not acceptable in these times,” McCain told a news conference after meeting Montenegrin Defense Minister Petar Boskovic.

McCain’s remarks also coincided with the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Russia as relations between the two superpowers soured over the course of the war in Syria.

Backers of Montenegrin accession to NATO say it is important to support new members to promote Western values and push back against Moscow.

Montenegrin officials said Russia was behind an alleged plot last October aimed at halting the integration of the former Yugoslav republic into NATO and bringing the opposition to power. Moscow dismissed the allegations.

All 28 NATO members must ratify Montenegro’s accession in order for the country to join the alliance. Washington was among the last to do so.
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Chinese Leader Advocates Peaceful Solution to North Korea Tensions

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Chinese state media say President Xi Jinping told U.S. leader Donald Trump that resolving North Korea tensions should be achieved peacefully.

The reports said the leaders spoke by telephone Wednesday, nearly a week after after face-to-face talks at a summit in the U.S. state of Florida. The White House has not yet issued its account of the conversation.

On Tuesday, Trump used Twitter to reiterate his calls for China to help rein in North Korea.

“North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump wrote.  “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them!”

He did not elaborate on what actions the U.S. might take. But in another message posted minutes earlier, Trump said he told Xi terms of a trade deal would be better for China “if they solve the North Korea problem.”

China weary of North Korea

China is North Korea’s main benefactor, with the Council on Foreign Relations describing Beijing as North Korea’s “most important ally, biggest trading partner, and main source of food, arms, and energy.”

But China has also grown weary of North Korea’s repeated missile tests in violation of United Nations sanctions, as well as its five nuclear tests. Some analysts believe North Korea is preparing a sixth nuclear test.

Trump Saturday dispatched a U.S. Navy strike group to the northern Pacific waters near North Korea to send a message to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea has said that the U.S. missile attack last week on Syria in response to that country’s use of chemical weapons justifies Pyongyang’s nuclear development program, as the country fears a similar U.S. attack.

Trump talks trade gap

Trump also urged Xi to help close the yawning U.S. trade gap with China, with Chinese interests last year exporting $347 billion more in products to the U.S. than American businesses sent to China.  The U.S. imports consumer electronics, clothing and machinery from China, while U.S. manufacturers send raw materials to China for low-cost assembly of some consumer products.

Trump has suggested he will try to impose tariffs on goods made overseas by U.S. companies that then bring the products back to the U.S. for sale to American consumers. But he has not made any tariff proposal to Congress, which would have to approve a new levy. Such an action could initiate a trade war with foreign governments and also boost the price of consumer goods in the United States.

 
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Report: US Sought to Monitor Trump Adviser Last Summer

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The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of Carter Page, an adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump, because the government had reason to believe Page was acting as a Russian agent, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

 

Page is among the Trump associates under scrutiny as the FBI and congressional committees investigate whether his presidential campaign had ties to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, but the investigations could shadow his presidency for months or even years.

 

The Post, citing unnamed law enforcement and other U.S. officials, said the government surveillance application laid out the basis for believing that Page had knowingly engaged in intelligence activities on Russia’s behalf. The newspaper said the application includes contacts Page had with a Russian intelligence operative in 2013.

 

Those contacts are detailed in a 2015 court filing involving a case against three men charged in connection with a Cold War-style Russian spying ring. According to the filing, Page provided one of the men documents about the energy industry. He was not charged as part of that case.

No comment from FBI 

An FBI spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Page, who has denied having improper ties to Russia, told the AP Tuesday he was “happy” that the court order had been revealed and blamed the Obama administration for trying to “suppress dissidents who did not fully support their failed foreign policy.”

“It will be interesting to see what comes out when the unjustified basis for those FISA requests are more fully disclosed over time,” said Page, using an acronym to refer to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

 

The FISA court and its orders are highly secretive. Judges grant permission for surveillance if they agree there’s probable cause that the target is an agent of a foreign power. Though the standard is a high bar to meet, applications are hardly ever denied.

90-day warrant renewed

The Post reported that a 90-day warrant was issued for Page and has been renewed more than once by the FISA court.

 

Page was a little known investment banker when Trump announced him as a member of his foreign policy advisory team early last year. Trump aides insist the president has no relationship with Page and did not have any dealings with him during the campaign.  

 

Page’s relationship with Russia began to draw scrutiny during the campaign after he visited Moscow in July 2016 for a speech at the New Economic School. While Page said he was traveling in a personal capacity, the school cited his role in the Trump campaign in advertising the speech.

Page attends Republican National Convention

Page was sharply critical of the U.S. in his remarks, saying Washington has a “hypocritical focus on ideas such as democratization, inequality, corruption and regime change.”

Days later, Page talked with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. at an event on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention. Attorney General Jeff Sessions spoke with the Russian envoy at the same event, a conversation he failed to reveal when asked about contacts with Russians during his Senate confirmation hearings.

The campaign began distancing itself from Page after his trip to Russia, saying he was only an informal adviser. By the fall, he appeared to have cut ties to the Republican campaign.

 

It’s unclear how Page got connected with the Trump campaign. One campaign official said Page was recruited by Sam Clovis, an Iowa Republican operative who ran the Trump campaign’s policy shop and is now a senior adviser at the Agriculture Department. Those who served on the campaign’s foreign policy advisory committee also said they had limited contact with Page.

Letter casts Page as Trump Tower regular

But in a letter Page sent to the Senate intelligence committee last month, he cast himself as a regular presence in Trump Tower, where the campaign was headquartered.

“I have frequently dined in Trump Grill, had lunch in Trump Café, had coffee meetings in the Starbucks at Trump Tower, attended events and spent many hours in campaign headquarters on the fifth floor last year,” Page wrote. He also noted that his office building in New York “is literally connected to the Trump Tower building by an atrium.”

Page, a former Merrill Lynch investment banker who worked out of its Moscow office for three years, now runs Global Energy Capital, a firm focused on energy sectors in emerging markets. According to the company’s website, he has advised on transactions for Gazprom and RAO UES, a pair of Russian entities.

 
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With Media Muzzled, Turkish ‘No’ Voters Seek Alternative Channels

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Strolling down the quayside in Izmir, a liberal bastion on Turkey’s Aegean Coast, Kubilay Mutlu and his Street Orchestra sing of “the naked emperor” and the collapse of sultanates in a bid to rally “no” voters ahead of Sunday’s historic referendum.

With mainstream media saturated by pro-government campaigning ahead of the vote on broadening President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers, those opposed to the changes are seeking alternative channels to get their message across.

“No” supporters have complained of threats and bans from the authorities, and a report by one non-governmental group said television coverage of the “yes” campaign had been ten times more extensive than that of the opposition.

“What we want to stress, despite the pessimistic picture, is that ‘no’ is a very important option. Let’s use our right to object,” said Mutlu, whose band, made up of teachers and students from a local university, put their song “One ‘no’ is enough” on video-sharing site YouTube.

Referendum to be decided Sunday

Sunday’s referendum will decide on the biggest change in Turkey’s system of governance since the foundation of the modern republic almost a century ago, potentially replacing its parliamentary system with an executive presidency.

Erdogan and his supporters say the change is needed to give Turkey stronger leadership at a time of turbulence. Opponents fear increasingly authoritarian rule from a president they cast as a would-be sultan who brooks little dissent.

The vote is being held under a state of emergency imposed after a failed military coup nine months ago, meaning there are “substantive” limitations on freedom of expression and assembly, according to the Venice Commission, a panel of legal experts at the Council of Europe.

Turkey has purged more than 113,000 people from the police, judiciary, military and elsewhere since the coup attempt, and has closed more than 130 media outlets, raising concerns among Western allies about deteriorating rights and freedoms.

Many opposition leaders jailed

The leaders of the pro-Kurdish opposition HDP, parliament’s third-largest party, have been jailed over alleged links to Kurdish militants along with a dozen of its MPs and thousands of its other members. The HDP opposes the constitutional changes.

“The extremely unfavorable environment for journalism and the increasingly impoverished and one-sided public debate that prevail in Turkey at this point question the very possibility of holding a meaningful, inclusive democratic referendum campaign,” the Venice Commission said last month.

Turkish officials have said international observers are free to monitor all aspects of the referendum and have repeatedly rejected the notion that the media is muzzled, saying that outlets shut down in the purges were closed on terrorism-related charges, not for their journalism.

Erdogan was quoted in February as saying there was more press freedom in Turkey than in many Western countries.

Dominating the airwaves

A stream of music videos exhorting people to vote “no” have emerged on social media, as opposition politicians complain that the playing field ahead of the vote is far from level.

In one such video, which has had close to 400,000 views on YouTube, a women’s group appeals to listeners to use “power of laughter” in a song entitled “ha ha ha, hayir,” a play on the Turkish word for “no.”

“They have the media, meeting halls, municipalities and resources in their hands. But stubbornly we try to touch people on the streets, through social media,” Dilara Yucetepe, who was part of the project, told Reuters.

Another “no” video draws on imagery from anti-government demonstrations in 2013, when hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in what grew from a protest against the redevelopment of an Istanbul park into a broad show of defiance.

Opposition leader interviewed

State broadcaster TRT interviewed Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition CHP, on Friday evening and was set to interview a spokesman for the HDP on Tuesday, a development the party described on its Twitter feed as “seemingly unbelievable.”

Such appearances are relatively rare, all but drowned out by the multiple speeches each day by Erdogan, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and others broadcast live on all the major networks.

According to a report by the Unity for Democracy (DIB), an opposition-affiliated organization, live television broadcasts from March 1-20 period dedicated 169 hours to Erdogan, 301.5 hours to the ruling AK Party and 15.5 hours to the nationalist MHP, which supports the “yes” campaign.

The CHP had 45.5 hours of coverage while the HDP had none, the report said. A Turkish court last week banned the HDP’s “no” campaign song on the grounds that it contravened the constitution and fomented hatred.

In a report published on the party’s website, CHP lawmaker Necati Yilmaz said “no” campaigners had faced 143 incidents of pressure, threats and bans by the end of March.

“While the state’s resources and financial power are being used to boost the ‘yes’ vote, its legal, administrative and security forces are used to clamp down on ‘no,’” he said.
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Wall Street Reforms May Be Replaced, Trump Tells CEOs

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President Donald Trump told a group of chief executives Tuesday that his administration was revamping the Wall Street reform law known as Dodd-Frank and might eliminate the rules and replace them with “something else.”

At the beginning of his administration, Trump ordered reviews of the major banking rules that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis, and last week he said officials were planning a “major haircut” for them.

“For the bankers in the room, they’ll be very happy because we’re really doing a major streamlining and, perhaps, elimination, and replacing it with something else,” Trump said Tuesday.

“That will be the minimum. But we’re doing a major elimination of the horrendous Dodd-Frank regulations, keeping some obviously, but getting rid of many,” he said.

The many provisions of the Dodd-Frank measure were aimed at decreasing risks in the U.S. financial system. The White House is not unilaterally able to upend Dodd-Frank’s rules, almost all of which are implemented by independent regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve.

A sweeping change to the law would require congressional action, though in some cases regulators may also have wiggle room to make changes through a formal rule-making process.

Report on regulations

In February, Trump issued an executive order requiring Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to consult with U.S. regulators and submit a report outlining a proposal for possible regulatory and legislative changes that will help fuel economic growth and promote American business interests.

That report, due to be released in June, will most likely serve as a blueprint for possible changes down the road. However, congressional action on a Wall Street bill is not expected in the near term, as Congress focuses primarily on health care and tax reform.

Participants in the Tuesday meeting included Rich Lesser, chief executive of Boston Consulting Group; Doug McMillon, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores; Indra Nooyi, chief executive of PepsiCo; Jim McNerney, former chief executive of Boeing; Ginni Rometty, chief executive of IBM; and Jack Welch, former chairman of General Electric.

The business leaders are part of Trump’s “Strategy and Policy Forum” that last met with him in February.

Trump also reiterated his criticism of the North American Free Trade Agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico.

“NAFTA is a disaster. It’s been a disaster from the day it was devised. And we’re going to have some very pleasant surprises for you on NAFTA, that I can tell you,” he said.
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Life in DACA Limbo Requires Courage

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They are called dreamers: young adults who were brought to the United States illegally as children. They have been living in limbo since President Donald Trump took office. The president campaigned on a promise to undo DACA, which protects dreamers from being sent back to their country of origin.
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Guinea Worm May Soon Be Eradicated

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Guinea worm is on course to become the second human disease to be eradicated, after smallpox, thanks largely to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Little was known about the infection for decades, as diseases like malaria took priority. But previously unpublished research from the 1970s, released this month, shows the burden the disease has had on millions of people.
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Child Suicide Bombings Surge in Boko Haram Conflict

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Boko Haram insurgents’ use of children as suicide bombers has surged in 2017, the U.N. children’s fund (UNICEF) said Wednesday.

In the countries fighting Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region — Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad — 27 children have been used in suicide attacks by the armed Islamist group in the first three months of the year, UNICEF said in a report and statement.

There were nine cases in the same period last year, and 30 children used for bombings in all of 2016, it said. Most were girls.

The Boko Haram insurgency is now in its eighth year and shows little sign of ending, having claimed over 20,000 lives. Its child kidnappings gained global notoriety after the abduction of more than 200 girls from the town of Chibok in Nigeria’s northeast in 2014, three years ago Friday.

Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands, often raping them, forcing them to become suicide bombers, help the militants in their conflict or marry fighters, UNICEF said.

“These children are victims, not perpetrators,” said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF’s regional director for West and Central Africa. “Forcing or deceiving them into committing such horrific acts is reprehensible.”

Victims ostracized

One 16-year-old girl from Chad lost her legs after being drugged and forced by Boko Haram to take part in an attempted suicide attack on a crowded market, according to UNICEF’s report.

Though the girl survived, her family initially rejected her “out of fear of stigma.”

Children who escape Boko Haram are often held in custody by authorities or ostracized by their communities and families.

About 370 remain in custody, a UNICEF spokeswoman told Reuters, after Nigeria’s military on Monday released 593 people, including children, after clearing them of having ties with Boko Haram.

“Society’s rejection of these children, and their sense of isolation and desperation, could be making them more vulnerable to promises of martyrdom through acceptance of dangerous and deadly missions,” UNICEF said in its report.

Children make up 1.3 million of the 2.3 million people displaced by the conflict.

UNICEF said its response to the crisis “remains severely underfunded,” hurting efforts to provide mental health and social support, reunite families, and offer education, safe water and medical services.

Last year, the group received only two-fifths of the $154 million it appealed for.

The United Nations says it needs $1.5 billion in humanitarian aid for the Lake Chad region this year, and $457 million had been pledged for 2017 by late February.
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Democrats Face Uphill Fight if Trump Gets 2nd US High Court Pick

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If Democrats thought it was hard to stop President Donald Trump’s first U.S. Supreme Court nominee, it promises to be even tougher for them if he gets to fill another vacancy, potentially to replace the most influential justice, Anthony Kennedy.

Kennedy, a conservative who sometimes sides with the court’s liberals in key cases such as on gay rights and abortion, is one of three justices 78 or older. Justice Stephen Breyer is 78 and fellow liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 84.

Former Kennedy Supreme Court clerks said the justice, who turns 81 in July, may be pondering retirement either this year or in 2018.

That would give Trump a further chance to shape the court after his first nominee, Neil Gorsuch, was sworn in on Monday for the lifetime job to replace the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia after overcoming fierce Democratic opposition in the Senate confirmation process.

Kennedy administered Gorsuch’s judicial oath at a White House ceremony, and Trump heaped praise on a justice who has spent nearly three decades on America’s top court, calling him “a great man of outstanding accomplishment.”

Gorsuch is one of Kennedy former clerks. Kennedy is planning a reunion of his clerks in June rather than next year as had been expected. Kennedy, through a court spokesman, declined to comment on his plans.

The implications for the court if Kennedy were to step down are enormous. For the past decade he been its swing vote in major cases. Gorsuch’s confirmation restored the court’s 5-4 conservative majority. If whenever Kennedy leaves the bench he is replaced by a stalwart conservative, that would move the court further to the right.

Republicans possess a 52-48 majority in the Senate. In order to secure Gorsuch’s confirmation, they voted to prohibit a procedural roadblock called a filibuster that had required a super-majority of 60 votes to allow a confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominees, leaving the minority Democrats with little ammunition for the next nomination fight.

“I think it will be very hard for Democrats to get much traction to derail a future Trump nominee without the threat of a filibuster,” George Washington University political scientist Sarah Binder said.

But Democrats and Republicans still are predicting a fierce fight over the next court vacancy.

‘I Expect Armageddon’

“For the life of me I don’t understand why the Democrats made such a fuss about this one. They look stupid,” Republican Senator Orrin Hatch said last week of Gorsuch’s nomination. “I expect Armageddon on the next one because that’s going to change, assuming Trump gets another one, the direction of the court. It would certainly keep the court in a more conservative mode for a long time.”

A Democratic congressional aide added, “The opposition to Gorsuch could look weak compared to what a similarly conservative nominee would face, if it would tip the balance on the court.”

Kennedy is the longest-serving of the nine justices. He was nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and confirmed by the Senate in 1988 after Democrats thwarted Reagan’s first choice, outspoken conservative Robert Bork, and his second pick, Douglas Ginsburg, withdrew from consideration.

Although he has sided with his conservative colleagues on many issues, Kennedy has supported liberal causes such as gay rights, culminating in writing the landmark 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

He also joined the liberals in upholding abortion rights. In 2016, Kennedy joined the court’s four liberal justices in a ruling striking down a Texas abortion law imposing strict regulations on doctors and facilities in the strongest endorsement of U.S. abortion rights in more than two decades.

He also authored a 2016 ruling upholding the consideration of race in college admissions, joined by the court’s liberals.

University of Georgia School of Law professor Lori Ringhand said Republicans may be wary of defending an extremely conservative court nominee with the midterm congressional elections coming up in 2018, if another vacancy arises.

“It’s not clear it would be to the electoral advantage to Republicans to have a hotly contested Supreme Court nomination right before the midterms that highlighted a nominee’s extremely conservative positions on social issues that the majority of the public have actually accepted,” Ringhand said.
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Hungary Urged to Discuss Potential Changes With Soros-founded University

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The Hungarian government should engage in “serious, urgent and good-faith talks” with Central European University about legal changes seen to be targeting the school founded by billionaire George Soros, a U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.

A bill signed Monday by President Janos Ader sets new conditions for foreign universities in Hungary, some of which seem aimed specifically at CEU. The law requires universities in Hungary also to have a campus in their home countries. While CEU is accredited in Hungary and in New York state, it does not have a U.S. campus.

“We’re very concerned about the legislation,” Hoyt Yee, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian affairs, told The Associated Press. “The legislation targets Central European University and threatens the ability of the university, an important American-Hungarian institution, to continue operating in Hungary.”

The law also calls for bilateral agreements between Hungary and the home countries of universities from outside the European Union on how to manage the institutions.

Yee said “the United States does not engage in such agreements about … how universities are going to be run in foreign countries. This is a matter for the government of Hungary and CEU to work out.”

“We hope that the government of Hungary is going to engage in serious, urgent and good-faith talks with Central European University, as well as other affected institutions,” Yee said Tuesday during a visit to Budapest.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the issue had wider implications.

“The legislation, we believe, can also similarly threaten operations of other American universities with degree programs in Hungary,” Toner told reporters. “We’re urging the government of Hungary to suspend implementation of the law. We want to see a review, a discussion, in order to address any concerns through dialogue with the university itself and other affected institutions.”

Germany’s deputy foreign minister, Michael Roth, said he expressed “incomprehension” about the foreign universities bill and its targeting of CEU at a meeting Tuesday with Hungary’s ambassador in Berlin, Peter Imre Gyorkos.

“A lot that is happening in Hungary at the moment fills us with genuine concern,” Roth said in a statement. “We are seeing that Hungary is taking an ever-stronger course of confrontation with the EU and its institutions.”

Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who briefly studied at Oxford University in 1989 thanks to a Soros scholarship, is an avowed ideological foe of the Hungarian-born investor and philanthropist’s “open society” ideal, which contrasts with Orban’s plan to turn Hungary into what he calls an “illiberal state.”

 

Orban says Soros, through his support for nongovernmental organizations like the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, a rights advocacy group, is trying to influence Hungarian politics and opposes Hungarian interests by supporting refugees and migrants.

“The final debate is about the migration question,” Lajos Kosa, parliamentary leader of Orban’s Fidesz party, said on broadcaster TV2. “This is why the Hungarian government and the empire directed by Soros are straining against each other.”
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