Month: June 2017

Polish Minister Hails Planned Trump Visit as Government Success

Posted on by SeeEU

Poland’s defense minister is hailing an upcoming visit by U.S. President Donald Trump as an “enormous event” and a success of his conservative government.

 

The White House said Friday that Trump will visit Poland on July 6 before he joins the Group of 20 summit in Germany. It said the visit to Poland is meant to reaffirm America’s “steadfast commitment to one of our closest European allies.”

 

Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said late Sunday the upcoming visit, which Poland had sought, “is an enormous event showing how much Poland’s place in geopolitics and world politics has changed” under his party, Law and Justice, which took power in 2015.

 

The nationalist party shares Trump’s opposition to Muslims migrants and, like the U.S. leader, talks of restoring national greatness.
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May Clings On As British Business Issues Warning

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British business leaders are stepping up their Brexit-related demands, seeking to capitalize on last week’s election which saw Theresa May’s ruling Conservatives weakened and denied an outright parliamentary majority.

They are lobbying for the government to negotiate a much closer relationship with the European Union than previously planned by the embattled May, who appears determined to cling to power, at least in the short term, in the face of fury in the party over last week’s election result.

“We must have access to the European market — it is our biggest trading partner,” said Stephen Martin of the Institute of Directors, a lobbying group for business leaders. Business confidence has plunged since last Thursday’s upset election amid signs of a sharp economic slowdown, and company bosses blame uncertainty over the make-up of the government and over Brexit, according to a survey taken by the institute of its members.

Business demands

“It is hard to overstate what a dramatic impact the current political uncertainty is having on business leaders, and the consequences could — if not addressed immediately — be disastrous for the UK economy,” said Martin. Nearly 72 percent of IoD members said “reaching a new trade agreement with the EU” should be the highest priority of the new government.

Business leaders, who view the election result as a rebuff of May’s “hard Brexit” plan, are urging the prime minister to confirm quickly the residency rights of three million European nationals already living in Britain, arguing they are crucial for key sectors of the British economy. They also at the very least want non-tariff access to the Single Market.

Airbus, the aerospace giant, has laid out non-negotiable demands to the government on Brexit, including freedom of movement of their workers and maintaining regulatory harmonization with the EU, warning that if the demands aren’t met production will be shifted overseas. The company employs 10,000 workers in Britain and says another 100,000 British jobs are dependent on Airbus remaining in the country.

Uncertainties

But as business leaders demand a rethink of Brexit, it remains unclear what direction the twisting and turning May will take. The moves she has made so far to shore up her precarious position are sending mixed signals.

In a bid to stave off a leadership challenge, May has avoided making major changes to her Cabinet, leaving those most likely to challenge her for the leadership in the positions they held before last week’s election. Before the election she’d planned a major cabinet shake-up.

But she has brought into the Cabinet arch-Brexiter Michael Gove, while at the same time promoting longtime friend the pro-EU Damien Green to act as her deputy. It appears that May is searching for a way to balance the demands of moderates and hard Brexiters in a desperate bid to cling to power.

But threading the needle isn’t easy. She isn’t being helped by her Brexit minister, David Davis, who when asked in a television interview Monday whether the government should now listen to business and pursue a softer break with Europe insisted the hard Brexit plan hadn’t changed.

In a TV interview Sunday, Michael Fallon, the defense minister, had indicated the reverse, saying: “We want to work with business on this.”

In search of alliances

Senior party figures outside the Cabinet maintained a drumbeat of disapproval of May Monday, predicting she would have to leave shortly. Anna Soubry, a former minister who campaigned last June for Britain to stay in the EU during the Brexit referendum, said May’s position was “untenable.”

And Chris Patten, a former Conservative Party chairman, was highly critical of the parliamentary voting alliance May is concluding with Northern Ireland’s Protestant fundamentalist Democratic Unionist Party to boost her minority government, describing it as “lamentable.” “These are not people we can trust,” he said.

The ten Unionist lawmakers will give May a slight working majority in the House of Commons.

There are mounting fears that the voting alliance with the DUP risks unraveling the Northern Ireland peace process, which relies on the British government acting as a neutral broker between the DUP and the Catholic nationalist Sinn Fein.

Irish Republicans condemned Monday the voting arrangement being discussed between the DUP and the Conservatives, warning it would “end in tears.” Northern Ireland has been without a devolved administration for three months following the collapse of power sharing as a result of disputes between the DUP and Sinn Fein.

May was due late Monday to appear before the 1922 Committee, a gathering of backbench Conservative lawmakers. It will be crucial for her to convince the party she should stay on — at the very least to avoid another election or to give an opening to the Labour Party to form a minority government instead.

Hours before heading to meet the committee, Conservative officials disclosed the Queen’s Speech, an address the monarch delivers outlining the legislative agenda of a new government, would be delayed. The speech was scheduled for June 19. The delay suggested May was encountering difficulties in concluding her talks with the DUP.
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Great White Shark Populations on the Decline

Posted on by SeeAF

The Great White Shark deserves its name. It can grow to over 6 meters, has no natural predators and is one of the primary predators of marine mammals. But for all its ferocity, the species is listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. And scientists who monitor them are seeing less and less of them every year. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.
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Melania Trump, Son Barron Move Into White House

Posted on by SeeUS

President Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, has made it official. She and their young son have moved into the White House.

 

The first lady tweeted the news on Sunday evening after she arrived at the White House with Trump and their 11-year-old son, Barron. The president spent the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

In her tweet, she wrote: “Looking forward to the memories we’ll make in our new home! #Movingday.”

The tweet came with a photograph of the Washington Monument as seen from what appeared to be the Red Room in the White House.

 

The first lady and Barron had been living at Trump Tower in New York until he finished the school year. Barron is to attend a private school in Maryland in the fall.
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Melania Trump, Son Barron Move Into the White House

Posted on by SeeUS

President Donald Trump’s wife, Melania, has made it official. She and their young son have moved into the White House.

The first lady tweeted the news on Sunday evening after she arrived at the White House with Trump and their 11-year-old son, Barron. The president spent the weekend at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

In her tweet, she wrote: “Looking forward to the memories we’ll make in our new home! #Movingday.”

The tweet came with a photograph of the Washington Monument as seen from what appeared to be the Red Room in the White House.

The first lady and Barron had been living at Trump Tower in New York until he finished the school year. Barron is to attend a private school in Maryland in the fall.
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Katy Perry Opens Up on Livestream About Suicidal Thoughts

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Katy Perry opened up about having suicidal thoughts during a marathon weekend livestream event.

 

“I feel ashamed that I would have those thoughts, feel that low, and that depressed,” she said Saturday on YouTube during a tearful session with Siri Singh from the Viceland series “The Therapist.”

 

The pop star has been livestreaming herself since Friday, filming her life for anyone with an internet connection to see. She’s been doing yoga, hosting dinner parties, sleeping, applying makeup and singing, of course.

 

By Sunday, the most revealing 60 minutes of the four-day “Katy Perry – Witness World Wide” event was her time with Singh.

 

Perry told Singh she struggles with her public persona. In the past, she said, she has had suicidal thoughts. She talked about the challenge of being her authentic self while promoting her public image as she lives “under this crazy microscope.”

 

“I so badly want to be Katheryn Hudson (her birth name) that I don’t even want to look like Katy Perry anymore sometimes – and, like, that is a little bit of why I cut my hair, because I really want to be my authentic self,” she said.

 

Perry is sporting a new short, blond hairstyle.

 

The YouTube event is a promotion for her new album “Witness.” The livestream will culminate in a free concert Monday in Los Angeles for 1,000 fans.
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Hundreds of Thousands Across US March for Gay Pride

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Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across the United States in pride and protest to celebrate and demand full rights for the LGBT community.

The events had various names, including the Equality March in Washington, D.C., and the Resist March in Los Angeles.

But full recognition of the rights for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals was at the center of the parades, speeches and dancing in the streets.

Many of the marchers lamented what they believe is the setback in the progress made under the Obama administration in the new Trump White House.

While President Donald Trump himself has said little about LGBT rights, several members of his Cabinet have been openly critical of the gay community. They include Vice President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

They also point out that Trump broke an Obama tradition by not declaring June Gay Pride Month.

“I think we have an administration that is pointedly and deliberately not recognizing gay people, gay rights, trans-rights,” one marcher in Washington told Reuters. “We’ve made so much progress over the last eight years. I’m not prepared to let that go.”

Democratic Representative Maxine Waters led the crowd in chants for Trump’s impeachment at the Los Angeles march.

Trump said during the presidential campaign that he is “fine” with the idea of gay marriage, and also said he does not care what bathroom a person uses — a reference to court cases on whether a transgender student can use the bathroom of his or her choice.

But the Trump White House scrapped President Obama’s guidance ordering public schools to let those students make that choice.

Sunday’s marches came on an especially poignant day as many remembered the massacre at the Pulse nightclub — a gay club in Orlando, Florida — one year ago.

A pro-Islamic State gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 in one of the most shocking hate crimes in U.S. history.
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50 Years After Loving, 1 in 6 New Couples are Racially Mixed

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Fifty years after Mildred and Richard Loving’s landmark legal challenge shattered the laws against interracial marriage in the U.S., some couples of different races still talk of facing discrimination, disapproval and sometimes outright hostility from their fellow Americans.

Although the racist laws against mixed marriages are gone, several interracial couples said in interviews they still get nasty looks, insults and sometimes even violence when people find out about their relationships.

“I have not yet counseled an interracial wedding where someone didn’t have a problem on the bride’s or the groom’s side,” said the Rev. Kimberly D. Lucas of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C.

She often counsels engaged interracial couples through the prism of her own 20-year marriage – Lucas is black and her husband, Mark Retherford, is white.

“I think for a lot of people it’s OK if it’s `out there’ and it’s other people but when it comes home and it’s something that forces them to confront their own internal demons and their own prejudices and assumptions, it’s still really hard for people,” she said.

Interracial marriages became legal nationwide on June 12, 1967, after the Supreme Court threw out a Virginia law that sent police into the Lovings’ bedroom to arrest them just for being who they were: a married black woman and white man.

The Lovings were locked up and given a year in a Virginia prison, with the sentence suspended on the condition that they leave Virginia. Their sentence is memorialized on a marker to go up on Monday in Richmond, Virginia, in their honor.

The Supreme Court’s unanimous decision struck down the Virginia law and similar statutes in roughly one-third of the states. Some of those laws went beyond black and white, prohibiting marriages between whites and Native Americans, Filipinos, Indians, Asians and in some states “all non-whites.”

The Lovings, a working-class couple from a deeply rural community, weren’t trying to change the world and were media-shy, said one of their lawyers, Philip Hirschkop, now 81 and living in Lorton, Virginia. They simply wanted to be married and raise their children in Virginia.

But when police raided their Central Point home in 1958 and found a pregnant Mildred in bed with her husband and a District of Columbia marriage certificate on the wall, they arrested them, leading the Lovings to plead guilty to cohabitating as man and wife in Virginia.

“Neither of them wanted to be involved in the lawsuit, or litigation or taking on a cause. They wanted to raise their children near their family where they were raised themselves,” Hirschkop said.

But they knew what was at stake in their case.

“It’s the principle. It’s the law. I don’t think it’s right,” Mildred Loving said in archival video footage shown in an HBO documentary. “And if, if we do win, we will be helping a lot of people.”

Richard Loving died in 1975, Mildred Loving in 2008.

Since the Loving decision, Americans have increasingly dated and married across racial and ethnic lines. Currently, 11 million people – or 1 out of 10 married people – in the United States have a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

In 2015, 17 percent of newlyweds – or at least 1 in 6 of newly married people – were intermarried, which means they had a spouse of a different race or ethnicity. When the Supreme Court decided the Lovings’ case, only 3 percent of newlyweds were intermarried.

But interracial couples can still face hostility from strangers and sometimes violence.

In the 1980s, Michele Farrell, who is white, was dating an African American man and they decided to look around Port Huron, Michigan, for an apartment together. “I had the woman who was showing the apartment tell us, `I don’t rent to coloreds. I definitely don’t rent to mixed couples,”’ Farrell said.

In March, a white man fatally stabbed a 66-year-old black man in New York City, telling the Daily News that he’d intended it as “a practice run” in a mission to deter interracial relationships. In August 2016 in Olympia, Washington, Daniel Rowe, who is white, walked up to an interracial couple without speaking, stabbed the 47-year-old black man in the abdomen and knifed his 35-year-old white girlfriend. Rowe’s victims survived and he was arrested.

And even after the Loving decision, some states tried their best to keep interracial couples from marrying.

In 1974, Joseph and Martha Rossignol got married at night in Natchez, Mississippi, on a Mississippi River bluff after local officials tried to stop them. But they found a willing priest and went ahead anyway.

“We were rejected everyplace we went, because no one wanted to sell us a marriage license,” said Martha Rossignol, who has written a book about her experiences then and since as part of a biracial couple. She’s black, he’s white.

“We just ran into a lot of racism, a lot of issues, a lot of problems. You’d go into a restaurant, people wouldn’t want to serve you. When you’re walking down the street together, it was like you’ve got a contagious disease.”

But their love survived, Rossignol said, and they returned to Natchez to renew their vows 40 years later.

Interracial couples can now be seen in books, television shows, movies and commercials. Former President Barack Obama is the product of a mixed marriage, with a white American mother and an African father. Public acceptance is growing, said Kara and William Bundy, who have been married since 1994 and live in Bethesda, Maryland.

“To America’s credit, from the time that we first got married to now, I’ve seen much less head-turns when we walk by, even in rural settings,” said William, who is black. “We do go out for hikes every once in a while, and we don’t see that as much any longer. It really is dependent on where you are in the country and also the locale.”

Even in the South, interracial couples are common enough that oftentimes no one notices them, even in a state like Virginia, Hirschkop said.

“I was sitting in a restaurant and there was a mixed couple sitting at the next table and they were kissing and they were holding hands,” he said. “They’d have gotten hung for something like 50 years ago and no one cared – just two people could pursue their lives. That’s the best part of it, those quiet moments.”
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Italian Minister: US, G-7 Far Apart on Paris Climate Deal

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Italy’s environment minister, Gian Luca Galletti, says the United States and the rest of the G-7 are far apart on the Paris Climate Agreement and will remain so.

Galletti is hosting other Group of Seven environment ministers for two days of talks in Bologna.

He said despite the policy split with the U.S., talks will take place on all matters concerning the global environment, including ways to clean up the polluted oceans.

“The international community is awaiting for our message,” Galletti said, calling it one of sustainable development, ecology and serving the world population.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt appeared briefly at the Bologna talks. He had to return to Washington for a Cabinet meeting. But he tweeted that he “spent meaningful time” with the G-7 ministers.

“Engagement is essential to protecting and using our natural resources.” Pruitt said.

The other G-7 ministers expressed disappointment at President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, which seeks to limit carbon emissions and reduce the rising global temperatures.

Trump calls the pact unfair to the U.S., saying it would hurt the economy while doing next to nothing to prevent global warming.

His decision has been met with worldwide condemnation, including from within the U.S. itself. Many local governments pledge to carry out the provisions of Paris with or without the Trump administration.

Trump has proposed renegotiating the Paris accord. But other world leaders say that would be impossible.
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Britain’s May Names New Cabinet, Vows to Stay on as PM

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Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Theresa May has unveiled her new Cabinet, aimed at focusing on social issues and “delivering a successful Brexit.”

May on Sunday said the new line-up brought in “talent from across the whole of the Conservative Party.”

She made Damian Green, former work and pensions secretary, her deputy by naming him first secretary of state.

Treasury chief secretary David Gauke moves in to take Green’s place, while the leader of the House of Commons, David Lidington, becomes justice secretary.

Lidington’s move sees him replace Liz Truss, who has faced criticism in the justice role and has been moved by May to Gauke’s former post as treasury chief secretary.

A surprise appointment came with the naming of Michael Gove as environment and agriculture minister, less than a year after he was removed from the Cabinet by May.

Boris Johnson stays on as foreign minister, alongside fellow eurosceptic David Davis as Brexit minister.

May’s replacement last year as interior minister, Amber Rudd, keeps her post, as does Defense Minister Michael Fallon.

The prime minister shrugged off suggestions that her days in Downing Street are numbered.

 

Asked if she is now just a caretaker leader, May noted that, “I said during the election campaign that if elected I would intend to serve a full term.”

May also said the government will be tackling issues such as the Brexit negotiations, and such issues as education, “dealing for the need for more housing” and a “proper mental health legislation that is going to support people.”
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Prison Attack in Eastern Congo Kills 11, Frees 900 Prisoners

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A Congo official says armed men have attacked a prison in the eastern city of Beni, killing at least 11 and freeing more than 900 prisoners.

 

North Kivu provincial governor Julien Paluku said eight prison guards were among the 11 dead in the Sunday afternoon attack. He said about 30 prisoners remained in the jail.

 

Paluku announced a curfew in Beni and nearby Butembo, saying only the army and police can circulate. Suspects were not immediately known.

 

Congo’s police on Saturday said a group of men attacked a police station in Kinshasa, killing at least two.

 

In May, Christian sect members stormed a prison in Kinshasa, freeing their leader and others. Witnesses say thousands escaped.

 

Scores of armed groups fight for control in Congo’s mineral-rich eastern region.

 

 
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Nadal Wins 10th French Open, Makes Tennis History

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Rafael Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka in straight sets Sunday in the final match of the tennis French Open, winning the grand slam for the 10th time in his career.

“It is really incredible. To win La Decima is very, very special,” the 31-year-old Spaniard said shortly after becoming the only man in tennis history to win a major tournament 10 times.

Defeating Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-2, 6-3, 6-1, Nadal, often referred to as the “king of clay”, showed his dominance over the red clay courts of the French Open, also referred to as Roland Garros in Paris.

“The nerves, the adrenaline I feel when I play on this court, it is impossible to compare … it is the most important event in my career, to win again here is impossible to describe,” he said.

Just one day earlier, history was also made in Women’s Singles at the tournament when 20-year-old Latvian Jelena Ostapenko became the lowest ranked player ever to win the championship.

“I am really happy to win here. I think I’m still — I still cannot believe it, because it was my dream and now it came true,” she told reporters after defeating Simona Halep, who was seeded third in the tournament.

An unseeded player has not won the French Open since 1933.

 
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Ukrainians Celebrate First Day of Visa-free Travel to EU

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Ukrainians celebrated the first day of visa-free travel to the European Union Sunday in what President Petro Poroshenko called “a final exit of our country from the Russian empire.”

“The visa-free regime for Ukraine has started! Glory to Europe! Glory to Ukraine!” he tweeted from his official account Sunday morning.

The arrangement will allow Ukrainians with biometric passports to enter all EU member states other than Britain and Ireland for up to 90 days every six months for tourism or to visit family and friends.

Poroshenko met with Slovak counterpart Andrej Kiska Saturday on their common border, opening a symbolic “door to the EU.”

“Welcome to Europe,” Kiska told a crowd. “I want to call on you to continue carrying out reforms.”

Thousands of Ukrainians had crossed into EU countries by midday, according to the Ukranian Foreign Ministry’s consular department.

“#Bezviz [no visa] is just the beginning!” Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin wrote on Twitter, accompanied by photos of himself crossing the border into Hungary.

The EU approved the arrangement last month after repeated delays since it promised to cement ties with Kyiv in 2014. Ukraine that year became the scene of the worst confrontation between Russia and the West in Europe since the Cold War, with Moscow annexing Crimea and backing separatist rebels in the east of the country.

Visa-free travel is seen as a step toward Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, though major hurdles remain based on economic instability and fears of furthering escalating the conflict with Russia.
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Experts Skeptical About Reports of Death of al-Baghdadi

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U.S. military officials say they have no information to confirm or deny a report Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghadi has been killed in an airstrike.

Independent experts are expressing skepticism about the fast-spreading claims of the terrorist leader’s death, which reportedly was broadcast late Saturday  on Syrian state television.  However the British Broadcasting Corporation’s monitoring service said Sunday it had detected no such report on either state television or Syria’s state news agency, SANA.

A spokesperson on weekend duty at the U.S. Defense Department told VOA she had received queries about the reports but had no information to confirm or deny it.

Air raids on Raqqa

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has confirmed intense air raids on Raqqa, where anti-IS forces began a major offensive last week. Reports from the region say the Amaq news agency, which is publicly identified with Islamic State, showed video of a body purported to be that of al-Baghdadi.

However, the British newspaper The Scotsman cited a tweet by terrorism analyst Michael Smith saying he has viewed the video and does not believe the body to be that of al-Baghdadi.

Multiple previous claims that the IS leader had been killed have proven to be false.
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Somali, US Military Claim to Destroy an Al-Shabab Training Base

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Somali and U.S. military forces have destroyed an al-Shabab training base in Somalia’s Middle Jubba region.

Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo said Sunday he authorized the country’s special forces with support from international partners to conduct a pre-dawn strike against an al-Shabab training camp near Sakow.

He said the strike destroyed a key al-Shabab command and supply hub, which will “disrupt the enemy’s ability to conduct new attacks within Somalia.”

The U.S. military confirmed it participated “as a direct response to al-Shabab actions,” including recent attacks on Somali and African Union forces. It says eight al-Shabab militants were killed in the strike.

Farmajo said Somalia has long suffered in the hands of al-Shabab, which he says is supported by global terror networks.

He did not say if any senior al-Shabab commanders were at the camp during the strike. Sakow is in the heartland of al-Shabab controlled region of Middle Jubba, ruling out ground troops involved in the attack.

In recent years U.S. drone strikes have targeted a number of key al-Shabab commanders, including former leader Ahmed Abdi Godane who was killed on September 1, 2014.

Pentagon Chief Spokesperson Dana W. White says the United States is “committed to working with our Somali partners and allies to systematically dismantle al-Shabab, and help achieve stability and security throughout the region.”

A source tells VOA Somali an airstrike took place near Sakow and that it may have targeted a group of about 10 al-Shabab members, including key figures.

Al-Shabab has reportedly sealed off the area and are questioning people in an attempt to identify who may have collaborated with the operation.

“We and our international partners will take every possible precaution to protect our civilian population from harm during these operations while targeting terrorists,” Farmajo said.

The Somali president reiterated his call to al-Shabab to take advantage of his amnesty issued on April 6.

“To the members of al-Shabab, I tell you that we are bringing the fight to you. If you, however take advantage of my amnesty offer and denounce violence, we will integrate you into our reform program,” he said.

“You have no future with the terrorists, but you can still be a part of Somalia’s future; a peaceful and prosperous future.”
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Britain Denies That Trump State Visit Delayed

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Prime Minister Theresa May’s office said on Sunday there had been no change to plans for U.S. President Donald Trump’s to come to Britain on a state visit, after the Guardian newspaper reported the trip had been postponed.

The paper, citing an unnamed adviser at May’s Downing Street office who was in the room at the time, reported Trump had told May by telephone in recent weeks that he did not want to come if there were likely to be large-scale protests.

“We aren’t going to comment on speculation about the contents of private phone conversations,” a spokeswoman for May’s office said. “The queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the UK and there is no change to those plans.”

The White House had no immediate comment on the report.

No date has been set for the visit, which was agreed during May’s visit to Washington in January, but British media had reported it was planned for October.

Trump has come under fire in Britain this month for his public criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s response to an attack by Islamist militants in London, in which eight people were killed. May found herself forced to defend Khan, who is from the opposition Labour party.

At that time, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said there was no reason to cancel the visit, while White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Trump intended to go and that “he appreciates Her Majesty’s gracious invitation”.
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US-Backed Syrian Fighters Seize Parts of IS ‘Capital’ Raqqa

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A U.S.-backed Syrian opposition force said Sunday it has captured a northwestern neighborhood of the Islamic State group’s de-facto capital of Raqqa the second district to fall in their hands in days after the group launched a wide offensive to gain control of the extremists’ de facto capital.

 

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said its fighters captured the neighborhood of Romaniah after two days of fighting that left 12 IS gunmen dead, including a commander known as Abu Khattab al-Tunsi.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said SDF fighters now control Romaniah and the eastern neighborhood of Mashlab. The fighters have also entered Raqqa’s western neighborhood of Sabahiya and the industrial district in the east.

Raqqa was among the first cities captured by IS, in January 2014, and has been the home of some of the group’s most prominent leaders. The battle for the city is expected to be extended and bloody, and could mark a major turning point in the war against the extremists.

 

IS has been fortifying its positions in Raqqa for months, setting up barriers and hanging sheets of cloth over main streets to provide cover from warplanes. A belt of land mines and militant checkpoints circle the city.

 

SDF fighters began their offensive on the city of Raqqa on June 6 under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

 

The IS-linked Aamaq news agency said the city was subjected to intense airstrikes and shelling by the SDF and the U.S.-led coalition releasing a video that showed wide destruction in one of the neighborhoods. The video also showed severely wounded men and children being rushed to hospitals.

 

In southern Syria, Jordan said its border guards have killed five suspected infiltrators approaching the kingdom’s border from Syria in a pickup truck and two motorcycles.

The military said in a statement that the incident took place near the spot where Jordan, Syria and Iraq meet.

 

Jordan has been on alert for possible infiltrations by IS extremists who seized territories in Syria and Iraq in 2014. In recent months, Jordan expressed concern that U.S.-backed offensives against IS will push some of the militants closer to the kingdom’s border.

 

The army said nine vehicles approached Jordan from Syria in the past three days, and border guards opened fire to hold them back. The army says that in the latest incident, troops fired on a pickup truck and two motorcycles, killing five.

 

 
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Kuwait Says Qatar Willing to Listen to Gulf Concerns

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Qatar is ready to listen to the concerns of Gulf Arab states that have cut diplomatic and economic ties, Kuwait said on Sunday as it tried to mediate solution to the worst regional crisis in years.

Saudi Arabia and allies Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) severed ties with Qatar last week, accusing it of supporting Islamist militants and arch-foe Iran – charges Doha denies.

The rift has disrupted travel, separated families, severed commercial links and sown confusion among banks and businesses while deepening divisions between their respective allies fighting in wars and political struggles from Libya to Yemen.

“[Kuwait] affirms the readiness of the brothers in Qatar to understand the reality of the qualms and concerns of their brothers and to heed the noble endeavors to enhance security and stability,” Kuwait’s state news agency KUNA quoted Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah as saying.

Kuwait, which has retained ties with Qatar and has often acted as a mediator in regional disputes, said it wanted to resolve the dispute “within the unified Gulf house”.

A previous mediation effort by Kuwait in which the Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah shuttled between Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Doha, failed to achieve an immediate breakthrough. “Is this the beginning of wisdom and reasonable thinking? I hope so,” UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter in reaction to Kuwait saying Qatar was ready to listen to the grievances.

U.S. President Donald Trump at first offered to host Qatar and its adversaries – all U.S. allies – at the White House, but on Friday said Qatar has been a high-level sponsor of terrorism and backed the Gulf pressure.

Saudi Arabia’s powerful Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed efforts to “counter terrorism and extremism” in a telephone call with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Sunday, state news agency SPA said.

But a Qatari diplomat said the crisis reflected a lack of U.S. leadership.

“This is the biggest testimony to U.S. failure in the Gulf,” the diplomat told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“[It] gives others the impression the U.S. does not know how to manage the relationship with its allies or is incapable.”

On Friday Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt tightened their squeeze on Qatar by putting dozens of figures and charities they link to the country on terrorism blacklists.

Qatar’s official overseer of charities denied on Sunday that philanthropic groups in the country backed terrorism, saying it deplored the accusation.

Iran Flights

A peninsular nation of 2.5 million people, Qatar has for years punched well above its weight in world affairs by parleying its vast gas wealth into influence across the region, irking many with its maverick stances and support for Islamists.

But it was importing 80 percent of its food from bigger Gulf Arab neighbors before they cut ties and is now in talks with Iran and Turkey to secure food and water supplies.

Iran – the main regional rival of Saudi Arabia – sent four cargo planes of food to Qatar and plans to provide 100 tonnes of fruit and vegetables every day, Iranian officials said on Sunday, amid concerns of shortages.

Senior officials from the countries opposed to Qatar have warned it that appealing for foreign assistance will not advance a reconciliation.

Qatar’s energy minister said on Sunday Doha remained committed to an oil output cut deal agreed by OPEC and non-OPEC producers last month.

Mohammed al-Sada said in a statement: “circumstances in the region shall not prevent the state of Qatar from honoring its international commitment of cutting its oil production”.

In a sign Gulf states were seeking to lessen the human impact of their June 5 severing of ties, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE said on Sunday they had set up hotlines to help families with Qatari members, without elaborating.
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Jordan Shoots Dead 5 Approaching Its Borders From Syria

Posted on by SeeEA

Jordan’s army said on Sunday its border guards killed five people who were approaching its frontier from Tanf, a Syrian desert town where U.S. special forces training rebels are based.

The town has been a flashpoint in recent weeks as militias backed by Iran have tried to get near the U.S. garrison, prompting U.S. coalition jets to strike back.

Tanf lies near the strategic Damascus-Baghdad highway that was once a major weapons supply route for Iranian weapons into Syria.

The Jordanian army said it destroyed a car and two motorbikes in the incident.

The army statement did not give any details of the identity of the men and whether they were smugglers or militants in the area where Jordan’s northeastern borders meet both Iraq and Syria.

The statement however said that before the shooting, a convoy of nine cars had approached from the Tanf area but fled after the army fired warning shots.

Islamic State militants launched a suicide attack last April on the heavily defended base in which the Pentagon said an estimated 20-30 IS fighters were involved. U.S. jets bombed the militants in the hit and run attack.

Staunch U.S. ally Jordan has also been threatened by the militants.

 
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Qatar, in Regional Crisis, Hires Former US Attorney General

Posted on by SeeEA

Qatar has paid $2.5 million to the law firm of a former attorney general under U.S. President George W. Bush to audit its efforts at stopping terrorism funding, a matter at the heart of the Gulf diplomatic crisis that erupted last week.

John Ashcroft personally will lead his Washington-based firm’s efforts “to evaluate, verify and as necessary, strengthen the client’s anti-money laundering and counterterrorism financing” compliance, according to documents filed to the U.S. Justice Department.

Qatar hiring Ashcroft, who was attorney general during the Sept. 11 attacks and then helped push through the Patriot Act, appeared aimed at appeasing the Gulf nations now trying to isolate it. Officials in Qatar, home to a major U.S. military base, and Ashcroft’s firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and cut off land, sea and air routes to the tiny peninsular nation that relies on food imports. Its long-haul carrier Qatar Airways has also been affected.

At the heart of the dispute are the long-standing allegations linking Qatar to regional Islamist and militant groups. Qatar denies supporting terrorist organizations, but Western officials regularly have accused Qatar’s government of allowing or even encouraging the funding of some Sunni extremists. Qatar also has hosted a leader of Hamas, the militant Islamic group ruling the Gaza Strip, as well as members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist group that Gulf nations consider a threat to their hereditary rule.

The Ashcroft Law Firm filed the paperwork with the Justice Department’s National Security Division on Friday. Such reports are required by the Foreign Agents Registration Act, first put in place over concerns about Nazi propagandists operating in the U.S. ahead of World War II.

The filed reports show Ashcroft’s firm “may engage in outreach efforts to U.S. government officials and/or communicate with the media” regarding its findings.

“The firm understands the urgency of this matter and the need to communicate accurate information to both a broad constituency and certain domestic agencies and leaders,” a contract between Qatar and Ashcroft’s firm reads.

The contract filed by Ashcroft’s firm was signed by Ahmad al-Hammadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

The lump sum up front of $2.5 million is also rare for such lobbying efforts, likely signaling the urgency Qatar felt in getting its message heard in Washington. While U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has urged Gulf nations not to escalate the crisis, President Donald Trump repeatedly has criticized Qatar over its alleged support of militants.

Hiring U.S. firms to lobby American lawmakers is nothing new for the oil-and-gas-rich Gulf. Saudi Arabia in particular has multiple firms representing its interests in the U.S. A recent Saudi-led effort to send American military veterans to lobby Congress proved controversial when some said they were unaware the kingdom paid for their trips to Washington.

Qatar also has hired lobbyists and foreign agents in the U.S. Most recently, a ruling family member paid $2 million to a Greek shoe salesman to free kidnapped relatives in Iraq in an effort involving hackers, encrypted internet communication and promises of millions of dollars in ransom payments.

That ransom payment, believed to have gone to Shi’ite militias holding the Qataris in Iraq, has sparked anger among those now trying to isolate it. Egypt has asked the United Nations Security Council to investigate reports that Qatar “paid up to $1 billion” to free the hostages, saying such a payment would violate U.N. sanctions.
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Libya Coast Guard: 8 Migrant Bodies Found off Tripoli

Posted on by SeeAF

Libya’s coast guard has recovered the bodies of eight migrants from an inflatable boat found east of Tripoli on Saturday, with dozens of other migrants feared missing, a spokesman said.

“In general, this type of boat carries 100 to 110 people, so we do not know what has happened to the others,” said Issa al-Zaroog, a coast guard spokesman in the town of Garabulli.

It was not clear how the migrants, whose bodies were spotted by fishermen, had died, coast guard officials said.

Earlier, Tripoli coast guard spokesman Ayoub Qassem said one Bangladeshi migrant had been killed and two wounded in crossfire when coast guards from Zawiya, just west of Tripoli, had clashed on Friday with smugglers escorting migrant boats out to sea.

Qassem said two rubber boats and a wooden vessel carrying some 570 migrants had been intercepted near Sabratha, west of Tripoli, triggering the clashes, and that coast guards had destroyed a boat and a personal watercraft used by smugglers, arresting three of them.

But afterwards a further five rubber migrant boats got away after smugglers had fired at the coastguard from the shore and from boats, Qassem said.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said separately that 380 migrants in three rubber boats had been intercepted off Zawiya and brought back to Libya on Friday, and that another 438 were intercepted on Saturday.

Libya is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea, with the number making the crossing rising sharply since 2014.

So far this year more than 61,000 migrants have arrived in Italy after crossing the central Mediterranean, according to the IOM. Most are packed onto ill-equipped vessels by Libyan smugglers, and are rescued by European ships once they reach international waters.
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Sibanye Gold: S. Africa Wildcat Strike Continues, 138 Arrested

Posted on by SeeAF

A wildcat strike at Sibanye Gold’s Cooke operations west of Johannesburg continued on Sunday and 138 illegal miners there have been arrested since the stoppage began Tuesday, a company spokesman said.

Sibanye said the strike, which has seen 16 miners assaulted in a wave of intimidation, was triggered by worker anger at a company drive to root out illegal miners, which has included the arrest of employees for collusion and a policy that forbids food in underground operations.

Illegal gold mining has plagued South Africa for decades, with bullion pilfered from both operating and disused mines.

Sibanye has vowed it will clear all illegal miners from its shafts by January 2018.

The Cooke mines have been at the center of illicit activities at Sibanye’s operations. Prior to the walkout, 101 illegal miners had been arrested this year along with 58 employees accused of collusion.

Illegal miners can spend weeks underground, which requires large amounts of food and water — which is why Sibanye has banned its employees from taking any food underground, with union agreement.

It is also why so many illegal miners have been forced to the surface since the strike began, as their source of food and water — colluding employees — has dried up, one of the inadvertent consequences of the stoppage.

The Cooke operations, which employ almost 4,000 underground miners, are marginal and Sibanye spokesman James Wellsted said their viability is at risk if the strike becomes prolonged.

“One of the reasons why the mine has not been performing is because many of the employees have been focused on assisting illegal miners instead of their jobs,” he said.

 

 
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Gadhafi’s Son Released after 5 Years in Captivity

Posted on by SeeAF

Seif al-Islam, the son and one-time heir apparent of late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has been released after more than five years in detention, his captors said on Saturday.

 

A statement by his captors, the Abu Bakr al-Siddiq Battalion, said Seif al-Islam was released on Friday, but gave no details on his whereabouts. Battalion officials reached by The Associated Press at Zintan, a town south of the capital Tripoli where it is based, confirmed his release. They declined to disclose his whereabouts, citing concerns over his safety.

 

They said his release was decided as part of a recent pardon issued by the Libyan parliament based in the country’s eastern region.

 

The parliament in the city of Tobruk is part of one of three rival administrations in Libya, evidence of the chaos that has prevailed in the country since Gadhafi’s ouster and death.      

 

Gadhafi’s son was captured by the battalion’s fighters late in 2011, the year when a popular uprising toppled Gadhafi after more than 40 years in power. He was later killed.

 

The uprising later plunged the oil-rich North African nation into a ruinous civil war in which Seif al-Islam led Gadhafi’s loyalist forces against the rebels.

 

 
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Kosovo Votes for New Parliament 

Posted on by SeeEU

Kosovo votes in an early parliamentary election Sunday. The election was called in May when the government lost a confidence vote after the opposition accused it for not fulfilling promises to improve the country’s standard of living.

Public opinion polls indicate a coalition of three former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) is in the lead.

The coalition, led by former prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, is made up of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) of Kadri Veseli, the Initiative for Kosovo, NISMA, of Fatmir Limaj, and the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AKK), Haradinaj. The three party leaders were major wartime figures. All three have been accused of war crimes but found not guilty by The Hague International Tribunal.

Four other coalitions, 19 political parties, and two citizens’ initiatives have nominated candidates for the premiership.

The new government will have to deal with a number of thorny issues, such as tense relations with Serbia, joining the European Union, the approval of border demarcation deal with Montenegro — a condition put by Brussels to join the EU’s Schengen zone for visa-free travel — endemic corruption and possible war crime indictments for some leaders by a new Hague-based Special Court.

More than 1.8 million Kosovars, of whom nearly half a million live abroad, are registered to vote in the third general election since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008.

Since then, more than 110 countries, including the United States and most of the European Union member states, have recognized Kosovo. Serbia has not.

Polling stations opened at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) and will close at 7 p.m.
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