Month: June 2017

EU, China Renew Commitment to Fight Climate Change

Posted on by SeeEU

The European Union and China recommitted Friday to the 2015 Paris climate deal, one day after the United States announced it would withdraw from it.

In a joint statement, the EU and China said climate change and clean energy “will become a main pillar” of their bilateral partnership.

European Council President Donald Tusk said the fight against climate change would continue, with or without the United States:

“Today, China and Europe have demonstrated solidarity with future generations and responsibilities for the whole planet,” he said. “We are convinced that yesterday’s decision is a big mistake.”

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, in Brussels for an EU-China business summit, said it was important for China and EU relationships to become more stable.

“We believe that there have been changes in the international situation, and there will be rising uncertainty and destabilizing factors,” he said. “This requires our efforts to resolve existing issues.”

Other issues

Besides climate change, other issues discussed at the summit included trade, investment, the migration crisis, North Korea and the security partnership in Africa.

Li had expressed China’s continued support for the global climate deal on Thursday during his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saying, “China will stand by its responsibilities on climate change.”

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said China agreed with the EU on the “unhappiness” about America’s unilateral decision to abandon the climate agreement.

The 2015 agreement, signed by 195 countries, calls for reducing the impact of climate change by keeping the global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The EU and China committed to actions related to climate change, such as developing ways to change into zero-emissions economies, promoting zero-carbon transitions in developing countries and developing long-term decarbonization plans.

Wendel Trio, director of the Climate Action Network Europe, called the EU-China statement a milestone in the history of global climate diplomacy.

“This historic partnership to push forward with the Paris Agreement is a significant advance in the fight against climate change. Through deeper cooperation on climate action, the EU and China can propel the global clean energy transition,” Trio said.

China and the EU are two of the three biggest economies in the world with a large carbon footprint. If one of them were to follow the U.S. withdrawal, it’s unlikely that the Paris accord would lead to large-scale reduction of emissions.

Push from Greenpeace

Ansgar Kiene of the environmental activist group Greenpeace said it was clear from the global response to the American decision that leaders around the world were united in the fight against climate change. But Kiene urged leaders to translate their words into actions.

“The EU and China are switching to clean energy production too slowly to keep global temperature rises below levels that will cause catastrophic changes in our climate,” Kiene said. “The EU’s investment in renewable energy, once the highest in the world, has dropped off in recent years as its targets for renewables were too low compared to the real rate of growth.”

China still produces 62 percent of its energy with coal, according to Greenpeace. But despite its bad record in the past, China’s investments in recent years in solar and wind energy have been much larger than those of any other country. Investments in renewable energy in Europe, though, have dropped by half in the past six years.

In withdrawing the United States from the climate accord, which was signed by his predecessor, Barack Obama, U.S. President Donald Trump cited the predicted economic burden and job losses associated with complying with the accord as some of his reasons.

“The Paris climate accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries,” Trump said.

Renegotiation spurned

Trump said the U.S. could re-enter negotiations on the climate pact, but that idea was dismissed by the EU Commissioner for Climate Action Miguel Arias Cañete, who said Friday that “the 29 articles of the Paris Agreement are not to be renegotiated, they are to be implemented.”

China and the European Union wrote in their joint statement that they thought investing in tackling climate change would actually contribute to job creation, investment opportunities and economic growth.

Many world leaders have condemned the U.S. withdrawal. French President Emmanuel Macron even invited scientists to relocate to France, saying in a speech televised in English, “Make our planet great again.”

The United States joined Nicaragua and Syria as the only countries in the world that are not part of the Paris Agreement.
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Islamic State Battles for Control of Philippine Narrative

Posted on by SeeEA

The Islamic State terror group appears to be engaging in a war of words with Philippine authorities, insisting an attack on a casino in Manila was the work of one of its fighters.

Philippine officials have repeatedly downplayed any possible links between the deadly incident at the Resorts World Manila complex early Friday and IS, describing it as a botched robbery.

But nearly 24 hours after the incident which killed 36 people, most from smoke inhalation after the gunman set fires to the inside the gambling hall, the terror group issued not one but two separate claims through official channels.

The first of the claims, by the Amaq news agency, cited an attack by “Islamic State fighters.”

A subsequent statement through the group’s Nashir news agency named just one, “Brother Abu al-Khayr” who it said “infiltrated a gathering of Christians with his assault rifle…where he caused them death and humiliation until he was martyred.”

So far, Philippine officials have portrayed the claims as a reach.

“All indications point to a criminal act by an apparently emotionally disturbed individual,” Ernesto Abella, a spokesman for the Philippine president, told reporters. “Although the perpetrator gave warning shots, there apparently was no indication that he wanted to do harm or shoot anyone.”

Bolstering the claims of Philippine officials is the idea that the incident did not follow the conventional model for IS attacks, often aimed at maximizing death and destruction.

U.S. intelligence officials have also raised concerns in the past about what they see as an increasing desire by IS to claim attacks, regardless of the group’s involvement, in order to keep alive a narrative of continued momentum.

“There is no publicly available evidence so far to suggest this attack was an external operation coordinated by members of the Islamic State,” according to Jade Parker, a senior research associate at the Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies (TAPSTRI), who has studied IS’ cyber capabilities.

“The failure of IS media officials to align their messaging suggests that the group’s foreknowledge of the event in Manila was minimal,” Parker added.

Other analysts remain cautious, saying that while the incident in Manila does not seem to follow the standard IS model of aiming for maximum death and destruction, other elements can be found in IS propaganda.

“We’re expecting ISIS to function here the way we want them to work,” according to Raphael Gluck, an independent researcher. “Did anyone hear him shout anything in Arabic? Is there a video of his allegiance pledge?”

Gluck said the terror group’s Rumiyah magazine, for example, has called for the use of arson and encouraged followers to take wealth or spoils from their enemies.

But whether IS ultimately played a role in the attack on the Manila casino, the incident underscores long-standing concerns about the group in Southeast Asia.

IS “has called on followers in Southeast Asia to go to the Philippines if they cannot travel to Syria,” according to a U.S. intelligence official who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity.

IS nucleus

Some researchers have warned of the “creation of an IS nucleus,” with a growing focus on the Philippines.

And some Philippine officials suggest IS groups may be getting a boost from foreign terrorist fighters, one decrying fighting in the southern part of the country as an “invasion by foreign terrorists.”

Western intelligence officials have been hesitant to discuss just how many IS fighters have made the journey from Iraq, Syria and elsewhere to the Philippines. But a new report by the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point warns IS’ core leadership appears be exerting its influence.

“Forty-five percent of Islamic State-linked attacks and plots in the region had financial and communication ties to Southeast Asian Islamic State operatives in Syria where group members sought to enable and guide attacks remotely,” the report said.

Australian intelligence officials also believe there is a significant danger, worried the region could become a magnet for would-be jihadists and foreign fighters as Islamic State’s fortunes continue to wane in Iraq and Syria.

And potential barriers to using the Philippines or other nearby areas as a base for IS operations may be overblown.

“The disadvantage to Southeast Asia is it’s remote and ethnically a lot of ISIS fighters would stick out,” said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “But all of that was true also of Afghanistan when al-Qaida made it its center of gravity.”
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Six Countries to Join UN Security Council for Temporary Terms

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U.N. member states elected six countries Friday to temporary seats on the Security Council, the U.N. body responsible for maintaining international peace and security.

Starting January 1, 2018, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Kuwait, Poland and Peru will serve two-year terms, while the Netherlands will join for one year, in a special arrangement with Italy.

The vote in the U.N. General Assembly generated little suspense, as regional groups had already decided among themselves which countries to put up as their candidates, and there was no competition for the seats. Candidates easily garnered the two-thirds majority of votes required on the first round of ballots.

The only oddity this year was a special “by-election” in which the Netherlands replaced Italy on the council. After five rounds of voting in last year’s election, the two candidates were tied with 95 votes each and unable to reach the two-thirds majority needed to secure the seat, so they decided to share it.

Outgoing council member Egypt expressed some concern about this arrangement. Ambassador Amr Aboulatta told the General Assembly that it is an “exceptional arrangement” between the two countries that “should not be considered as a precedent,” in choosing elected members in the future.

“More than ever the Security Council has to show its relevance in international conflicts; in national conflicts, it has to be active in the prevention of conflicts. The Netherlands will be a proactive partner,” Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders told reporters after the vote.

“We will together with others try to solve and decide about the most important problems of world,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told reporters.

“We will not neglect our neighboring issues like the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But of course, we won’t hesitate to participate in solving other problems of the Middle East, Africa and other continents,” he added.

Council dynamics

U.N. analyst Richard Gowan, a fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said it is unlikely any of the incoming members will fundamentally alter Security Council dynamics.

“Poland is likely to follow in the footsteps of Ukraine, and use the council as a platform to challenge Russia repeatedly,” he said.

Outgoing member Ukraine has been in conflict with Russian-backed rebels since early 2014 in the country’s southeast. Moscow also invaded and then annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region, following a controversial referendum in March of that same year the U.N. General Assembly nearly unanimously called illegal.

“The Dutch will work doubly hard to make up for the fact that they only have one year on the council,” Gowan predicted.

New member Ivory Coast will see a U.N. peacekeeping mission shut down at the end of June after 13 years in the country.

“There are serious debates about the future of U.N. peace operations at present, especially as the U.S. wants to cut back their budgets severely,” Gowan noted. “Ivorian diplomats will bring extra experience and insights to those debates,” he added.

But the reality is that the powerful Permanent Five members – Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – continue to steer the council.

“The P5 are in a mess at present, and remain profoundly divided over Syria, but it is unwise to underestimate their resilience,” Gowan cautioned. “For all their differences, the five remain united in their desire to maintain maximum control over U.N. affairs.”
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UN: Iran is Complying with Nuclear Deal

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Iran has kept advances in its nuclear program within the parameters set under the 2015 accord it signed with world powers, the United Nations’ atomic watchdog agency said Friday.

A new International Atomic Energy Agency report says Iran has greatly reduced its nuclear activities and kept its stock of enriched uranium below the agreed upon limit.

The assessment says Iran has not enriched uranium above the levels required to make a weapon and “has not pursued the construction of the Arak… reactor,” which it could use to create weapons-grade plutonium.

Iran agreed to the nuclear deal with a number of western nations in 2015 after years of simmering tensions surrounding the country’s nuclear aspirations.

In exchange for reducing its nuclear capabilities, Iran saw the loosening of economic sanctions.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called the Iran agreement “the worst deal ever negotiated” and expressed interest in renegotiating it in the future. Iran has said it has no plans to renegotiate.
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World Leaders Express Dismay at US Withdrawal From Paris Accord

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World leaders and environmental groups have expressed their disappointment with U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the landmark Paris climate accord, the global effort to deal with the effects of climate change.

The leaders of Germany, France and Italy, in a highly unusual move, issued a joint statement expressing “regret” at the decision. 

“We are firmly convinced that the agreement cannot be renegotiated,” they said, putting a stop to the U.S. leader’s belief that he could re-negotiate the United States back into the Paris Accord.  Trump said in announcing the U.S. withdrawal that he was open to “negotiations to re-enter the Paris Accord.”

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, told a conference of the Confederation of German Employers in Berlin that “the Americans can’t just get out of the agreement,” adding that “it takes three to four years” to pull out.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said China will proceed “steadfastly” with the Paris deal and encouraged other countries to do the same.

China is the world’s biggest polluter.  The U.S. is second.

Trump said the United States was “getting out” of a deal he said imposed “draconian” burdens costing billions of dollars and millions of U.S. jobs. He described the pact as  “very unfair” to the United States and beneficial to other major polluters, like China and India.

The Paris agreement commits signatories to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, which is blamed for melting ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels and more violent weather events. The United States will join Nicaragua and Syria as the only countries that are not part of the agreement.

“This is a decision that is a betrayal, not just of U.S. citizens, not just of the citizens right across the world, but indeed it’s a betrayal of our children and all future generations.” said Richard Di Natale, Australian Greens Party leader.  “Donald Trump has shown with this decision that the U.S. no longer has any claim to global leadership.”

Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary said Friday Trump’s decision was “regrettable” and that “Japan had been hoping to cooperate with the United States under the Paris Climate Accord.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a televised statement in both French and English that he believed Trump has made a historic mistake.  Macron said U.S. scientists and entrepreneurs would ‘find in France a second homeland,” inviting them to live in France where they could “work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment.”  Macron added in France they would work to “make our planet great again,” a play on Trump’s campaign slogan to “make America great again.”

Koichi Yamamoto, Japan’s environment minister said of the U.S. departure from the Paris Accord: “It’s as if they’ve turned their back on the wisdom of humanity.”  He added, “In addition to being disappointed, I’m also angry.”

Fiji’s prime minister said Trump’s announcement was “deeply disappointing.”  Voreqe Bainimarama, who will serve as president of U.N. climate talks in Germany later this year, said “While the loss of America’s leadership is unfortunate, this is a struggle that is far from over.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed his disappointment in a telephone call with Trump.  The Canadian leader, however, said he is encouraged by “the growing momentum around the world to combat climate change and transition to clean growth economies.”

“The Paris Agreement provides the right global framework for protecting the prosperity and security of future generations, while keeping energy affordable and secure for our citizens and businesses,” British Prime Minister Theresa May told Trump in a telephone conversation. 

Environmental group Climate Action Network said the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris agreement “signals that the Trump Administration is in total discord with both reality and the rest of the world.”

Greenpeace said; “By withdrawing from the Paris agreement, Trump has turned the U.S. from a climate leader into a climate deadbeat.”

Oxfam France said the decision was “shameful and irresponsible.”

“The future is in newer, cleaner and renewable technologies, not in fossil fuels,” said Venki Ramakrishnan, president of Britain’s illustrious Royal Society.  “Such technologies will also help in our fight against air pollution and ensure greater energy security globally.  President Trump is not putting America first, he is tethering it to the past.” 
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Ex-Penn State Officials Face Sentencing in Sandusky Scandal

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Former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former school administrators are to be sentenced Friday on charges of child endangerment for failing to report a 2001 allegation about Jerry Sandusky to authorities in a child sex abuse scandal that first broke more than five years ago.

Prosecutors are seeking jail time for Spanier, 68, with sentencing guidelines calling for up to a year in prison. His lawyers are pushing for probation.

Spanier, who was convicted at a jury trial, has said he plans to appeal.

Former athletic director Tim Curley, 63, and former vice president Gary Schultz, 67, each pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors say the men hushed up an allegation about Sandusky sexually abusing a boy in a football team shower in 2001 to protect the university’s reputation.

As a result, they said, the former assistant football coach went on to victimize more boys.

All three men denied they were told the encounter in the shower was sexual in nature.

Prosecutors dropped more serious charges against Curley and Schultz as a result of their pleas, and agreed they would not recommend a sentence for them. But in documents filed on the eve of the sentencing, they assailed the two men over their testimony at Spanier’s trial.

They suggested that Curley was purposely forgetful, and that it defied common sense that Schultz seemed unwilling to acknowledge the sexual nature of the allegation about Sandusky.

Spanier’s trial revolved around testimony by an ex-graduate coaching assistant, Mike McQueary, who said he reported seeing Sandusky molesting a boy in 2001.

Sandusky was not arrested until 2011, after an anonymous email to a county prosecutor led investigators to approach McQueary. Sandusky was found guilty the next year of sexually abusing 10 boys and is serving a prison sentence of 30 to 60 years while he appeals his conviction. At least four victims at Sandusky’s trial said they were molested after 2001.

The scandal led to the firing of beloved football coach Joe Paterno shortly after Sandusky’s arrest, and he died of cancer two months later at the age of 85.  

The Hall of Fame coach was never charged with a crime, but a report commissioned by the university concluded he was part of an effort to keep a lid on the allegations against Sandusky for fear of bad publicity.

Penn State’s football program suffered heavy sanctions from the NCAA, and the university has paid out nearly a quarter-billion dollars in fines, court verdicts, settlements and other costs.

McQueary testified about how he went to Paterno a day after the shower encounter to discuss what he had seen. Paterno notified Curley and Schultz, and McQueary met with both of them about a week later. In his 2011 grand jury testimony, Paterno said he was told by McQueary the encounter involved “fondling” and was of “a sexual nature,” but wasn’t sure what the act was.

The prosecution’s key evidence included notes and email exchanges in which Curley, Schultz and Spanier debated what to do after McQueary’s report.

Ultimately, they agreed not to contact child welfare authorities. That decision formed the heart of the case against the administrators.
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Prisoners in Chicago Make Gourmet Pizza

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A jail in Chicago is serving some of the best Italian pizza in town. Inmates are making gourmet pizzas for their fellow prisoners. It’s part of a training program called Recipe for Change in which the inmates can acquire skills to get jobs after they are released. VOA’s Deborah Block has more.
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Trump’s Policies Put US Off Track, Even Before Paris Pullout

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President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will leave the Paris agreement limiting greenhouse gas emissions. VOA’s Steve Baragona looks at the environmental consequences.
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Trump to Pull US Out of Paris Climate Accord

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President Donald Trump has announced that he is withdrawing the United States from the landmark international agreement that committed nearly every nation to take action to curb global warming. VOA’s Peter Heinlein reports that the decision is being met with dismay by environmentalists, foreign allies and a significant number of influential business leaders.
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Should African Presidents Have Immunity From Prosecution?

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Human rights groups see two pivotal moments in the mounting of resistance to the International Criminal Court in Africa. Both involve the indictments of sitting heads of state.

“If you look at the history of the pushback of the ICC by the AU (African Union), it dates back to the time the arrest warrant was issued for Omar al-Bashir and then subsequently on the Kenyan officials,” said Netsanet Belay, Africa director of research and advocacy for Amnesty International.

“We believe there is no legal or normative reason to support the impunity of heads of state of governments, especially when it comes to crimes against humanity,” Belay added.

Still in office

The cases against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his vice president, William Ruto, in relation to the 2007-2008 post-election violence, were dropped for lack of evidence in 2014 and 2016. Kenyatta is running for re-election this year. 

The Sudanese president, Bashir, remains in office as well. Since 2009, when Bashir’s international arrest warrant was issued, he has visited at least 18 countries, 11 of them in Africa. He was charged with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the conflict in Darfur.

Prosecuting sitting heads of state is complex, with some arguing it undermines stability.

Andile Mgxitama is the leader of the advocacy group Black First Land First in South Africa.

“If for stability and progress, we need to forgive those who transgress against us amongst ourselves, we will do so,” Mgxitama said. “We should not put ourselves in a position where Europe says we must attack every one of us, and we do so even in a context where maybe rather dialogue or reconciliation is a better proposition than putting people on trial or going after them and so on.”

African alternative

South Africa was among the three African countries that said last year they would withdraw from the ICC. Critics say the ICC unfairly targets Africans. All 39 of the people indicted since the court’s establishment in 2002 have been African.

As resistance has grown, the continent has sought to create its own alternatives to the ICC.

The current option on the table is the African Court of Justice and Human Rights. 

In 2014, African Union heads of state adopted what is called the Malabo Protocol to extend the court’s jurisdiction to include an international criminal law section.

The protocol also gives immunity to sitting heads of state.

Rights groups object

For that and other reasons, rights groups have urged African countries not to ratify the protocol.

“With the African Court, it means that with this immunity clause, you cannot have a real-time response. You have to wait until this individual is not in office to even commence any type of prosecutions against him,” said Stella Ndirangu, program manager for the International Commission of Jurists in Kenya.

And for Zimbabwean politician Ngqabutho Mabhena, that could push African leaders to cling to power, even more than some already do.

“If the president commits a serious crime, he will not want to vacate office, then he creates patronage within people that are around them or him, for them to continuously stay in power so that they avoid getting out of office,” Mabhena said.

So far, nine African countries have signed the Malabo Protocol, but no country’s parliament has ratified it. The protocol won’t take effect unless 15 AU member countries ratify it.
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Voter Enrollment Starts in Congolese Capital

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The voters of the Democratic Republic of Congo should have gone to the polls last November to choose their new head of state.

Instead, presidential and parliamentary elections were not organized, and shortly afterward, on December 19, President Joseph Kabila’s second and, according to the constitution, final term expired.

Deal struck

Under a political deal struck on New Year’s Eve between Kabila’s ruling coalition and the opposition, the delayed polls are supposed to take place in late 2017. In the meantime, the president has remained in office.

On Sunday, the electoral commission, known as CENI, launched voter enrollment in Kinshasa, the Congo’s capital of about 12 million people, and Kabila himself was the first to register. The process of registering the city’s voters is expected to take about three months.

On Monday, Providence Nsongo was at a registration center at a high school in the district of Barumbu.

Nsongo said he had come to do his civic duty by enrolling so that he could take action against Congo’s political and administrative authorities. He said that this is the right of all Congolese people.

The process appeared to be far from straightforward. At three centers visited by VOA there were many more people queuing to register than the staff was capable of processing. At one center, those waiting claimed that the police guarding the building were demanding 1,000 Congolese francs, about 70 cents, to allow them to register.

Voters losing hope

Kabila is deeply unpopular in Kinshasa, which in 2006 and 2011 voted overwhelmingly in favor of his opponent.

Most people do not believe the election will happen this year and expect further delays.

Kofi Luakaviny told VOA that he hopes the elections take place in 2018, because Kabila does not want to leave power. He said the president is in the process of monopolizing the Congo and believes himself to be a god in the country.

Others, such as Jean Ely Pakala, have lost hope in the power of elections to bring about change.

Pakala said he had come to get his voter card simply as means of identification. He said that after 2006 and 2011, he no longer has faith in voting but hopes that security forces will harass him less frequently if he has an identification card.

Voter enrollment started in July 2016 and has been completed in about half of Congo’s 26 provinces. On May 28, Corneille Nangaa, CENI’s president, said that more than 24 million of the country’s estimated eligible voters have been registered. In the 2011 election, 32 million people were registered to vote.
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US Officials: Fight for Raqqa ‘Could Begin in the Coming Days’

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American military officials say U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have pushed within three kilometers of Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, and that the major battle for control of Raqqa “could begin in the coming days.”

Speaking to reporters from Baghdad, Colonel Ryan Dillon, spokesman for the U.S.-led counter ISIS coalition, said the SDF was “poised around Raqqa” after gaining 350 square kilometers from IS in Syria in the last week.

The forces are within three kilometers of Raqqa to the north and east and within about 10 kilometers of the city to the west, Dillon said.

“The fight for the city could begin in the coming days,” a U.S. military official separately told VOA on the condition of anonymity. “The encirclement of Raqqa is almost complete.”

The U.S. military confirmed earlier this week that it had started distributing weapons and vehicles to Syrian Kurdish fighters in preparation for the Raqqa battle. That move has placed the United States at odds with NATO ally Turkey, which contends the SDF’s Syrian Kurdish militia is a terrorist group affiliated with the outlawed PKK, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a terror group that has been battling the Turkish state for many years.

Dillon said the SDF had instructed Raqqa citizens to leave the city ahead of the fighting, with nearly 200,000 people already displaced. Camps for displaced citizens have been established around the Syrian city, Dillon added, with SDF screening sites in place to prevent IS militants from escaping among the fleeing civilian population.

Problem near al-Tanf

Meanwhile, U.S. military officials said Iranian-backed pro-regime forces were continuing to violate a deconfliction zone set up around the al-Tanf army base, where special forces are training Syrian militias.

Dillon said the coalition had communicated to the “small element” of forces that they were considered a threat and needed to leave the zone.

“We want them out of there,” he told reporters Thursday from Baghdad.

Dillon said the forces violating the deconfliction zone had stopped establishing defensive positions after coalition airstrikes targeted their tanks and equipment two weeks ago, but had remained a little more than halfway into the established zone, which has a radius of 55 kilometers from the al-Tanf base.

“It’s not like they’ve dipped their toe into the deconfliction zone. They’re well inside it,” said Dillon.

Additional pro-regime reinforcements have not entered the deconfliction zone, Dillon said, but forces just outside the zone at al-Tanf are reinforcing their positions and bringing in combat-type assets, including tanks and artillery systems.

“All these things put together present a threat to the coalition forces,” he said.
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Foreign Ministry: Algeria Accepts Syrians Trapped on Morocco Border

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Algeria has agreed to allow 41 Syrian refugees stranded on its frontier with Morocco to stay in the country as a humanitarian gesture, the foreign ministry said.

Earlier this week the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR urged Morocco and Algeria to allow the group safe passage after they had been trapped for weeks in a dispute between the North African neighbors.

In a statement on APS state news agency, Algeria’s foreign ministry said the refugees, including children and a pregnant woman, would be allowed to stay after being blocked in the border town of Figuig.

Morocco and Algeria blamed each other for the situation.

The two countries often exchange diplomatic barbs over their 1,500-km (970-mile) frontier, which stretches from the Mediterranean Sea to the Sahara Desert. It has been shut since 1994 because of disputes over security.

Morocco said the Syrians attempted to enter Morocco through Figuig between April 17 and 19. It accused Algeria of forcing them to cross into Morocco. Algeria rejected the accusation, saying Moroccan officials had tried to send the group into Algeria.
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Islamic State Claims Attack on Algerian Patrol, 4 Wounded

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Gunmen attacked an Algerian military patrol in an area south of the capital, slightly wounding four gendarmes, the ministry of defense said, in an attack later claimed by Islamic State.

Attacks are rare in Algeria since the end of the country’s 1990s civil war with Islamist militants, but al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and small brigades allied to Islamic State are active in remote areas.

Gunmen opened fire on the gendarmerie patrol late on Wednesday in Larbaa area in Blida region, around 30 km (19 miles) south of Algiers, the ministry said in a statement carried on APS state news agency.

“A patrol of gendarmerie were targeted by gunfire on Wednesday at 2200 by a group of terrorists,” the statement said without giving details on any militant group.

Islamic State-affiliated Amaq agency said on Thursday its fighters ambushed the patrol and claimed to have destroyed two vehicles, according to the SITE jihadist monitoring service.

Algerian armed forces have been cracking down on militants tied to Islamic State. In April, they foiled an attempted suicide bomb attack in the northeastern city of Constantine, with one attacker killed and a second arrested.

Islamist militants have carried out or attempted several attacks on security targets in Constantine in the past few months including the shooting of a policeman in a coffee house by three gunmen in October 2016.
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Gunmen Kill 6 Niger Security Agents Near Mali Border

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Gunmen killed six security agents in southwestern Niger, a security source and local resident said, in an area near the Malian border where jihadists have been increasingly active.

The attackers opened fire on a security post in the town of Abala, about 150 km (90 miles) northeast of the capital Niamey, at around 7 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Wednesday, killing four national guard troops and two gendarmes, a security source told Reuters.

“Just when everyone was preparing to break the Ramadan fast, we heard shots in the town. The exchange of fire lasted almost two hours,” a school teacher in Abala told Anafi, a local radio station.

Militants and criminal gangs have long operated around the vast, desert border between Mali and Niger, even after a French-led military intervention pushed insurgent groups back from northern Mali in 2013.

Earlier this year, Niger declared a state of emergency along a portion of the border where Wednesday’s shooting took place.

Abala is home to a camp for refugees who have fled violence in Mali. Repeated attacks in the Tillabery region near the border have led authorities to impose a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.

Several French soldiers from a regional counter-terrorism operation were wounded on Thursday morning in a mortar attack on a United Nations’ peacekeeping camp in northern Mali.

Further south, Niger also faces threats from the Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram. Niger security forces killed 57 Boko Haram militants in April who had attacked a village in the southeastern Diffa region.
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Militants Burn Down School, Kill Teacher in Kenya

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Suspected al-Shabab militants killed a teacher and abducted another as they burned down a school late Wednesday in northeastern Kenya.

 

The Kenyan MP from the region Musfafe Abdirashid told VOA’s Somali Service a number of militants entered Fafi village, about 90 kilometers east of Garissa town, and created havoc.

“They killed one local teacher and abducted another one; also they have destroyed telecommunication masts to disrupt communications,” Abdirashid said. “We have informed government security forces about the attack and KDF forces were deployed to the area this morning,” he added.

 

A local reporter says the militants also burned a police car and injured three policemen who were tracking them after the attack in Fafi.

Attacks by al-Shabab militants in Kenya have risen sharply in the last few weeks. On Wednesday, the group claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb in coastal Lamu County that killed five security personnel.

The Somalia-based militants have been active in Kenya since the government deployed troops to Somalia six years ago.

 
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South African Leaked Emails Heap More Pressure on Zuma

Posted on by SeeAF

Leaked documents released by the South African media on Thursday alleging improper dealings in government contracts will open President Jacob Zuma up to renewed scrutiny and may deepen divides in the ruling African National Congress.

Zuma has survived calls to resign from within the usually united ANC in recent weeks due to disputes over political appointments and his friendship with the Indian-born Gupta family, wealthy businessmen whose companies have contracts with state-owned firms.

Investigative journalists at AmaBhungane, a non-profit group that has a strong track record of exposing what it says are government corruption scandals, released some of more than 100,000 leaked emails and documents.

It says they prove Gupta-owned companies unduly influence the award of government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars – including the building of locomotives and pre-payments for coal deliveries before a deal was signed.

A Gupta family spokesman did not respond to questions by phone and said he may reply to emailed inquiries from Reuters later. The Gupta family and Zuma have denied wrongdoing when similar allegations have been made in the past.

Spokesmen for Zuma and the ANC did not respond. Reuters was not independently able to verify the allegations. Zuma is due to appear in parliament at 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) to respond to questions about the presidency budget. There is no planned interaction with lawmakers but he will likely face heckling from opponents in the chamber.

“Zuma is running a criminal state and is using state institutions to enrich himself and his friends,” Mmusi Maimane, leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance, told Reuters.

“These documents show once again that the ANC has embarked on a state-sponsored corruption campaign that runs deep.”

‘Factional battle’

The latest allegations of influence-peddling may deepen a divide in the ANC as factions battle for control ahead of a conference in December where Zuma’s successor as party leader will be chosen. Zuma can remain as head of state until a 2019 election.

Zuma’s camp is expected to back his ex-wife and former African Union chair Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, while another faction will support Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The contents of the leaked confidential government documents will likely embolden Zuma’s opponents in the ANC who want to oust him or prevent his chosen successor from becoming party president in December, analysts say.

“The leaks will play into the factional battle over succession which is getting intense. The stakes are very high,” said Daryl Glaser, politics professor at Johannesburg’s University of Witswatersrand.

“I don’t think that what comes out will be enough to result in Zuma resigning before December.”

A constitutionally mandated anti-graft watchdog said in a report last year that the Guptas had undue influence over government officials and former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas said he was offered a promotion by the family.

Jonas and finance minister Pravin Gordhan were removed by Zuma in a reshuffle in March.

On Wednesday, government ministers bowed to mounting pressure and told Eskom to remove its chief executive Brian Molefe, a Zuma ally, after senior politicians and the public reacted with anger at his re-appointment two weeks ago.

Molefe resigned in November last year following allegations he had links to the Gupta family. Molefe denied wrongdoing and said he resigned in the interest of good governance.
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Police Release Tiger Woods’ DUI Arrest Video

Posted on by SeeUS

His speech slow and slurred, Tiger Woods couldn’t follow simple instructions or keep his balance during a dazed and disoriented encounter with police before he was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

 

The video images came from dash-cam footage that Jupiter police released Wednesday night, and they show Woods with little capacity to stand still without swaying, repeat simple instruction or put one foot in front of the other.

 

The footage came from his arrest Monday in the dark of early morning when Jupiter police noticed his Mercedes parked on the side of a six-lane road, part of it in the road and part of it in the bicycle lane.

 

Police found the Woods sound asleep behind the wheel, according to an incident report. The engine was running, the brake lights were on and the right turn signal was blinking. Police also released photos of his car that showed both tires flat with minor damage around the bumpers.

 

When the officer asks Woods where he had been, the 14-time major champion says, “LA.” He says he was headed down to Orange County.

 

The 1 hour, 39-minute video starts with the Jupiter police approaching Woods’ car and ends with the cruiser pulling into the Palm Beach County jail, with Woods in handcuffs behind his back and sitting in the back seat.

 

Woods told the officers he had not been drinking, and two breath tests at the jail registered a 0.0. Woods issued a statement nearly 10 hours after he was released from jail on Monday that alcohol was not involved.

 

“What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications,” Woods said in his statement. “I didn’t realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly.”

 

He told police he was taking prescription medicine. When asked what kind, his answer was redacted from the video tape. The arrest affidavit listed four medications, including Vicodin, that Woods reported taking.

 

Woods is to be arraigned July 5 in Palm Beach County court.

 

The video brings to life the troubling images contained in an incident report from the four Jupiter police officers who were at the scene.

 

His speech is slurred from his first words. When the officer points out that Woods shoe is untied, Woods places his right foot on the front of the police car and starts to fiddle with the laces.

 

“It’s your other shoe that’s untied,” the officer says as Woods unties the laces.

 

“Now that one is, too,” the officer adds.

 

When Woods is unable to tie the left shoe, the officer tells him he can take them off. Woods then tells the officer he doesn’t remember what happened or being asleep in his car when police approached.

 

The field sobriety test was a failure from the start.

 

Woods struggled to simply put his feet together. When he did, he leaned forward after losing his balance.

 

He couldn’t follow a red light the officer moved from side to side. When asked to walk a straight line by going heel-to-toe nine times, Woods staggered from the starting position. He never connected heel-to-toe. He often strayed outside the white line and occasionally lost his balance.

 

Woods couldn’t raise one leg 6 inches off the round.

 

On his third try of understanding the alphabet instructions, he made it from A to Z.

 

The next instruction from the officer was to place his hands behind his back as they cuffed him and told him he was being arrested.

 

Woods, who had his fourth back surgery in three years on April 20, has not played since February 2 in Dubai when he withdrew after the first round because of back spasms. The surgery means he is out for the rest of the PGA Tour season.
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US, European Troops Open Massive Navy Baltic Sea Exercise

Posted on by SeeEU

Some 4,000 U.S. and European troops are taking part in the annual Baltic Operations navy exercise on the Baltic Sea, designed to enhance their joint response capabilities at a time when the region feels threatened by Russia’s activities.

The 45th edition of the so-called BALTOPS exercise aims to demonstrate the resolve among NATO and its partner nations to ensure security and readiness to defend the region.

 

The exercise involves maritime, air and ground forces from 14 nations, with some 50 ships and submarines and over 50 aircraft. It opened Thursday in Poland’s navy port of Szczecin and will run through June 16.

 

BALTOPS began in 1972 as a NATO exercise. Former Eastern Bloc nations joined in 1993, as they opened efforts to join the alliance.

 

 
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Fearing Trump’s Next Move, Liberals Urge Supreme Court Conservative Kennedy to Stay

Posted on by SeeUS

Liberal activists are urging U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, a conservative with whom they often disagree, to put off any thought of retirement, fearing President Donald Trump would replace him with a jurist further to the right.

The liberal Democrats’ keep-Kennedy campaign, being pursued publicly and privately, reflects how powerless they have become against the Republican president when it comes to high court vacancies since the Senate in April reduced the vote tally needed to confirm a Supreme Court nomination to 51 from 60.

It also shows how big the stakes are for both sides in any decision that Kennedy, who turns 81 in July, makes about his future on the court. If he were to retire, Trump would have a historic opportunity to recast the court in a more conservative posture, possibly for decades to come.

Some former Kennedy clerks have said he is thinking about retirement. He has declined to comment on his plans, despite requests from many media outlets including Reuters.

Right now, Kennedy “is the most important man in America. He is the vote that swings the court on the most important cases that reach it,” said Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, a left-leaning think tank.

Nominated by Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987 to a lifetime court seat, Kennedy has been a crucial swing vote on the nine-member court for more than a decade.

On most issues, such as campaign finance and religious rights, he has voted with fellow conservatives. He also voted with the minority to strike down the 2010 Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. But on gay rights and abortion, he has sided with the court’s four liberals.

If he stays in his post, the court’s long-standing ideological balance will be preserved. If he quits, Trump could replace him with someone who tilts further right, giving conservatives a solid five-vote majority.

Wydra and other liberals are lionizing Kennedy and his legacy in the media. Some are reaching out to former Kennedy clerks and others who know him, asking them to urge him not to retire, said Michele Jawando, a legal advocate at the Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.

One former Kennedy clerk confirmed being asked to urge him to stay on and said other clerks had asked him to do so. Other clerks said they had not been approached by liberal activists.

Sole triumph

Since he took office in January, Trump’s only significant domestic policy achievement has been winning Senate confirmation of his nominee to the high court, Neil Gorsuch, a former Kennedy clerk.

Gorsuch replaced a fellow conservative, Antonin Scalia, who died in February 2016. The Gorsuch confirmation did not shift the court’s ideological balance, but it did trigger a change in the Senate rules for considering Supreme Court nominees.

To get Gorsuch confirmed, Republicans exercised the “nuclear option,” ending Democrats’ ability to use a procedural maneuver called a filibuster to block a final vote on a Supreme Court nominee. As a result, Republicans, with a 52-48 Senate majority, can now confirm any future nominee without Democratic support.

In another handicap, liberal groups said they lacked the money to sway public opinion via TV and online ads, unlike conservative groups that had $10 million to back Gorsuch.

In view of those disadvantages, People for the American Way, another liberal group, issued a report earlier this month outlining the impact of a Kennedy retirement, describing it as a “disaster for the rights of all Americans.”

Liberals want in part to protect the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling hat legalized abortion. As a candidate, Trump said he would appoint court justices who would vote to overturn the decision.

Perhaps seeking to reassure Kennedy that his legacy is in safe hands, Trump has consistently praised the justice. At Gorsuch’s swearing-in in April, Trump called Kennedy a “great man of outstanding accomplishment.”

Trump and other Republicans have said they have heard rumors that Kennedy might retire, but have not publicly urged him to.

The president has vowed to pick his next nominee the same way he chose Gorsuch, from a list of contenders he made public before the election.

Among contenders viewed as possible Kennedy replacements are federal appeals court judges Raymond Kethledge and Thomas Hardiman, conservative lawyer and former Solicitor General Paul Clement and Brett Kavanaugh, a judge on the federal appeals court in Washington, according to a person with knowledge of the nomination process.
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White House Unveils List of Ex-lobbyists Granted Ethics Waivers

Posted on by SeeUS

The White House on Wednesday disclosed a group of former lobbyists working in President Donald Trump’s administration who have been issued ethics waivers, following a request from the U.S. government’s ethics agency.

The list of at least 11 waivers includes White House adviser Kellyanne Conway and Trump’s Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, according to a chart issued on the White House website.

Conway is permitted to “participate in communications and meetings involving former clients which are political, advocacy, trade or non-profit organizations,” while Priebus, a former Republican National Committee chairman, is allowed to have communications and meetings with the RNC, the document says.

Shortly after taking office in January, Trump signed an executive order barring lobbyists who joined the administration from working on issues related to their prior work. But the administration has the power to grant waivers to particular hires, exempting them from that restriction.

Also on the list is Michael Catanzaro, a special assistant to the president and a former oil and gas lobbyist, who is cleared to weigh in on energy policy.

Daniel Epstein, associate counsel to the president, “may provide legal advice to the White House Office or any agency of the executive branch and to take positions adverse to Cause of Action Institute.”

Shahira Knight, a special assistant to the president who formerly worked for Fidelity, a financial services company, “may participate in broad policy matters and particular matters of general applicability relating to tax, retirement and financial services issues.”

Andrew Olmem, a special assistant to Trump who worked as an attorney to the Senate Banking Committee during the financial crisis, is cleared to join meetings with former clients involving Puerto Rico’s fiscal issues, along with a wide range of activities involving financial regulation.

Mick Mulvaney, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), had promised in a letter on Friday that the White House would comply with a request from the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to provide information on which former lobbyists are working in the administration.

Mulvaney said in the letter that the administration was not seeking to impede efforts by OGE to obtain that information, despite earlier protests from Walter Shaub, the agency’s director.

Shaub, an appointee under President Barack Obama in the final year of a five-year term, had requested in April copies of waivers the Trump administration granted to former lobbyists now appointed to positions in the government. Those requests were sent to agencies across the administration, seeking waivers that would allow former lobbyists to work on issues they had been involved with as paid advocates.

But OMB requested a stay of that request, prompting a fierce response from Shaub. He called the request “highly unusual” and said his agency has the authority to take “corrective action proceedings” against agencies that refuse its requests.

In his Friday response, Mulvaney said the requested stay was not an attempt to stifle OGE efforts but rather to provide more time to “ensure sufficient consideration was given to legal questions.”

“OMB has never sought to impede OGE,” he wrote. Mulvaney closed the letter by saying the OMB did not grant any lobbyist waivers itself.
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Chinese Maker of Ivanka Trump Shoes Denies Labor Violations

Posted on by SeeUS

A Chinese company that makes shoes for Ivanka Trump and other brands denied allegations Thursday of excessive overtime and low wages made by three activists who have been arrested or disappeared.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Hua Haifeng, an investigator for China Labor Watch, a New York-based nonprofit, had been arrested on a charge of illegal surveillance while his two colleagues — Li Zhao and Su Heng — are missing and rights groups fear they have been detained. They were investigating Huajian Group factories in the southern Chinese cities of Ganzhou and Dongguan.

 

“We are shocked,” Long Shan, a spokeswoman for the Huajian Group, said in an email to The Associated Press. “As a renowned global media outlet, you have put out many untrue reports not based on facts and without our consent.”

 

China Labor Watch executive director Li Qiang said Thursday he still had not been able to confirm the status of the two men. Huajian was contacted before AP’s initial reports were published but issued no statement until Thursday.

 

Long said the company had stopped producing Ivanka Trump shoes months ago. She said that Hua Haifeng joined the group’s factory in Dongguan on May 20, but left after less than a week, and Su Heng began working at their Ganzhou factory on April 28, but also left after a short time. She said she did not know their current whereabouts.

 

“By coming to Huajian to work, they are Huajian employees. Huajian staff must comply with China’s laws and regulations and Huajian’s rules,” she said, adding that at least one of the men “used methods like taking photographs and video to obtain the company’s trade secrets, which is not in line with the company’s regulations. Our company has the right to hold him accountable.”

 

She said reports of managers verbally abusing workers, including insults and a crude reference in Chinese to female genitalia, were based on misunderstanding. “It is the local dialect being used as management language,” she said.

 

She said Huajian was looking into allegations of improper use of student interns.

 

Ivanka Trump’s brand declined to comment on the allegations or the arrest and disappearances. Marc Fisher, which produces shoes for Ivanka Trump and other brands, said it was looking into the allegations.

 

China Labor Watch has been exposing poor working conditions at suppliers to some of the world’s best-known companies for nearly two decades, but Li said his work has never before attracted this level of scrutiny from China’s state security apparatus.

 

The arrest and disappearances come amid a crackdown on perceived threats to the stability of China’s ruling Communist Party, particularly from sources with foreign ties such as China Labor Watch. Faced with rising labor unrest and a slowing economy, Beijing has taken a stern approach to activism in southern China’s manufacturing belt and to human rights advocates generally, sparking a wave of critical reports about disappearances, public confessions, forced repatriation and torture in custody.

 

 

 

 
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Putin: Russian State Has Never Been Involved in Hacking

Posted on by SeeEU

President Vladimir Putin says the Russian state has never been involved in hacking.

Speaking at a meeting with senior editors of leading international news agencies Thursday, Putin said that some individual “patriotic” hackers could mount some attacks amid the current cold spell in Russia’s relations with the West.

 

But he categorically insisted that “we don’t engage in that at the state level.”

 

Putin also said that “no hackers can influence election campaigns in any country of Europe, Asia or America.”

 

U.S. intelligence agencies have accused Russia of hacking into Democratic Party emails, helping President Donald Trump’s election victory.

 

 
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Comey OK’d to Testify; House Committee Issues Subpoenas

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The House intelligence committee says it is issuing subpoenas for Michael Flynn and Michael Cohen — President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser and his personal lawyer — as well as their businesses as part of its investigation into Russian activities during last year’s election.

In addition to those four subpoenas, the committee issued three others — to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the CIA — for information about requests that government officials made to unmask the identities of U.S. individuals named in classified intelligence reports.

 

The subpoenas were announced Wednesday as the special counsel overseeing the government’s investigation into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia has approved former FBI Director James Comey testifying before the Senate intelligence committee, according to a Comey associate.

 

At a Wednesday briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said inquiries about the Russia investigation must be directed to Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Marc Kasowitz. It marked the first time the White House had officially acknowledged that outside counsel had been retained. Calls and emails to Kasowitz’s New York firm were not returned Wednesday.

 

The Comey associate, who wasn’t authorized to discuss details of the testimony and spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to discuss the content of Comey’s planned testimony. The associate did say that Robert Mueller, appointed by the Justice Department earlier this month to lead the government’s inquiry, is allowing Comey to make certain statements.

 

Lawmakers are likely to ask Comey about his interactions with Trump as the bureau pursued its investigation into his campaign’s contacts.

 

Associates have said Comey wrote memos describing certain interactions with Trump that gave him pause in the months after the election, including details of a dinner in which he claimed the president asked him to pledge his loyalty, and a request to shut down the investigation of Flynn.

 

A spokesman for Mueller, a former FBI director, declined to comment. Mueller’s separate probe could conceivably look at the circumstances surrounding Comey’s firing.

 

Congress is currently out of session. It resumes next Tuesday. No date for Comey’s testimony has been set.

 

The Associated Press reported earlier this month that Comey planned to testify before the Senate committee after Memorial Day, but the approval from Mueller to do so could indicate that date is fast approaching.

 

A spokeswoman for the committee’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said the committee welcomes Comey’s testimony, but declined to comment further.

 

The House panel pursuing its own investigation of the Trump campaign and possible Russia ties has also sought information from Comey, asking the FBI to turn over documents related to his interactions with both the White House and the Justice Department.

 

Subpoenas were approved Wednesday for Flynn and his company, Flynn Intel Group, and Cohen and his firm, Michael D. Cohen & Associates.

 

Cohen, who’d earlier refused a request for information saying it was “not capable of being answered,” told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he would comply with subpoenas, should they be issued. He said he has “nothing to hide.”

 

Trump has repeatedly dismissed allegations that his campaign collaborated with Russia ahead of the presidential election. Early Wednesday morning, the president tweeted `”Witch Hunt!” in reference to testimony by Comey and former CIA director John Brennan before Congress on the topic.

 

Also Wednesday, a Justice Department official confirmed that Mueller had named a top Justice Department official to his team. Andrew Weissmann had been head of the criminal division’s fraud section since 2015. The longtime Justice official previously served as FBI general counsel under Mueller. He began his career with Justice in 1991 at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of New York. He later joined and ran the Enron Task Force.
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