Month: August 2017

Jordan Opens First Job Center in Syrian Refugee Camp

Posted on by SeeEA

Jordan has opened its first job center inside a refugee camp, unlocking work opportunities across the country for thousands living in the world’s largest Syrian refugee camp, the U.N. labor agency said Tuesday.

So far, more than 800 refugees in the Zaatari camp in Jordan, which borders Syria and is home to nearly 80,000 people, have registered for work permits at the job center, the International Labor Organization said.

“Refugee workers now have a clear address to resort to when searching for jobs and applying for work permits, where they can receive all necessary information and benefit from expert support,” Maha Kattaa, ILO response coordinator in Jordan, said in a statement.

The Jordanian government says the country is home to 1.4 million Syrians, of whom more than 660,000 are registered with the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR.

Allowing refugees to work in host countries relieves pressure on social services, boosts the local economy and gives refugees the financial security to re-establish their lives, said UNHCR, which manages work permits and the flows in and out of the Zaatari camp.

“I am confident that having an increased number of Syrians entering the labor market will positively impact the local economy and bring stability to refugee families,” said Stefano Severe, a UNHCR spokesman in Jordan.

Earlier this month, Jordan became the first Arab country to issue Syrian refugees with a new type of work permit that opens up the growing construction sector.

The center, launched by the Jordanian government, will run job fairs and employment matching services with businesses across the country.

There are also plans to open a second center in a nearby camp in Azraq, ILO said.
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Brawls Break Out Among Migrants Near French Port City Calais

Posted on by SeeEU

As many as 200 migrants clashed near the northern French port city of Calais, using sticks and iron bars in five mass brawls that mainly pitted Afghans against Eritreans, authorities said Tuesday.

A total of 21 migrants and six riot police were injured, none seriously, during the clashes that broke out between Monday night and Tuesday afternoon, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture said.

Up to 150 migrants were involved in the last fight, which started on a road leading out of the Calais city center and moved to a highway, the prefecture said. The regional Voix du Nord newspaper said the violent skirmishes held up traffic.

Four other fights began late Monday and continued until dawn as police dispersed the groups with tear gas.

Police detained seven migrants for questioning and put 20 others in administrative detention, meaning they risk expulsion from France, according to the prefecture.

Authorities cleared some 7,000 migrants from a makeshift camp in Calais last fall, but people hoping to enter Britain by crossing the English Channel in trains or ferries are steadily returning. Authorities estimate about 400 migrants are now in the Calais area, while aid groups put the number at about 600.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said three weeks ago that even though there are far fewer migrants in Calais compared to a year ago, 30,000 attempts to sneak into the Eurotunnel complex or onto ferries had been made since the start of 2017. Many of the people on the French side of the Channel make repeated attempts.

The interior minister announced at the end of July that two special centers to shelter migrants in Calais would be opened. However, the shelters for willing occupants are aimed at speeding up assessments of their situations, including whether they are to be expelled from France.
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Mudslide at Guinea Rubbish Dump Kills at Least 8

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At least eight people died and others were injured in Guinea  when a portion of a rubbish landfill site collapsed on houses on the outskirts of the capital, Conakry, in torrential rain, police and government officials said on Tuesday.

The disaster followed landslides in Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo in which hundreds of people have been killed since early last week. Authorities have said that heavy rain in the region could cause more deaths.

Monday’s incident in Guinea occurred in the morning in the Dar Es Salam neighborhood after an overnight deluge. The area is filled with wood and tin-roof houses, some of which are situated at the base of a towering mass of refuse.

“I saw the mountain of garbage collapse on other people’s houses. People were trapped,” Dar Es Salam resident Yamoussa Soumah told Reuters. “My wife and I heard the mud begin falling on our roof. We were able to escape, but we’ve lost everything.”

The government initially said five people had been killed and around 10 injured.

A senior police source later said that eight had died, and a second official said the government was preparing to raise its death toll after finding three more bodies.

A young girl was pulled alive from the debris and rushed to medics in the arms of a rescue worker.

“Currently rescue operations are under way,” the government said in a statement. “On this sad occasion, the government addresses its deepest condolences to the victims’ families.”

Shifting rainfall patterns, rampant deforestation and expanding urban populations are increasing the risk of deadly mudslides across west and central Africa, experts have said.

Rescue workers have unearthed 499 bodies since the side of Mount Sugar Loaf collapsed last Monday near the Sierra Leone capital Freetown in one of Africa’s worst flooding-related disasters in years.

More than 200 people were believed to have been killed in Congo days later when another landslide struck the village of Tora on the shores of Lake Albert, a seismically active zone in the western Rift Valley.
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Aid Agencies: Iraqis in Tal Afar Face Danger, Need Protection

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Aid agencies are warning that thousands of Iraqi civilians trapped in the Islamic State-controlled city of Tal Afar face great danger as they try to flee amid the government’s battle to retake the city.

No one knows how many civilians remain in Tal Afar. Humanitarian agencies have been unable to enter it since IS militants captured it in 2014. However, the agencies estimate the city’s pre-conflict population was 200,000.

The United Nations reports more than 30,000 people have fled Tal Afar district since April, with thousands more remaining behind. U.N. refugee spokesman Andrej Mahecic says conditions within the city reportedly are very difficult, with food, water and electricity in short supply.

He says many people are desperate to leave and those who do are putting their lives at risk.

“Many talk of seeing dead bodies along the way, and there are reports that some were killed by extremist groups,” Mahecic said Tuesday. “Others appear to have died due to dehydration or illnesses.

“People leaving Tal Afar are walking long distances to reach safety, without food or water, at times up to 20 hours and in scorching heat. The temperatures, may I remind you, are about 50 degrees Celsius [122 Fahrenheit] in that part of Iraq at this time of the year.”

Human shields

Mahecic warns that Iraqi civilians inside Tal Afar are likely to be held as human shields by IS militants and those who attempt to flee could be shot. He says his agency has received reports that displaced Iraqi families who have escaped are being denied shelter in safe locations.

He says other reports indicate displaced people from Tal Afar are being harassed and subjected to revenge attacks. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees is calling on the Iraqi government to prevent this abuse from occurring and to take measures to protect these individuals.

The government Sunday launched its military operation to retake Tal Afar, one of the last Iraqi areas held by IS, following the July liberation of Mosul about 80 kilometers to the east.
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Ukraine Cyber Security Firm Warns of Possible New Attacks

Posted on by SeeEU

Ukrainian cyber security firm ISSP said on Tuesday it may have detected a new computer virus distribution campaign, after security services said Ukraine could face cyber-attacks similar to those which knocked out global systems in June.

The June 27 attack, dubbed NotPetya, took down many Ukrainian government agencies and businesses, before spreading rapidly through corporate networks of multinationals with operations or suppliers in eastern Europe.

ISPP said that, as with NotPetya, the new malware seemed to originate in accounting software and could be intended to take down networks when Ukraine celebrates its Independence Day on Aug. 24.

“This could be an indicator of a massive cyber-attack preparation before National Holidays in Ukraine,” it said in a statement.

In a statement, the state cyber police said they also had detected new malicious software.

The incident is “in no way connected with global cyber-attacks like those that took place on June 27 of this year and is now fully under control,” it said.

The state cyber police and the Security and Defense Council have said Ukraine could be targeted with a NotPetya-style attack aimed at destabilizing the country as it marks its 1991 independence from the Soviet Union.

Last Friday, the central bank said it had warned state-owned and private lenders of the appearance of new malware, spread by opening email attachments of word documents.

Ukraine – regarded by some, despite Kremlin denials, as a guinea pig for Russian state-sponsored hacks – is fighting an uphill battle in turning pockets of protection into a national strategy to keep state institutions and systemic companies safe.
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Merkel Challenger Advocates Removal of US Nuclear Weapons

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Chancellor Angela Merkel’s main challenger in next month’s election says he would push for the removal of U.S. nuclear weapons from German soil.

The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that Social Democrat Martin Schulz also told supporters in the city of Trier on Tuesday that a government led by him would seek to limit Germany’s own military expenditures.

The news agency quoted Schulz saying: “As chancellor, I will work to ensure that the nuclear weapons stationed in Germany … are removed.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has pressured Germany and other NATO partners to spend more on defense.

But Schulz said: “It can’t be that Germany, without comment and without action, continues to take part in an armament spiral as wanted by Trump.”

Merkel’s bloc currently enjoys a 15 percent lead over Schulz’s party.
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US Sanctions Russian, Chinese Firms for Helping North Korea Militarize

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The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Chinese and Russian individuals and companies Tuesday, accusing them of conducting business with North Korea in ways that helped Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile programs.

Reuters reports China’s embassy called the action a “mistake” that should be immediately corrected. 

The U.S. Treasury Department said the 10 companies and six individuals helped North Korea generate revenue that could be used to pay for weapons programs. The firms and their executives do business with previously sanctioned companies and people who work with the North Korean energy sector. They are accused of helping place North Korean workers abroad and helping Pyongyang evade international financial restrictions.

The U.S. Justice Department filed lawsuits seeking $11 million from companies based in China and Singapore that are accused of conspiring to help North Korea evade sanctions.

Tuesday’s moves follow angry verbal exchanges between Washington and Pyongyang over North Korea’s missile tests, which have demonstrated a growing military capability by the reclusive state.
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US Defense Secretary to Visit Ankara Amid Rising Tensions

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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is set to visit Ankara, Turkey in the coming days as part of a tour of the region. Mattis’ visit comes as bilateral relations between the two NATO allies are strained over Washington’s support of Syrian Kurds, whom Ankara considers terrorists.

“Turkish relations are as bad as they can get,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Iraq and Washington. “But the fact Turkey’s position on the world map is extremely important, one can look on the map and see without Turkey it will be difficult for the U.S., if not impossible, getting rid of ISIL from Iraq and Syria,” said Selcen, using an acronym for Islamic State.

Analysts suggest Mattis’ first task is in seeking to prevent a further deterioration in relations; but, video this month of convoys of U.S. arms being delivered to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia enraged Ankara.

The YPG is engaged in fighting as part of a coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, which seeks to oust Islamic State militants, Raqqa, Syria, IS’ self-declared capital. Ankara accuses the YPG of being terrorists linked to the PKK, which is fighting the Turkish state.

“The PKK is a Marxist-Leninist organization supported by the United States. Look at this irony and they are trained in American camps,” said Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin. The U.S. considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

“The [Turkish] regime will never accept the explanations of Washington regarding the military support to the YPG,” said political scientist Cengiz Aktar; but, experts suggest that there is a realization in Ankara that Washington will not reverse its policy given its success, with around half of Raqqa already captured by the YPG.

What happens after Raqqa’s fall is predicted to be a key part of Mattis’ talks in Ankara.

“One of [Ankara’s] priorities will be to stop the arms going to the YPG ending up in the hands of the PKK,” said Unal Cevikoz, former Turkish ambassador and now head of the Ankara Policy Center. “The second issue with end game approaching in Raqqa, when IS is eradicated from Raqqa, Turkey will probably ask for the post-Raqqa administration be given to the Sunni Arabs rather than YPG.”

Ankara accuses the forces engaged in capturing Raqqa as predominantly Kurdish and unrepresentative of the local population.

“The Turkish regime wants to destroy the de facto federated government of the Syrian Kurdish in the north of Syria. This is a long-term strategy of Ankara,” said political scientist Aktar.

Turkish military forces are already massed around the Syrian enclave of Afrin, which is under YPG control. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly warned of an imminent operation against Afrin.

“The U.S. does not want Turkey to intervene because it fears it will interfere with the operation in Raqqa,” said former ambassador Cevikoz. “The issue will likely be discussed during Mattis’ visit, but I think there will be no agreement with both sides agreeing to disagree. But Turkey is trying to coordinate the possibility of an operation in and around Afrin and also Idlib, with Iranian and Russians, so it’s not just a U.S.-Turkish issue.”

Ankara is already coordinating with Tehran and Moscow as part of the Astana agreement process to resolve the Syrian civil war. Idlib is one of the last remaining regions under Syrian rebel control.

The future of Idlib is also a potentially contentious issue during Mattis’ visit.

“The American concerns are very serious that Idlib is hosting a lot of jihadists. What is much more important is there are some 10,000 al-Qaida members in Idlib, but I think Russia and Turkey will ask the Americans to leave Idlib to their control,” said Cevikoz.

Ankara’s growing cooperation with Moscow and Tehran at a time of strained relations with its Western allies has led to growing questions over where its loyalties ultimately lie; but, an independence referendum next month by Iraqi Kurds will offer Mattis some common ground with Washington and Ankara, both having voiced opposition to the vote.

 
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UNICEF Reports Rise in Use of ‘Human Bombs’ by Boko Haram

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The U.N. children’s fund reports an alarming increase in the use of so-called “human bombs” by Boko Haram insurgents in northeast Nigeria.

UNICEF reports a four-fold increase over all of last year in the number of children, especially girls, being used as so-called “human bombs” by Boko Haram militants in northeast Nigeria.

UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says 83 children were forced to go on suicide missions. She says 55 of the children were girls under the age of 15, 27 were boys, and one was an infant strapped to a girl.

She says the consequences for all children are terrible. Because of their role as human bombs, she tells VOA children are widely viewed with suspicion.

“There is an extraordinary level of tension obviously in these communities and… people are afraid of children who have been victimized in this absolutely appalling way,” she said. “There are instances of children being ostracized by their communities and worse. Like terrible things are happening to children after already horrific things have happened to them.”

UNICEF calls the use of children as human bombs an atrocity and says they are above all victims and not perpetrators. It says rejecting children who have been released by Boko Haram or have escaped simply compounds their suffering.

The agency notes most of the attacks are on so-called soft targets, such as markets, schools, universities and displacement camps. And, most take place in Borno State.
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North Korea: Trump Tweets ‘Weird Articles,’ ‘Spouts Rubbish’

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North Korea on Tuesday described President Donald Trump as a leader who frequently tweets “weird articles of his ego-driven thoughts” and “spouts rubbish” to give his assistants a hard time.

The North’s official Korean Central News Agency made the comments in response to tough talk in Washington and Seoul over threats posed by Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

 

In the same commentary, KCNA also criticized South Korea’s “puppy-like” Defense Minister Song Young-moo, who it said was “running wild” while relying on the “master of the White House.” Song recently ordered the South’s military to be prepared to “immediately and sternly punish” any kind of provocation by North Korea, which has caused hostility with two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month and a threat to lob missiles toward the U.S. territory of Guam.

 

“Trump spouted rubbish that if a war breaks out, it would be on the Korean Peninsula, and if thousands of people die, they would be only Koreans and Americans may sleep a sound sleep,” KCNA wrote, ridiculing Song for “pinning hope on that mad guy.”

 

The agency’s comments came hours after North Korea’s military issued its standard fiery threats over ongoing joint military exercises between the U.S. and South Korean militaries, vowing “merciless retaliation” for exercises Pyongyang claims are an invasion rehearsal. The allies describe the annual war games as defensive in nature.

 

North Korea has unleashed personal attacks on past Washington and Seoul leaders, calling former president Barack Obama a monkey and ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye a prostitute. Trump was previously described in North Korean state media as “going senile” and a “war maniac bereft of reason.”

 

Trump has used Twitter to launch his own insults at North Korea and its leader, Kim Jong Un. On August 11, Trump tweeted that military solutions were “fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely” amid the standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over the Guam missile threat. But he complimented Kim five days later for making a “very wise and well reasoned decision” after Pyongyang walked away from the threat.
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Trump Rebuffs Coal Industry; CEO Claims Promise Broken

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The Trump administration has rejected a coal industry push to win a rarely used emergency order protecting coal-fired power plants, a decision contrary to what one coal executive said the president personally promised him.

The Energy Department says it considered issuing the order sought by companies seeking relief for plants it says are overburdened by environmental regulations and market stresses. But the department ultimately ruled it was unnecessary, and the White House agreed, a spokeswoman said.

The decision is a rare example of friction between the beleaguered coal industry and the president who has vowed to save it. It also highlights a pattern emerging as the administration crafts policy: The president’s bold declarations — both public and private — are not always carried through to implementation.

President Donald Trump committed to the measure in private conversations with executives from Murray Energy Corp. and FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. after public events in July and early August, according to letters to the White House from Murray Energy and its chief executive, Robert Murray. In the letters, obtained by The Associated Press, Murray said failing to act would cause thousands of coal miners to be laid off and put the pensions of thousands more in jeopardy. One of Murray’s letters said Trump agreed and told Energy Secretary Rick Perry, “I want this done” in Murray’s presence.

The White House declined to comment on Murray’s assertion. A spokesman for Murray Energy, Gary Broadbent, also declined to comment on the letters.

Energy Department spokeswoman Shaylyn Hynes said the agency was sympathetic to the coal industry’s plight.

“We look at the facts of each issue and consider the authorities we have to address them, but with respect to this particular case at this particular time, the White House and the Department of Energy are in agreement that the evidence does not warrant the use of this emergency authority,” Hynes said in a statement Sunday.

The aid Murray sought from Trump involves invoking a little-known section of the U.S. Federal Power Act that allows the Energy Department to temporarily intervene when the nation’s electricity supply is threatened by an emergency, such as war or natural disaster. Among other measures, it temporarily exempts power plants from obeying environmental laws. In the past, the authority has been used sparingly, such as during the California energy crisis in 2000 and following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Obama administration never used it. The Trump administration has used it twice in seven months in narrow instances.

Murray’s company is seeking a two-year moratorium on closures of coal-fired power plants, which would be an unprecedented federal intervention in the nation’s energy markets. The company said invoking the provision under the Power Act was “the only viable mechanism” to protect the reliability of the nation’s power supply.

Murray told the White House that his key customer, Ohio-based electricity company FirstEnergy Solutions, was at immediate risk of bankruptcy. Without FirstEnergy’s plants burning his coal, Murray said his own company would be forced into “immediate bankruptcy,” triggering the layoffs of more than 6,500 miners. FirstEnergy acknowledged to the AP that bankruptcy of its power-generation business was a possibility.

Murray urged Trump to use the provision in the Federal Power Act to halt further coal plant closures by declaring an emergency in the electric power grid.

After a conversation with Trump at a July 25 political rally in Youngstown, Ohio, Murray wrote, the president told Perry three times, “I want this done.” Trump also directed the emergency order be given during an Aug. 3 conversation in Huntington, West Virginia, he said.

“As stated, disastrous consequences for President Trump, our electric power grid reliability, and tens of thousands of coal miners will result if this is not immediately done,” he wrote.

Murray’s claims raise the possibility that Trump was warned against the move by his advisers — some of whom are known to be more cautious — or that he simply made assurances to Murray to avoid immediate confrontation. The people who worked on the decision most directly were Perry, Michael Catanzaro, who works under National Economic Council director Gary Cohn as the top White House energy adviser, and Perry’s chief of staff, Brian McCormack, U.S. officials told the AP. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal policy considerations by name.

Murray and his company have been impassioned supporters of Trump, donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign and inauguration, hosting fundraisers and embracing him as the rescuer of the Appalachian coal industry. The friendliness has been mutual: When Trump repealed an Obama administration regulation barring coal companies from dumping mine waste in streams, Murray and his sons were invited for the signing.

The Energy Department has already informed Murray it will not invoke the law, an official with knowledge of the decision told the AP.

Coal has become an increasingly unattractive fuel for U.S. electricity companies, which have been retiring old boilers at a record pace. At least two dozen big coal-fired plants are scheduled to shut down in coming months as utilities transition to new steam turbines fueled by cleaner-burning natural gas made more abundant in recent years by new drilling technologies.

Trump, who rejects the consensus of scientists that burning fossil fuels is causing global warming, has made reversing the coal industry’s decline a cornerstone of his administration’s energy and environmental policies. Since taking office, he announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the Paris climate accord, and he has moved to block or delay Obama-era regulations seeking to limit carbon emissions.

Other coal executives have urged similar government intervention to save their businesses. In a speech last week, the CEO of Peabody Energy Corp., the nation’s largest coal producer, also said a two-year moratorium on coal-plant closures was needed.

Perry has already twice invoked the Federal Power Act in narrow ways at the request of utilities seeking to keep old coal-burning plants online past their planned retirement dates. In both cases, the utilities were allowed to continue operations at plants amid concerns that shutting them down could lead to regional shortages in electricity.
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Report: Iran says Twitter ready to Talk on Unblocking Site

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Iran’s new telecommunications minister says Twitter is ready to talk about unblocking access to the microblogging site.

 

The state-owned IRAN newspaper quoted Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on Tuesday as saying Twitter has “officially announced readiness to talk with Iran for resolving the problems.”

 

San Francisco-based Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Iran blocked the site, along with Facebook and YouTube, after mass protests and violence over the 2009 re-election of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

 

Iran’s Supreme Council of Cyberspace, headed by current President Hassan Rouhani, officially is in charge of blocking websites. That council is overseen by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

Ahmadinejad, Rouhani and Khamenei all have Twitter accounts administered on their behalf. Others in Iran use virtual private networks to subvert the ban.

 

 
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Irish Church Aims to End Stigma for Children of Priests

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Bishops in Ireland have created detailed guidelines to address an issue the Roman Catholic Church has tried to keep under wraps for centuries: the plight of children born to Catholic priests and the women who bear them.

 

The policy, approved in May and made public in recent days, states the wellbeing of the child is paramount. It says the mother must be respected and involved in decision-making, and that the priest “should face up to his responsibilities – personal, legal, moral and financial.”

 

The guidelines are believed to represent the first comprehensive, public policy by a national bishops’ conference on the issue, which has long been shrouded in secrecy. While eastern rite Catholic priests can be married before ordination, Roman Catholic priests take a vow of celibacy.
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Remains from US Destroyer Recovered; Search For Missing Sailors Continues

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U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Scott Swift said Tuesday that divers have recovered human remains from the USS John McCain, the second U.S. guided-missile destroyer to collide with a commercial vessel in as many months.

“The divers were able to locate some remains in those sealed compartments during their search today,” Scott said at a news conference in Singapore.

Swift also said the U.S. Navy is trying to identify a body that was recovered by the Malaysian navy and determine whether it was one of the 10 U.S. sailors who went missing in the collision. The search for other missing sailors continues.

The U.S. Navy is promising to take “a much more aggressive stance” as it tries to determine what led to the collision with a tanker near the Strait of Malacca, resulting in the USS John S. McCain sustaining “significant damage.”

Photos released by the U.S. Navy show a gaping hole, below the waterline, on the John S. McCain’s port side. A statement from the U.S. 7th Fleet said some sleeping areas and communications rooms flooded as a result.

Operational pause

In response to the incident, the Navy ordered an immediate operational pause across the U.S. fleet.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson said the pause, lasting one to two days, will give commanders a chance to evaluate everything from how officers conduct themselves on the bridge to shipwide working conditions.

“There’s something out there that we’re not getting at,” Richardson told Pentagon reporters late Monday while discussing the latest mishap, adding there is no indication so far that anyone intentionally caused the collision.

Richardson has also ordered a broader investigation that will look at potential root causes for what he described as a series of mishaps at sea – from training and operational tempo to equipment and maintenance. He said that effort would bring in experts from outside the Navy to make sure nothing is overlooked.

“We need to get at this, get this done,” he said. “Just heartbroken at having to deal with this again.”

The collision between USS John S. McCain and the Liberian-flagged tanker ship Alnic MC early Monday is the second involving a ship from the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship hit each other in waters off Japan.

In the case of the USS Fitzgerald, the Navy relieved the captain of his command and other sailors are to be punished after an inquiry found poor seamanship and flaws in keeping watch contributed to the collision.

Two other U.S. Navy ships have also been involved in mishaps this year, one bumping into a fishing boat and the other running aground.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters while traveling in Jordan he “fully supports” the Navy’s broader probe that “will look into all related accidents at sea.”

“Once we have those facts, we’ll share them with you,” Mattis said.

Despite the damage, the USS McCain was able to pull into Singapore’s Changi Naval Base under its own power.

Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority said the Alnic MC also sustained damage, but that there were no injuries among its crew.

Rescue operation

The Singapore military evacuated four of the injured sailors by helicopter to a hospital in Singapore, where they are being treated for injuries that were not life threatening. The fifth sailor did not require medical attention.

U.S. President Donald Trump expressed support on Twitter, writing that his “thoughts and prayers” are with the sailors aboard the McCain.

 

The USS McCain is named for the father and grandfather of U.S. Senator John McCain, who each served as U.S. Navy admirals.

In a statement Monday, Senator McCain agreed with the Navy’s efforts to identify the root problems quickly.

“More forceful action is urgently needed to identify and correct the causes of the recent ship collisions,” he said. “Our sailors who risk their lives every day, in combat and in training, deserve no less.”
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Commander: Iraqi Troops Reach First Urban Areas of Tal Afar

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Iraqi troops on Tuesday reached the first urban areas of the Islamic State-held northern town of Tal Afar on the third day of a multi-pronged operation, said a military commander.

 

U.S.-trained elite forces, known as the Counter Terrorism Service, entered the al-Kifah neighborhood on the southwest edge of town, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Amir Rasheed Yar Allah, who commands the operation, said in a statement. He didn’t give more details.

 

Brig. Gen. Haider Fadhil, of the Iraqi special forces, told The Associated Press that the advancing troops didn’t face tough resistance from IS fighters, though they did fire rockets, sent suicide car bombers and used roadside bombs.

 

Fadhil expected the fighting to get even heavier as they push into the town’s center which is about 4.5 kilometers (about 3 miles) away. Civilians were not seen fleeing the area, he added.

 

The U.S.-backed operation was launched Sunday, a month after Iraq declared victory over IS in Mosul, the country’s second largest city. Tal Afar, about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of the Syrian border, is in one of the last pockets of IS-held territory in Iraq.

 

Along with the special forces, Iraq’s regular army, militarized Federal Police and Shiite-dominated paramilitary forces are taking part in the assault. Iraq’s state-run TV aired live footage showing pillars of smoke rising in the distance as military vehicles traveled through wide, arid areas.

 

Iraqi forces have driven IS from most of the major towns and cities seized by the militants in the summer of 2014, including Mosul, which was retaken after a grueling nine-month campaign.

 

But along with Tal Afar, the militants are still fully in control of the northern town of Hawija as well as Qaim, Rawa and Ana, in western Iraq near the Syrian border.
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2 Children Pulled from Rubble on Quake-hit Italian Island

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Firefighters in Italy freed a 7-month-old baby and his older brother from rubble early Tuesday following a 4.0-magnitude quake on the resort island of Ischia off Naples, and rescuers were working on helping a third brother who remained trapped.

 

At least two people were killed in the quake that struck just before 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) Monday, while another 39 were injured and some 2,600 were left homeless. The victims were an elderly woman who was in a church that crumbled in the quake, and a second person who has been located in the rubble but not yet extracted.

 

Video released from the firefighting service showed rescuers passing the baby, who was wearing a white onesie and appearing alert, out of the collapsed structure in hardest-hit Casamicciola at around 4 a.m. The news agency ANSA said cries of joy went up in the crowd and the boys’ mother ran to take him.

 

One of the baby’s brothers was rescued some seven hours later, and quickly loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance.

 

A firefighter photo showed the boy, identified as Mattias, being pulled out of the rubble in just his underwear covered with cement dust. Firefighters said on Twitter that they had reached the other boy, named Ciro, and were working on extracting him.

 

The children’s father told RAI state television that boys were in a bedroom when the quake struck, while he and his wife were elsewhere in the house. The mother, who Italian media say is heavily pregnant, managed to escape through a window while rescuers helped the father.

 

Firefighter spokesman Luca Cari said they maintained voice contact with the two boys during the complex rescue operation to create an opening through the collapsed ceiling. The boys had been given bottles of water and a flashlight.

 

“We are in touch with both of the boys. We hear their voices and we are making ours heard to keep them calm,” Cari was quoted by ANSA as saying.

 

The quake hit during the height of the tourist season, and Italian television showed many visitors taking refuge in parks following the quake. Authorities began organizing ferries to bring tourists back to the mainland early Tuesday.

 

Together with the nearby island of Capri, Ischia is a favorite island getaway for the European jet set, famed in particular for its thermal waters. Casamicciola was the epicenter of an 1883 earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people.

 

Images from the quake zone show many buildings collapsed into rubble, while others showed signs of structural damage with deep cracks in exterior walls. Cars were overturned.

 

The extent of the damage for a relatively light quake raised questions about the quality of construction on the island in the seismically active area off Naples and the active volcano, and the prevalence of illegally built structures.

 

Fabrizio Pistolesi, the head of Italy’s national architecture advisory board, told SKY that many buildings on the island were built before seismic codes were adopted. He also cited the high incidence of illegal construction on Ischia and generally in the Campagna region that includes both the resort island and Naples.

 

“We know well that in Campagna, more than 200,000 homes were illegally constructed, we are talking about homes constructed in absolute scorn of seismic norms,” he told Sky TG24.

 

Former Naples prosecutor Aldo De Chiara told Corriere della Sera that most of the recently constructed buildings on Ischia were built without necessary permits, and many with poor quality cement. “We warned about the risk of collapses also in the case of not particularly serious temblors,” De Chiara said. “Unfortunately, what we had denounced, happened last night.”

 

The head of Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, Angelo Borrelli, told reporters that 2,000 people had been left homeless in Casamicciola and another 600 in Lacco Ameno. He said authorities were checking the stability of hotels to see if they could be used as temporary housing.

 

The quake came just two days shy of the one-year anniversary of a powerful 6.2-magnitude earthquake that devastated several towns in central Italy. The quake on Aug. 24, 2016 killed more than 250 people in Amatrice and beyond and set off a months-long series of powerful aftershocks that emptied many towns and hamlets of their people.

 

 
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Ford, Chinese Partner Look at Possible Electric Car Venture

Posted on by SeeUS

Ford Motor Co. and a Chinese automaker said Tuesday they are looking into setting up a joint venture to develop and manufacture electric cars in China.

 

Ford’s potential venture with Anhui Zotye Automobile Co. adds to the global auto industry’s rising activity in electric vehicles for China, which passed the United States last year as the biggest market for them.

 

Chinese planners who see electrics as a promising industry and a way to clean up smog-choked cities are pushing automakers to speed up development.

 

Ford previously said it plans to offer electric versions of 70 percent of its models in China by 2025.

 

Privately owned Zotye Auto, headquartered in the eastern city of Huangshan, produces its own electric vehicles and said sales in the first seven months of this year rose 56 percent over the same period of 2016 to 16,000.

 

“This presents us with an exciting opportunity to leverage each other’s strengths,” Zotye chairman Jin Zheyong said in a joint statement.

 

Sales of pure-electric and gasoline-electric hybrids in China rose 50 percent last year over 2015 to 336,000 vehicles, or 40 percent of global demand. U.S. sales totaled 159,620.

 

Beijing has supported sales with subsidies and a planned quota system that would require automakers to produce electric cars or buy credits from companies that do.

 

Ford said it expects China’s market for all-electrics and hybrids to grow to annual sales of 6 million by 2025.

 

Volvo Cars announced plans this year to make electric cars in China for global sale starting in 2019. General Motors Co., Volkswagen AG, Nissan Motor Co. and others also have announced plans to make electric vehicles in China.

 

 
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Angola Prepares for Historic Election Without Longtime Leader in the Running

Posted on by SeeAF

Angola prepares for a historic poll Wednesday as the president steps down after nearly four decades years in power. It’s a contest between the longtime ruling party and their longtime opposition, and the nation’s fragile, oil-based economy is the main issue. Anita Powell files from Luanda.
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Trump Looks for Reset with Arizona Rally Tuesday

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a campaign-style rally Tuesday in Phoenix, Arizona, at time when he remains under fire for his controversial comments last week about a white nationalist rally that turned violent in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump blamed the violence not just on the rally organizers, but also the activists who opposed them. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
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Ford Offers Brits Incentives to Trade in Older Cars

Posted on by SeeEU

Ford Tuesday became the latest carmaker to launch a car scrappage scheme in Britain, joining the likes of BMW and Mercedes-Benz, after months of procrastination from the government over whether to begin a national program.

The U.S. automaker is offering customers a 2,000 pound ($2,580) discount off a range of Ford models when they trade in vehicles registered before the end of 2009.

BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Vauxhall, the British version of the Opel brand sold on the continent, have all launched similar schemes in recent weeks to incentivize motorists to reduce emissions by replacing their gas-guzzling models with greener cars.

The plans come after Britain delayed in July a decision over whether to introduce a nationwide or targeted vehicle scrappage scheme, with a consultation due to take place later this year, despite worries over emissions levels.

“Ford shares society’s concerns over air quality,” its managing director in Britain Andy Barratt said Tuesday.

“Removing generations of the most polluting vehicles will have the most immediate positive effect on air quality.”

Car sales slowing

Ford, BMW, Vauxhall and Mercedes sell around 1 million cars in Britain, more than a third of all new car registrations.

The scrappage schemes will help support sales at a time when demand for new cars is beginning to slide substantially for the first time in around six years.

In July, new car registrations fell for the fourth consecutive month, hit by a number of factors including uncertainty over Brexit and lack of clarity over future government plans around new levies on diesel models.

Britain’s last government-backed scrappage scheme came in the wake of the financial crisis and ran for nearly a year from mid-2009, helping to support the car sector, which had been hit by nose-diving sales.
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Mattis Visits Iraq Amid Push to Rout Islamic State, Look Toward Future

Posted on by SeeEA

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday Islamic State’s “days are numbered,” while cautioning that defeating the militant group is not imminent.

Mattis spoke to reporters before flying to Baghdad for an unannounced visit, where he met with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.

The two discussed security cooperation and U.S. support for Iraqi security forces, Abadi said in a tweet.

The Pentagon chief says stabilizing Iraq is “not going to happen overnight.”

 “It’s going to be a heavy lift for them going forward,” Mattis noted.

U.S. support

U.S. forces have been leading a coalition of countries conducting airstrikes and other military operations in support of Iraq’s military since August 2014, a few months after Islamic State fighters swept through large areas of northern and western Iraq. The Iraqi troops scored a major victory in July by recapturing control of Mosul, the nation’s second largest city.

On Sunday, Iraq’s military launched an offensive to take back Tal Afar, an area about 60 kilometers west of Mosul.

The U.S. coalition is also supporting efforts to expel Islamic State from areas it controls in neighboring Syria, including its de facto capital in the city of Raqqa.

Mattis said Tuesday a focus of the Syrian campaign will be in the middle Euphrates valley, an area of Islamic State control extending along the Euphrates River south of Raqqa from Der el-Zour to the Iraqi border.

One challenge for Iraq’s future will be avoiding the fragmentation between the country’s Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish factions.

Mattis’ meetings included planned talks with Massoud Barzani, leader of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region where next month there is a referendum scheduled on independence from the government in Baghdad.

Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition, said this is not the time to undertake the vote.

“A referendum at this time would be potentially catastrophic to the counter-ISIS campaign,” he said.
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US Embassy in Russia Suspends Nonimmigrant Visas Because of Staff Cap

Posted on by SeeEU

The United States is suspending the processing of nonimmigrant visas at its consulates in Russia after authorities there ordered its staff slashed by more than half in retaliation for U.S. sanctions against Russian in its election hacking. Russia’s foreign minister said Moscow would consider how best to respond to the decision, the latest tit-for-tat move in spiraling diplomatic relations. VOA’s Daniel Schearf reports from Washington.
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Suspects in Spain Terror Attacks to Appear in Court

Posted on by SeeEU

Four suspects arrested in connection with last week’s deadly van attack in Barcelona are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, a day after police shot and killed the man they say was the van’s driver.

Authorities say a 12-man terror cell was behind the attack, and that eight of the suspects have either been killed by police or died in an accidental explosion at their bomb-making facility the day before the attack.

The massive manhunt for the last outstanding suspect, Younes Abouyaaqoub, ended Monday in a rural area known for its vineyards about 45 kilometers west of Barcelona. Authorities say they shot the fugitive after he held up what appeared to be a bomb belt, which they later discovered was fake.

“We confirm that the man shot dead in #subirats is Younes Abouyaaqoub, author of the terrorist attack in #barcelona,” police tweeted Monday.

Catalan Interior Minister Joaquim Forn told Catalunya radio that “everything indicates” Younes Abouyaaqoub was behind the wheel of the van during Thursday’s Barcelona attack that killed 15 people.

Police say a bomb disposal robot was dispatched to approach the man’s body after the shooting to check the apparent suicide belt.

They said officers were alerted to the fugitive by a caller who reported a suspicious person near the local train station and then by another witness who said she was sure she saw Abouyaaqoub in the small town of Subirats fleeing through the vineyards. Authorities later found the man hiding in the vineyards and asked for his identification, leading to the shootout.

​Islamic connections

Many of the suspects had connections to the northeastern town of Ripoll, one of the places where police have focused their investigation.

Authorities say Abouyaaqoub, who was born in Morocco and has Spanish residency, also is suspected of carjacking a man and stabbing him to death as he made his getaway from the Barcelona attack.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the Barcelona attack along with another vehicle attack Friday in which a car crashed into people in the resort town of Cambrils, Spain, and the attackers then got out and tried to stab people. One person was killed and several people were wounded. Authorities believe both attacks were carried out by the same terrorist cell.

Authorities believe an imam named Abdelbaki Es Satty may have radicalized some of those who carried out the attack in Barcelona and the later attack in Cambrils. The imam was among those killed in the explosion at the bomb-making facility.

​Arrests may have prevented more attacks

Deakin University professor of global Islamic politics Greg Barton told VOA Spain’s previous arrests of terrorism suspects could explain why it has not dealt with the same number of attacks as other countries in Europe, such as France and Belgium in recent years.

“Spain is not immune from these problems, particularly Catalonia, where there are links with northern Morocco,” Barton said. “But Spain up until now has been able to keep on top of the problem, whereas France and Belgium have been struggling.”

Barton also said there does not seem to be any particular link between the influx of migrants to Europe and these attacks.

“The individuals being recruited have largely grown up in the countries where they’re recruited and they launch attacks in neighborhoods familiar to them,” he said.
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Yemen Blames Iran for War, Says It Can’t be Part of Solution

Posted on by SeeEA

Yemen’s foreign minister blamed Iran and its support for Houthi Shiite rebels on Monday for causing the country’s civil war and said it can’t be part of the solution.

 

Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi said at a press conference that Iranian weapons are still being smuggled into Yemen.

 

Saudi Arabia’s U.N. ambassador, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, whose country supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government, said Iran isn’t a neighbor or part of the Arabian Peninsula and he had a more direct message: “Iran should get the hell out of the area, period.”

 

The Saudi and Yemeni officials spoke to reporters after a presentation to U.N. diplomats on the path to peace and humanitarian aid to Yemen.

 

Yemen, which is on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has been engulfed in civil war since September 2014, when the Houthis swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally recognized government.

 

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began a campaign in support of Hadi’s Saleh. Since then, the Iranian-backed Houthis have been dislodged from most of the south, but remain in control of Sanaa and much of the north.

The war in Yemen has killed over 10,000 civilians and displaced 3 million people. U.N. humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Friday that 17 million Yemenis don’t know where their next meal is coming from, nearly 7 million are facing the threat of famine and almost 16 million lack access to clean water and sanitation. The World Health Organization said last week that 2,000 people have been killed and an estimated 500,000 infected in a cholera outbreak.

 

Al-Mekhlafi said that “the Yemeni government … will not be an obstruction to peace.” But he said the Houthis and Saleh “cannot monopolize power.”

 

The two diplomats reiterated Yemeni and Saudi support for a proposal by U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to reopen Sanaa airport for commercial flights and to hand over the port of Hodeida to a committee of “respected Yemeni security and economic figures” that would use the port revenues to pay civil servants.

 

The Houthis have not accepted the proposal, but Cheikh Ahmed said Friday he hopes their leaders will accept his invitation to meet in a third country to discuss the proposals.

The Saudi ambassador warned diplomats to beware of three “fallacies” about Yemen.

 

First, Al-Mouallimi said, supporting a cessation of hostilities “actually means the de facto partition of Yemen and the consolidation of a reactionary movement that is tied with Iran in the north part of Yemen and a weak Yemeni state in the southern part of Yemen.”

 

“This is no recipe for sustainable peace,” he said, stressing that any cease-fire has to be linked to implementation of a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that the Houthis withdraw from all areas they captured, hand over arms seized from military and security institutions, and stop all actions falling within the authority of the legitimate government.

 

Al-Mouallimi said the second fallacy “is that we must all sit around the table and talk.” He said there have been talks “everywhere,” including Geneva, Kuwait, Moscow and Saudi Arabia. Yemen’s recognized government has shown willingness to move forward with a political settlement, Al-Mouallimi said, while the Houthis have rejected Cheikh Ahmed’s proposal and refused to meet him.

 

The third fallacy, he said, is that people often seem to think that “a disastrous humanitarian situation, a catastrophic spread of cholera” afflict all of Yemen. But “all of that is concentrated in one part of Yemen which is controlled by the Houthis,” he said. Al-Mouallimi said the entire world, especially Saudi Arabia, is ready to provide aid but he said the Houthis are unable or “sometimes maybe unwilling” to manage and distribute aid.

 

Looking ahead, Yemen’s foreign minister predicted that “in the end,” the parties will get to the place where they started — when the end of a national dialogue in January 2014 all political parties agreed on a road map for a political transition.

 

But unfortunately, to get there Yemenis will have “paid a high price for peace,” Al-Mekhlafi said.
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