Subterranean jugs used for wine fermentation in the Caucasus since 6,000 BC are being embraced by a Virginia cider company whose manager says the imported clay vessels’ unique microbes and unusual physical shape are the secret to the orchard’s signature ciders. VOA Georgian’s Maia Kay has more from Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Month: October 2017
Military Experts: China Holds Key to Resolving North Korea Crisis
Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have been running high since North Korea accelerated its intercontinental missile tests. September’s hydrogen bomb test has led to increased U.S. and international condemnation and a new round of sanctions. VOA’s Jela de Franceschi takes a closer look at the tense situation.
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Billionaire Populist Likely Next Czech Prime Minister
The centrist ANO movement led by populist Andrej Babis decisively won the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election Saturday in a vote that shifted the country to the right and paved the way for the euroskeptic billionaire to become its next prime minister.
With all votes counted, the Czech Statistics Office said ANO won in a landslide, capturing 29.6 percent of the vote, or 78 of the 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament.
“It’s a huge success,” the 63-year-old Babis told supporters and journalists at his headquarters in Prague.
Babis is the county’s second-richest man, with a media empire including two major newspapers and a popular radio station.
Although he was a finance minister in the outgoing government until May, many Czechs see him as a maverick outsider with the business acumen to shake up the system. With slogans claiming he can easily fix the country’s problems, he is, for some, the Czech answer to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Since the leader of the strongest party usually forms a new government, Babis could be the country’s next leader despite being linked to several scandals, including being charged by police with fraud linked to European Union subsidies.
The charges will likely make it difficult for Babis to find the coalition partners he needs to build a parliamentary majority. He didn’t immediately say which parties he preferred but has invited all parties that won seats in parliament for talks.
In a blow to the country’s political elite, four of the top five vote-getting parties Saturday had challenged the traditional political mainstream. Some have exploited fears of immigration and Islam and have been attacking the country’s memberships in the EU and NATO.
The opposition conservative Civic Democrats came in a distant second Saturday with 11.3 percent of the vote, or 25 seats. They were the strongest mainstream party. The Social Democrats, the senior party in the outgoing government, captured only 7.3 percent — 15 seats — while the Christian Democrats, part of the ruling coalition, won only 5.8 percent support or 10 seats.
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Trump: ‘I Doubt I Would Be Here’ Without Social Media
U.S. President Donald Trump defended his regular use of social media, especially Twitter, and said he may not have won the White House without it.
In an interview airing Sunday on “Fox Business Network,” Trump says he can bypass what he labels unfair media coverage by speaking directly.
“Tweeting is like a typewriter — when I put it out, you put it immediately on your show,” he said, according to a transcript released by the network. “I doubt I would be here if weren’t for social media, to be honest with you.”
Trump called his social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram “a tremendous platform.”
“When somebody, says something about me, I am able to go bing, bing, bing and I take care of it. The other way, I would never be get the word out,” he said, according to the transcript.
Urged to stop
Republican leaders have regularly urged Trump to avoid or cut back on tweets, and Trump acknowledged some friends suggest he not use social media.
Trump regularly mounts attacks on Twitter, especially at news media and political opponents, often sending out missives in the early morning or late evening hours.
Inaccuracies, attacks
At times, Trump’s tweets have contained factual inaccuracies and personal attacks.
In March for example, Trump asserted without evidence that President Barack Obama ordered Trump Tower in New York wiretapped, something Obama denied.
In September, the FBI and the Justice Department said in a court filing “they have no records related to wiretaps as described” by tweets from Trump.
He recently excoriated NFL players for taking a knee during the National Anthem.
He also criticized Senator Bob Corker in a series of tweets prompting Corker to respond: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”
White House chief of staff John Kelly said last week some have criticized him for failing to control Trump’s tweeting.
“I was not brought to this job to control anything but the flow of information to our president,” Kelly said.
In July, Trump was sued in federal court by seven individuals whom he has blocked on Twitter. The Justice Department said the suit should be dismissed, arguing it “rests on the unsupported and erroneous premise that the president’s Twitter account is a public forum for First Amendment purposes.”
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Turkey Bank Regulator Dismisses ‘Rumors’ After Iran Sanctions Report
Turkey’s banking regulator urged the public on Saturday to ignore rumors about financial institutions, in an apparent dismissal of a report that some Turkish banks face billions of dollars of U.S. fines over alleged violations of Iran sanctions.
“It has been brought to the public’s attention that stories, that are rumors in nature, about our banks are not based on documents or facts, and should not be heeded,” the BDDK banking regulator said in a statement, adding that Turkey’s banks were functioning well.
The Haberturk newspaper on Saturday reported that six banks potentially face substantial fines, citing senior banking sources. It did not name the banks. One bank faces a penalty in excess of $5 billion, while the rest of the fines will be lower, it said.
Asked to comment, a spokesman for the U.S. Treasury, which is responsible for U.S. sanctions regimes, said only: “Treasury doesn’t telegraph intentions or prospective actions.”
Two senior Turkish economy officials told Reuters Turkey has not received any notice from Washington about such penalties, adding that U.S. regulators would normally inform the finance ministry’s financial crimes investigation board.
U.S. authorities have hit global banks with billions of dollars in fines over violations of sanctions with Iran and other countries in recent years.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump last week adopted a harsh new approach to Iran by refusing to certify its compliance with a nuclear deal struck with the United States and five other powers including Britain, France and Germany under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Trump argues the deal was too lenient and has effectively left its fate up to the U.S. Congress, which might try to modify it or bring back U.S. sanctions previously imposed on Iran.
Last week, the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal Mandelker said Trump’s strategy involved placing additional sanctions on Tehran and that Washington had been “engaging our allies and partners” with the aim of denying funds to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Haberturk report comes as relations between Washington and Ankara, which are NATO allies, have been strained by a series of diplomatic rows, prompting both countries to cut back issuing visas to each other’s citizens.
U.S. prosecutors last month charged a former Turkish economy minister and the ex-head of a state-owned bank with conspiring to violate Iran sanctions by illegally moving hundreds of millions of dollars through the U.S. financial system on Tehran’s behalf.
President Erdogan has dismissed the charges as politically motivated, and tantamount to an attack on the Turkish Republic.
The charges stem from the case against Reza Zarrab, a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader who was arrested in the United States over sanctions evasion last year. Erdogan has said U.S. authorities had “ulterior motives” in charging Zarrab, who has pleaded not guilty.
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Portuguese Protest Over Deadly Forest Fires, Government Pledges Aid
As thousands of Portuguese protested on Saturday over the government’s handling of massive wildfires that have killed 108 people since June, government ministers pledged to spend over 400 million euros ($470 million) in aid.
The decision, announced during a special cabinet meeting which continued into the night, came on the same day as a new interior minister took over after his predecessor resigned, and ahead of Tuesday’s parliamentary vote on a motion of no-confidence launched by the opposition.
Earlier thousands of protesters gathered on Lisbon’s main Comercio square, in Porto and other cities to mourn the victims of the Portugal’s worst tragedy in living memory and demand better fire prevention policies in the country, which despite its relatively small size has suffered the largest forest fires in Europe this year.
“Enough! Too many deaths, too much destruction!” read many slogans. A few called for the government’s resignation.
The cabinet considered a detailed report by independent experts on the first wave of forest fires in June when 64 people died in central Portugal, and the first official accounts of the more widespread fires on Oct. 15-16, which killed 44.
The main report pointed to failures on practically every level from fire prevention and monitoring during an unusually hot and dry summer to civil protection response, emergency communications and the alerting of the population.
The government decided on Saturday to hire hundreds of forest sappers to maintain forests and to prevent fires, ordered a major clean-up of safety strips along motorways and railroads and promised to support the collection of forest waste for biorefineries.
The state will also take a sizeable stake in the emergency communications network SIRESP, whose equipment failed on many occasions during the fires. Another likely measure would put the air force in charge of firefighting aircraft which are currently hired and managed by the civil protection service, local media said.
The promised state aid for affected areas includes paying compensation to the families who lost relatives and homes, funding for reconstruction works and support to save local jobs.
The minority Socialist government has been weakened by the public clamour, but the impact on its strong approval ratings achieved due to an improving economy has been limited so far.
Also, the support of its left-wing allies in parliament means the no-confidence motion is not expected to be passed.
An opinion poll by Aximage pollsters for Correio da Manha daily, which surveyed 603 people on Oct. 14-17, showed aupport for the Socialists had dropped by 1.1 percentage points to 41.9 percent, still far ahead of the closest rival, at 23.8 percent.
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US Muslim Leaders Condemn Deadly Mogadishu Attack
Muslim leaders in the Washington area have condemned the recent terrorist attack in Mogadishu that killed nearly 400 people and injured 228. Imams and diplomats expressed shock and horror at Friday prayers.
Imams, Somali community leaders, the ambassadors of two African nations, a representative from Turkey and officials from the U.S. Department of State gathered at Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia, one of the nation’s largest, on Friday to condemn terror, especially the recent attack in Mogadishu and offer condolences to the families of those killed or injured.
Among U.S officials at the event were, Eric Stromayer, acting deputy assistant secretary for African Affairs, and Vincent Spero, acting director for East Africa office.
‘Act of evil’
Imam Shaker Elsayed, an imam at Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, preached in his Friday sermon that terrorism has no place in Islam and condemned the Mogadishu attack.
“As our Somali brothers and sisters are mourning, let me emphasize that terrorism has nothing to do with Islam and Islam is a peaceful religion,” Imam Elsayed said.
Ambassador Moawiya Osman Khalid of Sudan, has described the recent Mogadishu terror attack as an “act of evil.”
“They are evil and cruel people who are trying to reshape the view of the Islamic people. We understand that Somali people are strong and they will stop, fight and push back against all those criminal activities,” Khalid said.
Republic of Chad Ambassador Mahamat Nasser, also spoke at the event, urging Muslims around the world to unite in the fight against terrorism that continues to spoil the peaceful image of Islam.
“We are Muslims we know that our religion is peaceful, not violent. That is why Muslims all over the world should unify our views against those spoiling the image of Islam,” Nasser said.
The event, attended by hundreds of Muslim mosque congregants, was organized by the Somali Embassy in Washington.
On the same day, similar prayer services for the victims of the Mogadishu bombing were held at more than 20 mosques across the U.S. and Canada, said Ahmed Isse Awad, Somalia’s ambassador to the United States.
Jump in fatality toll
The prayers come as the Somali government officially declared a sharp increase in the death toll from the truck bomb, putting the final tally at 358 people killed, 228 injured and 56 missing.
The uncertainty about the death toll was evident in the fluctuating numbers being reported by the media, quoting health officials. Some insisted on the official number while others put the death to more than 350 and nearly 400 injured.
As the search-and-rescue operation concluded three days after the blast, the government said the recorded death toll was 281, with more than 300 injured, but at that point it still did not know the whereabouts of many missing Mogadishu residents.
The only thing all agreed on was that the death toll could increase.
Somali government officials have declared war against al-Shabab militants they accuse of being behind the blast, the deadliest terrorist attack in Somalia’s history, a responsibility the militants have not claimed so far.
Over the past 10 years, the group has bombed dozens of hotels, restaurants and other targets in Mogadishu, as part of its campaign to topple the government and install a strict version of Islamic law in Somalia.
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Spain Says It Will Remove Catalonia’s Leaders
The Spanish government said Saturday it plans to depose the leaders of Spain’s restive northeast region of Catalonia and wants snap elections within six months — part of an effort to block the region from breaking away. Catalan separatists remain defiant, saying it won’t be so easy to bring them to heel, and they’re threatening to engage in mass civil disobedience. VOA’s Jamie Dettmer has more from Barcelona.
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Campaign Launched to Bring Gambia’s Jammeh to Justice
Victims of the regime of former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced Saturday an “international campaign” to bring him to justice.
Jammeh, a former soldier, ruled the small English-speaking West African country from 1994 to January 2017, but now lives in exile in Equatorial Guinea.
His regime is accused by human rights defenders of systematically torturing political opponents and journalists, extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances.
“We will do whatever it takes to get justice, no matter how long it takes,” said Fatoumatta Sandeng from the campaign, who alleges her father Solo Sandeng died in April 2016 when he was detained by Jammeh’s National Intelligence Agency.
“The only thing that matters is that Jammeh and his accomplices are accountable,” Sandeng said in a statement released by Human Rights Watch.
The campaign, which is supported by local and international NGOs, demands Jammeh is extradited to the Gambia to face trial, but warned it could take years.
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Trump Praises Syrian Democratic Forces for Fall of Raqqa
U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a statement praising the Syrian Democratic Forces for recapturing the city of Raqqa from ISIS control.
Trump wrote in a statement Saturday that the defeat of ISIS, or Islamic State, in the group’s self-proclaimed capital city represents a “critical breakthrough” in the worldwide campaign to eliminate the terrorist organization.
“With the liberation of ISIS’s capital and the vast majority of its territory,” the statement reads, “the end of the ISIS caliphate is in sight.”
Trump said in the statement the next move is to “transition into a new phase in which we will support local security forces, de-escalate violence across Syria, and advance the conditions for lasting peace.”
While the recapture Tuesday of Raqqa is a significant blow to the Islamic State terror group, images emerging from the city show the enormous cost exacted after four months of grueling battle to oust IS militants, with most of the buildings reduced to rubble, and tens of thousands of its residents displaced.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported more than 3,200 civilians lost their lives during the battle for Raqqa.
Speaking to reporters in Washington this week during a teleconference briefing from Baghdad, Colonel Ryan Dillon, a spokesperson for the U.S.-led coalition, said forces on the ground are taking every necessary measure to protect civilians.
“In Raqqa and the rest of Syria, our focus remains on reducing risk to civilians while continuing to pursue and defeat ISIS terrorists at every opportunity as they retreat to their remaining held areas in the Middle Euphrates River Valley,” Dillon said, using an acronym for the militant group.
Displaced Raqqa residents are demanding to be allowed to return home after the expulsion of the IS militants.
But SDF authorities in Raqqa told VOA a quick return is difficult due to the extent of damage from months of conflict.
Meanwhile, aid groups warned that help is urgently needed for people as they prepare for the winter in refugee camps.
Raqqa after liberation
Syrian Democratic Forces say the city is still far from safe because of IS-planted mines and fears that some IS fighters might be hiding among civilians.
“SDF now is clearing the freed neighborhoods from explosive devices and land mines, which is the most important step at this stage. This might last for a few months,” Jihan Sheikh Ahmad, a spokesperson for SDF, told VOA.
Raqqa Civilian Council, supported by the U.S. and established by SDF last April to govern Raqqa, is expected to move into the city.
Brett McGurk, the U.S. special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter IS, visited Raqqa Civilian Council on Wednesday in Ain Issa, a town in northeast of Syria and pledged necessary U.S. support.
IS atrocities
IS enforced strict and brutal laws on civilians in Raqqa. The militants carried out public executions, held slave markets to sell abducted Yazidi women and children, and used civilians trapped inside the city as human shield to inhibit airstrikes against the group.
The city’s Al Naeem traffic circle, once cherished as a crowded public gathering place, has become a symbol of IS fear and terror as the group used it for carrying out public executions.
“This neighborhood used to be called Heaven. But its name was changed to Hell after IS, because it was used to execute and behead people,” Ismail Khalil, a Syrian Democratic Forces media organizer, told VOA.
SDF officials say it is hard for life to quickly return to normalcy after years of brutal rule by IS, but they remain optimistic for a new start.
“I grew up in a diverse neighborhood in Raqqa. My neighbors were Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds, Christians and Yazidis. We lived together as Syrians,” SDF spokesperson Ahmad recalled. She hopes that IS atrocities will be followed by a brighter future for all Syrian citizens.
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Some Analysts See Election Bid By ‘Russian Paris Hilton’ as Ploy to Split Opposition Vote
A popular Russian TV anchor who recently announced plans to seek the presidency has vowed to withdraw her candidacy if mainstream opposition leader Alekei Navalny becomes eligible to reenter the contest, but some Russia observers have been quick to pan her candidacy as a Kremlin ploy to split the liberal opposition.
Journalist Ksenia Sobchak, daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, the former St. Petersburg mayor and one-time mentor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, launched a promotional video Wednesday in which she in announced her decision to run as a candidate “against all” on behalf of all angry Russian voters.
In the video, Sobchak says she will drop out of the race if Navalny, who is legally barred from seeking public office until 2028, is allowed to return to the ballot. But some analysts see her bid as a Kremlin ploy to split the liberal opposition by planting a Kremlin-approved spoiler candidate to give the election the appearance of credibility.
Both Sobchak and presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov have vigorously denied the allegation that any Kremlin officials are involved in Sobchak’s candidacy.
Meeting with reporters on Thursday, however, Peskov did not clarify how Putin, who recently met privately with Sobchak, reacted to her plans to challenge his presumptive candidacy for reelection.
Multimillionaire Mikhail Prokhorov’s 2012 run for office, in which he secured about 8 percent of the vote, was largely described by critics in the same terms.
Russia’s state-run Tass news agency is reporting that Ilya Yashin, the head of Russia’s opposition Solidarity movement, won’t support Sobchak, a prominent “it girl” socialite who is routinely described as the “Russian Paris Hilton.”
Establishment resentment
Sobchak’s candidacy hasn’t thrilled some of Russia’s seasoned politicians, including Vladimir Zhirinovsky, head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
“This is a fake, phony candidate,” he said, adding that her arrival on the campaign trail could have “dangerous” consequences. He did not elaborate upon what that meant.
Political analyst Dmitry echoed that sentiment, calling Sobchak’s bid “a mutually beneficial scenario” for the 35-year-old TV anchor and Kremlin operatives.
“Clearly Ksenia is a public figure with experience and great communication skills,” Oreshkin told VOA’s Russian service. “Many people may vote for her. She is a woman, she is a fresh face in politics, she is famous, and simply just for kicks. I think she has a good chance to get around 10 percent [of the vote]. The element of novelty will kick in. The Kremlin is counting on that, most likely. That is also what she is counting on.”
Regardless of how her candidacy fairs, Oreshkin added, it can only enhance her elite social status.
“If a candidate for president of Russia hosts some corporate party, it’s fantastic and [has the power to raise] a lot more money, as I understand it,” he said.
Because opposition leader Navalny is barred from running, Oreshkin added, the Kremlin is depending on Sobchak to “bring a terribly depressing presidential campaign back to life.”
“Now there is a new topic for discussion: whether Sobchak is good or bad, whether she’s helping Navalny or hurting him,” Oreshkin said. “It’s something to talk about. The democratically inclined voters will go after that bone. It’s also an element in the Kremlin’s bigger picture, or special operation — whatever you want to call it.”
If Sobchak is running with blessings of the Kremlin, he said, it only underscores the Russian government’s faith in its own impunity.
“It is, in fact, a signal that the government not only demonstrably despises electoral procedures and any civic myths and arguments that the people should be respected, but also the fact that the Kremlin has hopelessly lost touch with reality,” Oreshkin said.
“We just have to thank the Kremlin that it didn’t nominate the puppy named Vernyi that the president of Turkmenistan recently gave to Putin as a gift,” he added.
The name Vernyi literally means “loyalty” in Russian.
‘No target to spoil’
Andrei Kolesnikov, director of the Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions program at the Moscow Carnegie Center, thinks Sobchak’s candidacy lacks any practical significance.
“It cannot have any influence on the outcome of the election,” Kolesnikov told VOA. “The president will receive the required amount of votes, just like the runner-up, and it’s not worth even mentioning the other [candidates].”
Sobchak’s bid, he said, is most likely a self-serving personal project that was “probably approved by the Kremlin but not initiated by it.”
“If [Sobchak is] to be a spoiler, then [she is] without a target to spoil. Navalny will not be allowed to run for president however you look at it,” he said, adding that her candidacy also poses no tangible threat to liberal Yabloko Party candidate Grigory Yavlinsky.
“[Yavlinsky] has a nuclear voter base: it’s small but tough, and it’s not leaving him for anyone else,” Kolesnikov said. “I believe the Kremlin grabbed hold of Sobchak’s initiative in an attempt to somehow stir interest in the election. I can even imagine that she will get government support at some point.”
Russia’s Central Election Commission recently barred Navalny from seeking office due to his 2013 conviction on money-laundering charges.
International watchdogs groups such as Amnesty International have called the charges a politically motivated fabrication, and the European Court of Human Rights, which recently reviewed the evidence against Navalny, called the Russia court’s decision “arbitrary and manifestly unreasonable.”
Kolesnikov said: “Those who are truly opposition-minded won’t take [Sobchak] seriously.
“Alekei Navalny is working outside of the legal framework so we can’t estimate his possible losses. There is the view that her bid will make it difficult to deliver Navalny’s ideas to the voters. But I don’t accept this argument. Navalny has sufficient chances” to have his message heard, he said.
This story, which originated in VOA’s Russian Service, was translated by Svetlana Cunningham.
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At Least 12 Nigerien Troops Killed in Latest Attack
Authorities in Niger say at least a dozen paramilitary police have been killed in an attack similar to the one that killed four U.S. Green Beret and four Nigerien troops Oct. 4.
Saturday’s attack took place in the same area, officials said. The raid took place in the town of Ayorou, about 200 kilometers northwest of the capital, Niamey.
Reports said the attackers were heavily armed with guns and rocket launchers. They arrived in five vehicles to launch their ambush on a gendarmes’ base. The attackers left when Nigerien military reinforcements showed up.
The area is near the border with Mali, where the attackers are thought to be based. The region has seen a string of recent incursions by jihadists.
Controversy in Washington
The deaths of the U.S. troops Oct. 4 has caused major controversy in Washington, D.C., where lawmakers are seeking more information about the incident.
In Cooper City, Florida, Saturday, mourners attended the funeral for La David Johnson, who died in the attack. Johnson’s death drew extra attention after President Donald Trump called Johnson’s widow, Myeshia Johnson, and reportedly said Johnson “knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.”
The incident has begun a feud between Trump and Florida Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who was listening to the call on speakerphone.
Given all the public controversy, some funeral-goers Saturday said they were glad to see not just a portrait of Johnson at the funeral, but also of the other three service members who died in the same attack. A retired police officer who attended the ceremony told the Associated Press that the move “was a good gesture on everyone’s part.”
Better communication
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has also dealt with criticism for not releasing more information about the attack.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis went to Capitol Hill on Friday to meet with Senator John McCain after the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee threatened to issue a subpoena for information about the deaths of four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger.
After meeting privately with McCain in his office Friday, Mattis promised to keep better lines of communication with Congress.
“We could be better at communication, we can always improve at communication, and that’s exactly what we’ll do,” he said.
McCain said the meeting helped to clear up the information channels.
“I felt we were not getting a sufficient amount of information and we are clearing a lot of that up now,” he said.
Earlier this week, McCain threatened to use a subpoena to compel information from the Pentagon and Trump administration officials about the Niger attack. He complained that it was easier to get information about military operations under former President Barack Obama.
The U.S. military has blamed Islamic State militants for the deaths of the four Special Forces soldiers in southwestern Niger and has said it is conducting an investigation into the Oct. 4 attack.
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New Details Emerge About Attack That Killed US Soldiers in Niger
New details are emerging about the attack that left four U.S. soldiers dead in Niger as U.S. congressional leaders are demanding answers from the Pentagon.
The four U.S. service members, three of whom were Green Berets (special forces), along with four Nigerian soldiers were killed on October 4 in an ambush in Tongo-Tongo, a village near the border with Mali.
On the eve of the attack, about 30 Special Forces, mostly Nigeriens and eight U.S. Green Berets, set off in pickup trucks toward the border village and arrived at night, according to Almou Hassane, mayor of Tongo-Tongo, in the Tondikiwindi district.
“They must have spent the night in the northwest of Tongo-Tongo,” Mayor Hassane said in a phone interview with the VOA French-to-Africa service.
“These Nigerien soldiers are part of a security and intelligence battalion that has been trained by the U.S. forces during several U.S.-led training exercises known as Flintlock,” said Moussa Aksar, director of the newspaper l’Évènement in Niamey, and a terrorism specialist in the Sahel.
The soldiers were trying to track down an accomplice of Abu Adnan al-Sahraoui, a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), who joined the Islamic State terror group in the Sahara Desert.
The soldiers questioned the villagers, who dragged on the discussions longer than anticipated.
“It turns out that this village was a little contaminated by hostile forces,” said Aksar. “The unit stayed a little longer than expected because apparently people were aware that something was going on.”
For his part, Mayor Hassane said, “The attackers, the bandits, the terrorists have never lacked accomplices among local populations.”
A fake terror attack attracted the soldiers to a trap outside the village, where about 50 assailants in vehicles and motorcycles armed with Kalashnikovs and heavy weapons opened fire on them. Four Nigerien soldiers and three Americans were killed on the spot. The body of the fourth American soldier was found 48 hours later, about a mile away from the initial site, CNN reported.
“We are not talking about civilians wounded or killed because these soldiers were ambushed outside the village,” Aksar said.
The attack has raised questions, especially since the U.S. Army operates drone bases in Niger and has significant intelligence resources there.
“That’s what really shocked us: how, at their level, with all the resources they have, they could not have strong intelligence to avoid what happened there,” said Hassane.
Since the attack, Tongo-Tongo village chief Mounkaila Alassane has been arrested, and there is no information on his whereabouts.
No group has officially taken responsibility for the attack. According to sources in the region, however, it is the work of Abu Adnan al-Saharaoui, who calls himself the Islamic Emir of the Great Sahara, affiliated with the Islamic State group.
According to a Tuareg from the region, al-Saharaoui is reported to be involved in arms and fuel trafficking. He is a former member of the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), which occupied and imposed sharia law in northern Mali in 2012 before being dislodged by French forces.
Al-Saharaoui, a former acquaintance of Algerian extremist and trafficker Mokhtar Bel Mokhtar, had led the kidnapping of the nine-person staff of the Algerian consulate in Gao in 2012. Originally from Western Sahara, he wants to control the band on the common border of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
“He wants to take control of all these communities facing poverty and governance issues so that they can join his cause,” said Aksar.
The group is the latest of several jihadist organizations in the Sahel region, including the Defenders of Islam group linked to militant Iyad Ag Ghali in northern Mali. The movement for the Liberation of Macina, led by Hamadoun Koufa, remained very active in central Mali.
Ansarul Islam, on the other side of the border, is increasing its attacks in northern Burkina Faso, while Boko Haram continues to launch attacks in the countries in Africa’s Lake Chad Basin.
The al-Mourabitoun group, which is led by Moktar Belmokhtar — declared dead several times — has perpetrated several terror actions in the vast Sahel region, including the 2013 attack on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria that left 67 people dead.
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WHO Chief Now ‘Rethinking’ Mugabe ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ Post
After widespread shock and condemnation, the head of the World Health Organization said Saturday he is “rethinking” his appointment of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe as a “goodwill ambassador.”
In a new tweet, WHO director-general Tedros Ghebreyesus said that “I’m listening. I hear your concerns. Rethinking the approach in light of WHO values. I will issue a statement as soon as possible.”
The 93-year-old Mugabe, the world’s oldest head of state, has long been criticized at home for going overseas for medical treatment as Zimbabwe’s once-prosperous economy falls apart. Mugabe also faces U.S. sanctions over his government’s human rights abuses.
The United States called the appointment of Mugabe by WHO’s first African leader “disappointing.”
“This appointment clearly contradicts the United Nations ideals of respect for human rights and human dignity,” the State Department said.
Health and human rights leaders chimed in. “The decision to appoint Robert Mugabe as a WHO goodwill ambassador is deeply disappointing and wrong,” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, a major British charitable foundation. “Robert Mugabe fails in every way to represent the values WHO should stand for.”
Ireland’s health minister, Simon Harris, called the appointment “offensive, bizarre.” “Mugabe corruption decimates Zimbabwe health care,” tweeted the head of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth.
With Mugabe on hand, Tedros announced the appointment at a conference in Uruguay this week on non-communicable diseases.
Tedros, a former Ethiopian official who became WHO’s first African director-general this year, said Mugabe could use the role “to influence his peers in his region” on the issue. He described Zimbabwe as “a country that places universal health coverage and health promotion at the center of its policies.” A WHO spokeswoman confirmed the comments to The Associated Press.
Two dozen organizations _ including the World Heart Federation and Cancer Research U.K. _ released a statement slamming the appointment, saying health officials were “shocked and deeply concerned” and citing his “long track record of human rights violations.”
The groups said they had raised their concerns with Tedros on the sidelines of the conference, to no avail.
The heads of U.N. agencies and the U.N. secretary-general typically choose celebrities and other prominent people as ambassadors to draw attention to global issues of concern, such as refugees (Angelina Jolie) and education (Malala Yousafzai). The choices are not subject to approval.
The ambassadors hold little actual power. They also can be fired. The comic book heroine Wonder Woman was removed from her honorary U.N. ambassador job in December following protests that a white, skimpily dressed American prone to violence wasn’t the best role model for girls.
Zimbabwe’s government has not commented on Mugabe’s appointment, but a state-run Zimbabwe Herald newspaper headline called it a “new feather in president’s cap.”
The southern African nation once was known as the region’s prosperous breadbasket. But in 2008, the charity Physicians for Human Rights released a report documenting failures in Zimbabwe’s health system, saying Mugabe’s policies had led to a man-made crisis.
“The government of Robert Mugabe presided over the dramatic reversal of its population’s access to food, clean water, basic sanitation and health care,” the group concluded. Mugabe’s policies led directly to “the shuttering of hospitals and clinics, the closing of its medical school and the beatings of health workers.”
The 93-year-old Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, has come under criticism at home for his frequent overseas travels that have cost impoverished Zimbabwe millions of dollars. His repeated visits to Singapore have heightened concerns over his health, even as he pursues re-election next year.
The U.S. in 2003 imposed targeted sanctions, a travel ban and an asset freeze against Mugabe and close associates, citing his government’s rights abuses and evidence of electoral fraud.
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2 Former Presidents Break With Tradition to Denounce Trump
Former presidents are shedding a traditional reluctance to criticize their successors, unleashing pointed attacks on the Trump White House and the commander in chief – but without mentioning him by name.
Remarks on the same day by former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama raise the prospect that more dissenters will follow in defiance of President Donald Trump and his policies.
In separate speeches, Bush and Obama both rejected cruelty and bigotry.
Bush drew his biggest applause when he said, “The only way to pass along civic values is to first live up to them.”
Obama used a similar approach to denounce Trump’s brand of politics.
Presidential spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday the White House does not believe the former presidents’ remarks were aimed at Trump personally.
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Man With Knife Attacks 4 People in Munich; Arrest Made
A man with a knife attacked four people in Munich on Saturday and then fled, police said. A suspect was arrested a few hours later, and authorities were working to determine whether he was the assailant.
Police received initial reports of an attack in the Haidhausen area, just east of downtown Munich, at about 8:30 a.m., spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins said. They determined that a lone attacker apparently had gone after passers-by indiscriminately with a knife.
The assailant attacked six people – five men and one woman – at different sites in the area, with four of them wounded and none seriously, da Gloria Martins said. They mainly had superficial stab wounds and in one case had been hit, he added.
After the attack, police took to Twitter to warn people in the Rosenheimer Platz area to stay indoors and cautioned them to avoid the area around the nearby Ostbahnhof railway station and a park amid conflicting accounts of the direction in which the suspect fled.
Police also issued a description of the suspect, who they said appeared to be about 40 years old and had a black bicycle, gray trousers, a green jacket and a backpack. They decribed him as having a “corpulent figure” and added that he had short blond hair and was unshaven.
About three hours after the stabbing, police arrested a man matching that description who initially tried to evade officers. “We can’t yet confirm whether he is the perpetrator,” da Gloria Martins said.
There was no immediate word on a possible motive.
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In California, Bannon Takes Swipes at Bush, Silicon Valley
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon on Friday depicted former President George W. Bush as bumbling and inept, faulting him for presiding over a “destructive” presidency during his time in the White House.
Bannon’s scathing remarks amounted to a retort to a Bush speech in New York earlier this week, in which the 43rd president denounced bigotry in Trump-era American politics and warned that the rise of “nativism,” isolationism and conspiracy theories have clouded the nation’s true identity.
But Bannon, speaking to a capacity crowd at a California Republican Party convention, said Bush had embarrassed himself and didn’t know what he was talking about.
“There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s,” Bannon added, as boos could be heard in the crowd at the mention of Bush’s name.
‘Lords of technology’
Bannon also took aim at the Silicon Valley and its “lords of technology,” predicting that tech leaders and progressives in the state would try to secede from the union in 10 to 15 years. He called the threat to break up the nation a “living problem.”
He also tried to cheer long-suffering California Republicans, in a state that Trump lost by more than 4 million votes and where Republicans have become largely irrelevant in state politics. In Orange County, where the convention was held, several Republican House members are trying to hold onto their seats in districts carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential contest.
“You’ve got everything you need to win,” he told them.
He ended his speech with a standing ovation.
GOP a minority party
Bannon is promoting a field of primary challengers to take on incumbent Republicans in Congress. But in California, the GOP has been fading for years.
The state has become a kind of Republican mausoleum: GOP supporters can relive the glory days by visiting the stately presidential libraries of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, but today Democrats control every statewide office and rule both chambers of the Legislature by commanding margins.
Not all Republicans were glad to see Bannon. In a series of tweets last week, former state Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes said he was shocked by the decision to have the conservative firebrand headline the event.
“It’s a huge step backward and demonstrates that the party remains tone deaf,” Mayes tweeted.
Step to center or right?
California Republicans have bickered for years over what direction to turn — toward the political center or to the right.
Bannon also argued that the coalition that sent Trump to the White House, including conservatives, Libertarians, populists, economic nationalists, evangelicals, could hold power for decades if they stay unified.
“If you have the wisdom, the strength, the tenacity, to hold that coalition together, we will govern for 50 to 75 years,” he said.
Most of the state’s governors in the 20th century were Republicans, and state voters helped elevate a string of GOP presidential candidates to the White House. But the party’s fortunes started to erode in the late 1990s after a series of measures targeting immigrants, which alienated growing segments of the state’s population.
In 2007, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger warned party members that the GOP was “dying at the box office” and needed to move to the political center and embrace issues like climate change to appeal to a broader range of voters. In 2011, a state Republican Party committee blocked an attempt by moderates to push the state GOP platform toward the center on immigration, abortion, guns and gay rights.
The decline continued. Republicans are now a minor party in many California congressional districts, outnumbered by Democrats and independents. Statewide, Democrats count 3.7 million more voters than the GOP.
Political scientist Jack Pitney, who teaches at Claremont McKenna College, said he doubted the speech would color the 2018 congressional contests, which remain far off for most voters.
More broadly, he said Bannon’s politics would hurt the GOP, including among affluent, well-educated voters who play an important part in county elections.
“Inviting him was a moral and political blunder,” Pitney said in an email.
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Four People Hurt in Knife Attack in Munich; Suspect at Large
Police say a man with a knife has lightly wounded four people in Munich. Officers are looking for the assailant.
Munich police called on people in the Rosenheimer Platz area, located close to the German city’s downtown, to stay inside after the incident Saturday morning.
The perpetrator fled the scene. Police said he appeared to be about 40 years old and had a black bicycle, gray trousers, a green jacket and a backpack.
The police department said on Twitter that officers are looking for the assailant “with all available police forces.”
It said the motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
None of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
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US Intelligence Keeping Wary Eye on China’s President Xi
U.S. intelligence officials are closely watching developments during China’s 19th Party Congress, calling it a key test for Chinese President Xi Jinping and a telling barometer of what type of relationship Beijing likely will pursue with Washington.
Xi opened the high profile, high stakes political meeting earlier this week promising to build what he described as a “modern socialist country” for a “new era.”
But more than Xi’s rhetoric, what has caught the attention of U.S. intelligence agencies is how he has worked, at times behind the scenes, to consolidate power in a way that had not been seen since Deng Xiaoping ruled China from 1978 to 1989.
And the U.S. government has devoted resources accordingly.
“All the sort of old-school guys who used to do Kremlin work are now off working on this other politburo,” Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo told a forum Thursday in Washington.
Pompeo also praised China’s overall response to North Korea’s nuclear provocations as “most welcome.”
“I think if you had told the intelligence community that we could have expected the Chinese to do all the things that they have to date, there would have been great skepticism inside of our building,” the CIA chief said. “I hope there’s more to come.”
Some criticism
At the same time, though, other top U.S. officials have been critical of Beijing.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Wednesday called out China for its “provocative actions in the South China Sea.”
“We will not shrink from China’s challenges to the rules-based order,” he said.
China’s embassy in Washington rejected Tillerson’s comment, arguing Beijing is committed to “providing the greatest good for the greatest number of people through win-win cooperation.”
US skepticism on China
Still, U.S. intelligence officials are skeptical, noting that under Xi, China has pursued a more muscular and assertive foreign policy, and one that is not afraid to contest the U.S. on the global stage.
“Chinese leaders see the U.S.-led world order, most notably the U.S. alliance network and promotion of U.S. values worldwide, as constraining China’s rise,” a U.S. intelligence official told VOA on the condition of anonymity.
“(These leaders) are attempting to reshape the world order to better suit Chinese preferences,” the official added.
China also has successfully used its “One Belt, One Road” policy to expand its economic influence across Asia.
Combined with a rapidly modernizing military and a desire to build new military bases around the world, starting with its base in Djibouti that opened this past July, officials say there are an ever-increasing number of areas in which U.S. and Chinese interests could intersect or even conflict.
“China aspires to be the pre-eminent power in East Asia and yes, that comes at the expense of U.S. influence,” said Michael Collins, the deputy assistant director of the CIA’s East Asia Mission Center, during a conference in Washington earlier this month.
“What we’re seeing right now first and foremost … is a test of what relationship China wants with the United States,” he added.
Xi’s leadership
In all of this, Xi is seen as the key driver. U.S. intelligence officials note it is not an exaggeration to say that he sees himself as a second coming of former Chinese leader and Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong.
And once China’s Community Party congress is over, many in the U.S. believe Xi will have a freer hand to guide China’s approach on the world stage.
There are questions, too, about how Xi will guide China’s behavior in cyberspace.
“They have, along with the Iranians and the Russians, world-class, premier cyber-capabilities, defensive cyber-capabilities, as well as the capacity to conduct offensive cyber-operations, as well,” CIA Director Pompeo said Thursday. “The Chinese are also incredibly active with what I’ll call cyber-theft.”
Washington will push back
Pompeo and other U.S. officials say such behavior is not acceptable, and they promise Washington will push back against China’s aggressiveness in the cyber realm.
Yet, they also note that even as China appears increasingly willing to challenge the U.S. in multiple ways, Beijing still craves stability, which creates opportunities for both countries to work together, like they have on North Korea.
“I hope they’ll take this opportunity to demonstrate that they truly are going to be globally important players in reducing a threat,” Pompeo said.
VOA State Department Correspondent Cindy Saine and Beijing Bureau Chief William Ide contributed to this report.
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Spanish Cabinet Meets on Stopping Catalonia’s Secession
Spain is holding an emergency Cabinet meeting Saturday to deal with the political crisis caused by the secession push from the semi-autonomous Catalonia region.
Spain’s government set plans in motion Thursday to strip Catalonia of its autonomy after the region’s leader vowed to continue steps toward independence.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s office has said the Cabinet meeting Saturday is planned to trigger Article 155 of Spain’s Constitution, which gives the government the power to take away some or all of Catalonia’s autonomy. Opposition parties have agreed to support the imposition of central rule over Catalonia.
Catalonia seeks dialogue
Carles Puidgemont, Catalonia’s leader, has said the regional parliament will go forward with a vote on independence if the Spanish government does not engage in dialogue and follows through on its threat to strip the region of its autonomy.
Rajoy had given Puidgemont a Thursday morning deadline to clarify whether he had in fact already declared independence following a referendum earlier this month.
Puidgemont made a symbolic declaration of independence in an address last week, but said he was suspending any formal steps in favor of talks with the government in Madrid. He delivered his updated stance in a letter Thursday shortly before the deadline.
EU leaders watching
At a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the bloc was watching the situation closely.
“We hope that there will be solutions that can be found on the basis of the Spanish constitution,” she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has called for a discussion of the crisis and a show of solidarity with the Spanish government at the EU summit, but a number of leaders and EU officials oppose adding it to the agenda, saying that the tensions are an internal affair.
Voters in Catalonia voted in favor of independence in the Oct. 1 referendum, but fewer than half of those eligible to cast a ballot took part, with opponents boycotting the process. Rajoy’s government dismissed the referendum as illegal.
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China to Spend Billions More on ‘One Belt’ Initiative; Campaigners Want Focus on Poverty
At China’s Communist Party Congress this week, President Xi Jinping said the country would be a contributor to global development. Key to that is the so-called One Belt One Road Initiative, which seeks to rekindle the ancient Silk Road trade routes linking China with Europe and Africa. Billions of dollars have been plowed into infrastructure projects along the route, but as Henry Ridgwell reports, there are calls for China to focus on development goals such as alleviating poverty.
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A Burgeoning Health Crisis Keeps Local Doctors up at Night in Storm-ravaged Puerto Rico
From humanitarian crisis to health crisis, driving rains and floods threaten to turn devastation into disease more than three weeks after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico. The entire island remains under flash flood warning as record rainfall continues to affect recovery efforts. What’s more, the medical community and the media are sounding the alarm for potential outbreaks of bacterial diseases as citizens search for new ways to get clean water. Nicole Chacon reports for VOA News.
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Trump Signs Order Allowing Recall of Retired Air Force Pilots
U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that will allow the Air Force to bring back to active duty as many as 1,000 retired pilots to address a pilot shortage.
A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Gary Ross, said the Air Force is short about 1,500 pilots.
“The pilot supply shortage is a national-level challenge that could have adverse effects on all aspects of both the government and commercial aviation sectors for years to come,” Ross said.
25-pilot cap removed
Under current law, the Air Force is limited to recalling 25 pilots. Trump’s order, which amends a post-9/11 emergency declaration, removes that cap for the Air Force, as well as other branches of the military.
Ross said the secretary of Defense is expected to allow the secretary of the Air Force to recall up to 1,000 retired pilots for up to three years.
The Air Force has struggled for years to retain pilots, who can often get better paying jobs flying commercial airlines. It has boosted pay and incentives to its pilots and has been working with airlines to come up with solutions to the shortage.
The Air Force has been at the forefront of the U.S. battle against the Islamic State, flying many of the sorties in Iraq and Syria.
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At Least 54 Egyptian Policemen Killed in Raid on Suspected Militant Hideout Near Cairo
At least 54 Egyptian police officers have been killed in a raid on a suspected militant hideout near Cairo, according to security officials.
The officials, who requested anonymity, said the security forces apparently were ambushed Friday night by militants after they converged on the hideout in the western desert area of al-Bahriya.
One senior security source said a convoy of four SUVs and one interior ministry vehicle were targets of a surprise attack by militants firing rocket-propelled grenades and detonating explosive devices.
Twenty officers and 34 conscripts are among the fatalities, sources said. The Egyptian Interior Ministry said in a statement Saturday “a number of our men were martyred” but did not provide information about casualties.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but local media reports said the militants are followers of the Hasm Movement, which Egyptian security forces claim are linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an outlawed group that once led the country. The Brotherhood denied any link to the movement.
Friday’s attacks are the latest in a series of deadly encounters suffered by Egypt’s security forces this year as they confront a tenacious growing Islamic militancy.
Egypt has been struggling to counter uprisings by militants led by an affiliate of the Islamic State that is centered primarily in the northern region of the Sinai Peninsula. The country’s efforts, however, have been stymied by a recent increase in the number of attacks on the country’s mainland.
The ambush was one of the most deadly attacks on security forces since militants began targeting government forces after the 2013 ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected President Mohamed Morsi, whose one-year rule was divisive.
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