November 2017 - Page 8 of 23

Trump: US to Redesignate North Korea as State Sponsor of Terror

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeUS

South Korea and Japan have welcomed a move by the United States to redesignate North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism in order to put additional financial and diplomatic pressure on the totalitarian government.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it sees the decision “as part of the international community’s joint efforts to take North Korea to the path of denuclearization.”

“It should have happened years ago,” President Donald Trump said Monday from the White House, calling the Pyongyang government a “murderous regime.”

The move, which will be formally announced by the State Department on Tuesday, returns North Korea to the department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list. Currently, the only countries on the list are Iran, Syria and Sudan.

Speaking on background, a State Department official said the Trump administration determined Pyongyang “has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism,” including assassinations on foreign soil.

“These acts are in keeping with the DPRK’s wider range of dangerous and malicious behavior,” the official said, using the abbreviation for Pyongyang’s official name.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said sanctions already in place against North Korea are having an effect and that there is still hope for diplomacy.

The United States put North Korea on the terror sponsor list in 1988, after North Korean agents blew up a South Korean civilian airliner, killing 115 people. But Pyongyang was removed in 2008 after they met benchmarks related to a nuclear disarmament deal.

WATCH: US stance on North Korea terrorism

The six-party disarmament talks collapsed a short time later, and North Korea declared the nuclear deal void. It has since conducted five more nuclear tests and steadily accelerated its ballistic missile program, in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

“We took them off that list for some specific issues we were seeking – mainly the destruction of the cooling tower and some disabling steps,” says former Ambassador Christopher Hill, who led the U.S. delegation to the six-party nuclear talks. “In the meantime, by all accounts they seem to have the graphite-moderated reactor back in service. So they should be put back on the list.”

Statutory requirements

Under U.S. law, a government must have “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism” in order to be included on the Sponsors of Terrorism list.

While North Korea is widely regarded as one of the most oppressive governments in the world with respect to its own people, its involvement with international terrorism is less prominent.

But the label is accurate, insists Bruce Klingner, a North Korea specialist at the Heritage Foundation.

Specifically, Klingner cites recent cyberattacks against U.S. and South Korean targets, including the 2014 attack against Sony Pictures for producing a film critical of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He also mentions multiple North Korean assassinations and assassination plots, including the killing of Kim Jong Nam, Kim’s half-brother, who was poisoned earlier this year at a Malaysian airport.

“While global attention has been on nuclear weapons and missiles, we must not lose sight of North Korea’s terrorist acts and gross violations of human rights,” Klingner says.

Efforts intensified

The effort to reinstate North Korea to the terror list intensified after American college student Otto Warmbier died in June, shortly after being released from North Korean custody. Warmbier had been sentenced to 15 years hard labor for the alleged theft of a propaganda poster from his North Korean hotel.

At the request of Warmbier’s family, six Democratic and six Republican senators later urged the State Department to consider reinstating North Korea to the list.

Although tragic, the Warmbier case does not seem to meet the statutory criteria for international terrorism, says Daniel Pinkston, who specializes in Northeast Asian security issues at Troy University in Seoul.

There is also a question about whether such a designation, especially at a time of heightened tension, could further complicate efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear and weapons program.

But “those odds are basically at zero anyway,” Pinkston says.

Impact of move

Returning North Korea to the terror list would mean it is subject to greater restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance, defense exports and sales, and other financial transactions.

While Klingner argues the move would have a “tangible impact on regime finances,” Hill says the strategic value of the move is “purely symbolic.”

“If you’re on the list, the U.S. cannot vote for you on a World Bank loan, for example, and cannot sell you military equipment. Well, we’re not going to do that in either case,” Hill says.

In the end, though, he says he “wouldn’t lose any sleep” if Pyongyang were re-added to the list.

“I don’t know the legal justification for putting them back on, but if it’s just being an overall terrible pain in the neck, they more than qualify,” Hill says.

State Department Correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report
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Lawmakers to Begin Mugabe Impeachment Process

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeAF

Lawmakers in Zimbabwe plan to begin impeachment proceedings Tuesday against longtime President Robert Mugabe after he ignored a deadline to step down.

Members of the ruling ZANU-PF party expressed hope the process could be completed within a week.

The impeachment motion includes charges of abusing his authority to name his wife, Grace Mugabe, as his successor. Mugabe took that step after firing popular military hero and former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The 93-year-old president has shown no sign of willingly leaving the office he has held for four decades, and planned to hold a Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

Mugabe has been under house arrest since last week when the military seized key state institutions. The country’s top military official said Monday that Mugabe was in touch with Mnangagwa, who was expected to return to Zimbabwe soon.

ZANU-PF set the deadline for Mugabe at a meeting Sunday where it also fired him as party chief and chose Mnangagwa as its new leader.

In Washington, a State Department official said “the future of Zimbabwe must be determined and established by the people of Zimbabwe” and that the United States supports the country’s transition to democracy.

The official told VOA on Monday “whatever short-term arrangements the [Zimbabwe] government may establish, the path forward must lead to free and fair elections, in which the people of Zimbabwe, free to assemble without interference and to voice their opinions without fear, choose their own leaders. “

On Saturday, thousands of exuberant Zimbabwean demonstrators flooded the streets of Harare, some of whom marched toward the official residence of Mugabe amid nationwide protests calling for his resignation.

“The people of Zimbabwe took peacefully to the streets and firmly voiced their desire for a new era that will bring an end to Zimbabwe’s isolation and allow the country to rejoin the international community,” said the State Department official.

Shaderick Guto, a professor emeritus of the University of South Africa, told VOA that Mugabe is “trying to play games” because he knows the army fears being ostracized by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union if it stages a coup. Neither organization condones the unconstitutional removal of an elected government.

Zimbabwe has been in serious economic and political turmoil since the late 1990s.

Mugabe is the world’s oldest head of state. He took power, first as prime minister then as president, in 1980 when Zimbabwe won independence from Britain and ended white minority rule.

Although he initially brought some benefits to the black majority and the poor, Mugabe’s authoritarian rule has destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy, discouraged foreign investment and stifled any political challenges through violence, intimidation and what the opposition says have been rigged elections.

VOA’s James Butty in Washington DC and State Department Correspondent Nike Ching contributed to this report
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Tillerson Says State Department Performing Well; Critics Disagree

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeUS

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is rejecting criticism that his “redesign” of the 70,000-person State Department caused staff morale to plummet since the start of the Trump administration.

During a meeting Monday with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Tillerson told journalists “This department is performing extraordinary well, and I take exception to anyone who characterized it otherwise. It is not true. “

But at Friday’s State Department briefing, spokesperson Heather Nauert faced repeated questions about widespread criticism of Tillerson’s management of the department. “Sure, there is a morale issue in this building” she acknowledged. Nauert continued: “And that’s why I say, you know, ‘Folks, hang in there. We have a lot of work to be done. Please don’t give up. Don’t give up on this building. Don’t give up on what America is doing. Don’t give up on the importance of this job and career.’ ”

Nauert said the redesign is a work in progress, and said it might make many people feel better to know that reform ideas are coming from career officials with years of experience. “It’s not coming from a brand new political appointee, like myself.” She also argued that the overall size of the staff is not much different in the Trump administration than it was under President Obama.

The comments follow criticism of Tillerson by top U.S. lawmakers. Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen wrote to Tillerson, saying recent management decisions at the State Department threaten to “undermine the long-term health and effectiveness of American diplomacy.” The two senators urged Tillerson to end a hiring freeze.

At a recent Senate hearing to confirm new State Department nominees, Republican Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who is usually an ally of Tillerson’s said, “The State Department, as you know, is not functioning particularly well, I hate to say. They are undermanned.”

The ranking Democratic member of the committee, Senator Ben Cardin, went even further. “If this sort of high-level decapitation of leadership were going on at the Defense Department, I can guarantee you that Congress would be up in arms.”

Tillerson has been criticized for supporting President Donald Trump’s proposed major budget cuts, which Congress reduced to an eight percent cut in overall staff worldwide. But many former ambassadors and analysts say a number of key ambassador posts have been left unfilled, as well as key Assistant Secretary jobs at the State Department in Washington.

Last week, Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, the President of the American Foreign Service Association, wrote in a newspaper article that the Trump administration is crippling U.S. diplomacy on a longer term basis by not valuing career staff members. “The talent being shown the door now is not only our top talent, but also talent that cannot be replicated overnight.”
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EU’s Top Court Orders Poland to Stop Logging in Ancient Forest

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeEU

The European Union’s top court Monday ordered Poland to stop logging in the ancient Bialowieza Forest, or pay an $118,000 daily fine.

“Poland must immediately cease its active forest management operations in the Bialowieza Forest, except in exceptional cases where they are strictly necessary to ensure public safety,” the European Court of Justice wrote.

The forest is home to rare plants, birds and mammals and is one of Europe’s last remaining primeval habitats. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The court first warned Poland against logging in July.

Poland says the trees are weak and damaged by a beetle outbreak. It says cutting them down is necessary to prevent people foraging for mushrooms from getting hurt if the trees fall.

The logging argument is another in a series of a war of words between the European Union and the right-wing Polish government, which accuses the EU of infringing on its sovereignty.

The EU has said it is worried about the decline of democratic values in Poland.
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US Targets Iranian Counterfeit Scheme in Yemen

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeUS

U.S. officials are spotlighting Iran’s efforts to spread its influence across the Middle East with what they describe as a “large-scale” counterfeiting operation, sophisticated enough to fool some European regulators.

Treasury officials in Washington exposed the counterfeiting ring Monday, sanctioning a network of individuals and companies, including two based in Germany, linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and its elite Qods Force.

The department said Iran used the German-based front companies ForEnt Technik and Printing Trade Center (PTC) to trick European regulators in order to acquire watermarked paper, specialty ink and machinery.

The export of those items to Iran is currently banned.

‘Destabilizing activities’

As a result, officials said, Iran may have managed to print hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of Yemeni bank notes, which the IRGC then used to “support its destabilizing activities.”

“This scheme exposes the deep levels of deception the IRGC-Qods Force is willing to employ against companies in Europe, governments in the Gulf, and the rest of the world to support its destabilizing activities,” said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, calling Tehran’s actions “completely unacceptable.”

“This counterfeiting scheme exposes the serious risks faced by anyone doing business with Iran,” he added. “The IRGC continues to obscure its involvement in Iran’s economy and hide behind the façade of legitimate businesses to perpetrate its nefarious objectives.”

‘Knee-deep in counterfeit business’

U.S. officials have long accused Iran of supplying arms to rebel Houthi forces battling for control of Yemen. But Monday’s sanctions help highlight the scope of what Western officials commonly describe as the IRGC’s far-reaching and malign activities.

“Iran itself, together with its proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah, is knee-deep and has been knee-deep in the counterfeit business for quite some time,” said Matthew Levitt with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “Exposing this is kind of a two-for one, both exposing the organization’s terrorist activity and also exposing the nature of the criminal activity that it engages in.”

Levitt, a former Treasury Department intelligence official, also said the U.S. announcement could hurt Iran, especially as it tries to get better access to the international financial systems and get off a global blacklist of high-risk countries.

The new U.S. sanctions may also send a message to some U.S. allies who want to maintain the Iranian nuclear deal and have been hesitant to follow the lead of the Trump administration, which has advocated taking a much tougher stance with Tehran.

“This sends a pretty strong political statement that it is in Europe’s interest to care,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior Iran analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “It’s European jurisdiction and European technology.”

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US Sues to Stop AT&T’s Takeover of Time Warner

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeUS

The U.S. Justice Department is suing to stop AT&T’s multi-billion dollar bid to take over another communications giant, Time Warner, calling it illegal and likening it to extortion.

“The $108 billion acquisition would substantially lessen competition, resulting in higher prices and less innovation for millions of Americans,” a Justice Department statement said Monday.

“The combined company would use its control over Time Warner’s valuable and highly popular networks to hinder its rivals by forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more per year for the right to distribute those networks.”

CNN, HBO top Time Warner products

Time Warner’s products include CNN, HBO, TNT, The Cartoon Network, and Cinemax — these networks broadcast highly popular newscasts, movies, comedy and drama series, and sports.

AT&T and its subsidiary DirectTV distribute these programs, as well as others, thorough cable and satellite.

The Justice Department decries the possibility of AT&T not just controlling television productions, but also the means of bringing them into people’s homes.

In its lawsuit, it threw AT&T’s words right back at the communications giant, noting that AT&T recognizes that distributors with control over the shows “have the incentive and ability to use … that control as a weapon to hinder competition.”

It also cited a DirectTV statement saying distributors can withhold programs from their rivals and “use such threats to demand higher prices and more favorable terms.”

Assured transaction would be approved

AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson told reporters the Justice Department’s lawsuit “stretches the reach of anti-trust law to the breaking point.”

He said the “best legal minds in the country” assured AT&T that the transaction would be approved and said the government is discarding decades of legal precedent.

AT&T and Time Warner are not direct competitors, and AT&T says government regulators have routinely approved such mergers.

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his contempt for one of Time Warner’s crown jewels — CNN, the Cable News Network — because of his perception of CNN being a liberal biased provider of “fake news,” including direct attacks against his administration.

Trump vowed during last year’s presidential campaign to block the merger.

Stephenson called the matter “the elephant in the room,” saying he said he “frankly does not know” if the White House disdain for CNN is at the heart of the Justice Department lawsuit.

But he said a proposal that Time Warner sell-off CNN as part of a settlement with the Trump Justice Department would be a “non-starter.”
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Women in Yei Accuse Police of Ignoring Rape Cases

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeAF

Many women in Yei River state say they have been the victims of sexual violence but say it is nearly impossible to get justice in Yei since violence broke out in July 2016.

“Many of these cases are happening in Yei and once you approach the police to help, someone asks ‘what was the case all about?’ They blame the victims saying you were looking for it,” “Jenifer,” who asked to not be identified, told South Sudan In Focus.

Jenifer said her sister was raped in June but authorities have yet to charge her alleged rapist with a crime.

She said local law enforcement institutions typically pay little heed to issues affecting women, and for that reason, most rape victims are reluctant to report the crime. She also said there’s a good chance that if they do, women will be ostracized in their communities.

Jenifer is one of many Yei women who attended a weekend workshop organized by the community-based organization Salam Women Group to discuss the need for more protection of women and girls in their communities against sexual predators.

Equal access to justice

If police investigate a sexual assault case, they ask “mocking questions and sometimes they laugh at the victim,” she said.

Jenifer is calling on state officials and human rights groups to promote equal access to justice for victims of sexual assault, adding many victims are traumatized with nowhere to turn for help.

“The practice of blaming victims should stop. The victims should be taken seriously and helped. NGOs and the government should treat sexual violence as an issue that must be addressed urgently,” she said.

A 26-year old Yei resident, identified as “Rose” to protect her privacy, said she was recently raped by a group of men. Rose told South Sudan in Focus she tried repeatedly to seek justice, describing rape as “a disease with no medicine” in Yei.

“Malaria can be treated by mosquito nets and other medicines. But sexual gender-based violence is becoming so common, happening to young girls, ladies and old women. Let the government and the people stand up so that this issue is brought to an end,” Rose said.

Residents frustrated

Yei resident Linda Edward said one of her close relatives was raped this year. She helped her relative by trying to follow up on the case with police but doubts justice will ever be served. Edward urged the government to make sure perpetrators of sexual violence are brought to justice.

“I would like to remind the government that if such cases are reported to them they should not keep quiet. They should ensure perpetrators are punished and victims should be accorded rights so that others will not carry out similar abuses because they know they can get away with it,” Edward said.

Hawa Adams, head of the Yei Women Association, said since a new wave of fighting broke out in Yei in 2016, not one alleged rapist has been charged with a crime.

“No justice has taken place, and women are suffering locally in Yei River State. We are crying out that the government should take up action to work with the law so that the voices of the women are heard,” said Adams.

Judges’ strike

Yei River State Police Commissioner Lugang Kamba denies police do not take rape cases seriously. He claims police are unable to prosecute perpetrators of gender-based crimes because of the huge backlog in cases caused by the recent nationwide judges’ strike.

“The cases of gender-based violence or rape have their own office in the police. The police are not happy with what is happening to the women because they are a vulnerable group. I am encouraging them to come and open up cases because we are working for the safety of all without fear or favor,” Kamba told South Sudan in Focus.

The judges complained of poor working conditions and called for the ouster of the chief justice who they said strongly favored the Kiir administration. The strike ended in May with the judges calling on President Salva Kiir to make sweeping and immediate changes, neither of which has happened.

Officials want to help

Leon Lemeri, Director General for Local Government and Law enforcement in Yei River State, urged residents to take their cases directly to his ministry so that officials can follow up with the relevant government institutions.

“There are people who obstruct access to justice, cases to do with gender- based violence. If anyone has experienced such action, he or she should report to the ministry of local government to channel his or her dismay and we shall take charge,” Lemeri told VOA.

He vowed that anyone “obstructing access to justice” will be held responsible for his or her actions.
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US Arrests Former Officials in Africa Bribery Schemes

Posted on 11/21/2017 by SeeAF

The bribery scheme was hatched in the halls of the United Nations in New York and spanned several continents.

Chi Ping Patrick Ho, Hong Kong’s former Home Secretary, and Cheikh Gadio, a one-time foreign minister of Senegal, plotted to bribe high-level African officials to secure business rights for a Shanghai-based energy and financial conglomerate.

Their targets: Idriss Deby, the long-time president of oil-rich Chad, and Sam Kutesa, a Ugandan foreign minister who served as president of the U.N. General Assembly from 2014 to 2015.

According to a criminal complaint unsealed by U.S. prosecutors on Monday, Ho and Gadio engaged in a multi-year scheme to bribe Deby and Kutesa in exchange for “business advantages” for the energy company, a multibillion-dollar Chinese company that operates in the oil-and-gas and financial sectors.

Ho was arrested Saturday afternoon and appeared before a federal magistrate Monday, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Gadio, who served as foreign minister of Senegal from 2002 to 2009, was arrested in New York on Friday afternoon and presented to a federal magistrate Saturday. Both remain in federal custody.

The two men are charged with criminal bribery in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and international money laundering.

The FCPA bars companies from bribing foreign officials to gain a business advantage. Acting Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Blanco said the scheme “involved bribes at the highest levels of two nations.”

“Their bribes and corrupt acts hurt our economy and undermine confidence in the free marketplace,” Blanco said in a statement.

According to the complaint, Ho and Gadio began plotting in 2014 when they met at the United Nations in New York.

At the time, Gadio ran a consulting firm while Ho headed a non-profit that received funding by the energy company.

The criminal complaint does not name the non-profit or the Chinese company behind it.

But a small outfit named China Energy Fund Committee fits the NGO’s description in the complaint.

On its website, CEFC describes itself as an NGO and “high end strategic think tank” and lists Dr. Patrick Chi Ping Ho as its deputy chairman and secretary general.

The non-profit says it is registered in Hong Kong and Virginia and is supported by “a special private grant fully sponsored by China Energy Fund Co. Ltd.”

CEFC China Energy Company Limited is “a private collective enterprise with energy and financial serves as its core business,” according to its website. The Shanghai- based company had revenue of $34 million (263 billion Chinese yuan) in 2015.

On Oct. 19, 2014, Ho met Kutesa at the United Nations. Kutesa had just begun his one-year term as president of the United Nations General Assembly.

A month later, Gadio allegedly advised Ho to “reward” the Chadian president with “a nice financial package.”

Two months later, Ho pledged a $2 million bribe to Deby on behalf of the energy company in exchange for obtaining lucrative oil rights from the Chadian government.

In exchange, Deby is alleged to have provided the energy company with “an exclusive” opportunity to obtain particular oil rights in Chad without facing international competition, according to the criminal complaint.

Gadio is alleged to have connected Ho with Deby and conveyed the $2 million bribe offer to Deby.

Ho is alleged to have paid Deby $400,000 for his services via wire transfers transmitted through New York.

In addition, the criminal complaint alleges, Ho paid a $500,000 bribe to Kutesa, the Ugandan foreign minister, in exchange for obtaining “business advantages” for the energy company, including the potential acquisition of a Ugandan bank.

Chad’s president and Uganda’s foreign minister were also offered gifts and promises of future benefits, including a share of profits generated by joint ventures between the energy company and businesses owned by the families of the foreign minister of Uganda and president of Chad, according to the criminal complaint.

FBI Assistant Director In Charge William Sweeney of the New York Field Office said Ho and Gadio “were allegedly willing to throw money at the leaders of two countries to bypass the normal course of business, but didn’t realize that using the U.S. banking system would be their undoing.”

Chad and Uganda are ranked the 15th and 25th most corrupt countries in the world, according to Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index.

The embassy of Chad in Washington and Uganda’s mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to requests for comment.
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Elephant Advocates Sue Trump Administration on Trophy Hunting

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeAF

Conservation groups sued the U.S. government on Monday over a plan to allow hunters to bring home elephant and lion trophies from Zimbabwe, following changing statements about the possible move by President Donald Trump’s administration.

The lawsuit in federal court in Washington was the latest move in a saga that began last week when a trophy hunting group said at a conference in Africa that the White House was ready to overturn a rule banning the import of elephant trophies, sparking a surge of criticism from wildlife advocates.

The Center for Biological Diversity and the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a statement that their lawsuit intended to resolve “contradictory announcements” by the Republican administration about trophy imports of the at-risk species.

The Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday said it had concluded that Zimbabwe and Zambia had developed conservation plans that would allow sustainable hunting of the endangered species, an announcement that came the same week that Zimbabwe was rocked by a coup. A proposal published on Friday would have allowed both elephant and lion trophies shot in Zimbabwe, but not Zambia, to be imported into the United States.

“These two final agency actions are arbitrary and capricious, as the conclusions that trophy hunting of elephants and lions in Zimbabwe enhances the survival of the species are not supported by the evidence,” the conservation groups said in their 34-page lawsuit Monday.

The lawsuit asked a judge to rule the move illegal and named as defendants Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the Fish and Wildlife Service. The Interior Department referred queries about the lawsuit to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Following the release of the proposed Zimbabwe rules, the White House said it had made no decision to allow trophy imports.

“Big-game trophy decision will be announced next week but will be very hard pressed to change my mind that this horror show in any way helps conservation of Elephants or any other animal,” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday.

Africa’s elephant population plunged by about a fifth between 2006 and 2015 because of increased poaching for ivory, the International Union for Conservation of Nature said last year.

Wildlife activists argue that corruption is endemic in impoverished Zimbabwe, and that money generated by big game hunting and meant for conservation has been diverted to crooks and poachers.
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Amsterdam, Paris Picked to Host EU Agencies After Brexit

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

The European Union went back to its roots Monday by picking cities from two of its founding nations — France and the Netherlands — to host key agencies that will have move once Britain leaves the bloc in 2019.

During voting so tight they were both decided by a lucky draw, EU members except Britain chose Amsterdam over Italy’s Milan as the new home of the European Medicines Agency and Paris over Dublin to host the European Banking Authority. Both currently are located in London.

“We needed to draw lots in both cases,” Estonian EU Affairs Minister Matti Maasikas, who chaired the meeting and in both cases made the decisive selection from a big transparent bowl.

Frankfurt, home of the European Central Bank, surprisingly failed to become one of the two finalists competing for the banking agency.

The relocations made necessary by the referendum to take Britain out of the EU are expected to cost the country over 1,000 jobs directly and more in secondary employment.

The outcomes of the votes also left newer EU member states in eastern and southern Europe with some bitterness. Several had hoped to be tapped for a lucrative prize that would be a sign the bloc was truly committed to outreach.

Some 890 top jobs will leave Britain for Amsterdam with the European Medicines Agency, giving the Dutch a welcome economic boost and more prestige. The EMA is responsible for the evaluation, supervision and monitoring of medicines. The Paris-bound European Banking Authority, which has around 180 staff members, monitors the regulation and supervision of Europe’s banking sector.

After a heated battle for the medicines agency, Amsterdam and Milan both had 13 votes Monday. That left Estonia, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, to break the tie with a draw from the bowl. Copenhagen finished third, ahead of Slovakian capital Bratislava in the vote involving EU nations excluding Britain. One country abstained in the vote.

“A solid bid that was defeated only by a draw. What a mockery,” Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Twitter.

Dutch Foreign Minister Halbe Zijlstra was elated.

“It is a fantastic result,” he said. “It shows that we can deal with the impact of Brexit”

The European Medicines Agency has less than 17 months to complete the move, but Amsterdam was considered ideally suited because of its location, the building it had on offer and other facilities.

Even though rules were set up to make it a fair decision, the process turned into a deeply political contest.

Zijlstra said that “in the end, it is a very strategic game of chess.”
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Analysts: Germany Political Chaos A Sign Merkel’s Power Waning

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

Germany has been plunged into political crisis after coalition talks between Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats and two smaller parties broke down. Analysts say the indecisive election result in September has revealed a splintering of German society and politics, posing a serious challenge to Chancellor Merkel. As Henry Ridgwell reports from London, the political chaos could have a much wider impact on issues like climate talks and European Union reform.
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Merkel Signals Readiness for New Election After Coalition Talks Collapse

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

Chancellor Angela Merkel said she would prefer a new election to ruling with a minority after talks on forming a three-way coalition failed overnight, but Germany’s president told parties they owed it to voters to try

to form a government.

The major obstacle to a three-way deal was immigration, according to Merkel, who was forced into negotiations after bleeding support in the September 24 election to the far right in a backlash at her 2015 decision to let in over 1 million migrants.

The failure of exploratory coalition talks involving her conservative bloc, the liberal pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and environmentalist Greens raises the prospect of a new election and casts doubt about her future after 12 years in power.

Merkel, 63, said she was skeptical about ruling in a minority government, telling ARD television: “My point of view is that new elections would be the better path.”

Watch related video by Henry Ridgwell

Her plans did not include being chancellor in a minority government, she said after meeting President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

Steinmeier said Germany was facing the worst governing crisis in the 68-year history of its post-World War Two democracy and pressed all parties in parliament “to serve our country” and try to form a government.

His remarks appeared aimed at the FDP and the Social Democrats (SPD), who on Monday ruled out renewing their “grand coalition” with the conservatives.

“Inside our country, but also outside, in particular in our European neighbourhood, there would be concern and a lack of understanding if politicians in the biggest and economically strongest country [in Europe] did not live up to their responsibilities,” read a statement from Steinmeier, a former foreign minister who has been thrust center-stage after taking on the usually largely ceremonial head of state role in March.

Steinmeier’s intervention suggests he regards a new election — desired by half of Germany’s voters according to a poll — as a last resort. The SPD has so far stuck to a pledge after heavy losses in the September election not to go back into a Merkel-led broad coalition of center-left and center-right.

Merkel urged the SPD to reconsider. “I would hope that they consider very intensively if they should take on the responsibility” of governing, she told broadcaster ZDF, adding she saw no reason to resign and her conservative bloc would enter any new election more unified than before.

“If new elections happened, then … we have to accept that. I’m afraid of nothing,” she said.

Business leaders also called for a swift return to talks. With German leadership seen as crucial for a European Union grappling with governance reform and Britain’s impending exit, FDP leader Christian Lindner’s announcement that he was pulling out spooked investors and sent the euro falling in the morning.

Both the euro and European shares later recovered from earlyselling, while German bond yields steadied near 1-1/2 week lows, as confidence about the outlook for the euro zone economy helped investors brush off worries about the risk of Germany going to the polls again soon.

Fear of far-right gains

Earlier, Merkel got the strong backing of her CDU leadership. Josef Joffe, publisher-editor of Germany weekly Die Zeit said she could rely on CDU support for now, but added: “I will not bet on her serving out her entire four-year term.”

The main parties fear another election so soon would let the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party add to the 13 percent of votes it secured in September, when it entered parliament for the first time. Polls suggest a repeat election would return a similarly fragmented parliament.

A poll published on Monday showed a new election would bring roughly the same result as the September election, with the Greens set to see the biggest gains.

If Germans voted next Sunday, Merkel’s conservatives would get 31 percent, the SPD 21 percent, the Greens and the AfD both 12 percent, the FDP 10 percent and the Left party 9 percent, the Forsa survey for RTL television showed.

This compares with the election result of 32.9 percent for the conservatives, 20.5 percent for the SPD, 12.6 percent for AfD, 10.7 percent for FDP, 9.2 percent for the Left party and 8.9 percent for the Greens.

The failure of coalition talks is unprecedented in Germany’s post-war history, and was likened by newsmagazine Der Spiegel to the shock election of U.S. President Donald Trump or Britain’s referendum vote to leave the EU — moments when countries cast aside reputations for stability built up over decades.

Any outcome in Germany is, however, likely to be more consensus driven. “The problem is stagnation and immobility, not instability as in Italy,” said Joffe.

The unraveling of the German talks came as a surprise since the main sticking points – immigration and climate policy — were not seen as FDP signature issues.

Responding to criticism from the Greens, FDP vice chairman Wolfgang Kubicki said a tie-up would have been short-lived. “Nothing would be worse than to get into a relationship about which we know that it will end in a dirty divorce,” he said.

Even if the SPD or the FDP revisit their decisions, the price for either party to change its mind could be the departure of Merkel, who since 2005 has been a symbol of German stability, leading Europe through the euro zone crisis.

The inability to form a government caused disquiet elsewhere in Europe, not least because of the implications for the euro zone reforms championed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Germany’s political impasse could also complicate and potentially delay the Brexit negotiations — Britain has just over a year to strike a divorce deal with the EU ahead of an exit planned for March 29, 2019.

“It’s not in our interests that the process freezes up,” Macron told reporters in Paris, adding he had spoken with Merkel shortly after the failure of talks.
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Israel Moves to Deport 40,000 African Migrants

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeAF

The fate of 40,000 African migrants in Israel remains unclear after lawmakers approved a proposal to deport them.

The Cabinet in Jerusalem voted unanimously Sunday to close the isolated Holot detention facility in the Negev Desert. Holot houses thousands of Africans who entered Israel illegally. The center is due to shut down in three months, and residents will face the option of leaving the country or going to prison.

Impoverished Africans, mostly from war-torn Eritrea and Sudan, swarmed across Israel’s southern border with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula from around 2006 until 2013, when the completion of a massive border fence cut off the influx.

Asylum or better life?

The migrants describe themselves as refugees seeking political asylum, but Israel sees the majority as illegal economic migrants and even “infiltrators.” Many live in squalid neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv, where Israeli locals blame them for rising crime and a deteriorating quality of life.

“This is the right policy to ease the suffering of residents in south Tel Aviv and other neighborhoods where the infiltrators reside,” said Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who initiated the deportation proposal. “My duty is to return peace and quiet to south Tel Aviv and many neighborhoods across the country.”

Officials say it is a national duty “to protect the Jewish and democratic character” of the state.

“Our policy toward infiltrators is three staged,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet. “Stage one is halting [the influx]. We built a fence and enacted laws that completely blocked the flow of infiltrators, and today we have zero infiltrators. The second stage is removal. We removed approximately 20,000 out of the existing infiltrators using various measures. Stage three is … to continue removing significantly more than what we have until now.”

Netanyahu spoke of “an international agreement… which allows us to remove the 40,000 remaining infiltrators without their consent.” The deal is reportedly with Rwanda and perhaps Uganda, which are said to have agreed to take in the migrants.

The controversial Cabinet decision has brought condemnation from both at home and abroad. “Israel’s current policies treat asylum seekers as threats and aim to coerce them into leaving Israel,” the Tel Aviv-based African Refugee Development Center said on its website. “However, this strategy continues to put asylum seekers at risk without a true guarantee of legal protection or safety.”

UN concerned

The UNHCR, the United Nations’ refugee agency, said it was seriously concerned about the proposal.

“Due to the secrecy surrounding this policy and the lack of transparency concerning its implementation, it has been very difficult for UNHCR to follow up and systematically monitor the situation of people relocated to these African countries,” the agency said in a statement.

UNHCR expressed concern in the statement that “these persons have not found adequate safety or a durable solution to their plight and that many have subsequently attempted dangerous onward movements within Africa or to Europe.”

Critics in Israel point to a moral dilemma, comparing the Africans to Jewish refugees who were turned away from the United States and many European countries during the Holocaust. Officials here, however, say Israel was created as a refuge and homeland for the Jewish people, and not for underprivileged Africans seeking a better life.
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Defense Lawyer: Mladic May Not Be Fit to Hear Verdicts

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

A lawyer for Gen. Ratko Mladic said Monday it is not certain the former Bosnian Serb military commander will show up in a United Nations courtroom when judges deliver their verdicts in his long-running trial for allegedly masterminding atrocities during Bosnia’s 1992-95 war.

Mladic’s attorneys have filed a flurry of recent motions to have the ailing 75-year-old’s health assessed before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announces it decisions Wednesday.

He was tried on 11 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Mladic’s trial is the last to end at the ground-breaking tribunal before it closes down by the end of the year. The court last year convicted his political master, former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic, on near-identical charges and sentenced to 40 years. Karadzic has appealed.

Defendant may die

Defense attorney Dragan Ivetic said lawyers for the former military leader were not attempting to stall the case and have been trying for weeks to have Mladic’s health checked, fearing a court appearance might kill him.

“We’ve had a medical doctor that has said, actually based on his diagnosed condition, any form of stress, including a trial proceeding, may increase his chance of having a stroke, a heart attack or dying,” Ivetic told The Associated Press.

Judges at the court have so far rejected the lawyers’ requests for doctors to visit Mladic, who survived two strokes and a heart attack before he was arrested and imprisoned in 2011. The former general is under close medical supervision at the United Nations detention facility where he has been held since his arrest.

“General Mladic wants to be present because he believes that he is not guilty,” Ivetic said. “But I don’t know whether the medical circumstances allow him to be present…. That’s why I need a medical doctor to assist us all in finding that information out.”

Possible deja vu

The possibility of Mladic dying before the judges deliver their verdicts recalls former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, who died in 2006 before judges could pass judgment in his trial. Milosevic was accused of fomenting violence across the Balkans as Yugoslavia crumbled.

Mladic is charged with overseeing atrocities including the 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the eastern Bosnian municipality of Srebrenica, the deadly shelling and sniping of Sarajevo and purges of Muslims and Croats early in the war from towns and villages Serbs wanted to turn into part of a Greater Serbia.

His lawyers have urged the judges to acquit, arguing that he did not give orders for atrocities and was not even in Srebrenica during the 1995 massacre.

It remained unclear if Wednesday’s long-awaited public hearing for announcing the verdicts could go ahead if Mladic does not attend.

Survivors on edge

His absence would be a disappointment to survivors who traveled to The Hague on Monday to watch the culmination of the trial of the man they hold responsible for killing their loved ones.

One of them, Ramiza Burzic, who lost two sons during the Srebrenica massacre, said she is still hunting for the remains of her second son and blames Mladic.

“We have only found half of the body of my first son. He was not born without a head and arms,” Burzic said as she prepared to board a flight in Sarajevo. “Mladic was there, and he ordered mass graves to be dug and spread all over Bosnia. His intention was that a mother would never find the whole body of her son in those graves.”

Burzic said she expected judges to hand Mladic a life sentence, “so all of his progeny will know what he was doing and what kind of man he was.”

The U.N. tribunal has, in the past, convicted officers under Mladic’s command of involvement in the Srebrenica massacre and the deadly campaign of sniping and shelling in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo.

If the court does convict Mladic, an appeal is inevitable.

“There are many things that give rise to a potential claim for unfair trial that troubled us during the work that we did and that might require additional filings or action,” Ivetic said.
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Palestinian Activists Angry at Nick Cave Over Israel Show

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEA

Supporters of an international boycott movement against Israel have lashed out at rock star Nick Cave after he played in the Jewish state and accused the pro-Palestinian activists of trying to bully musicians.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel called Cave’s shows a “propaganda gift” that helps “art-wash” Israeli policies toward Palestinians.

Cave plays Monday in Tel Aviv after an almost sold out show there the night before.

The Australian musician said he faced pressure to cancel shows by the BDS movement, which calls for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.

Cave said he wanted to take a “principled stand against anyone who wants to censor and silence musicians.”

Some artists have canceled shows in Israel amid BDS pressure while many others continue to play.

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The End of Merkel?

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

Germany — the most stable European Union country — was plunged into a political crisis Monday. Weeks-long exploratory talks over forming Germany’s next coalition government collapsed with all four parties involved at loggerheads over migration and energy policies as well as on further European Union integration.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was due Monday to meet the country’s president, but it remained unclear whether she will try to run a minority government, forestalling a snap parliamentary election, or recommend heading to the polls early next year.

The news of the collapse of the talks sent the euro sliding in overnight Asian markets both against the dollar and the Japanese yen. Merkel’s difficulties come at a crucial time for the EU, which is locked in increasingly vitriolic negotiations with Britain over Brexit.

The German Chancellor had been trying to forge a complicated coalition between her Christian Democratic Union (CDU), its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Green party following federal elections at the end of September. Those elections left her ruling CDU the largest party but with a reduced share of the vote and fewer seats — thanks partly to a surge by Germany’s far-right populists.

CDU officials acknowledge that migration — the issue the populists of the Alternative for Germany built their election appeal on — was the main obstacle in the talks dividing potential partners in a so-called Jamaica coalition, nicknamed because the parties’ traditional colors are similar to the Jamaican flag.

Asylum-seekers

The question of how many of the 1.2 million migrants and asylum-seekers from the Middle East and Africa who found their way to Germany in 2015 and 2016 should be allowed to be reunited with their families couldn’t be resolved in the coalition negotiations. On Sunday, the Green party offered a compromise whereby they would agree to limit Germany’s annual intake of migrants to 200,000 – as long as the other parties didn’t rule out that relatives of migrants already in Germany would be allowed to join them.

With migration such a contentious issue — and with the possibility of snap elections — the CDU, the CSU and the Free Democrats have appeared determined to outdo each in proposing tougher migration controls.

Merkel, Europe’s longest-serving leader, is facing renewed internal criticism of her handling of the coalition talks. As the negotiations dragged she cut a rather passive figure, according to party critics. On Sunday the embattled Chancellor said she regretted the collapse of the talks, but added she had “thought we were on the path where we could have reached agreement” when the Free Democrats decided to withdraw.

“It is at least a day of deep reflection on how to go forward in Germany,” Merkel said. “But I will do everything possible to ensure that this country will be well led through these difficult weeks.”

Falling apart

Announcing the pull-out form the talks, the FDP leader Christian Lindner, argued, “it is better not to govern than to govern wrongly.” He suggested the huddles between officials had become acrimonious, complaining, “there was no process but rather there were setbacks because targeted compromises were questioned.”

The Free Democrats and Greens also clashed repeatedly over climate-change issues and the use of coal-fired energy generation.

Social Democrat leader, Martin Schulz, whose party had been a junior coalition partner to Merkel for the last four years, Sunday once again ruled out the possibility of another so-called grand coalition between the CDU and his party, the second largest in the Bundestag. “The voter has rejected the grand coalition”, Schulz said at a party conference in Nuremberg.

With the Social Democrats refusing to enter another coalition with Merkel following their disastrous showing in the September election, the Chancellor now faces a bleak choice. She can either try to form a minority government with the Free Democrats that would be at risk of being out-voted regularly, or concede that a re-run of September’s election is necessary. Most opinion polls suggest a re-run election would produce a very similar result to September’s.

But calling a snap election risks ending Merkel’s career and preventing her from serving a fourth-term as chancellor. In recent opinion polls, most Germans surveyed say it would mark the end of her career. And before the talks collapsed overnight Sunday Bild, Germany’s largest-circulation newspaper warned: “If she fails, the turbulence arising from a failure would quickly engulf her personally.”

But Merkel has made a habit of defying expectations over the last 12 years of her leadership.

With Germany distracted, and Merkel acting as a caretaker Chancellor, crucial EU decisions over Brexit, renewing sanctions on Russia and French President Emmanuel Macron’s push for reform of the economic bloc will likely be delayed, say analysts.

For Britain, the weakening of Merkel makes it more likely that it will crash out of the EU with no deal over trade with its largest trading partner. “The collapse of coalition talks in Germany makes a ‘no deal’ Brexit a little more likely,” tweeted Fraser Nelson, editor of Britain’s Spectator magazine.

And the political editor of the Sun, Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, Tom Newton Dunn tweeted: “Germany’s mess is bad news for Brexit. No10, perhaps inexplicably, is still holding out for Merkel’s help – but she’ll be weak and indecisive for many months now.”
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Iraq’s Top Court Rules Kurdish Referendum Unconstitutional

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEA

Iraq’s top court ruled Monday that a Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional.

The court said the decision should cancel the results of the vote in which an overwhelming majority of those who participated supported independence.

Iraq’s central government has repeatedly made known it saw the vote as illegal, and the Supreme Court ruled last week that no region was allowed to secede.

Kurdish authorities accepted the earlier ruling, saying it represented a starting point for inclusive dialogue between the two sides to resolve their differences.

Since the September referendum, Iraqi forces moved to reclaim control of much of the territory the Kurds had held for years after pushing out Islamic State fighters. As Kurdish authorities and those in Baghdad continued to spar over the push for independence, Kurdish President Masoud Barzani stepped down.
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Kenyan Supreme Court Upholds October Election Results

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeAF

Kenya’s Supreme Court has upheld the October election victory of incumbent President Uhuru Kenyatta who won just over 98 percent of the vote. The election was boycotted by the opposition.

Turnout for the poll was just under 39 percent of the 19.6 million registered voters, according to the head of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who dropped out of the presidential re-run, had called on his supporters to boycott the vote, and protesters blocked polling stations from opening in some opposition strongholds. Odinga said the election was a sham.

The October vote was a re-run of the August presidential election. Kenyatta was declared the winner of that vote, but the results were thrown out by the Supreme Court because of irregularities in the transmission of results.

It was the first time a court in Africa had overturned a presidential election result.

Three petitions had been filed with the high court challenging the October vote. All of them were dismissed Monday.

Former lawmaker Harun Mwau filed a petition against the IEBC, as well as its chairman and President Kenyatta. Mwau challenged the validity of the October 26 re-run presidential election, which he argues was held in violation of Supreme Court directions, the Constitution and relevant electoral laws.

The Institute for Democratic Governance, an NGO, filed one against several officials in the opposition NASA coalition, including leader Odinga, for engaging in what it called a “carefully choreographed scheme to derail, undermine and subvert the fresh election as announced by the Supreme Court.”

The IDG also accused the opposition of setting unreasonable demands for the electoral commission to meet.

In addition, Khelef Khalifa, chairman of the group Mombasa-based Muslims for Human Rights, filed a petition against the IEBC and its chairman, as well as Kenyatta and the NASA coalition. Khalifa filed jointly with Njonjo Mue, Kenya’s chairman of the International Commission of Jurists.
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Presidential Pardon for Thanksgiving Turkey Has Long Tradition

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeUS

The annual “pardoning” of White House turkeys each year by American presidents is an interesting tradition leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. It is said that President Abraham Lincoln’s clemency for a turkey was the origin for the pardoning ceremony that is now so well publicized. VOA’s Nikoleta Ilic has this report about the turkeys that are given to American Presidents.
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Zimbabwe’s President Clings to Power After Being Sacked As Ruling Party Leader

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe addressed the nation in a televised speech Sunday after being sacked as the ruling party leader. Reading his statement in a hesitant manner, the 93-year-old leader said “the pillars of state remained functional” during the most recent political turmoil and made it known he would preside over his party’s congress in December. Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Charles Manson, Notorious Cult Leader and Serial Killer, Dead at 83

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeUS

Charles Manson, one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history, died late Sunday at the age of 83, after four and a half decades in prison.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Manson died of natural causes at a hospital in Kern County.

Manson and six of his associates were jailed in 1971 for a series of seven grisly murders in the Los Angeles area over two nights in 1969. Three other of his followers were later jailed for crimes linked to Manson.

Manson was born to an unwed mother in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1934. He spent his entire life in and out of detention for various crimes. He started in his teenage years with sentences for burglary and armed robbery. As an adult, the diminutive Manson was believed to be illiterate, but the chronically unemployed, self-styled songwriter won followers with good looks and charisma. In the mid-1960s he became the leader of a small cult known as the Manson Family whom he led to commit the murders of August 1969.

Manson claimed to be influenced by the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter.” He said he believed the song alluded to an impending race war that would be brought about by the murders he and his followers committed.

Manson’s most well-known victim was the American actress Sharon Tate, who was 26 years old and eight and a half months pregnant when she was stabbed to death by the Manson gang at the home she shared with film director husband Roman Polanski in Benedict Canyon, California. Also killed at the same location were Tate’s acquaintances Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, as well as Steven Parent, a friend of the house caretaker. The murder scene was left in a gruesome mess; one of the Manson gang left the word “pig” written in blood on the front door.

The following night, six members of the Manson gang broke into the Los Feliz (L.A.) home of a wealthy supermarket executive, Leno LaBianca, and killed him and his wife Rosemary. The two sets of murders were not connected by authorities until weeks later.

After law enforcement authorities identified the Manson gang members by their fingerprints, Manson and his followers were tried in a spectacular court proceeding the following year. Manson attempted to represent himself, which resulted in a number of flamboyant legal motions. Ultimately he was assigned an attorney and responded by carving an “X” into his own forehead to demonstrate his displeasure. His followers copied him, disfiguring their own faces as well.

Manson later converted his “X” into a swastika, the symbol of the white-supremacist Nazi Party of Germany.

Manson and his followers were each given death sentences in the 1971 verdict, but the state of California outlawed the death penalty the following year — so most of the Manson family members have remained behind bars despite dozens of parole hearings. Manson himself had been denied parole 12 times.

Manson’s death leaves five members of the Manson Family still in prison, serving out their life sentences: Robert Beausoleil, Bruce Davis, Charles “Tex” Watson, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel. All are in their 60s and 70s. A sixth member, Susan Atkins, died in prison, of brain cancer, in 2009.

At least three other Manson associates have been paroled after serving time for crimes linked to Manson.

Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was paroled in 2009 after serving 33 years for an attempt on the life of U.S. President Gerald Ford.

Sandra Good was paroled in 1985 after serving nine years for sending threatening letters to more than 150 corporate executives. And Steve Grogan, convicted for helping Manson and Davis kill a ranch hand in 1969, also was paroled in 1985, after drawing a map that helped authorities locate the body of the victim, eight years after the murder.
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German Coalition Talks Fall Apart

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeEU

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she will consult Monday with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier after weeks of talks to form a coalition government fell apart with one potential partner withdrawing from the process.

“It is at least a day of deep reflection on how to go forward in Germany,” Merkel told reporters. “But I will do everything possible to ensure that this country will be well led through these difficult weeks.”

She spoke after the pro-business Free Democratic Party (FDP) decided to exit a possible coalition with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union, along with the left-leaning Greens.

FDP leader Christian Lindner said his party opted to withdraw rather than compromise its principles and agree to policies it does not completely support.

“It is better not to govern than to govern falsely,” Lindner said.

The parties have clashed on several issues, including immigration and the environment.

With the failure of the coalition talks, Germany could be headed to new elections. Merkel could still try to form a minority government, or try to convince the Social Democratic Party to change its mind and continue as a junior coalition partner in a new government.

But the Social Democrats have said since a disappointing result in the September election that they would be heading to the opposition.
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White House: Opioid Crisis Cost US Economy $504 Billion in 2015

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeUS

Opioid drug abuse, which has ravaged parts of the United States in recent years, cost the economy as much as $504 billion in 2015, White House economists said in a report made public on Sunday.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) said the toll from the opioid crisis represented 2.8 percent of gross domestic product that year.

President Donald Trump last month declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. While Republican lawmakers said that was an important step in fighting opioid abuse, some critics, including Democrats, said the move was meaningless without additional funding.

The report could be used by the Trump White House to urge Republicans in Congress – who historically have opposed increasing government spending – to provide more funding for fighting the opioid crisis by arguing that the economic losses far outweigh the cost of additional government funding.

Using a combination of statistical models, the CEA said the lost economic output stemming from 33,000 opioid-related deaths in 2015 could be between $221 billion and $431 billion, depending on the methodology used.

In addition, the report looked at the cost of non-fatal opioid usage, estimating a total of $72 billion for 2.4 million people with opioid addictions in 2015. Those costs included medical treatment, criminal justice system expenses and the decreased economic productivity of addicts.

The CEA said its estimate was larger than those of some prior studies because it took a broad look at the value of lives lost to overdoses. The CEA also said its methodology incorporated an adjustment to reflect the fact that opioids were underreported on death certificates.

“The crisis has worsened, especially in terms of overdose deaths which have doubled in the past ten years,” the CEA said.

“While previous studies have focused exclusively on prescription opioids, we consider illicit opioids including heroin as well.”

Opioids, primarily prescription painkillers, heroin and fentanyl, are fueling the drug overdoses. More than 100 Americans die daily from related overdoses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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Mugabe Faces Impeachment, Ignores Resignation Deadline

Posted on 11/20/2017 by SeeAF

Zimbabwe’s longtime president Robert Mugabe has ignored a Monday noon deadline to either step down or face impeachment. Mugabe made clear in a televised speech Sunday that he did not intend to resign.

Millions tuned in to radio and television Sunday expecting to celebrate the end of what has been 37 years of Mugabe’s autocratic rule.

They were bitterly disappointed – some to the point of tears – to hear Mugabe say he will preside over his ZANU-PF party congress next month.

He did not mention the word resign or appear to take the military intervention into the country’s political crisis seriously.

“The operation…did not amount to a threat to our well-cherished constitutional order nor did it challenge my authority as head of state, not even as commander-in-chief,” he said.

The ruling party had issued the midday deadline at its meeting Sunday and also fired Mugabe as ZANU-PF chief — a party he co-founded — and installed ousted Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the new party leader.

‘Not in line with what we expected’

Party whip Lovemore Matuke tells the Associated Press impeachment proceedings are a certainty and called Mugabe’s speech “surprising.”

“It is not in line with what we expected. We had understood that his resignation was coming to avoid the embarrassment of impeachment. The army is taking its own route, as politicians we are taking our own route, but the ultimate goal is to make sure he goes, which he should have done tonight,” Mutake said.

The freedom fighters who fought alongside Mugabe in the liberation struggle have called for protests and are demanding that Mugabe relinquish his stranglehold on the presidency.

“That speech has nothing to do with realities,” Chris Mutsvangwa, head of the influential war veterans’ association, told AFP news agency. “We will go for impeachment and we are calling people back to the streets.”

Mutsvangwa said he would like to see the military back off to let people and politics take care of Mugabe’s removal from office. Mutsvangwa said the military is bound to protect Mugabe, even though they placed him under house arrest, because the president officially remains their commander-in-chief.

The war veterans’ association is going to court, Mutsvangwa said, to argue that Mugabe is derelict of his executive duty.”

Mugabe has been under house arrest since last week while negotiations are under way for his departure.

Zimbabwe has been in serious economic and political turmoil since the late 1990s.

Turning point

But the turning point in the current crisis came when Mugabe fired the popular military hero Mnangagwa and named his own hugely unpopular wife Grace as his successor.

Grace Mugabe has been accused of leading a life of luxury while many Zimbabweans go hungry.

Saying his wife would take power prompted the military to step in and carry out a de facto coup, taking over many state institutions and placing Mugabe under house arrest.

The 93-year-old Mugabe is the world’s oldest head of state. He took power, first as prime minister then as president, in 1980 when Zimbabwe won independence from British white minority rule.

Although he initially brought some benefits to the black majority and the poor, Mugabe’s authoritarian rule is seen as having destroyed Zimbabwe’s economy, discouraged foreign investment and stifled any political challenges through violence, intimidation and what the opposition says have been rigged elections.

Mugabe has made no secret of his desire to run for re-election next year.

WATCH: Mugabe clinging to power
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