As climate change and rising seas threaten the world’s coastal cities, experts say natural systems can offer protection. VOA’s Steve Baragona reports from Florida, where mangroves may help shield shorelines.
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Month: December 2017
Restaurant Run by Disabled People has Change on the Menu
A restaurant run by a team of young disabled people is challenging perceptions in the Moroccan capital of Rabat. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Mueller Obtains Thousands of Trump Transition Emails
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian contacts with President Donald Trump’s campaign has gained access to thousands of emails sent and received by Trump officials before the start of his administration, according to several people familiar with Trump’s transition organization.
But the investigators did not directly request the records from Trump’s still-existing transition group, Trump for America, and instead obtained them from a separate federal agency that stored the material, according to those familiar with the Trump transition organization.
Transition attorney complains
On Saturday, Kory Langhofer, general counsel for the transition group, sent a letter to two congressional committees arguing that the GSA had improperly provided the transition records to Mueller’s investigators.
In the letter to the Republican chairmen of the House Oversight and the Senate Homeland Security committees, Langhofer contends that the disclosure by GSA was unauthorized, and it considers the documents private and privileged and not government property.
Langhofer also said that a GSA official appointed by Trump in May had assured the transition in June that any request for records from Mueller’s office would be referred to the transition’s attorneys. According to Langhofer, the assurance was made by then-GSA General Counsel Richard Beckler, who was hospitalized in August and has since died. A copy of the letter was viewed by the AP.
But late Saturday, another GSA official present for the conversation told Buzzfeed News that there was nothing improper about the disclosure of the emails to Mueller’s team. The GSA has provided office space and other aid to presidential transitions in recent years and typically houses electronic transition records in its computer system.
GSA responds
GSA Deputy Counsel Lenny Loewentritt told Buzzfeed that Beckler didn’t make a commitment to the transition team that requests from law enforcement for materials would be routed through transition lawyers.
Loewentritt said the transition was informed that by using government devices, the agency wouldn’t hold back records from law enforcement. Transition officials signed agreements that warn them that materials kept on the government servers are subject to monitoring and auditing, he told Buzzfeed, and there’s no expectation of privacy.
The documents were provided to Mueller’s team by the GSA in September in response to requests from the FBI, but the transition wasn’t informed at the time, according to people familiar with the transition organization. Officials with Trump for America learned last Wednesday that GSA officials had turned over the cache of emails to Mueller’s team.
Among the officials who used transition email accounts was former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to a count of making false statements to FBI agents in January and is now cooperating with Mueller’s investigation. Flynn was fired by Trump in February for misleading senior administration officials about his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the U.S.
Emails’ value unclear
It’s unclear how revelatory the email accounts maintained by the GSA will be for Mueller. Several high-level Trump advisers sometimes used other email accounts to communicate about transition issues between Election Day and the inauguration.
Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, declined to comment. Jay Sekulow, an attorney on Trump’s personal legal team, referred questions to the transition group. Neither GSA representatives nor Flynn attorney Robert Kelner were immediately available to respond to AP’s emailed requests for comment.
Officials with Trump for America learned last Wednesday that GSA officials had turned over the massive cache of emails to Mueller’s team. The transition group’s top officials were alarmed because many of the emails that Mueller’s investigators now have are sensitive records ranging from national security discussions about possible Trump international aims to candid assessments of candidates for top government posts, said those familiar with the transition.
Officials with Trump for America had been bracing for months for the prospect that Mueller’s team would demand its emails, but they had been assured that any requests to the GSA would be routed to the transition organization, which claims legal ownership of the records. According to those familiar with the transition group, a top GSA official informed Trump for America last June that any request from Mueller’s office would be referred to the transition.
On Sept. 1, after requests in late August from Mueller’s office, the GSA turned over a flash drive containing tens of thousands of records without informing Trump for America of its move, those familiar with the transition said.
Those records included emails sent and received by 13 senior Trump transition officials.
The media site Axios first reported on the transfer of the emails to Mueller’s team.
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US Hails Afghan Forces’ Battlefield Gains, Urges Taliban to Seek Talks With Kabul
The U.S. Defense Department hailed success on the battlefield by Afghan forces and urged Taliban insurgents to embrace “peace and political legitimacy” through a negotiated settlement with the government in Kabul.
The comments came this week in the Pentagon’s semiannual report to Congress, the first since August 21 when President Donald Trump announced his new strategy for Afghanistan and the South Asia region.
The Pentagon said in the report given to Congress on Friday that U.S. and Afghan “sources indicate this fighting season has been more successful than the last.”
“During this reporting period [June 1, 2017, to November 30], the Taliban was unable to threaten any provincial centers, lost control of key districts, and the ANDSF retained control of all major population centers,” it said, referring to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces.
U.S. commanders in Afghanistan had said in early summer that the conflict was in a “stalemate” as Afghan security forces struggled to hold back the Taliban and other extremist groups in the country.
The report said the major change in U.S. policy under Trump from “our previous strategy is the shift from a time-based approach to a conditions-based one.
“This strategy is a clear signal of U.S. resolve and a break with the previous administration’s focus on a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan,” it added.
“Our purpose in Afghanistan remains the same,” the report said. It is “to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven from which terrorist groups can plan and execute attacks on the United States, or our allies, and citizens abroad.”
It said the goal remains the same as in 2001: “a stable, independent Afghanistan at peace with its neighbors.
“The objective of the campaign is to convince the Taliban that they cannot win on the battlefield. The war will end in a comprehensive, Afghan-led political settlement that will include all parties, including the Taliban.
“The Taliban cannot win on the battlefield. They must know that their only path to peace and political legitimacy is through a negotiated settlement with the Afghan government,” it said.
The Pentagon said it has a “willing and able partner” in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
“In conjunction with the new U.S. strategy, he launched with the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and U.S. Forces in Afghanistan a process to create and monitor reforms in four priority sectors: governance, economic development, security, and the peace process.”
It cited Ghani’s “long-term plan to seize the initiative in the fight against insurgent and terrorist forces, further professionalize the ANDSF, modify the ANDSF force structure, and compel the Taliban to seek reconciliation.”
Under its new South Asia Strategy, the Pentagon said the United States has deployed “modest numbers” of additional forces to support the train, advise, and assist and for counterterrorism missions in Afghanistan.
The United States has about 14,000 uniformed personnel in Afghanistan, an increase of some 3,000 from the previous reporting period, it said.
It cautioned, though, that “our commitment is enduring but not unlimited. Our support is not a blank check.
“As long as the Afghan government continues to show real progress and make real reforms, we will continue to support them as our strategic partners in the fight against international terrorism.”
The United States has been in Afghanistan since 2001, when it led an invasion to drive the Taliban from power after it said the group’s leaders were sheltering al-Qaida militants responsible for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States.
U.S. forces have remained as part of a NATO-led coalition since, although active combat operations were turned over to Afghan forces in 2014, and international troop levels have fallen from a peak of more than 100,000 to about 16,000.
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Fatah Calls for ‘Angry Protests’ During Pence Visit to Jerusalem
The political party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has called for “angry protests” during the visit to Jerusalem next week of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence.
“We call for angry protests at the entrances to Jerusalem and in its Old City to coincide with the visit on Wednesday of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and to protest against [U.S. President Donald] Trump’s decision,” Fatah said Saturday.
Trump angered Palestinians this month when he announced that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing a delicate policy that has been in place for decades. Palestinian leaders reacted by canceling their plans to meet with Pence. He is still expected to meet with Israeli officials.
Both Palestinians and Israelis claim Jerusalem as their true capital. But the dispute over Jerusalem has meant that government functions are conducted elsewhere: Tel Aviv, for Israel, Ramallah, for the Palestinian National Authority.
Trump’s announcement was met with anger in Palestinian communities, spurring thousands of Palestinians in the Middle East and elsewhere to stage demonstrations against the decision.
Trump also announced the U.S. Embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, further fraying the nerves of Palestinians and their supporters. Israel’s diplomatic community is based in Tel Aviv, although some nations, including the United States, have consulates in Jerusalem.
U.N. resolution
In the United Nations, Egypt was said to be circulating among members of the Security Council a draft resolution that would render null any decisions on Jerusalem’s legal status. The measure was expected to go to a vote as early as next week.
Danny Danon, the Israeli ambassador to the U.N., has condemned the draft resolution.
“As Jews around the world are celebrating Hanukah, the liberation of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, the Palestinians continue to try to reinvent history,” Danon said in a statement. “No vote or debate will change the clear reality that Jerusalem has and always will be the capital of Israel. Together with our allies, we will continue to fight, once again, for historical truth.”
Reuters news service said the measure had broad support among Security Council members. But as one of five permanent members of the Security Council, the United States could veto the bill and ensure its failure.
A resolution in the 15-member Security Council needs nine “yes” votes to pass. But any one of the five permanent members — the U.S., France, Britain, Russia and China — can defeat a resolution with a single “no” vote.
On Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said two Palestinian protesters died in clashes with Israeli soldiers at the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip.
A third incident was reported north of Jerusalem, with the person shot in the chest by Israeli troops, according to the health ministry.
Police said a fourth Palestinian was fatally shot after stabbing an Israeli border police officer near a checkpoint on the outskirts of Ramallah.
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Explainer: Why Other Countries Care That US Ditched Net Neutrality
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has hit the delete button on domestic rules protecting net neutrality.
The FCC voted 3-2 on Thursday to end the 2015 Open Internet Order and enact the Restoring Internet Freedom initiative, which is widely seen as giving internet service providers (ISPs) more power to selectively limit internet access while favoring certain data streams.
In large part, this is an internal battle within the United States over consumer choice and how the internet will operate. Nonetheless, it also could have a significant impact beyond America’s borders, especially for those who routinely interact with U.S.-based internet services in their daily or professional lives.
Though you may not see the changes overnight, many critics say that, in the long run, internet users around the world may not know what products or services they are missing out on because of the rollback of net neutrality in the United States.
What is net neutrality?
Coined in 2003 by Columbia University professor Tim Wu, the phrase “net neutrality” refers to the principle that ISPs should treat all data provided to customers equally and without restriction to block out competitors. In essence, it keeps ISPs from choosing which data gets streamed at a faster rate and which websites are blocked or throttled.
Net neutrality was made official policy in 2015 through new FCC regulatory rules that treated ISPs as a public utility following extensive industry and public debate.
Why does net neutrality matter?
Net neutrality is the law in more than 40 countries, including the United States and the European Union. But with the shackles for U.S.-based ISPs off, equality in cyberspace may disappear.
Companies or individuals willing to pay more may get a freer, faster internet service, which could lead to two classes of internet user: one rich in money and information, the other poor in both.
“The ending of net neutrality in the U.S. could be the beginning of the end of the open, interoperable, free internet,” said Quinn McKew, deputy executive director of ARTICLE 19 in the United Kingdom.
“It is now a question of how much, not if, freedom of expression online will be undermined around the world as a result of this shortsighted decision to enrich the entrenched near-monopolies who control internet access in the United States,” McKew said.
For example, if a company from the Balkans, Russia or Central Asia develops its own video-streaming service, an ISP may slow its delivery because the provider has a competing service of its own unless the company agrees to pay additional fees to have its product streamed at higher rates.
And obviously it’s not only about entertainment.
The Public Library of Science (PLOS), a U.S.-based nonprofit open-access publisher and advocate dedicated to progress in science and medicine through a transformation in research communication, warned that allowing ISPs to sort traffic based on content, sender and receiver, opens the door for corporate and government censorship that would greatly hinder access to scientific information around the globe.
“If you want to promote any other culture in the U.S., and you start driving lots of [internet] traffic through the U.S., and you have to go through these ISPs, they can throttle you,” according to Dwayne Winseck, a professor at Carleton University in Ottawa and director of the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project.
Or, as Andrew McDiarmid, a senior policy analyst for the Center for Democracy and Technology, put it: “I think it’s a case that the U.S. remains a model for internet policy for the world. Not having it here may make it less likely to have it in other places.”
Could dismantling it affect human rights?
As with many things, the United States is seen as a global leader on the internet. Thus, many critics fear that a loosening of its regulatory system may embolden others to crack down on a completely open internet.
Estelle Masse, senior policy analyst at Access Now, a digital-rights advocacy group, said the repeal of net neutrality rules would make the U.S. “an outlier on an issue of critical importance to the future of the internet, both as an engine for innovation and a platform for human rights, to the detriment of users.”
Some critics say the erosion of net neutrality in world leaders such as the United States could prevent events such as the 2010 Arab Spring, when social media played an integral part in the movement to overthrow oppressive regimes.
“Americans aren’t the only ones who would be harmed by a U.S. decision to repeal net neutrality rules,” Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, said in response to the move to end net neutrality.
He says that as the most economically advanced country in the world, such a move by the United States could give the green light to repressive countries like Iran to continue applying the same policies.
“The internet is the most valuable invention of the 20th century, and we should all be fighting to keep it free. As the birthplace of the internet, the U.S. should be carrying the torch on net neutrality, not following in the footsteps of autocrats,” he said.
Could there be any benefits for foreign countries?
One of the arguments for rolling back net neutrality is that it hindered investment and innovation that threatened to harm the internet’s continued ability to grow and evolve to meet consumers’ needs.
The ruling could end up being a boon to innovators outside the United States if American entrepreneurs find they are at a disadvantage because large companies are spending heavily to dominate fast-lane internet access.
Jennifer Yeh, a policy counsel at Free Press, a Washington-based public interest group that advocates for an open internet, noted that while the decision may limit supply of new content and developments for users outside the United States, it could push innovators to leave “for better opportunities elsewhere.”
To that end, it appears as though some are ready to pounce on the opportunity.
“Maybe I shd [should] invite newly disadvantaged US startups to EU, so they have a fair chance,” tweeted Neelie Kroes, the European Union’s commissioner for the digital agenda, during the debate in the United States on ending net neutrality.
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Somalia PM Says His Government Demanded US Aid Cut
Somalia’s prime minister, Hassan ali-Khaire, said his government had demanded the U.S. briefly suspend aid to much of Somalia’s armed forces in an effort to improve transparency and accountability following corruption concerns.
Speaking Saturday to reporters in Mogadishu, Khaire blamed former Somali governments for U.S. concerns about corruption.
“In the first month in office, my government stood for the need for Somalia to be governed on transparency principles,” he said. “To ensure such principles, Somalia and the U.S. government have agreed to this aid suspension.”
He said that the pause in assistance was part of his government’s effort to fight corruption by tackling misconduct and opening the door to accountability.
“We have done a study that made it possible to find out the challenges against rebuilding our national army, including diversion of soldiers’ salaries, lying about the list of the active and alive military personnel, and as a result, we have jointly decided to suspend the U.S. aid to parts of Somalia’s military for a few weeks until we improve and fix the errors,” Khaire said.
Mattis ‘sure’ of progress
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said that he was optimistic about improving Somali accountability concerning the distribution of American aid to Somali armed forces.
“I’m sure we can get this thing under control, even if it’s not for the whole, but for parts of it,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.
Despite the aid suspension, Khaire said his government was confident that it had gained the trust of both Somali people and its international partners.
“In the light of the recent IMF [International Monetary Fund] and World Bank reports on Somalia and the work we have so far done, we are confident that we have gained the trust of the Somali people and our international friends,” he said.
For nearly two decades, Somalia has been among the world’s most corrupt countries, topping the list made by the corruption monitoring group Transparency International.
Nepotism, favoritism, bribery and aid embezzlement have been commonplace across all sectors, making many citizens believe that corruption is a normal way of life.
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Trump Sells Republican Tax Bill to Job Seekers, Middle Class
U.S. President Donald Trump continued to tout the Republican tax bill Saturday, saying “everybody’s going to benefit” if it is signed into law.
“But I think the greatest benefit is going to be for jobs and for the middle class, middle income,” Trump said to reporters on the White House South Lawn before departing for the presidential Camp David retreat in Maryland.
Republican Senate and House negotiators finalized a final version Friday of their compromise $1.5 trillion tax bill, after appeasing Republican Senator Marco Rubio, who demanded an expansion of the child tax credit that provides benefits for low-income families.
Republican lawmakers hammered out differences Wednesday between the House and Senate versions, and both chambers of Congress plan to vote on the final bill early next week, with the intent of submitting it to President Donald Trump for his signature before Christmas.
Rubio said late Friday he would vote for the bill after saying one day earlier he would not support it unless it includes a more generous child tax credit, which has been beneficial to lower-income families by partially offsetting the expenses of raising children.
The bill doubles the current child tax credit from $1,000 to $2,000 per child and allows parents to get a refund of up to $1,400 if the credit is greater than their federal income tax liability.
No Democratic support
No Democrats have publicly expressed their support for the legislation, which they have attacked as a giveaway to corporations and the wealthiest of taxpayers, including Trump, a billionaire.
The measure would cut taxes by $1.5 trillion over the next decade, heavily weighted toward lower corporate taxation, and perhaps add $1 trillion or more to the country’s long-term $20 trillion debt obligations to investors and foreign governments such as China – the largest owner of U.S. debt.
When asked about the debt, Trump responded by saying a new tax law will encourage inflows of overseas money. “This is going to bring money in. As an example, we think four trillion dollars will come flowing back into the country. That’s money that’s overseas, that’s stuck there for years and years.”
Trump administration officials say millions of individual taxpayers, but not everyone, would see their annual tax obligation to the government cut, in many cases by a few hundred dollars, or in the case of wealthy taxpayers, by thousands of dollars.
In the final compromise bill, the individual tax rate for the highest income earners would be cut from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.
The country’s corporate tax rate, now at 35 percent and among the highest in the industrialized world, would be cut substantially to 21 percent.
With Democrat Doug Jones winning a special Senate election Tuesday in Alabama, Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer has asked that the final tax vote be delayed until January after Jones is sworn in. But Republicans appear intent on voting before then while they have one more Republican vote in the Senate.
An original version of the Senate bill was approved 51-49 with Rubio’s support. So if Rubio votes against the bill, it could still pass, though with a narrower margin.
If approved and signed into law, the tax legislation would be the first major legislative achievement of Trump’s nearly 11-month presidency after he and Republicans failed earlier this year dismantle national health care policies championed by former president Barack Obama.
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Nigerian Oil Workers Set to Go on Strike
Nigerian oil workers are threatening to strike indefinitely starting Monday after mediated talks reached a stalemate with Neconde Energy Limited over allegations of wrongful terminations.
The union, known as PENGASSAN (Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria), says the walkout will begin at midnight local time Monday after it concludes a meeting of its central committee. It says workers across the country are on standby for the strike to begin.
The union has clashed with Neconde Energy Limited over what it says is the wrongful termination of some of its members.
Nigeria is already dealing with price hikes and a fuel scarcity following a strike threat by service station operator members of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, or IPMAN.
your ad hereFar-right Party Officially Part of Austrian Government
Austria’s Conservative People’s Party (OVP) reached a coalition deal Saturday with the far-right Freedom Party (FPO), which takes a hard line on immigration.
The deal makes Austria the only western European country with a far-right group in government.
Austrian conservatives led by Sebastian Kurz and FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache said in a joint statement this was a “turquoise-blue agreement,” referring to each group’s political colors.
“We want to reduce the burden on taxpayers … and above all we want to ensure greater security in our country, including through the fight against illegal immigration,” Kurz said. The 31-year-old will be Austria’s new chancellor and will become the youngest head of government in the world. Strache will be vice-chancellor.
The coalition government will be sworn in Monday, according to Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen’s office.
More than a million refugees and other migrants arrived in Europe in 2015.
Austria reportedly opened its doors to more than 1 percent of those seeking asylum – one of the highest rates in the European Union. Both parties now are pledging to prevent a repeat of that influx.
According to the BBC, no details have been given about the new program, although the Freedom Party is expected to take the leadership on several ministerial roles.
In November, Reuters reported on an upcoming coalition that would focus on a commitment to the European Union, budget discipline, and cuts in migrants’ welfare benefits as basic policies.
Strache and Kurz are expected to restrict new arrivals’ access to many social services.
The agreement comes two months after a parliamentary election that was dominated by Europe’s migration crisis. It also ends about a decade of political opposition for the FPO, which last entered government in 2000.
Austrian news agency APA first reported the coalition and a source, familiar with the talks, confirmed the deal shortly thereafter.
Kurz’s party won the October 15 election. He ran on a hard line approach to immigration that often overlapped with the Freedom Party’s. Kurz has promised to bring change to Austrian politics even though he has been leading a party that has been in power in different coalitions for the past 30 years.
The FPO came in third with 26 percent of the vote.
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‘Transgender,’ ‘Science-based’ Now Reportedly Among Taboo Words at US Health Agency
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control is reportedly banning a list of seven words or phrases in official documents, sparking a flood of reaction on social media platforms.
Policy analysts at the CDC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, were told about the list of prohibited words at a meeting Thursday with senior CDC officials, according to an unnamed analyst who attended the meeting as reported by The Washington Post newspaper.
The banned words are “diversity,” “entitlement,” “evidence-based,” “fetus,” “science-based,” “transgender,” and “vulnerable.”
The meeting was led by Alison Kelly, a top official in the CDC’s Office of Financial Services, according to the analyst who the Post said remained anonymous because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about agency affairs. The analyst said Kelly did not explain why the words were being forbidden.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, a non-profit group that provides reproductive health care, said on Twitter the action sends strong messages about the administration of President Donald Trump.
“It’s clearer than ever: this administration has disdained women’s health, LGBTQ people, and science since day one.”
David Reiss, an internationally recognized psychiatrist, tweeted that the administration’s decision is counterproductive and outside the boundaries of traditional Washington politics.
“This is an attack on reality. Censoring names, Trump attempts to disappear knowledge, people & rational discourse. This is not politics or partisan but a takeover of society by authoritarian kleptocrats. Resist or Collaborate. No other options.”
Legal Lambda is a legal organization that advocates on behalf of bisexuals, gay men, lesbians, transgender people and people who have contracted HIV. The group responded on Twitter with disbelief.
“Unbelievable. You cannot erase us, @realDonaldTrump…”
Many of the responses on Twitter were triggered by comments from Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, who blasted the Trump administration for reportedly banning the words.
“The @realDonaldTrump Administration is making America stupid again. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention banned from using “science-based” and “evidence-based” terms. Are we now going to use Voodoo & leeches to treat diseases?…”
Other officials with the nation’s top public health agency confirmed the existence of the list of banned words, the Post reported. The newspaper added the words will be prohibited from inclusion in any official CDC documents being prepared for the 2019 budget.
Unprecedented
The analyst, described by the Post as a “longtime CDC analyst” who helps write descriptions of the agency’s work for the administration’s annual budget proposal, could not remember past incidents of words being banned from budget documents because they were deemed controversial.
“In my experience, we’ve never had any pushback from an ideological standpoint,” the analyst told the Post.
Others in the meeting reacted with disbelief, the analyst said.
The Trump administration has grappled with how to address issues such as abortion rights, gender identity and sexual orientation. Several federal agencies have altered some federal policies and how they gather information about bisexual, gay, lesbian and transgender citizens.
The Department of Health and Human Services has eliminated questions about gender identity and sexual orientation in two surveys of older people. The agency has also deleted information about LGBT people from its website.
On many occasions, the Trump administration has dismissed science-based findings in favor of opinion – particularly regarding climate change. Trump has not said if he believes in climate science and numerous members of his administration have denied facets of scientific findings related to climate change.
The Environmental Protection Agency has eliminated references to climate change on its website and has prohibited its scientists from presenting scientific reports on the topic.
The Office of Management and Budget, which produces the president’s budget and monitors federal agencies for compliance with the president’s policies, has not responded to requests for comment, nor has the CDC, the Post reported.
your ad hereAid Agencies Brace for New Humanitarian Emergency in Yemen
The U.N. refugee agency reports aid agencies are bracing for another humanitarian emergency in Yemen as people flee from intensified fighting in frontline areas on Yemen’s west coast.
The UNHCR says it has received reports that more than 1,400 people have fled from Hudaydah and Taizz governorates in the past few days. This follows the recent fighting in the Yemeni capital Sana’a and neighboring areas.
The UNHCR says it is working with other aid agencies to scale up operations to help those who are fleeing and others to come. Agency spokesman, Babar Baloch, says emergency relief kits for 2,000 families in Hudaydah have been sent and more relief for thousands of other families is on the way.
But, he says Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen is harming emergency operations.
“The blockade of Yemen, which has yet to be fully eased, has also resulted in shortages and subsequent price increases for fuel, water and essential commodities, including food and vital medicines. This has hit many displaced and local Yemenis as well as refugees. Restrictions on both commercial and humanitarian goods reaching Yemen are still in place,” he said.
Baloch says the UNHCR is especially worried about the fate of 1,460 Eritrean refugees as well as Yemeni civilians in Al Khawkah. This area, which is 117 kilometers (73 miles) south of Al Hudaydah City has been declared a military zone. He says it is difficult to bring in food and other goods because of ongoing hostilities.
He says plans to help Somali refugees hoping to escape Yemen and return to Somalia have been put on hold. He says three boats at the Port of Aden have not been able to leave for Berbera in Somalia because necessary clearances from the authorities have not been received.
your ad hereSouth Africa’s Deeply Divided Ruling Party at Critical ‘Crossroads’
South Africa’s embattled president made no attempt to hide his pick for his successor as his party met to vote over new leadership, delivering several backhands at his deputy, successful businessman Cyril Ramaphosa.
“We cannot exercise things that are foreign to ANC culture and tendencies,” Jacob Zuma said to the gathering, in Soweto, of some 5,000 delegates of the African National Congress, who greeted his arrival with half-hearted applause.
He warned delegates, who will vote Saturday and Sunday, to avoid results that would be “seen to be beneficial to business,” saying such an outcome might cause the ruling party to “implode.”
Zuma also lashed out at the media for having a “vested interest” in harming the ANC. The claim drew scattered applause from the floor.
“We need to reflect on how to communicate with our people in a climate in which the forces hostile to the ANC control the means to access to platforms of communications,” he said.
Zuma, whose mounting corruption scandals have deeply divided the party, will step down as party leader at this conference, as his term ends. His successor will then be the presumptive ruling party presidential candidate when South Africa next votes, in 2019. Zuma may continue as president of the country after the vote, but analysts also predict his party will try to convince him to step out of the role before elections.
Behind the president sat Zuma’s favored pick: Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, a top diplomat and former minister who is also Zuma’s former wife. She and Ramaphosa are the two top candidates, but others may emerge.
Voting is going to be a complicated, contentious process — on Saturday, party secretary Gwede Mantashe told journalists the party had ruled that some 100 delegates affected by three court rulings on Friday will not be granted voting status at the conference.
That could be seen as a blow to Dlamini-Zuma’s base.
Zuma urged his party to maintain a united front, as did other prominent members of the party and a slew of religious leaders, who delivered an impassioned, emotional call for peace and unity as the conference began. The last year has seen dramatic blowups at ANC events, including a chair-throwing bonanza at a provincial-level meeting in October.
“Our people are frustrated when we spend more time fighting amongst ourselves than solving the day-to-day challenges that they experience,” said Zuma. “Factionalism has become the biggest threat to the organization.”
Many political watchers, like former Gauteng province premier Tokyo Sexwale, have warned that this bitter battle could make or break the party that has commanded a clean majority in every national vote since 1994.
“At this conference it is at the crossroads,” Sexwale told VOA on the conference sidelines. “It must be mindful of the fact that a wrong turn could bury this organization.”
“Here’s a chance now to fix the ANC itself,” he said. “…To send a strong message that we have turned a corner. If we are not going to do that, nobody is going to trust us.”
your ad hereHollywood, Business Team Up to Combat Harassment, Advance Equality
Top entertainment and business executives have agreed to found and fund a Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace.
The new group was established at a meeting in Los Angeles convened by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, Nike Foundation founder and co-chair Maria Eite, talent attorney Nina Shaw and venture capitalist Freada Kapor Klein. It was attended by the heads of nearly every major Hollywood studio.
The establishment of the new group follows the recent avalanche of allegations about sexual misconduct and inequality in the entertainment industry.
“The Commission will not seek just one solution, but a comprehensive strategy to address the complex and inter-related causes of the problems of parity and power,” Kennedy said in a statement.
Anita Hill has been tapped to chair the newly formed group. She was one of the first people to introduce the public to the concept of sexual harassment when she testified in 1991 against Clarence Thomas at his Senate confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court.
“It is time to end the culture of silence,” Hill said in a statement. “I’ve been at this work for 26 years. This moment presents us with an unprecedented opportunity to make real change.”
Hill, a Brandeis law professor who has chaired the Human Rights Committee of the International Bar Association, said the commission will focus on issues ranging from “power disparity, equity and fairness, safety, sexual harassment guidelines, education and training, reporting and enforcement, ongoing research and data collection.”
Accounts in the New York Times and the New Yorker covering the allegations from women about predatory sexual behavior on the part of film producer Harvey Weinstein seemed to have opened the door for others to follow suit with allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against a host of other media and entertainment figures that have included Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Louis C.K., Russell Simmons, Kevin Spacey, Garrison Keilor and Brett Ratner. Not spared were political figures, including U.S. Senator Al Franken.
The commission said in a statement it will reconvene early next year to define its mission, scope and priorities.
your ad hereNigeria: Boko Haram Fighters, Families Arrested
Military authorities say Nigerian soldiers have arrested more than 400 people associated with the Boko Haram extremist group hiding on the islands of Lake Chad, including fighters, wives and children.
Col. Onyema Nwachukwu says the two-week operation netted the largest number of arrests of Boko Haram fighters in recent months in northeast Nigeria. It included air and ground offensives targeting insurgents’ locations.
Nwachukwu says the military arrested 167 Boko Haram fighters, 67 women and 173 children who were family members of the insurgents. The women and children will be handed over to authorities of displacement camps after investigations.
Nwachukwu says another 57 insurgents were arrested during a separate operation in another part of the troubled region.
Boko Haram has been blamed for more than 20,000 deaths during its eight-year insurgency.
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AP-NORC Polls: Americans Pessimistic About Trump, Country
President Donald Trump frequently casts his first year in office as a string of successes and campaign promises fulfilled. But less than a quarter of Americans think Trump has made good on the pledges he made to voters while running for president, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Among Republicans, just half say Trump has kept his promises, which included vows to overhaul his predecessor’s health care law, withdraw the United States from a nuclear accord with Iran and invest millions in new projects to fix the nation’s aging infrastructure. None of those steps have been taken.
“Everything has stalled out,” said Mark Krowski, 37, an independent from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, who leans Republican but didn’t vote for Trump last year.
Worrisome signs
As 2017 comes to a close, the majority of Americans painted a broadly pessimistic view of Trump’s presidency, the nation’s politics and the overall direction of the country. Just 3 in 10 Americans said the United States is heading in the right direction, and 52 percent said the country is worse off since Trump became president, worrisome signs for the White House and Republicans heading into a midterm election year where control of Congress will be at stake.
Along with the 23 percent who think Trump has kept his promises, another 30 percent think he has tried and failed and 45 percent think he hasn’t kept them at all.
In a second AP-NORC poll conducted this month, Trump’s job approval rating sits at just 32 percent, making him the least popular first-year president on record. A quarter of Republicans say they’re among those who disapprove of the president.
Bit of a bright spot
One relative bright spot for Trump? The improving economy.
With a soaring stock market and unemployment hovering around 4 percent, 40 percent of Americans approved of Trump’s handling of the economy. That’s higher than the 3 in 10 Americans that approved of the president’s handling of health care, foreign policy or taxes.
Still, Trump continues to talk about his presidency with lofty rhetorical flourishes, declaring that his first months in office outshine those of his predecessors. But there’s no doubt that 2017 has been devoid of any significant legislative accomplishments, though Republicans are urgently trying to pass a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s tax system. The package would give generous tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and more modest tax cuts to low- and middle-income families.
“We’re very, very close to a historic legislative victory, the likes of which rarely has this country seen,” Trump said during a meeting with lawmakers earlier this week.
Republicans are banking on the tax overhaul being enough to carry them through next year’s House and Senate contests, elections that will largely be a referendum on Trump’s first two years in office and the GOP’s stewardship as the majority party on Capitol Hill. But with the legislation rushed through Congress and negotiated largely in private, Trump and lawmakers may have more work to do to sell the public on its benefits.
“There’s so much back and forth and so many adjustments being made. It’s just so uncertain,” Edward Hale, a 72-year-old independent, said of the tax legislation.
One thing Hale, a retired federal government employee from Clarion, Pennsylvania, is certain of in the proposal? “It definitely favors Mr. Trump and his wealthy friends,” he said.
The survey results suggest that with or without a tax overhaul, Trump has work to do in convincing the public that his presidency is benefiting them. Just 25 percent of Americans think the country is better off since Trump took office, and only 20 percent say they personally are doing better.
By contrast, an AP-NORC poll conducted a year ago found that Americans were more likely to think the country had become better off over the course of Barack Obama’s presidency than worse off, 46 percent to 33 percent.
Only 9 percent think the country has become more united as a result of Trump’s presidency, while 67 percent think the country is more divided because of Trump. That’s far higher than the 44 percent of Americans who said in a poll one year ago that Obama’s presidency had served to divide the country further.
Even Republicans are more likely to say Trump has divided America than united it, 41 percent to 17 percent.
Notably, the deep-seated pessimism about the president and national politics doesn’t extend to local communities. Overall, about half of Americans said they feel optimistic about their local communities. And that feeling is shared across the political spectrum: 55 percent of Democrats and 50 percent of Republicans feel optimistic about the way things are going locally.
Poll details
The AP-NORC polls surveyed 1,444 adults from Nov. 30-Dec. 4 and 1,020 adults from Dec. 7-11 using samples drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points for the first survey and plus or minus 4.3 percentage points for the second.
Interviews were conducted online and using landlines and cellphones.
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Ukraine FM: Russia Does Not Live in a Vacuum, Sanctions Are Effective
Ukraine’s foreign minister applauded decisions announced this week by Canada and the European Union (EU) as important in demonstrating the international community’s solidarity with Ukraine and sending a clear message to Russia.
“Look, Russia does not live in a vacuum, sanctions are effective,” Pavlo Klimkin said Friday in an interview with VOA.
EU Council President Donald Tusk announced Thursday that leaders of the organization’s 28 member states were “united on the rollover of economic sanctions on Russia.”
The European Union’s sanctions post constraints for Russia’s access to the coveted EU markets. Initially, they were put in place in 2014 “in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and deliberate destabilization of a neighboring sovereign country.” The EU said the sanctions are kept under “constant review” in order that they continue to contribute toward their stated objectives.
Earlier this week, the Canadian government added Ukraine to its Automatic Firearms Country Control List, thus enabling Canadian individuals and companies to apply for permits to export certain prohibited firearms, weapons and devices to Ukraine.
“Canada and Canadians will continue to stand with the people of Ukraine and support Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,” Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland declared.
Klimkin said Western nations, “especially Europe, understands more and more that Russia has also been waging hybrid war against European institutions.”
International community
Against this background, “there definitely will be more pressure, in the sense of targeted sanctions, in the sense of solidarity” coming from the international community, he said.
Ukraine hopes this sense of solidarity will manifest in a United Nations mandate for an international peacekeeping mission in eastern Ukraine, responsible for, in Klimkin’s words, “what is going on and what will be going on in the occupied Donbas,” including a level of security, and free and fair elections.
“We will keep pushing Russia to accept that fundamentally, it’s about Russia out, international component in, there’s no other way around it,” Klimkin told VOA’s Ukrainian service.
In the meantime, he says Russia has been trying to “fix up the situation in Donbas. … Russia has been trying to come up with more provocations, the idea is very clear: to maintain a Russian protectorate on the ground; the whole idea is simply to say: Look, it’s about internal conflicts in Ukraine.’”
The United States has been a strong critic of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
‘The single most difficult obstacle’
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson voiced the administration’s frustration during his recent trip to Europe.
“President (Donald) Trump, as you know, throughout his campaign was very clear that he views it as very important that Russia and the United States have a better relationship, that it is important that countries as powerful as these two nations are should have a more positive relationship,” Tillerson said in Vienna.
“When one country invades another, that is a difference that is hard to look past or to reconcile,” he said, adding, “We’ve made this clear to Russia from the very beginning that we must address Ukraine. It stands as the single most difficult obstacle to us renormalizing the relationship with Russia, which we badly would like to do.”
Natalie Liu has been a staff reporter and writer at Voice of America since 2005. She currently covers the diplomatic beat. Myroslava Gongadze is VOA’s Ukrainian service chief.
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Senegal Air Traffic Controllers on Strike Days After New Airport Opens
Air traffic controllers at Senegal’s new international airport have gone on strike just days after the facility opened.
Flights to and from Dakar’s Blaise Diagne International Airport were canceled Friday after controllers announced they would strike for 24 hours.
The air traffic controllers said they were striking to protect travelers because they did not receive enough training before the new facility opened.
“There is new, latest-generation equipment that has been installed. We have not been trained on that equipment,” said Mame Alioune Sene, the president of the union representing the airport’s air traffic controllers.
The union is also demanding increased stipends for employees to get to work because the new airport is 45 kilometers (28 miles) outside the city center. Dakar’s previous international airport, Leopold Sedar Senghor, now a military airport, is in the city’s suburbs.
The $680 million facility opened December 7 after more than 10 years of delays. The government said the airport would help make Senegal a hub for transportation and tourism in West Africa.
Airport officials said about 30 flights had been canceled because of the strike.
“With [air] traffic interrupted, it means some 30 flights won’t come here today. That’s around 5,000 passengers, so of course it’s an important loss for the airport, but first and foremost it’s an incredible inconvenience for passengers and for the airlines,” said Xavier Mary, head of LAS, the Turkish-Senegalese consortium that manages the airport.
Air traffic controllers said the strike could be extended if their terms were not met.
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US Defense Secretary Optimistic About Improving Somalia Accountability
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said Friday that he was optimistic about improving Somali accountability concerning the distribution of American aid to Somali armed forces, much of which was suspended because of corruption concerns.
“I’m sure we can get this thing under control, even if it’s not for the whole, but for parts of it,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon.
The suspension reflected the Somali military’s repeated inability to account for aid items, such as food, fuel and weapons.
‘Pause’ in assistance
The massive “pause” in aid is being made “to ensure that U.S. assistance is being used effectively and for its intended purpose,” a State Department official said.
It will “affect the majority of U.S. logistical support and stipends assistance” to the Somali armed forces “until additional transparency and accountability measures are in place,” Marion Wohlers, the spokesperson for African affairs at the State Department, told VOA.
The Somali government has agreed to develop new accountability criteria that meet American standards, a State Department official said.
Mattis said changing a “culture of corruption” takes time, adding that Somalia had “finally got a president worth supporting.”
“We have a good relationship with President [Mohamed Abdullahi] Farmajo and his administration, but as you know, he inherited a very difficult situation,” Mattis said.
Some assistance to continue
Somali security force members who are actively fighting al-Shabab and receiving some form of mentorship from either the U.S. or a third party will continue to receive appropriate assistance, officials said.
According to documents obtained by the Reuters news agency, the Somali military has been unable to properly feed, pay or equip its soldiers, despite having received hundreds of millions of dollars of American support.
A U.S.-Somali team sent to nine Somali army bases between May and June of this year found that evidence of the arrival of food aid or its consumption by soldiers was present at only two of the bases, Reuters reported.
Plans to suspend the support will be a “big setback” to the effort by Somali security forces to fight al-Shabab, warned former Somali Defense Minister General Abdulkadir Ali Dini.
Dini, who worked closely with American officials in Somalia for many years, first as chief of the Somali national army and later as defense minister, said the decision did not come at the right time.
“If the United States suspends food, fuel and stipends, that will hamper the war and work against the enemy and terrorists,” he said. “It does not help these operations, and it damages morale.”
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Judge Sets Conditions for Releasing Manafort From House Arrest
A U.S. District Court judge has ruled that President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, can be released from house arrest after meeting certain conditions, including sizable fines if he fails to show up for court appearances.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Friday that Manafort would be subject to electronic monitoring, a curfew, weekly check-ins with authorities and a limited scope of travel.
The order said Manafort must pay $10 million if he fails to show up for a scheduled court appearance. The order also specified that he may travel back and forth between his residences in Alexandria, Virginia, and Palm Beach, Florida, but any other travel must be approved in advance by the court. He must also stay inside between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Legal documents say Manafort has agreed to put up four residential properties believed to be worth a total of $10 million as collateral to secure his release. The properties include the houses in Alexandria and Palm Beach as well as homes in Manhattan and Bridgehampton, New York.
Manafort’s wife and daughter must also sign agreements to pay up to $10 million if Manafort fails to appear for court appearances and his four properties fail to equal $10 million in value. They must provide bank documentation showing they have the funds ready to make the payment if necessary.
Manafort, who has surrendered his passport already, will be required to remain in Palm Beach County and neighboring Broward County, Florida, when not traveling to Washington, D.C., for court appearances. With travel for court excepted, he will be required to stay away from transportation facilities, including public and private airports, train stations and bus stations.
Manafort’s wife is also required to surrender her passport, which will confine her to the United States.
Friday’s legal order said once all these conditions were met, the court would issue a separate order releasing Manafort from his house arrest in Alexandria.
Manafort served as campaign adviser to and later campaign chairman for Trump until his resignation three months before Election Day 2016, when his ties to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine were exposed.
He faces charges that include money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent.
Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty earlier this month of lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia.
Trump has said repeatedly that there was “no collusion” with Russia during his campaign.
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White House Signals Western Wall Has to Be Part of Israel
Senior Trump administration officials outlined their view Friday that Jerusalem’s Western Wall ultimately will be declared a part of Israel, in another declaration sure to inflame passions among Palestinians and others in the Middle East.
Although they said the ultimate borders of the holy city must be resolved through Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, the officials — speaking ahead of Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to the region — essentially ruled out any scenario that didn’t maintain Israeli control over the holiest ground in Judaism. The issue is sensitive because the wall is beyond Israel’s pre-1967 borders and abuts some of the Islamic world’s most revered sites.
“We cannot envision any situation under which the Western Wall would not be part of Israel. But as the president said, the specific boundaries of sovereignty of Israel are going to be part of the final status agreement,” a senior administration official said. Another official later added by email, “We note that we cannot imagine Israel would sign a peace agreement that didn’t include the Western Wall.”
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the vice president’s upcoming trip.
‘We totally reject it’
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, reacted indignantly to the comments.
“We will not accept any changes on the borders of East Jerusalem, which was occupied in 1967,” Abu Rdeneh told The Associated Press. “This statement proves once again that this American administration is outside the peace process. The continuation of this American policy, whether the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, or moving the American Embassy, or such statements, by which the United States decides unilaterally on the issues of the final status negotiations are a violation of international law and strengthen the Israeli occupation. For us, this is unacceptable. We totally reject it. And we totally denounce it.”
Pence plans to visit the Western Wall next week. The administration officials said he would be accompanied by a rabbi to preserve the spiritual nature of his planned visit to the hallowed wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. The officials said Pence’s Wednesday visit would be conducted in a similar manner to that of President Donald Trump’s visit in May.
Jerusalem’s status has been a central issue in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Trump’s announcement last week declaring Jerusalem to be Israel’s capital shook up decades of U.S. foreign policy and countered an international consensus that Jerusalem’s status should be decided in negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, who claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
Pence plans to depart for the Middle East on Tuesday after presiding over the Senate’s vote on a sweeping tax overhaul. The vice president will meet Wednesday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo and then travel to Israel. Pence’s two-plus days in Israel will include meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a speech at the Knesset and a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial.
Abbas cancels meeting
Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has sparked protests in the Middle East, and Abbas pulled out of a planned meeting with Pence. Abbas had originally been scheduled to host Pence, a devout Christian, in the biblical West Bank town of Bethlehem.
A third senior administration official noted the reaction to the Jerusalem decision and “a lot of the emotions that have been displayed on that.” The official said Pence’s trip was viewed as part of “the ending of that chapter and the beginning of what I would say the next chapter.”
Trump officials said Pence would reinforce Trump’s announcement on Jerusalem, but the administration also understands the Palestinians may need a cooling-off period.
Israel captured the Old City, home to important Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious sites, along with the rest of East Jerusalem in the 1967 war. The U.S. has never recognized Israeli sovereignty over territory occupied in 1967, including East Jerusalem. For this reason, U.S. officials have refused to say explicitly that the wall is part of Israel.
The Western Wall, a retaining wall from the biblical Jewish Temple, is considered the holiest site where Jews can pray. Israel controls the wall and treats it like Israeli territory, routinely holding solemn state ceremonies there.
It is widely assumed that Israel would retain control over the site under a potential peace deal. But complicating any deal is the adjacent hilltop site revered by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and Jews as the Temple Mount. The compound is home to Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, and is where the Jewish Temple once stood. It is considered the holiest site in Judaism.
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Turkey Opposition Leader Faces Prosecution as Crackdown Intensifies
Turkish prosecutors have taken another step toward the prosecution and possible jailing of the country’s main opposition leader. On Thursday, Ankara prosecutors announced they had prepared their case against Kemal Kilicdaroglu, head of the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, and called for the lifting of his parliamentary immunity.
The CHP responded by criticizing the ruling party and Turkey’s president.
“[The] Justice and Development Party, and most importantly, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is different from the parties in the past. It has no tolerance against being criticized heavily and this intolerance is reflected in the indictment written by the prosecutors,” said deputy CHP head Sezgin Tanrikulu.
Kilicdaroglu is being prosecuted for his criticism of Erdogan over this year’s controversial referendum to extend presidential powers that was narrowly passed amid accusations of vote-rigging.
On news of the prosecution move, Kilicdaroglu told a gathering of party supporters, “You are not a prosecutor. Those who become slaves to the [presidential] palace cannot be prosecutors, or judges.” The government dismisses such accusations, maintaining the judiciary is independent.
The last few weeks have seen the opposition leader increasingly targeted by the president and others in government.
“Kilicdaroglu, your mind is rotten and your rope is about to break. I’m saying this very clearly; you are finished,” said Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu at a recent party meeting.
Kilicdaroglu had been largely dismissed by the ruling AKP as irrelevant and ineffectual. Last month, however, he accused President Erdogan and his family of transferring large amounts of money to offshore bank accounts. Erdogan demanded Kilicdaroglu prove what he called slanderous accusations. A few days later, the parliament opposition leader produced bank documents appearing to substantiate his claim.
Erdogan’s accusations
Speaking to party supporters, Erdogan warned that Kilicdaroglu will “pay the price.” The president has widened his verbal attack to the CHP itself, declaring it a party of “treason” and describing it as a security threat. He also referred it to the country’s National Security Council, a move that until now was only reserved for the pro-Kurdish HDP, which the president accuses of being a party of terrorism linked to a Kurdish insurgency. Thousands of HDP officials, including its co-leaders, dozens of its mayors and 11 parliamentary deputies are in jail on terrorism charges.
Kilicdaroglu has faced previous accusations, but none has so far reached court. In the current political climate, these latest allegations are seen as by far the most serious.
“If they were to remove him [Kilicdaroglu] from the parliament and subsequently be detained, I don’t think the charade that Turkey is a democracy can be sustained. We are talking about the leader of the main opposition being taken in,” said political consultant Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners. “If such a step were taken, I am almost sure the Council of Europe would remove Turkey’s membership. I don’t know how long the EU can tolerate these transgressions. Relationships at every level are currently frozen, so this could lead to an automatic suspension.”
The interior minister’s use of emergency powers this month to remove a locally elected CHP mayor in Istanbul on corruption allegations is being seen as a further warning against the party. Further removals of CHP mayors are reported to be imminent.
Moving against Kilicdaroglu
Kilicdaroglu’s fate lies with the ruling AKP, which would have to vote to lift his immunity. Analyst Yesilada believes international influence may dictate its final decision on moving against Kilicdaroglu.
“I don’t think AKP has settled on a plan for 2019. We may have a scenario where the government goes to a verbal war with [the] United States, but decides to repair the bridges with the EU. We may have a scenario where Ankara defies both its partners and becomes extremely xenophobic and completely turns to Muslim nations and Russia. Then they will have to stamp harder on the opposition. The fate of the opposition would be determined once this main choice has been made,” Yesilada said.
The legal woes of the CHP in 2019 are set to grow, with 60 of its parliamentary deputies under investigation.
“Turkey is quickly drifting away from the principles of a country of law and democracy under the leadership of Erdogan,” said deputy CHP leader Tanrikulu, who himself is facing prosecution. “It is not possible to talk about an independent and fair judiciary. If immunities are lifted and a case is opened [against Kilicdaroglu], then this may mean that this is the end of democracy and the parliamentarian regime.”
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US Inspectors Alarmed Over Conditions at Immigrant Detention Centers
Expired, moldy, and spoiled foods. Poor conditions in bathrooms. Long waits to receive medical care.
These are some of the observations cited at a federal report released on Thursday that said detained immigrants, at four large U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) centers, are being treated inhumanly.
The report issued by the Inspector General’s Office of the Department of Homeland Security shows that facilities in California, Georgia, New Jersey and New Mexico require “immediate attention.”
“The ICE detention facilities were selected for inspections based on OIG hotline complaints, reports from non-governmental organizations, and media reporting,” the report says.
The inspectors have concerns about the lack of professionalism and inappropriate treatment of detainees, as well as misusing segregation. One detainee reported being locked down for multiple days for sharing coffee with another detainee.
Christina M. Fialho, executive director of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC), said the organization has raised these issued with local government officials more than two years ago.
“We filed a formal complaint on behalf of 31 transgender and cisgender women and these strip searches sometimes will turn into sexual assault. … We again raised this issue this earlier April,” she said.
Fialho said Santa Ana Jail in California has been operating outside the limits of the Constitution and state law for years.
The report corroborates Fialho’s comments.
One facility, the report says, did not “adequately” have enough staff to ensure thorough intake pat downs of detainees.
At another facility, it shows, personnel conducted strip searches of all incoming detainees, but did not document them, leaving no way to confirm whether the searches were justified based on reasonable suspicion.
Treatment ‘should be humane’
Acting Inspector General John Kelly in a statement said ICE has a challenging and highly visible role in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws.
But added “Just as important is ICE’s role in detaining and housing the undocumented persons it apprehends. Treatment of detainees in ICE facilities should be humane, adhere to all regulations and be above reproach.”
Inspectors’ findings also show problems with grievance procedure.
Though not specified, at multiple facilities, detained individuals reported that “staff obstructed or delayed their grievances or intimidated them, through fear of retaliation, into not complaining.”
“Detainees should have access to telephones and be allowed to make free calls to the DHS OIG. Furthermore, inspectors observed non-working phones in one facility, and in another access the OIG Hotline number was restricted,” according with the report.
In an email to VOA, ICE official said the agency ensures facilities comply with ICE detention standards through an aggressive inspection program.
Danielle Bennett, ICE spokeswoman, said ICE is confident in conditions and high standards of care at its detention facilities. She said the agency work “regularly with contracted consultants and a variety of external stakeholder to review and improve conditions.
“ICE concurs with the IG’s recommendation to further enhance compliance monitoring as part of our already robust inspections program,” Bennett said.
In 2014, the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s office released a report on a variety of unannounced visits to centers for immigrant children.
The Washington Post reported inspectors “found inadequate food supplies, temperature-control problems and a high employee-to-detainee ratio at some of the shelters for the unaccompanied children.”
Fialho, who called the Thursday’s report disturbing, said CIVIC is urging city officials to shut down the Santa Ana City Jail.
“We’ve been working to put pressure on the city to actually completely shut down the facility and repurpose for something that the city really needs,” she told VOA.
Fialho said CIVIC will continue to monitor immigration detention center.
your ad hereUN Condemns Iraq Mass Executions
United Nations human rights officials are condemning what they call the shocking and appalling mass executions of 38 men in Iraq on Thursday. The men, who were executed at a prison in the southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah, were convicted for terrorism-related crimes.
A spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell, told VOA her office did not learn of the mass executions until after the fact.
“That again just underscores the situation, that suddenly we get sort of word, we get news that there has been a mass execution,” Throssell said. “That goes back to the lack of transparency, the lack of information regarding what is happening to these people.”
Throssell said that since 2015, the U.N.’s office in Iraq repeatedly has asked the Iraqi minister of justice for information regarding the many men on death row, but with little response. She said no concrete figures are available, although about 1,200 men are believed to be awaiting execution.
She noted the Iraqi justice system is very flawed and it is extremely doubtful that the 38 men who were executed had received a fair trial.
“This raises the prospect of irreversible miscarriages of justice and violations of the right to life,” Throssell said. “The imposition of the death sentence upon the conclusion of a trial in which fair trial provisions have not been respected constitute a violation of the right to life.”
Throssell said there is a disturbing pattern of mass executions in Iraq. She notes about 106 executions have taken place this year, including 42 mass hangings of prisoners in a single day in September. The Reuters news agency cites the Justice Ministry as saying all those convicted were members of Islamic State.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced several days ago that the three-year war aimed at driving IS out of Iraq was successful and had come to an end.
The high commissioner is calling for a halt to all executions and a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in Iraq.
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