Month: January 2018

Bosnia to Investigate Suspected Serb Paramilitary Group

Posted on by SeeEU

Bosnia’s security agencies are investigating a Serbian right-wing group that the national government said Tuesday was a paramilitary unit formed to create “a problem” for those opposed to Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik.

Members of Serbian Honor caused an uproar when they marched in full combat gear in the Bosnian Serb capital, Banja Luka, during a January 9 military parade to mark a national holiday in one the country’s two autonomous regions.

The parade was staged as a challenge to a ruling by Bosnia’s Constitutional Court to ban the holiday because it discriminated against the country’s other ethnic groups. Bosnia is split into the Federation, shared by the Bosnian Croats and Muslim Bosniaks, and the Serb-dominated Serb Republic.

Serbian Honor is registered in neighboring Serbia but has an informal wing in the Bosnian Serb Republic, whose leaders say they are in the process of registering as a charity there.

“For me this is a paramilitary formation,” Security Minister Dragan Mektic told reporters Tuesday. “The way they showed up is dangerous and their claims to be a charity are ridiculous.”

Dodik’s office said the reports were false and dangerous.

Mektic, member of a party that opposes Dodik, said the group was formed to “sow fear” and “pass a pre-election message that those who oppose the current government will have a problem.”

A national election is due in Bosnia in October.

Dodik’s SNSD party, which had been the dominant Bosnian Serb party at regional and national levels since 2006, saw its popularity slide in the last national vote and was excluded from a ruling coalition.

Russian link reported

Bosnian investigative web portal Zurnal, without citing sources, said the group had been trained in a Russian-funded humanitarian center in Serbia and would be organized to act against Dodik’s political opponents.

The Russian Embassy said it did not even want to comment on something so ridiculous.

Mektic compared the group to paramilitary groups led by criminal gang leaders that emerged on the eve of Bosnia’s war in the 1990s, and later committed some of the most gruesome atrocities against civilians during the conflict.

“What we need the least is the repetition of such events,” Mektic warned. “I call on all institutions to protect this country and I expect a quick response.”

Mektic told reporters he could not provide much of the operational data, but said the case would be documented and forwarded to the prosecutor this week.

Concerns are high regarding increasing instability in the Balkans, including secessionist pressures in Bosnia, a parliamentary boycott in Montenegro and renewed tensions between Serbia and its former province of Kosovo.

Western leaders have accused Russia, traditional ally of the Serbs, of seeking to exploit diminishing European Union leverage in the Balkans by manipulating political events in the region. Russia denies such allegations.
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Yemen Seeks Saudi Cash as Plunging Currency Deepens War Woes

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The Saudi-backed government that rules parts of Yemen said Tuesday that it urgently needed a $2 billion deposit pledged by Riyadh in November to stabilize a currency that hit new lows this week and save its people from starvation.

Yemen has been divided by nearly three years of civil war between an internationally recognized government based in the south and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls the north, including the capital, Sanaa.

The conflict has unleashed a humanitarian crisis, including a deadly cholera epidemic, and an economic collapse that the United Nations says has the potential to cause one of the deadliest famines of modern times.

Authorities sought to boost liquidity by printing money, but the rial plunged from 250 to the dollar to 350 after the first batch of newly printed notes was rolled out last year. The rial traded for 440 to the dollar by year’s end and this week was near 500.

A large deposit from Saudi Arabia would give the authorities the financial means to stabilize the currency and make it possible for people to buy food, the government says.

“First and foremost is saving the Yemeni rial from total collapse, now and tomorrow. Saving the rial means saving Yemenis from inevitable hunger,” Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr said on Twitter.

Stepped-up communications

State news agency Saba quoted government spokesman Rajeh Badi as saying on Monday that the authorities were “intensifying communication” with the Saudis, to “expedite the completion of the Saudi depository procedures.”

Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the funds.

President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi announced on November 11 that Riyadh had agreed to deposit $2 billion into Yemen’s central bank to shore up the rial and secure shipments of badly needed fuel.

Hadi’s government officially moved the central bank in 2016 from Sanaa to Hadi’s base in Aden. A separate branch still operates in Sanaa under the Houthis.

Both branches suffer from depleted reserves, but they have played a role in mitigating economic pain by paying some public sector salaries, as soaring prices threaten to push basic commodities out of reach for many Yemenis.

The Aden authorities accuse the Houthis of plundering the bank’s foreign reserves in Sanaa to fund their war effort. The Houthis and the Sanaa bank deny those charges.
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World Bank Joins IMF in Criticism of Ukraine’s Anti-corruption Draft Law

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The World Bank has joined the International Monetary Fund in criticizing a Ukrainian draft law to create an anti-corruption court, the newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on Monday, citing a letter from the lender to the presidential administration.

In response to international pressure to speed up the process, President Petro Poroshenko submitted a new draft law to parliament in December, but the IMF and now the World Bank say the legislation is not in line with recommendations from the Venice Commission, a European rights and legal watchdog.

Ukraine’s Western backers have long called for the authorities to establish an independent court to handle corruption cases. Slow progress has delayed the disbursement of foreign loans.

The World Bank’s country director, Satu Kahkonen, has written to the presidential administration to express the bank’s concerns about parts of the bill, Ukrainska Pravda said, publishing what it said was the text of the letter in full.

“We believe that the draft law requires the following revisions to bring it into alignment with the recommendations of the Venice Commission and satisfy the requirements of the World Bank’s estimated $800 million Policy-Based Guarantee to support key reforms in Ukraine,” she said, in a letter dated January 15.

Among its recommendations, it says the court’s future jurisdiction needs to be better aligned with that of anti-corruption investigators and prosecutors.

The World Bank in Ukraine did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Ukrainska Pravda report.

The letter cited echoes one sent by the IMF to the president’s office earlier in January which warned that the draft law did not guarantee the independence of the court.

The presidential administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, in response to the IMF’s letter, it denied the law was not in line with Venice Commission recommendations and said the authorities had the political will to create an independent anti-corruption court.

Since its 2013-14 pro-European uprising, Ukraine has received $8.4 billion from the IMF and over $5 billion from the World Bank among other backers, helping it to return to growth of over 2 percent in 2016.

However the disbursement of funding was held up last year over perceived backtracking on reform commitments that raised doubts about the authorities’ will to eliminate corruption and modernize the economy.

Reporting by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Alison Williams.
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Czech PM Battles Fraud Charges as Cabinet Loses Confidence Vote

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Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ minority government lost a confidence vote Tuesday, forcing him to try to build a coalition with opposition parties as he battles allegations of subsidy fraud.

Promises to spearhead a cleanup of Czech politics helped Babis’ ANO party win nearly 30 percent of the vote in a national election in October.

But he has become caught up in allegations he manipulated ownership of one of his companies a decade ago to win a 2-million-euro subsidy, mostly from European Union funds, meant for small businesses. He denies wrongdoing.

Babis was investigated and charged with fraud before the election, but he retained immunity from prosecution after being re-elected.

Tuesday’s confidence vote was a first attempt by Babis to form a single-party government.

It came after a parliamentary committee recommended that his immunity be lifted, making a vote by the full legislature — which, if passed, would trigger a reopening of the fraud probe against him — likely in coming days.

The ANO lacks a majority in the lower house, and the allegations against Babis have so far made other parties reluctant to support him in forming a viable government.

Babis’ cabinet must now resign but will remain in office pending negotiations. President Milos Zeman, who appoints prime ministers, has told Babis he would give him another try at forming an administration.

Several parties have signaled they might discuss governing with the ANO, especially if Babis himself was not prime minister, a condition he has so far refused to meet.

But parties may be tempted to reconsider by polls showing the ANO could score even better if fresh elections were called.

Babis, the country’s second-richest person, remains popular with his message to strengthen the Czech voice in the EU, digitize government and cut taxes resonating among voters.

He calls the police investigation, which also targets his wife and grown children, a ploy by adversaries to chase him out of politics, which many Czechs believe is ridden with bribery and favoritism.
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US to Withhold Millions from Palestinian Refugees

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The United States said Tuesday it is withholding tens of millions of dollars from the U.N. agency that supports Palestinian refugees, and could cut more if reforms are not made.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert confirmed to reporters that the Trump administration will withhold $65 million dollars from its initial 2018 contribution to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). She said a $60 million tranche would be disbursed to avoid having a “negative impact.”

The U.S. gives about $364 million annually to UNRWA, paid in two installments, making it the agency’s top donor.

Asked if the funding cut is the result of President Donald Trump’s January 2 tweet criticizing the Palestinian Authority for not offering “appreciation or respect” for U.S. assistance and a Palestinian lack of willingness to engage in peace talks with Israel, Nauert referred reporters to the White House for comment.

“I can tell you that it has long been a concern of this administration — a year into the administration — about UNRWA and how it handles itself and manages its money,” she added.

“We don’t believe that taking care of other nations and other people has to solely be the United States’ responsibility,” Nauert said, adding that Washington is asking other countries to contribute more to UNRWA.

‘Very, very serious problem’

NRWA’s top 10 donors provide over 80 percent of the agency’s income. They include after the United States, the European Union, Germany, Sweden, Britain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands. UNRWA provides education and health services to five million Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.

Less than two hours before the U.S. announcement, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said at a news conference that he had not been officially informed of the decision. But he warned that such a substantial funding cut would hurt.

“It is an important factor of stability, so if UNRWA will not be in a position to provide the vital services and the emergency forms of support that UNRWA has been providing, these will create a very, very serious problem, and we will do everything we can to avoid the situation to occur,” he told reporters.

The U.N. chief also noted that the “relationship between the U.S. and the Palestinian Authority is difficult and complex at the moment,” and he hoped it would not undermine the possibility of peace talks.

Earlier warning

Last month, the Trump administration wielded its first U.N. veto to block a Security Council resolution rejecting the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move its embassy there.

The United States was isolated in the vote, with the other 14 council members voting in favor of the text. Arab nations then moved to the General Assembly, where the resolutions are more symbolic but there is no veto, and got the measure adopted with overwhelming support.

“The United States will remember this day in which it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly for the very act of exercising our right as a sovereign nation,” U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley warned ahead of the vote.

“We will remember it when we are called upon to once again make the world’s largest contribution to the United Nations, and we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit.”

Israel’s U.N. ambassador Danny Danon welcomed the U.S. announcement of the funding cut to UNRWA.

“UNRWA has proven time and again to be an agency that misuses the humanitarian aid of the international community and instead supports anti-Israel propaganda, perpetuates the plight of Palestinian refugees and encourages hate,” Danon said.

“We hope that the U.S. administration and Congress can cooperate in reversing this politically motivated cut in aid before its effects ripple through the Middle East,” said Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. “In the meantime, we call on other donor nations to stand with UNRWA and Palestinian refugees and cover the massive shortfall left by the U.S. administration.”
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Report: Saudi Arabia Shoots Down Yemeni Missile

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A ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s armed Houthi group toward Saudi Arabia’s southern Jizan region was shot down Tuesday by Saudi forces, Saudi state TV Ekhbariya reported.

The station gave no further details. There were no reports of casualties or damage.

The Iranian-aligned Houthis have fired several missiles at the kingdom, and while these have not caused any serious damage they have served to deepen tensions between Riyadh and its arch rival Tehran.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missile parts and expertise to the Houthis, who have taken over the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, and other parts of the country during its civil war. Iran denies the charge.

Saudi Arabia is leading a coalition that has been fighting the Houthis in neighboring Yemen since March 2015, after the movement drove Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.

Saudi Arabia said on Nov. 4 it had intercepted a ballistic missile over Riyadh’s King Khaled Airport, an attack that led the coalition to close air, land and sea access to Yemen in a move it said was meant to stop Iranian supplies to the Houthis.

The conflict has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced over two million and brought much of the country to the brink of famine.
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Kenya Opposition Leader Vows to Inaugurate Self as ‘Peoples’ President’

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Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, whose National Super Alliance (NASA) contests the results of October’s re-run election, has defiantly vowed to inaugurate himself the “peoples” president’ at the end of January, if there is no dialogue beforehand with President Uhuru Kenyatta.  

In an exclusive television interview Tuesday with VOA’s Swahili Service, Odinga denied criticism the threat to hold his own “inauguration ceremony” on January 30 is a tactic to negotiate for power with Kenyatta.

“So, we’re not using the swearing-in as a basis of negotiating with Uhuru Kenyatta.  We have said in fact that we don’t want any stake in Uhuru Kenyatta government.  We want to be the ones who are in government.”

Despite his tough words, Odinga said the opposition is seeking a dialogue with Kenyatta’s ruling Jubilee Party of Kenya.  He said it wants to discuss five points with the Kenyan president – electoral justice, judicial independence, police reforms, devolution of power, and restructuring the executive in the constitution.

“As [for] Jubilee, if they have another item or agenda they want to put on the table, they are free to do so.  We are ready to discuss.  But, our agenda for swearing-in is not negotiable.  We say that if we cannot talk by [the] 30th of … January we are going to be sworn in.  And we will then release our program thereafter.”  

Kenyatta has hinted at, but not yet agreed to dialogue.  Kenya’s Attorney General Githu Muigai warned in December that any attempts to swear in Odinga as president would qualify as high treason, which is punishable by death.

‘Vote of no confidence’

Kenya was plunged into political crisis after last year’s presidential elections, which saw an initial poll voided by the Supreme Court and a second round in October boycotted by Odinga and his supporters.  

Kenyatta won the second round with 98 percent of the vote.  But, a low voter turnout – 39 percent – led many to question if 56-year-old Kenyatta has the mandate to lead, an uncertainty that 73-year-old Odinga has encouraged.  

“So, that election was itself a vote of no confidence in Jubilee,” Odinga said Tuesday.  “And, therefore it is even shameful that Uhuru Kenyatta can be claiming that he is the president of Kenya on the basis of the 26th of October elections.”

Kenya’s opposition leader may be defiant, but governance and politics analyst at Interthoughts Consulting Jarvis Bigambo tells VOA he is running out of options.  “Because the moment the Supreme Court of Kenya determined and pronounced itself on the issue of the conclusion of elections that were conducted on October 26, that matter sounded a death knell on the issues that the opposition could hop on.”

Bigambo says Odinga has no legal ground to stand on.  “And that’s why their claim to that swearing in is that they want to swear in honorable Odinga as the ‘peoples’ president’ not as the bona fide president of the Republic of Kenya,” he said.

But Bigambo warns Odinga, who has no small measure of support in Kenya, should not be dismissed by the ruling party.  

“It will also be very dangerous for Jubilee leadership – and here I’m speaking specifically to President Kenyatta – to undermine the political capital that honorable Odinga has.  And, it behooves the president therefore to reach out and request the leadership of [Odinga’s party] NASA to be gracious, to be diligent, and to be focused on the progress – democratic progress – of Kenya,” Bigambo said.

The United States recognized the results of the October election, while calling for a national dialogue to address long-standing issues and deep divisions.  The U.S. also urged opposition leaders to work within Kenya’s laws to pursue reforms and avoid extra-constitutional actions such as Odinga’s planned “inauguration ceremony.”

VOA’s Swahili Service contributed to this report.
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Nigeria Army Releases 244 Boko Haram Suspects

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Nigeria’s army has released 244 Boko Haram suspects who have denounced their membership in the deadly extremist group.

Nigerian army operation commander Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas said Tuesday that those released Monday included 118 adult males, 56 women, 19 teens and 51 children. He said they were freed after they were screened and denounced the Nigeria-based insurgency.

The public release at the Maiduguri military barracks was done to mark Nigeria’s Armed Forces Remembrance Day.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people during its eight-year insurgency. Nigeria has arrested thousands of suspected Boko Haram members in recent years. Human rights groups warn many detainees are arbitrarily arrested.

Nigeria’s government established a de-radicalization program in 2016 that offers amnesty for those who repudiated the group.
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Ethiopian Airlines to Re-launch Zambia’s National Carrier

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Ethiopian Airlines says it has finalized an agreement with Zambia to re-launch the southern African country’s national carrier.

The partnership with Zambia comes as Ethiopian Airlines is opening new routes and hubs and is acquiring new aircraft.

In a statement Tuesday, the airline said it will have a 45 percent stake in the Zambian carrier and it aims to make the Zambian capital, Lusaka, its newest aviation hub. The remaining 55 percent will be acquired by the Zambian government which is aiming to revive the country’s aviation sector after Zambia Airways ceased operations on January 2009.

“The launching of Zambia Airways will enable the traveling public in Zambia and the Southern African region to enjoy greater connectivity options,” said Ethiopian Airlines CEO, Tewolde Gebremariam. “It is only through partnerships among African carriers that the aviation industry of the continent will be able to get its fair share of the African market, currently heavily skewed in favor of non-African airlines.”

Gebremariam told The Associated Press earlier this month his company is also exploring opportunities in other African countries including Mozambique, Djibouti and Congo.

Ethiopian Airlines currently operates from hubs in Lomé, Togo with ASKY Airlines and in Lilongwe, Malawi. Its main hub is in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Ethiopian Airlines currently flies to more than 100 destinations. Airline officials say that recent currency devaluations in some African countries and a subsequent rise in jet fuel prices could hamper its profits.
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Lebanon Bans ‘The Post’ Over Spielberg’s Support for Israel

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Lebanon’s censorship authorities are recommending a ban on Steven Spielberg’s newspaper drama “The Post” ahead of its planned opening this week in movie theaters in Beirut.

 

The recommendation still needs to be signed by Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk to enter into effect but that is considered a formality that’s unlikely to stop the ban.

 

It remains unclear why “The Post” is being banned — recent Spielberg movies have been shown in Lebanon — but a leaked U.S. State Department memo from 2007 revealed that Spielberg was blacklisted by the Arab League for supporting Israel.

 

Lebanon and Israel are technically at war, and Lebanon sometimes follows the League’s blacklist.

 

Cinemas around Beirut have taken down posters promoting the film, which was set to premiere on Thursday.

 

 
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Kosovo Serb Politician Shot Dead

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Prominent Kosovo Serb politician Oliver Ivanovic was shot dead Tuesday outside his party office in the northern town of Mitrovica, raising ethnic tensions in the region and halting EU-mediated talks between Kosovo and Serbia on the day they were due to resume.

Police officials say gunmen firing from a car shot the 64-year-old Ivanovic as he arrived at his party headquarters. They say a burnt-out car was found that was presumably used in the attack. 

The killing came the same day Serbia and Kosovo were due to resume negotiations in Brussels on normalizing ties.  After the shooting, Serbia withdrew from the meeting.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini condemned the killing in phone calls with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, and said she expects authorities to find and punish the perpetrators.

Vucic also called an emergency session of his national security council.

Marko Djuric, the Serbian official in charge of Kosovo, called Ivanovic’s killing an act of terrorism against “the entire Serbian people.”

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO airstrikes drove out Serbian forces accused of expelling and killing ethnic Albanian civilians in a two-year counterinsurgency.
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Pope Begs Forgiveness for ‘Irreparable Harm’ From Sex Abuse

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Pope Francis begged for forgiveness Tuesday for the “irreparable damage” done to children who were raped and molested by priests, opening his visit to Chile by diving head-first into a scandal that has greatly hurt the Catholic Church’s credibility here and cast a cloud over his visit.

 

Speaking to Chile’s president, lawmakers, judges and other authorities, Francis said he felt “bound to express my pain and shame” that some of Chile’s pastors had sexually abused children in their care. He was interrupted by applause from the dignitaries at La Moneda palace when he pronounced the words.

 

“I am one with my brother bishops, for it is right to ask forgiveness and make every effort to support the victims, even as we commit ourselves to ensuring that such things do not happen again,” he said.

 

History’s first Latin American pope didn’t refer by name to Chile’s most notorious pedophile priest, the Rev. Fernando Karadima, who was sanctioned in 2011 by the Vatican to a lifetime of “penance and prayer” for sexually molesting minors. Nor did he refer to the fact that the emeritus archbishop of Santiago, a top papal adviser, has acknowledged he knew of complaints against Karadima but didn’t remove him from ministry.

 

Karadima had been a politically connected, charismatic and powerful priest who ministered to a wealthy Santiago community and produced dozens of priestly vocations and five bishops. Victims went public with their accusations in 2010, after complaining for years to church authorities that Karadima would kiss and fondle them when they were teenagers.

 

While the scandal rocked the church, many Chileans are still furious over Francis’ subsequent decision, in 2015, to appoint a Karadima protege as bishop of the southern city of Osorno. Bishop Juan Barros has denied knowing about Karadima’s abuse but many Chileans don’t believe him, and his appointment has badly split the diocese.

 

“Sex abuse is Pope Francis’ weakest spot in terms of his credibility,” said Massimo Faggioli, a Vatican expert and theology professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia. “It is surprising that the pope and his entourage don’t understand that they need to be more forthcoming on this issue.”

 

The Karadima scandal and a long cover-up has caused a crisis for the church in Chile, with a recent Latinbarometro survey saying the case was responsible for a significant drop in the number of Chileans who call themselves Catholic, as well as a fall in confidence in the church as an institution.

 

That distrust extends to Francis, who is making his first visit as pope to this country of 17 million people. The Argentine pope is nearly a native son, having studied in Chile during his Jesuit novitiate and he knows the country well, but Chileans give him the lowest approval rating among the 18 Latin American nations in the survey.

 

“People are leaving the church because they don’t find a protective space there,” said Juan Carlos Claret, spokesman for a group of church members in Osorno that has opposed Barros’ appointment as bishop. “The pastors are eating the flock.”

 

People angry over Barros planned a protest for Tuesday, when Francis is scheduled to celebrate Mass in Santiago’s O’Higgins Park.

 

Other groups also called demonstrations against the pontiff.

 

Victor Hugo Robles, an activist in Chile’s lesbian and gay community, said the Vatican tries to paint an image of the pope as being close to the people, particularly those with the most needs.

 

“We are the ones who need help,” said Robles. “Gay people, people living with AIDS. When it comes to those things, the church has an attitude of intolerance, of disgust.”

 

Felipe Morales, from a group called the Workers’ Socialist Front, said many were unhappy with the pope and the church’s historical influence in Chile. They planned to protest outside while Francis celebrated Mass.

 

“The role of the church has been nefarious,” said Morales. “Sex abuse cases have been covered up and people are unhappy with many other issues.”

 

To be sure, many are excited to see the pope. Thousands lined the streets of Santiago to get a glimpse of Francis after he arrived Monday night, though the crowds were notably thin compared to previous visits to other Latin American capitals. O’Higgins Park, though, was teeming with faithful waiting for the pope’s Mass, with some pilgrims camping out overnight.

 

“It was amazing to see him,” said Luis Salazar, a young boy who came out with his family to see Francis pass by in his popemobile Monday.

 

The pope will try to inject new energy into the church during his visit, which includes sessions with migrants, members of Chile’s Mapuche indigenous group and victims of the 1973-1990 military dictatorship. It remains to be seen if he will meet with sex abuse survivors. A meeting wasn’t on the agenda, but such encounters never are.

 

 

 

 
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Russian Pollster Stops Publishing Results on Elections

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Russia’s main independent polling agency has stopped publishing results of opinion polls on the upcoming presidential election, fearing legal repercussions.

 

Levada Center was listed as a foreign agent in 2016 under a new law aimed at curbing alleged foreign influence on public life in Russia. Authorities insist that the law does not aim to target critics of the Kremlin.

 

Levada is not a foreign company, but Russian authorities are able to list it as a foreign agent because it has received foreign funding.

 

Levada’s director, Lev Gudkov, told the Russian daily Vedomosti on Tuesday that the agency is carrying out election polling but will not publish results during the campaign because it fears that this could be viewed as election meddling and could lead to a motion to close down the pollster.

 

Russians go to polls on March 18 to vote for their president. Incumbent Vladimir Putin is expected to win by a landslide.

 

Results of Levada’s polls have not differed dramatically from those by the two main state-owned polling agencies in terms of support for Putin and the ruling party. But recent polls did show a difference regarding the turnout for the upcoming vote.

 

With his key rival, Alexei Navalny, barred from running, Putin is facing candidates who only nominally oppose him. That raised fears of a lower turnout at the election, which would be a major embarrassment for the Kremlin.

 

Commenting on the pollster’s announcement, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday it was “unfortunate” that Levada will not be able to publish its polls but said it was a matter of following the law.

 

 

 
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Social Democrats Push Back Against German ‘Grand’ Coalition

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The head of Germany’s center-left Social Democrats lobbied party members Tuesday to vote in favor of opening coalition talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, amid strong opposition from grassroots members.

Martin Schulz made the rounds in the populous state of North-Rhine Westphalia, talking with party members to push for their approval at a party convention Sunday to open formal negotiations with Merkel’s Union bloc.

A rejection of talks would be a setback for both Schulz and Merkel, who has already failed to forge a coalition with two smaller parties.

The Social Democrats and the Union bloc, who have governed Germany in a “grand coalition” since 2013, suffered heavy losses in September’s national election.

In non-binding votes, Social Democrats in the smaller states of Berlin and Saxony-Anhalt have indicated they’ll vote against opening coalition talks, while party members in Brandenburg voted in favor.

In North Rhine-Westphalia Schulz met with party members in Dortmund before heading to the state capital Duesseldorf for similar meetings in the evening.

The Social Democrats in North Rhine-Westphalia aren’t planning any poll ahead of time on whether to approve the talks, the dpa news agency reported, but with about a quarter of the delegates to the Sunday convention their support is key.
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North Korea Mocks Trump’s ‘Nuclear Button’ Boast

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North Korea has issued another salvo in the war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump, calling a recent boast about the size of his “nuclear button” as compared to Kim Jong Un’s as the “spasm of a lunatic.”

The latest round of rhetorical tit-for-tat began with Kim warning in his New Year’s Day speech that the North’s nuclear arsenal is a “reality” and that he can launch a war with the push of a button on his desk.

Trump responded with a mocking statement on Twitter, saying he, too, had a nuclear button, but one “much bigger and more powerful” than Kim’s, and that “my Button works!”

An editorial issued Tuesday by the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s official newspaper, said Trump’s tweet simply “reflects the desperate mental state of a loser.”

Kim and Trump engaged in an escalating war of words last year amid Pyongyang’s continued testing of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, including a sixth nuclear test and a new intercontinental ballistic missile that could potentially reach the U.S. mainland.

 
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New US Embassy Denigrated by Trump Opens in London

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The new U.S. Embassy in London, denigrated last week by President Donald Trump as too expensive and poorly located, opened its doors to the public Tuesday for the first time.

 

The gleaming embassy, in the formerly industrial Nine Elms neighborhood in south London, replaces the embassy in Grosvenor Square that had for decades been associated with the U.S. presence in the United Kingdom. That building has been sold to a Qatari government investment fund planning to turn it into a luxury hotel.

 

U.S. officials say it would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade security at the older building and bring it up to modern safety standards.

 

Trump tweeted last week that he would not come to London to open the embassy because the new embassy represented a poor investment.

 

The president’s tweet read: “Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”

 

He blamed predecessor Barack Obama, although the project was announced in October 2008 during the presidency of George W. Bush.

 

U.S. officials say the new embassy cost $1 billion (1.38 billion pounds) and was paid for entirely with money raised by the sale of other U.S. government properties in London.

 

The new building, with its distinctive cube shape, is nearly twice as large as the Grosvenor Square facility. It is the single most expensive embassy building ever built by the United States.

 

Robert Johnson, appointed by Trump as U.S. ambassador to Britain, called the new energy-efficient embassy a “bargain” during a pre-opening tour for journalists last month. He said the embassy, which does not have a perimeter fence, is both welcoming and secure.

 

There were no ceremonies to mark the official opening of the facility Tuesday.

 

 

 
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Iran: Planned US-Backed Force Inside Syria Would Fan War

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Iran said on Tuesday a new U.S.-backed, 30,000-strong force inside Syria would “fan the flames of war”, echoing the vehement response of Syria, Turkey and Russia to the plan.

On Sunday, the U.S.-led coalition said it was working with its Syrian militia allies, the mainly Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), to set up a force that would operate along the borders with Turkey and Iraq, as well as within Syria.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad responded by vowing to crush the new force and drive U.S. troops from Syria. Strong Syria ally Russia called the plans a plot to dismember Syria and place part of it under U.S. control, and Turkey described the force as a “terror army.”

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said such a force would raise tensions in Syria. Iran supports Assad in the nearly seven-year civil war against rebel forces and Islamic State militants, sending weapons and soldiers.

“The U.S. announcement of a new border force in Syria is an obvious interference in the internal affairs of this country,” Qasemi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Qasemi urged all U.S. forces to leave Syria immediately.

The United States is at the head of an international coalition using air strikes and special forces troops to aid fighters on the ground battling Islamic State militants in Syria since 2014. It has about 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria.
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House Panel Interviewing Bannon After his Fall from Power

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The House Intelligence Committee is poised to question Steve Bannon, the onetime confidant to President Donald Trump, following his spectacular fall from power after accusing the president’s son and others of “treasonous” behavior for taking a meeting with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

Bannon is scheduled to testify before the panel on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the committee’s plans. The person was not authorized to discuss private committee deliberations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The testimony comes just one week after a very public excommunication from Trump’s closest confines following the publication of Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury.” In the book, Bannon accuses Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort of “treasonous” behavior for meeting with a group of Russian lawyers and lobbyists who they believed were ready to offer “dirt” on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

More recently, Bannon has said he was not referring to Trump Jr., but rather to Manafort. Wolff contends the reverse.

After the book’s release, Trump quickly disavowed “Sloppy Steve Bannon” and argued extensively there was no evidence of collusion between his presidential campaign and operatives tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Bannon apologized a few days later, but was stripped of his job leading the pro-Trump news site Breitbart News.

Bannon last year had largely avoided the scrutiny of congressional investigators, who instead focused much of their energy on trying to secure interviews with top witnesses like Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

But Bannon played a critical role in the campaign, the presidential transition and the White House – all during times now under scrutiny from congressional investigators looking for possible evidence of a connection between Trump’s operations and Russia.

Bannon recently retained the same lawyer being used by former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus and White House general counsel Don McGahn. Neither Bannon nor his lawyer immediately responded to a request for comment on Monday.

The House Intelligence Committee is speeding toward a conclusion of its interviews in its Russia investigation. The final result could be marred by partisan infighting, which has some members discussing the probability that Republicans on the panel will issue one set of findings and the Democrats will issue their own report.
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Vancouver Talks Focus on Pressuring North Korea

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The United States and Canada are hosting a meeting Tuesday in Vancouver focused on pressuring North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland are bringing together officials from about 20 nations to look at how to better implement sanctions and prevent North Korea from evading measures put in place by the United Nations.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Tillerson said the meeting was intended to show that diplomacy “has to be backed up by a strong military alternative.”

“It’s just part of the necessity of impressing upon all parties the serious nature of this and the resolve of the United States and others that we are not going to accept a nuclear North Korea,” Tillerson said.

North Korea has defied U.N. calls for it to refrain from nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Tuesday’s meeting was called following a November test of an intercontinental ballistic missile that spiked tensions and sparked a war of words between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Those tensions have eased somewhat in recent weeks, and representatives from North and South Korea held their first formal talks in two years.

Chinese state media reported Tuesday that President Xi Jinping told Trump in a phone call that there must be efforts to maintain that momentum.

China and Russia were not invited to the Vancouver meeting. Those attending include those nations that supported South Korea in the 1950-53 Korean War, as well as Japan and South Korea itself.

Stephen Noerper, senior policy director at the New York-based Korea Society, said it would be good if China and Russia were involved, but that those nations have sidestepped the sanctions against North Korea.

“It’s China and Russia who would be the biggest violators in terms of what we’ve seen by way of transfers at sea of oils involving North Korean ships, and there have also been reports of Russia offloading coal, turning off its beacons and then going into North Korea,” Noerper told VOA.

Victor Beattie in Washington DC contributed to this report.
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Freedom House: Democracy Scores for Most Countries Weaken for 12th Consecutive Year

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Two thousand-seventeen was the 12th consecutive year of decline in global freedom, according to Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World Report. While experts say China, Russia, and North Korea, among other countries, put global stability at increased risk, there are signs of progress and global development across other regions, including Latin America and Africa. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff reports.
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Freedom House: Democracy Scores for Most Countries Decline for 12th Consecutive Year

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A new report released by the independent watchdog organization Freedom House says that democratic principles such as election integrity and freedom of the press are weakening globally for the 12th consecutive year.

“There are more countries — in the case of 2017, many more countries — that showed declines in freedom than showed improvements,” says Arch Puddington, Freedom House Distinguished Scholar for Democracy Studies, who spoke with VOA ahead of the report’s release.

WATCH: Freedom in the World 2018

According to Freedom House, which analyzed data from 195 countries over the 2017 calendar year, 88 countries were rated “free,” 58 countries were rated “partly free,” and 49 countries were rated “not free” in its latest report.

North America

Among the report’s major findings was the weakening of the United States as a champion of democracy, a standing further complicated by the ongoing special counsel’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

“There are problems with the elections that you don’t find in most well-established democracies,” says Puddington, who cited excessive money in campaigns and state laws making voting more difficult as major factors that can undermine the electoral process.

In its assessment of the U.S., Freedom House pointed to ethical quandaries facing the current administration, including the Trump family’s business ties and the potential for conflicts of interest, as well as the president’s decision not to disclose his tax returns.

The White House has cited an ongoing tax audit as a factor in not releasing Trump’s tax returns.

Asia

Freedom House highlighted the intensification of repression under Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a contributing factor in the country’s overall downward trend and “not free” ranking.

“We’ve noticed efforts by China to influence the way other countries deal with China, talk about China, what scholars write about China, what journalists write about China,” says Puddington. “We see a kind of creeping policy of trying to expand the Chinese censorship system that is pervasive inside China to other countries such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada, even the United States, not to mention Asian countries who are neighbors of China, as well.”

In “partly free” ranked countries like Myanmar, experts say the findings are mixed, citing the country’s transition from military rule toward democracy with its worsening humanitarian crisis following the mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into neighboring Bangladesh.

Latin America

Even with economic and political instability in Nicaragua and Venezuela, Freedom House experts say there’s positive developments for the rest of the region.

“The new [Ecuadorean] president Lenin Moreno has dismantled some of the measures that his predecessor had put in place,” says Puddington, adding “he’s also shown a willingness to have a serious dialogue with reformist elements in the country and to prosecute officials for corruption.”

Even with increased engagement with the U.S., Freedom House upheld Cuba’s “not free” ranking, pointing to freedom of the press and open debate as one area needing improvement.

Middle East

Despite “not free” rankings and ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Freedom House highlighted both as countries to watch throughout 2018.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that the country is moving in the wrong direction or in the right direction,” says Puddington. “It just means that there are a lot of things going on in that country. And we anticipate that there will be changes in the next year.”

Analysts say progress toward democratic elections and effective civilian governments could signal major developments for both countries in the months ahead.

Africa

Following the ouster of Zimbabwe’s longtime leader Robert Mugabe, Freedom House ranked the country “partly free” overall.

“Zimbabwe declined in our scores for 2017, but this was largely due to the fact that President Mugabe was pushed out by non-democratic means, and he was succeeded through non-democratic means,” says Puddington, adding, “We do hope that some of the promises that have been made of reform and liberalization and serious Democratic elections are fulfilled. If they are, we will see improvements in Zimbabwe’s scores.”
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Ethiopia Adoption Ban May Curb Trafficking, But Poorest Families Need Support

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A ban on the adoption of Ethiopian children by foreigners could curb child abuse and trafficking, but more support is needed for vulnerable families within the impoverished country, experts said on Monday.

Ethiopia is one of the biggest source countries for international adoptions by U.S. nationals, with about 20 percent of all adopted children coming from the east African nation, according to the U.S. State Department.

Hollywood celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are among those who have adopted children from Ethiopia.

Child rights groups cite cases of “child harvesting” where adoption agencies unethically recruit minors for adoption by fraudulently altering paperwork to cast children with families as orphans whose parents had died or abandoned them.

In many instances, parents who cannot afford to look after their children consent to foreign adoption under the mistaken impression that it is like boarding school and they would maintain contact with their children, only to find out later that this is not the case.

Amid concerns that overseas adoptions fuel a trade in children from poor families and put them at risk of abuse, or being trafficked into slave-like conditions, parliament passed legislation on Jan. 10 banning inter-country adoption.

“Ethiopia has negative experiences with foreign adoptions, particularly in regard to child laundering, child harvesting, and children taken from families primarily due to poverty,” said David Smolin from the Center for Children, Law and Ethics at Samford University in the United States. “Ethiopia’s ban on foreign adoptions is a reasonable response to past problems and to the need to focus efforts on assisting vulnerable children within Ethiopia.”

While many Ethiopian children have thrived due to inter-country adoption, there have been cases where they have faced abuse, and even death, at the hands of adoptive families.

In 2013, a couple in the U.S. were convicted of killing an adopted 13-year-old Ethiopian girl. The crime sparked debate about foreign adoption in a nation where families are forced to give children up due to a lack of money to care for them.

But under international law, poverty should not be a grounds for international adoption, and efforts instead should be made in assisting families to stay together, say experts.

The revised law encourages local adoption, family reunification and reintegration to enable children to grow up within the country, said the state-run Ethiopian News Agency.

Adoption experts emphasized that Ethiopia will need to follow-up the ban with increased efforts to assist vulnerable families within the country, and provide them with the resources to adequately care for their children.

“The most important thing is for the children involved to have permanency, in families,” said Adam Pertman, president of the U.S.-based National Center on Adoption and Permanency and author of “Adoption Nation.”

“The first choice is within their own family of origin, their own community and their own country,” he added.
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Nigeria’s Buhari Vows to Punish All Those Behind Ethnic Violence

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Nigeria will punish all those behind an outbreak of deadly clashes between cattle herders and farmers, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday pushing back at accusations that he failed to take action against members of his own ethnic group.

At least 83 people have been killed since the start of the new year in violence between the mainly Christian farmers and the semi-nomadic herders, who are mostly Muslims from Buhari’s Fulani ethnic group.

The outbreak of violence, mostly in the central state of Benue, has become increasingly political ahead of elections in February 2019, with Buhari’s opponents accusing him of failing to take action against the herdsmen.

“President Buhari said all those involved in the conflict that culminated in loss of lives would not escape justice, including any illegally armed militia in the state,” said a statement released by Nigeria’s presidency, after Buhari spoke to a delegation of Benue political leaders.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is home to 250 ethnic groups, about evenly divided between Christians who mainly live in the south and Muslims who mainly live in the north. Central states such as Benue have often seen violence over religious, ancestral and cultural differences.

Farmers caught up in the clashes say herdsmen, who roam West Africa in search of pasture and often travel in and out of Nigeria through porous borders, are armed with guns and cutlasses. Groups representing herdsmen have also accused farmers of violent attacks in the last few years.

“I assure you that the police, the Department of State Service and other security agencies had been directed to ensure that all those behind the mayhem get punished,” Buhari told the delegation, according to the statement.

Those who attended the meeting in the capital, Abuja, included the Benue state governor, members of parliament and traditional rulers. Buhari, a former military ruler who was elected in 2015 after vowing to improve security, has not yet said whether he will seek a new term next year.

Last week his spokesman said the suggestion that Buhari was not taking action regarding the herdsmen because of his ethnicity was “disturbing,” adding that such clashes predated Buhari’s administration.
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Boko Haram ‘Chibok Girls’ Video a Propaganda Counter-strike, Say Analysts

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The release of a video purporting to show some of the Nigerian Chibok schoolgirls kidnapped by Boko Haram apparently happy with their lives is a propaganda strike to show the Islamist group is unbowed, security experts said on Monday.

The video shows a group of about 12 teenage girls and young women, some of them holding babies.

“We are the Chibok girls. We are the ones you are crying about for us to come back. By the grace of Allah, we are never coming back,” said one of the girls in the Hausa language widely spoken in northern Nigeria.

Of the some 220 girls abducted from their school in Chibok, northern Nigeria in April 2014, more than 100 have since been released after mediation while a handful of others have escaped.

About 100 of the girls are still thought to be in captivity.

“The latest release can definitely be tied to the Nigerian government’s claim that Boko Haram is defeated,” said Ryan Cummings, director of risk management consultancy Signal Risk.

“It’s fighting the Nigerian government’s narrative regarding the trajectory of the insurgency.”

In a New Year’s message, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari said Boko Haram had been pushed out of its stronghold in the remote northeastern Sambisa forest and was almost defeated.

The video also features the jihadist group’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, whose death the Nigerian government has reported several times.

“By releasing this video showing himself fit and healthy he is again following a pattern of proving the government and the military wrong,” Sola Tayo, a fellow at the London-based think tank Chatham House, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Boko Haram has killed more than 20,000 people and forced two million others to flee their homes in an insurgency that began in 2009 aimed at creating an Islamic caliphate.

The 21-minute video, obtained by a U.S.-based journalism website, Sahara Reporters, purports to show the former schoolgirls being well cared for.

Last May, the militant group exchanged 82 of the girls after mediation, involving a payment to the insurgents and the release of some of the group’s imprisoned senior members. Prior to that, 24 had been released or found in 2016.

The mass abduction of the Chibok girls spawned a celebrity-backed “Bring Back Our Girls” campaign, but aid groups say the militants have kidnapped thousands of adults and children, many of whose cases are neglected.

“If they are being treated very well because there is such a high prize on their head, you can to a degree understand somebody’s reluctance to leave,” said Tayo.
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