Month: February 2018

Tillerson Calls Hezbollah Threat to Lebanon

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U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says Hezbollah’s growing arsenal and its role in regional conflicts threatens Lebanon’s security.  Tillerson, on tour of the Middle East, spoke in Beirut where he met with President Michel Aoun, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. 

Tillerson’s visit to Lebanon came amid simmering regional tensions over the conflict in Syria, along with a territorial dispute with Israel over both its land and sea borders. Hezbollah’s role in Lebanese politics, as well as its participation in the fighting in Syria, Iraq and Yemen were key topics of discussion.

Tillerson says that the U.S. has considered Hezbollah a “terrorist organization” for over 20 years and stressed that he had discussed with Lebanon’s top leaders the need for the group to withdraw its forces from Syria, saying that its “entanglement in regional conflicts threatens Lebanon’s security,” in addition to having “destabilizing effects in the region.

“The United States has considered Hezbollah a terrorist organization for more than two decades now. We neither see, nor do we accept any distinction between its political and its military arms,”said Tillerson. “It is unacceptable for a militia like Hezbollah to operate outside the authority of the Lebanese government. The only legitimate defender of the Lebanese state is the Lebanese armed forces… Their presence in Syria has perpetuated the bloodshed, increased the displacement of innocent people and propped up the barbaric Assad regime.”

Tillerson stressed that he had urged Lebanese leaders to “dissociate (the country) from foreign conflicts,” adding that the international community “expects all parties… including Hezbollah (to) cease its activities abroad to reduce tensions in the conflict.”

Addressing the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over offshore natural gas reserves, Tillerson struck a conciliatory note, saying that the U.S. had not tried to pressure either side into accepting an agreement, but just wanted to “break the stalemate”:

“This is an extremely important issue to Lebanon,”said Tillerson. “It’s important to Israel, as well, to come to some agreement, so that private companies can go to work offshore and determine what in fact might be available in terms of natural resource development and how to get started.”

Secretary Tillerson downplayed reports in the Lebanese media about the U.S. pressuring Beirut into giving up part of its territorial waters to Israel, insisting that the U.S. had “asked no one to give up anything, (but is) looking for a solution.”

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri responded that he had explored “new ideas” with Secretary Tillerson to resolve the dispute with Israel and move forward with the exploration process.

“What is ours is ours and what is Israel’s is Israel’s,”said Hariri. “I think we’re trying to find solutions that will be fair to us and fair to everyone…..There are some new ideas and I think we are going to exploit those ideas to finally explore for oil and gas.”

Tillerson insisted that the U.S. was not in a position to guarantee Lebanon’s border with Israel, but rather to help to find “a final border agreement along the Blue Line” separating the two countries.

“Let’s get the border agreed first and then people can think about it if they need a security wall or not at that point,”said Tillerson. “But we’re hopeful that the current talks around establishing an agreed upon border will yield a final resolution of that. We think it would be very, very important and useful to lowering the tensions along the border, if the two sides could agree to that.”

Tillerson, who is ending his regional tour in Turkey, said that country “is still an important NATO ally” and that “so many aspects of (the U.S.’) relationship (with Ankara) are positive.” Both countries’ “endpoint objectives,” he insisted, “are to defeat ISIS and terrorism” and find an “end to the conflict in Syria.” He added that the U.S. had “not given any heavy weapons,” to its Kurdish YPG militia ally, and so “there is nothing to take back.”   

 
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Appeals Court Declares Trump Travel Ban Unconstitutional

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A federal appeals court has ruled that the latest version of President Donald Trump’s order restricting travel is unconstitutional because it unlawfully discriminates against Muslims.

In a 9-4 decision, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia said that after examining official statements from Trump and other White House officials, “we conclude that the Proclamation is unconstitutionally tainted with animus toward Islam.”

The court upheld a lower court injunction that had been issued against the so-called travel ban but stayed the decision pending the Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of the travel order.

The court joins the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco as the second federal appeals court to rule against the ban.

A three-judge panel for the Ninth Circuit ruled in late December that the president failed to make a “legally sufficient” finding that entry of those barred would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

The president’s travel order his thirdhas been in effect since early December when the Supreme Court said it could go into effect while it made its way through the courts.

The order in varying degrees bars people from coming to the U.S. from eight countries — six of which are predominantly Muslim. The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments regarding the order in April.

Trump issued the first version of the travel ban at the end of his first week of office, arguing that it addressed pressing security concerns.
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2 Freed After Shots Fired at SUV in NSA Campus Confrontation

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Two of the three people who were in a sports utility vehicle that was stopped and fired upon when it tried to enter the National Security Agency campus without authorization have been released, an FBI spokesman said Thursday.

NSA police turned over the other person to the Howard County Sheriff’s Office, because he was wanted on allegations of being behind on child support payments, said Dave Fitz, the spokesman for the FBI’s Baltimore field office.

 

He said that the FBI investigation is ongoing to determine why the black SUV carrying the three people tried to enter a top-secret intelligence site at Fort Meade.

 

Investigators are considering the theory that the vehicle made a wrong turn and ended up at the NSA gate.

 

“The FBI continues to believe that yesterday’s encounter was an isolated incident,” Fitz said in a statement. “Our investigation continues and we do not see a nexus to terrorism.”

 

FBI investigators left the scene Wednesday evening, Fitz said.

 

The unauthorized vehicle’s arrival at the NSA’s campus prompted shots to be fired at the vehicle Wednesday morning. The driver was hospitalized, though NSA and FBI officials say they don’t believe any injuries were caused by bullets.

 

Authorities have not released the names of any of the individuals involved. Gordon Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference that they were male, but didn’t release ages.

 

The NSA campus in a suburban area edged by woods outside the nation’s capital sits by a highway with an exit specifically designated for NSA employees. But drivers have taken the wrong exit before and ended up at the tightly secured gates. Most motorists then carefully follow the orders of heavily armed federal officers and turn around without getting into further trouble.

 

But in early 2015, two people were shot by NSA police when they disobeyed orders outside the heavily secured campus. One driver died at the scene after NSA police opened fire on the stolen sports utility vehicle. Authorities said the occupants had stolen a car from a man who picked them up for a party at a motel.

 

An NSA police officer and a civilian onlooker also were injured in the incident Wednesday. Both required hospital treatment, but their injuries were not life-threatening, Johnson said. Authorities did not say how they were injured.

 

Wednesday’s incident began about 6:55 a.m. when the SUV tried to enter the spy agency’s campus.

 

While Johnson declined to give details about who opened fire, he said preliminarily indications are that all gunfire was directed toward the vehicle.

 

The vehicle had a New York license plate, and Johnson said it was believed to be a rental car, but he said it was unknown exactly where the vehicle came from.

 

“We are working through that,” Johnson said. “We believe that it was a rental car, but we’re still working that as part of the ongoing investigation.”

 

 
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EU Not Happy With Facebook, Twitter Consumer Rule Remedies

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The European Commission says social media giants Facebook and Twitter have only partially responded to its demands to bring their practices into line with EU consumer law.

 

The Commission asked the two companies a year ago to change their terms of service following complaints from people targeted by fraud or scams on social media websites.

 

The EU’s executive arm said Thursday that the firms only partly addressed “issues about their liability and about how users are informed of possible content removal or contract termination.”

 

It said changes proposed by Google+ appear to be in line with demands.

 

Europe’s consumer affairs commissioner, Vera Jourova, said “it is unacceptable that this is still not complete and it is taking so much time.” She called for those flouting consumer rules to face sanctions.

 
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Airbus Expects Strong Growth, Looks Past Plane Troubles

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Shares in European plane maker Airbus flew higher on Thursday after the company reported improved earnings and was more upbeat about the future following problems to several of its key aircraft programs.

 

The company said that it surged to a net profit of 1 billion euros ($1.25 billion) in the fourth quarter, from a loss of 816 million euros a year earlier, while revenue was stable around 23.8 billion euros. Airbus delivered a record 718 aircraft last year and expects that figure to rise further in 2018, to 800.

 

CEO Tom Enders credited “very good operational performance, especially in the last quarter.”

 

Shares in the company jumped about 10 percent on Thursday in Paris. Investors seem optimistic that the company is putting behind it the worst of its troubles with three airplane production programs.

Airbus, which is based in Toulouse, France, said it took another charge of 1.3 billion euros on its A400 military plane, which has had cost overruns for years. It said, however, that it had reached a deal with the governments that are buying the planes on a new delivery schedule that should rein in any new charges on the program.

 

The company also acknowledged that it had had more struggles with engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney for the A320neo, a narrow-body plane that’s popular with regional airlines. The supplier had had problems with the engines last year, which it fixed, but reported a new issue more recently that could affect 2018 deliveries, Airbus said.

 

Another of Airbus’ troubled plane models, the A380 superjumbo jet, now has a more stable outlook after the company reached a deal with Emirates airline that will cover the cost of production for years.

 

The various problems with these production programs risked overshadowing what was otherwise a strong year for Airbus in terms of earnings, as global demand for commercial aircraft grows. Airbus raised its dividend by 11 percent and said it expects one of its key earnings metrics — earnings before interest and tax — to rise 20 percent in 2018.

 

 

 
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Nobel Winner Tutu Says No Longer an Oxfam Global Ambassador

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Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu says he will no longer be a global ambassador for the UK-based aid organization Oxfam after allegations that senior staff members in crisis zones paid for sex among the desperate people the group was meant to serve.

A statement from the office of the South African former archbishop says he is “is deeply disappointed by allegations of immorality and possible criminality.”

The 86-year-old Tutu rarely makes public statements because of health problems.

Actress Minnie Driver and Senegalese musician Baaba Maal also have quit as celebrity ambassadors for Oxfam following its response to a sex abuse scandal in Haiti after its 2010 earthquake.
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Kenya Court Rules Deportation of Key Opposition Figure Illegal

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Kenya’s High Court has declared the recent deportation of a prominent opposition politician illegal. The ruling is expected to further ratchet up tensions between the government’s executive branch and the judiciary.

Delivering his ruling Thursday, Kenyan high court justice Luka Kimaru termed the deportation of a prominent lawyer and opposition politician, Miguna Miguna, illegal. He ordered authorities to present Miguna’s Kenyan passport in court within seven days.

The Interior Ministry quickly hit back with a statement, saying it would appeal Thursday’s ruling. The Interior Ministry rescinded Miguna’s Kenyan citizenship last week and alleges that he acquired his passport illegally.

Miguna was deported after he was charged with treason over his role in opposition leader Raila Odinga’s self-inauguration as the so-called “people’s president” on January 30.

A court had ordered Miguna’s release on bail, but the government failed to comply and instead sent Miguna to Canada, where he is also a citizen.

 

Earlier this month, authorities defied another court order to immediately lift the suspension of four private media outlets. The interior minister had said the outlets were under investigation for allegedly conspiring to subvert the government and spark violence. The broadcasters had planned live coverage of Odinga’s self-inauguration.

 

Lawyers marching Thursday in the capital said the government must respect the rule of law. One of them, Ochieng Gor, said the government must be true to the constitution.

“It’s not optional for people to obey what laws they want to obey and [choose] which ones not to obey,” he said. “If we go that way, then we are going to have anarchy in this country. It’s the rule of law that keeps us together as a country.”

Brewing tensions

Tension has been brewing between the government and the judiciary for months. President Uhuru Kenyatta called the judges “thugs” at a campaign rally last year after the Supreme Court threw out Kenyatta’s August election victory and forced the electoral commission to conduct a new poll.

 

Kenya’s chief justice issued a rare statement last week warning that the government’s recent defiance of court orders could threaten the rule of law.

 

This week, the ruling Jubilee coalition replied with a three-page open letter to the chief justice accusing the judiciary of bias in favor of the opposition.

Constitutional law expert Dunstan Omari says Kenya is still adjusting to the changes in the new constitution enacted in 2010.

“This is a hangover from 1964 until 2010,” he said. “So, the Jubilee regime wants to go back to that era where the judiciary could take directions from the executive. But the types of freedom Kenyans have seen, the type of bill of rights that the constitution provides, that cannot happen.”

Lawyers in Kenya have been wearing yellow ribbons as a form of protest. The country’s largest lawyers association has threatened that its members will boycott court sessions if the government continues to disobey court orders.
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Former Ebony Editor Author Lerone Bennett Jr. Dies at 89

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Lerone Bennett Jr., an African-American history author and former editor of Ebony magazine, has died at age 89.

A.A. Rayner and Sons Funeral Home in Chicago said Thursday that Bennett died Tuesday. Ebony magazine tells the Chicago Sun-Times that Bennett had vascular dementia.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson on Thursday called Bennett an “activist historian” and said “a global force for justice he was, a mighty pen he had.”

Bennett grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and worked on his high school newspaper and edited the student newspaper at Morehouse College, where he went to school with Martin Luther King Jr. Bennett went on to work at the Atlanta Daily World before joining Jet and then Ebony. He worked at Ebony for about 50 years.

“He was the guiding light for the editorial vision of Ebony,” Ebony CEO Linda Johnson Rice said Wednesday. “Lerone was not just essential in the formation of Ebony’s historic trajectory, he was a pillar in the black community.”

Bennett chronicled the civil rights movement. Among his books was “What Manner of Man, a Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr.,” along with “Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America” and “The Shaping of Black America.”

Bennett took on national roles, including as a member of President Bill Clinton’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities and as an early adviser to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. His footprints are in pavement at the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame in Atlanta.

Bennett’s wife, Gloria, was a Jet journalist. She died in 2009. He is survived by three children.
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US Senate Awaits Vote on Immigration Reform

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Uncertainty gripped the U.S. Senate’s weeklong deliberations on immigration reform that could culminate with votes later Thursday on competing proposals to change how America handles newcomers from abroad.

As the Senate gaveled in, the Trump administration signaled strong opposition to a bipartisan immigration proposal that had been viewed as the chamber’s best chance to advance a bill.

Late Wednesday, 16 senators unveiled legislation that would offer a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children, boost border security funding by $25 billion, and focus immigration enforcement efforts on criminals, threats to national security, and those arriving illegally after the end of June.

Early Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security slammed the proposal’s directive on which undocumented immigrants to target for removal as “the end of immigration enforcement in America” and added it would “only serve to draw millions more illegal aliens with no way to remove them.”

The DHS statement prompted an angry response from South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a backer of the compromise proposal.

“It seems as if DHS is intent on acting less like a partner and more like an adversary,” Graham said in a statement circulated on Capitol Hill. “Instead of offering thought and advice– or even constructive criticism — they are acting more like a political organization intent on poisoning the well.”

​President Donald Trump backs more sweeping reforms that would add limits to the current system of family-based immigration and prioritize newcomers who have advanced work skills.

Trump’s immigration agenda is encapsulated in legislation conservative Republican lawmakers introduced earlier this week. Democratic senators countered with a proposal that pairs help for young immigrants with limited border security enhancements.

Neither partisan bill is expected to get the three-fifths backing required to advance in the chamber, and conservative Republicans joined the Trump administration in heaping scorn on the bipartisan compromise, calling it a de facto amnesty for million of undocumented immigrants currently in the United States and any others who arrive in coming months.

“The race is on,” Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said. “If you can get into the country and across the border by June 30 of this year, you are in and you have amnesty. That [covers] every single individual in the country unlawfully.”

Democrats, meanwhile, accused Trump of standing in the way of bipartisan solutions.

“President Trump … has stood in the way of every single proposal that has had a chance of becoming law,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “Now President Trump seems eager to spike [defeat] the latest bipartisan compromise, potentially, with a veto. Why? Because it isn’t 100 percent of what the president wants on immigration.“

Schumer added: “That’s not how democracy works. You don’t get 100 percent of what you want in a democracy, maybe [you do] in a dictatorship.”

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, argued the president’s case for major changes to immigration law.

“The DACA issue is just a symptom of our broken immigration system,” McConnell said. “So the president has made clear, and I strongly agree, that any legislation must also treat the root causes and reform legal immigration. And it must also include commonsense steps to ensure the safety of the American people.”

Last year, the president rescinded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, an Obama administration policy that allowed young undocumented immigrants to work and study in the United States. Trump gave lawmakers six months to craft a permanent legislative replacement.

Trump put an end to DACA benefits beginning March 5. While two courts have acted to extend the deadline, DACA beneficiaries are likely to be at risk of deportation unless Congress acts.
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Uganda Vows Action on Alleged Fraud, Misuse of Refugee Funds

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Uganda is on a mission to reassure international donors amid allegations of fraud and misuse of funds intended to serve the country’s nearly 1.4 million refugees. On Thursday, the government called for a speedy investigation, giving police three weeks to present the results of their inquiry.

The allegations first surfaced in early February, aired by United Nations Resident Coordinator Rosa Malango, and they target both Ugandan government officials and staff with U.N. humanitarian agencies.

Full details have not been released. However, the accusations include reports of inflated refugee numbers, fraudulent food distributions, and subjecting arriving refugees to extortion.  

There are also reports of trafficking of girls and women within the refugee settlements.

Aid cuts feared

Hillary Onek, Uganda’s minister of relief, disaster preparedness and refugees, expressed fear Thursday that the scandal would lead to a cut in aid.

“We want to reassure the country and our partners that no stone will be left unturned. We have zero tolerance on corruption and abuse of public funds. Whoever will be found to have been involved will be firmly dealt with in accordance with the law of the country.”

Onek said four officials from the Office of the Prime Minister, which oversees refugee affairs, have been suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

President Yoweri Museveni had tough words for anyone found guilty.  

“The ones who are stealing refugee money will go to jail. Because to steal what is meant for refugees, what is meant for desperate people, so, these thieves they will pay. They bring shame to Uganda. Because these refugees, they are from other countries, the donors who are giving support to the refugees are from other countries.”

$2 billion sought

The conflict in South Sudan has sent more than one million refugees into northern Uganda since 2016. Last year, Uganda hosted an international donor summit calling for $2 billion to meet the humanitarian needs of the refugees and host communities for one year.

According to U.N. agencies and the Office of the Prime Minister, only 30 percent of the funds pledged have been received.

Meanwhile, Uganda is grappling with yet another influx of refugees fleeing communal clashes in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to the U.N. refugee agency, about 3,000 Congolese are crossing into Uganda on a daily basis, making a precarious ten-hour journey over Lake Albert in rickety boats.

Nearly 40,000 Congolese refugees have arrived since the start of the year.

Minister Onek says Uganda is overwhelmed and needs more support.

“Where shall we be? It’s a big problem. We need the international support. Without that, our policy may change, to make sure that we don’t get all this burden. It’s too much, for a small country like ours.”

As Ugandan authorities investigate who is stealing refugee money in their own backyard, they are also calling on neighboring countries and the international community to end the conflicts forcing people from their homes in the first place.   

 
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Ethiopian Prime Minister Resigns

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Ethiopia’s prime minister has announced he will resign, in what he says is an effort to advance reforms aimed at easing the country’s political unrest.

Speaking on state television Thursday, Hailemariam Desalegn said he has submitted his letter of resignation as both prime minister and chairman of the ruling EPRDF coalition.

The prime minister said he is stepping down “to be part of the solution and for the success of the reforms and the solutions we have put in place.”

Hailemariam said the proposed reforms, which he did not specify, come at a time of unrest “where many lives have been lost, people have been displaced and property damaged, and there are efforts to harm investments.”

He said both the EPRDF and his party, the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement, have accepted his resignation, and he hoped parliament would accept it.

Hailemariam, 52, has served as prime minister since September 2012, when he was appointed one month after the death of his predecessor, Meles Zenawi.

Ethiopia has been going through political unrest since a wave of anti-government protests in 2016, mainly in the southern Oromia region, prompted officials to declare a state of emergency.

In recent weeks, the government has released hundreds of prisoners — many of whom were arrested on charges of terrorism or inciting violence — in an effort to ease political tensions. Prominent journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega was among a group of more than 700 released Wednesday.
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Violence during Rio Carnival Spotlights Security Woes

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A series of muggings, armed robberies and confrontations during Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival celebrations are underscoring the deteriorating security situation in the city. 

TV Globo on Wednesday showed videos of gunfire between rival drug gangs, teenagers punching tourists in areas usually considered relatively safe and a policeman narrowly escaping after several people attacked him in front of his home.

Rio state Gov. Luiz Fernando Pezao acknowledged there weren’t enough police on hand during the first couple days of Carnival, though more than 17,000 policemen worked in Rio state each day during the festivities. 

“We were not prepared. There was a failure on the first two days, and then we brought backup for police. I think there has been a mistake in our part,” Pezao said. 

Statistics from the Friday to Tuesday bash have not yet been released. However, Pezao said the number of firearms confiscated by authorities was “incredible.” 

A year after hosting the 2016 Olympics, Rio is experiencing a spike in violence. Days before Carnival, rival drug gangs closed key arteries of the city. 

Last year Rio used almost 12,000 policemen during Carnival, but it also counted on the help of 9,000 members of the country’s armed forces. This time there was no federal aid during the bash.

Politicians avoided Rio during one of the most political Carnivals in Brazil’s history, with revelers targeting Pezao, President Michel Temer and especially Mayor Marcelo Crivella, an evangelical bishop who is no fan of the party and left the city for Europe.

Beija-Flor de Nilopolis won the samba-school parade title on Wednesday in Rio’s Sambadrome using corruption as a theme. One of its floats portrayed a rat below the building of state-oil Petrobras, which is at the center of a corruption scandal that has engulfed politicians across Latin America. 

Crowd favorite Paraiso do Tuiuti finished in a surprising second place, likely because of its political tone. The samba-school’s anti-slavery theme attacked Temer’s labor reform and the president himself. One of Tuiuti’s floats featured a vampire wearing a presidential sash. 

Next week Temer, whose popularity is at single-digits, wants to push through a reform of Brazil’s pension system. Analysts have said bill is unlikely to pass with October’s presidential election approaching. The Carnival atmosphere did not help the president make his case for austerity.
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As Nigeria’s Regional Task Force Strengthens, Pressure Mounts on Boko Haram

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On February 2, more than two dozen Boko Haram fighters emerged from a hideout in Sambisa Forest and surrendered to authorities. Their defections were a key victory for Nigerian forces and regional allies in their battle against the diminished, but still deadly, terrorist group.

Maj. Gen. Rogers Nicholas of the Nigerian Army told VOA’s Hausa service that he believes there are more defections to come.

“Now they have repented. They surrendered voluntarily. They are now with us. We have provided them with clothes to wear, food to eat and drugs for their health,” said Nicholas, the theater commander for Operation Lafiya Dole, Nigeria’s effort to defeat Boko Haram.

“We will hand them over to the state government to decide what to do next. We are calling on those still hiding in the forest to come out and surrender. We will accept them and take care of them,” he said.

One of the defectors said he and the other fighters were struggling with a lack of food, water and medical supplies.

“We were just suffering in the bush. Thank God we were accepted by the authorities and provided for. I want to call on those still in the forest to come out and surrender with their weapons. Nothing would happen to them,” the fighter told VOA.

But lasting peace has been elusive in the fight against Boko Haram. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and top officials have declared the group defeated multiple times, only to see more attacks. The group killed more than 900 people in 2017, a slight increase from the previous year, according to BBC Monitoring. They remain among the most deadly terrorist groups on the continent.

Hit and run terrorists

Vincent Foucher, senior consultant for the International Crisis Group, recently returned from a research trip to northeast Nigeria and said the group is weakened but still dangerous.

“Boko Haram has basically gone rural,” he said, pointing to marshy areas in and around Lake Chad and mountainous areas along the border with Cameroon as the group’s strongholds. “They don’t seek anymore to control large chunks of territory. They just go for hit and run. They mix guerilla and terrorism basically. And they are still there.”

Foucher said life inside Maiduguri, the largest city in Borno State, has mostly returned to normal, with busy commerce and significant activity by nongovernmental organizations. Other cities in the northeast have been turned into garrison towns with trenches dug around them for protection, he said.

“The military are, you know, a bit more corrosive — are sort of trying to push people to flock to those towns to sort of control what’s going on. This is classical counterinsurgency policy,” said Foucher. “You want to take the water away from the fish, as the saying goes.”

Foucher said the Nigerian Army has made some advances in counterinsurgency through its specially trained mobile strike teams and via air strikes. He said he also is heartened to see the Nigerian Army taking claims of abuse or human rights violations seriously, and in some cases, issuing court-martials to those suspected of crimes.

Regional cooperation

Perhaps most significantly, the Multinational Joint Task Force has made gains. The 10,000-person force is headquartered in N’Djamena, Chad, with regional bases in the four countries surrounding Lake Chad. In addition to the affected nations of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, Benin also contributes troops to the effort.

The task force marks a major step forward in regional military cooperation, Foucher said, with bilateral missions, intelligence sharing and countries granting permission for neighboring forces to cross borders in pursuit of Boko Haram fighters.

“It’s not perfect, but the level of cooperation, actually, between the four countries, whether in the framework of MNJTF or whether actually outside — there are also some bilateral links that are working, and it is actually quite remarkable,” he said.

The task force embodies the ideal of “African solutions to African problems,” an often-cited approach to tackling military, political and societal issues without relying too heavily on Western support.

“I think, for once, an African regional security mechanism that is building, you know, that is not just a mimicry of what Europe has been trying to do,” Foucher said. “It is really based on a need that states feel for some sort of coordination, so it’s an interesting thing.”

 

 
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Domestic Abuse Allegations Prompt House Panel Probe into Trump Aide’s Employment

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The House Oversight Committee launched an investigation Wednesday into why President Donald Trump’s staff secretary Rob Porter was able to keep his White House job for months after the FBI handed officials reports of Porter’s two former wives accusing him of domestic violence.

Porter resigned last week, but Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray told lawmakers earlier this week that investigators had briefed White House officials as far back as March 2017 about the spousal abuse allegations against Porter, who helped oversee an array of documents and policies sent to Trump for review.

At the center of the new investigation is the role played in the oversight of Porter by White House chief of staff John Kelly, a retired Marine Corps general and Porter’s boss, and when he first knew of the accusations against Porter.

The White House says Kelly only learned of the abuse allegations last week after they were detailed in a British tabloid, the Daily Mail.

In a letter to Kelly, Congressman Trey Gowdy, chairman of the House Oversight panel, asked for information on “the date on which any White House employee became aware of potential derogatory or disqualifying information on Porter … and which individual was so notified.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters Tuesday that at the time Porter resigned, the allegations and recommendations on Porter’s bid for a permanent White House security badge were still being reviewed by the White House personnel security office and had not been sent to higher-level officials. The Oxford- and Harvard-educated Porter was working at the White House under an interim security clearance.

In an interview on CNN, Gowdy said, “I have real questions about how someone like this could be considered for employment whether there’s a security clearance or not. I’m troubled by almost every aspect of this.

“I didn’t hire him,” Gowdy said, “but who knew what, when and to what extent” about the abuse allegations? “If you knew in 2017 and the bureau briefed them three times, then how in the hell was he still employed?

“The chronology is not favorable to the White House,” said Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican who has announced he is not seeking re-election in the November congressional elections.

Trump publicly praised Porter after his resignation and wished him a successful career in the years ahead, but has not made any public comment about the allegations made by Porter’s former wives or domestic abuse more generally. Sanders said Trump condemns such violence.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, the leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, said, “Clearly we all should be condemning domestic violence.” He added that “if a person who commits domestic violence gets in the government, then there’s a breakdown in the system.” Such a breakdown, Ryan said, needs to be “addressed.”

Allegations from ex-wives

Porter’s two former wives, Colbie Holderness and Jennifer Willoughby, have said they told FBI investigators details of their troubled marriages to the 40-year-old Porter in January 2017. Holderness provided a photo alleging that she sustained a black eye when Porter punched her in the face while they were on a vacation to Italy in 2005, and Willoughby offered proof that she obtained a restraining order against Porter in 2010.

Wray, in testimony Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, declined to discuss the content of the FBI’s reports on Porter sent to the White House, but said investigators “submitted a partial report on the investigation” in March last year, and then a completed background check in late July.

He said the White House asked for “follow-up inquiry” and that the FBI provided that information in November. Wray said the FBI administratively closed its investigation file in January, but “received some additional information” it passed on to the White House earlier this month.

“I am quite confident that in this particular instance the FBI followed the established protocols,” Wray said.

After the story about Porter was published, Kelly and Sanders both released effusive statements about Porter’s White House performance. However, Porter’s tenure at the White House unraveled quickly after publication a day later of a picture of Holderness with a black eye.
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IS Leaves Deadly Legacy of Explosive Hazards in Iraq

Posted on by SeeEA

The U.N. Mine Action Service reports Islamic State militants have left a deadly legacy of tens of thousands of explosive hazards and improvised explosive devices in cities throughout Iraq, preventing the safe return of people to the homes they were forced to flee. 

War in Iraq has displaced nearly six million people since 2014.  More than half since have gone home, but the U.N. Mine Action Service reports an estimated 2.6 million people remain displaced.

It says cities retaken from Islamic State militants are heavily contaminated with explosive hazards, improvised explosive devices, other lethal weapons, preventing people from returning home safely.  

It says as soon as areas are liberated, risk assessment teams are deployed to survey the situation, with clearance activities following as soon as possible.

UNMAS Senior Program Manager Pehr Lodhammar says 45,000 explosive hazards and 750 improvised explosive devices have been removed from several retaken areas.  Explosive hazards refers to ammunition that has been fired, but has failed to function.    

Lodhammar says clearance operations now are mainly focused on Fallujah and on western Mosul, which was retaken by Iraqi government forces and a U.S.-led coalition in July 2017.   He describes conditions in Western Mosul as very dangerous.

“The need is so big.  Basically, in western Mosul, we find explosive hazards in every street, every house, every alley, every piece of infrastructure there are explosive hazards…. People are publicly stating that they will not return to their homes and their houses because of explosive hazards, because they know there is contamination.”

Lodhammer says clearing explosive hazards must occur before any rehabilitation or reconstruction work in Iraq can be carried out.  He estimates it will take more than a decade before western Mosul is cleared.  

He says UNMAS will need an additional $216 million beyond what it already has received for clearance and stabilization operations in Iraq this year. 
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Trump’s Proposed Military Parade Could Cost Up to $30M

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Budget Director Mick Mulvaney estimates President Donald Trump’s proposed military parade would cost taxpayers as much as $30 million.

“I’ve seen various different cost estimates of between $10 and $30 million depending on the size of the parade,” he told the House Budget Committee Wednesday.

The administration reportedly is considering holding the parade on Veteran’s Day, observed annually in the U.S. on November 11.

Mulvaney told lawmakers funding for the event was not included in Trump’s proposed 2019 budget because discussions about it had just recently begun. Mulvaney said the Trump administration would have to collaborate with Congress “if we decide to move forward” with the parade.

Last week, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told reporters the Pentagon is in the early stages of planning and still considering options. Trump proposed holding a parade in Washington after seeing a Bastille Day military demonstration in Paris in July.

There is bipartisan opposition to the proposal in Congress, much of it from lawmakers who say a parade would be perceived around the world as dictatorial.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said he would agree to a parade that honors members of the armed forces, but that a “Soviet-style” parade featuring large military weapons would be a sign of “weakness.”

Senator John Kennedy, also a Republican, told reporters one week ago, “I think confidence is silent and insecurity is loud.” Kennedy added: “America is the most powerful country in all of human history; you don’t need to show it off.”

Other lawmakers who oppose a parade have said money for a parade would be put to better use on services to help disabled veterans.

 
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AP Sources: Mitt Romney to Launch Senate Campaign Thursday

Posted on by SeeUS

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney will announce Thursday that he’s running for the Utah Senate seat held by retiring Orrin Hatch, three people with direct knowledge of the plan confirmed Wednesday.

The former Republican presidential candidate will release an online video Thursday announcing he’s running for the seat. His first public appearance as a Senate candidate will be Friday night at a county Republican party dinner in Provo.

Those with knowledge of the plans spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and one of the most famous Mormons, is expected to easily win the Senate seat in Utah, which is heavily Mormon.

The 70-year-old Republican moved to Utah after losing the 2012 presidential election and is very popular in the state. He helped turn around the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics and has earned broad respect in the state.

In addition to his instant name recognition, Romney has a deep network of fundraisers and his own personal wealth to help carry him.

​Vocal Trump critic

If he becomes Utah’s next senator, some supporters hope the vocal critic of President Donald Trump could serve as a political and moral counterweight to a president they see as divisive, erratic and undignified.

He does not address Trump directly in the announcement video, however. In fact, he plans to maintain a hyper-local focus on Utah voters during the campaign.

During the 2016 presidential election, Romney gave a scathing speech in which he called Trump “a phony” who is “playing the American public for suckers” and a man who was unfit to be president.

He softened his stance after Trump won the presidency and put himself forward as a candidate for secretary of state. But he resumed his criticism last year, calling out the president for blaming “both sides” following a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Trump, in turn, had criticized Romney for his failed presidential bids in 2008 and 2012, saying he “choked like a dog.”

Any efforts by Trump to block Romney are unlikely to resonate in Utah, where the president received a lukewarm reception from Mormons who were repelled by his brash demeanor and comments about women and minorities.

Romney isn’t expected to face any serious challenges for the seat. Even Utah’s conservatives who see him as too moderate and establishment for their liking admit they respect him and are unlikely to block him.

Romney was treated last year for prostate cancer, which an aide said was removed surgically and found not to have spread.

​Hatch’s plans

Hatch plans to retire after 2018, following more than four decades in the Senate. One of the longest-serving senators in U.S. history, Hatch began floating Romney’s name last year as his potential successor.

When Hatch won re-election in 2012, he pledged that his seventh term would be his last. He flirted with breaking that promise, suggesting he might run again in 2018 with the encouragement of Trump, who has sought to block Romney.

In the end, Hatch decided to stick with his promise, saying, “Every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves.”
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How Best to Treat Opioids’ Youngest Sufferers? No One knows

Posted on by SeeUS

Two babies, born 15 months apart to the same young woman overcoming opioid addiction. Two very different treatments.

 

Sarah Sherbert’s first child was whisked away to a hospital special-care nursery for two weeks of treatment for withdrawal from doctor-prescribed methadone that her mother continued to use during her pregnancy. Nurses hesitated to let Sherbert hold the girl and hovered nervously when she visited to breast-feed.

 

Born just 15 months later and 30 miles away at a different South Carolina hospital, Sherbert’s second child was started on medicine even before he showed any withdrawal symptoms and she was allowed to keep him in her room to encourage breast-feeding and bonding. His hospital stay was just a week.

 

“It was like night and day,” Sherbert said.

 

The different approaches highlight a sobering fact: The surge has outpaced the science, and no one knows the best way to treat the opioid epidemic’s youngest patients.

 

Trying to cope with the rising numbers of affected infants, hospitals around the United States are taking a scattershot approach to treating the tremors, hard-to-soothe crying, diarrhea and other hallmark symptoms of newborn abstinence syndrome.

 

“It’s a national problem,” said Dr. Lori Devlin, a University of Louisville newborn specialist. “There’s no gold-standard treatment.”

 

With help from $1 million in National Institutes of Health funding, researchers are seeking to change that by identifying the practices that could lead to a national standard for evidence-based treatment. A rigorous multi-center study comparing treatments and outcomes in hard-hit areas could start by the end of this year, said Dr. Matthew Gillman, who is helping lead the effort.

 

“When there’s so much variability in practice, not everyone can be doing the very best thing,” Gillman said.

 

Once the umbilical cord is cut, babies born to opioid users are at risk for developing withdrawal symptoms. By some estimates, one infant is born with the condition in the U.S. every 25 minutes. The numbers have tripled since 2008 at a rate that has solid medical research comparing treatments and outcomes struggling to keep pace.

 

Not all opioid-exposed babies develop the syndrome, but drug use late in a pregnancy increases the chances and can cause dependence in fetuses and newborns. These infants are not born with addiction, which experts consider a disease involving compulsive, harmful drug-seeking behavior. But the sudden withdrawal of opioids from their mothers may cause increased production of neurotransmitters, which can disrupt the nervous system and overstimulate bodily functions. Symptoms can last for months.

 

The condition can result from a mother’s use of illicit drugs, but it also can stem from mothers being prescribed methadone or other anti-addiction medicine. Doctors believe the benefits of that treatment for the mothers outweigh any risks to their infants.

 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention doesn’t routinely track the condition, but the agency’s most recent data — from 2014 — indicates that the syndrome affects nearly 11 in every 1,000 U.S. births. The CDC said it is working with the March of Dimes and several states to get a better picture of the number of affected infants and how they fare developmentally and academically into childhood.

 

Some studies have suggested possible increased risks for developmental delays and behavior problems, but no research has been able to determine if that’s due to mothers’ drug use during pregnancy, infants’ treatment after birth or something completely unrelated. And there’s no definitive evidence that these children fare worse than unexposed youngsters.

 

“It’s very, very frustrating” not knowing those answers, Devlin said. “It’s such a difficult population to go back and do research on. They’re people who often don’t trust the system, often people who have had lots of trauma in their lives.”

 

Treatment aims to reduce or even prevent symptoms. Some hospitals use morphine drops, while others use methadone and sometimes sedatives. Some send the babies straight to newborn intensive care units and some focus on comfort care from moms, allowing them to room-in with their infants. A recently published Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center analysis linked rooming-in with less medication use and shorter hospital stays for infants, but it can be difficult if mothers are still in the throes of addiction.

 

A Florida hospital is even testing tiny acupuncture needles on affected infants.

 

Many hospitals use a 40-year-old scoring system to measure 21 symptoms and frame diagnosis and treatment length, but some have created their own scales.

 

The Government Accountability Office’s health care team has called for federal action to address the issue, saying the current recommendations from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department amount to a half-baked strategy lacking priorities and a timeline for implementation.

 

The department’s recommendations include education for doctors and nurses to teach them how to manage affected infants, along with an emphasis on non-drug treatment.

 

Katherine Iritani, director of the GAO’s health care team, said government officials have since indicated that they are convening experts to develop and finalize a plan by March 15.

 

“We’ll review it and make sure it’s responsive to our recommendations,” she said.

 

A separate GAO report released last week recommended beefed-up government guidance to help states implement programs that ensure safe care for opioid-affected infants and treatment for parents still struggling with drug use.

 

Medicaid pays for more than 80 percent of costs for treating affected babies, totaling about $1 billion in 2012, the GAO has found.

 

At Greenville Memorial Hospital, where Sarah Sherbert’s son was delivered two years ago, babies born to methadone users are given that drug before symptoms start and are sent home with a supply to continue treatment.

 

Clemson University research has showed that approach could reduce hospital stays by nearly half, to an average of eight days costing $11,000 compared with the state average of 15 days at a cost of $45,000.

 

“The baby has already been exposed to methadone for nine months so adding four to five weeks and making weaning gentle instead of quitting cold turkey we think won’t have any additional effect on babies’ brain development,” said Dr. Jennifer Hudson, who developed the treatment approach.

 

Sherbert, 31, said her drug use began eight years ago after she was prescribed opioid painkillers for injuries from a car accident. She was on methadone prescribed by her doctor when her daughter, now 3, was born.

 

She later lost custody after relapsing and her parents are caring for the children. Sherbert said she has been sober for a year and recently was promoted to supervisor at her job. She said she’s determined to get them back.

 

“I’ve worked so hard and come such a long way,” she said. “Seeing their little faces — that’s worth every bit of it.”

 

 

 
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Trump Calls on Senate to Approve Immigration Bill

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. President Donald Trump has called on the Senate to support an immigration bill sponsored by Republican Charles Grassley, saying passage would ratify the “four pillars” of his immigration reform plan.

The legislation would consider up to 1.8 million people who arrived in the U.S. as children and remained illegally with a chance for citizenship. The measure would also allocate $25 billion for border security, limit family-based immigration and eliminate the visa lottery in favor of a “merit-based” approach.

In a White House statement issued Wednesday, Trump urged senators to reject “any short-term ‘band-aid'” solution and enact “responsible and common sense immigration reform that delivers for the American people.”

The Senate opened debate Monday and voting on proposals could begin Wednesday. Senate Majority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, signaled his intention Tuesday to conclude the immigration debate by week’s end and accused Democrats of needlessly delaying floor action.

Democratic Minority Leader Charles Schumer objected when McConnell moved to begin floor debate on legislation cracking down on so-called “sanctuary cities” — municipalities that do not cooperate with federal authorities in identifying and handing over undocumented immigrants.

Hundreds of thousands of young immigrants, sometimes referred to as Dreamers, received temporary permission to work and study in the U.S. under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, former president Barack Obama’s program that President Donald Trump rescinded last year.

Trump has challenged Congress to pass a law addressing DACA beneficiaries’ legal status, reigniting a debate on the Senate floor this week.

“The key here is an immigration debate, not a DACA-only debate, not an amnesty-only debate,” Grassley said. “An immigration debate has to include a discussion about enforcement measures …how to remove dangerous criminal aliens from our country.”

Trump set March 5 as the termination date for DACA, after which former beneficiaries would be at risk of deportation unless Congress acts.

Any immigration proposal will need the backing of three-fifths of all Senate members to advance, and Democrats argued that only a narrowly-tailored bill focusing on areas of general bipartisan agreement — a DACA fix and boosting border security — can pass.

 
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Dry Spells, Fall Armyworm Raise Concerns about Food Security in Southern Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization says prolonged dry spells, erratic rainfall, high temperatures and the presence of the voracious fall armyworm have significantly dampened Southern Africa’s 2018 agricultural season’s cereal production prospects.

In an interview, Chimimba David Phiri, the Food and Agriculture Organization coordinator in southern Africa said prolonged dry spells, erratic rainfall, high temperatures and the presence of the voracious fall armyworm pests have significantly dampened Southern Africa’s agricultural season’s cereal production prospects in 2018, from the 2016/2017 season when there was above normal rain.

“[In terms of] the food situation in southern Africa, our worry is that this year the rainfall started very late, and even when it came, it has been erratic in falling with significant dry spells in the middle of the season. So this, we think is going to have a very negative impact on production overall this year.”

In some parts of the region, including Zimbabwe, the Fall Armyworm, which first emerged last season, has compounded the situation as it continues to spread, added Phiri. He said the pest is now present across the Southern African Development Community except Mauritius and Lesotho.

But for farmer Moses Juliis Chibaya, about 200 kilometers north of Harare, the pest is targeting mainly his maize crop. He said he could have harvested a good crop of tobacco as he did last year had it not been for the dry spells Zimbabwe is facing.

“Though our economy is not performing well, but from a farmer’s perspective, I think we need to invest in irrigation and the government must also assist with the equipment. Maybe if we have loans that can be given to farmers.”

In 2000, former President Robert Mugabe’s government embarked on a land reform program that displaced most white commercial farmers from their land and replaced them with mostly black peasants. With that came the destruction of most irrigation facilities that commercial farmers had set up and the decline of agricultural production in Zimbabwe.

The new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa last week said it was working with international organizations such as the FAO toward increasing resilience of farmers to droughts by revamping irrigation facilities.
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‘Black Panther’ Movie is Source of Pride for Kenya

Posted on by SeeAF

One of 2018’s most hotly anticipated new films premiered for African audiences this week in the Kenyan hometown of one of the film’s stars, Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o. Based on a Marvel superhero comic, Black Panther is set in a fictional, futuristic African nation.

The Kisumu premiere drew several hundred people. Although the stars of the movie were not in attendance, that did not dampen the atmosphere.

“To be honest, it’s a great honor that Kisumu is the first place in Africa that this movie is screened,” Kenyan actor Moses Oduwa told VOA. ” We are so happy that we are honored this way.”

The film is being hailed as an example of the Afro-futurism movement, which blends science fiction and African tradition to reimagine the past and visualize what is to come.

After the screening attendees gave positive reviews.

“What I remember is this interesting mix between the traditional and post-modern and something about the movie which I liked is that evil was punished in the end,” said John Obiero, a Kisumu resident.

“Costumes, they are amazing,” marveled Linda Achieng. ” I think I have three dresses that want to be made for. Just from the movies.”

Bertha Magak is a big fan of hero movies.

“I have watched Captain America, the Avengers and all that. I was very eager to watch this one, I have actually enjoyed most part of it,” she told VOA.

“I think it’s more of like massaging African ego,” opined Edwin Odoyo, who also lives in Kisumu. “Like we are strong but we really don’t know how strong we are.”

Most importantly, people were happy to celebrate one of their own: Lupita Nyong’o. She couldn’t be here in the flesh, but for her fans, Lupita’s presence on the movie poster, on display at the premiere next to the red carpet —  was enough.
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‘Black Panther’ Movie Source of Pride for Kenya, Actress Lupita Nyongo

Posted on by SeeAF

One of 2018’s most hotly anticipated new films premiered for African audiences this week in the Kenyan hometown of one of the film’s stars, actress Lupita Nyong’o. Based on a Marvel superhero comic, Black Panther is set in a fictional, futuristic African nation. As Mohammed Yusuf reports for VOA from the Kisumu premiere, audience members praised the film for its fresh take on the continent.
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Iranians Celebrate Valentine’s Day, Despite Its Being Banned

Posted on by SeeEA

Some Iranian youth are celebrating Valentine’s Day even though authorities have banned the celebrations as part of “decadent Western culture.”

Coffee shops and restaurants are crowded with boys and girls celebrating with their loved ones and exchanging red-colored, romance-themed presents.

Since 2011, Iranian authorities have prohibited any advertisement, sale of goods or unisex tours with the Valentine’s Day name or symbols.

But shopkeepers said teddy bears, chocolate boxes with heart signs and other gifts suitable for lovers were available in abundance.

 

The annual Feb. 14 homage to romance, which tradition says is named after an early Christian martyr, has become popular in recent years in Iran and other Middle East countries.

The backlash in the Islamic Republic is part of a drive against the spread of Western culture.
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Slovenia Teachers Rally, Schools Close as Part of Strike

Posted on by SeeEU

Blowing whistles and horns, thousands of Slovenian teachers rallied for higher wages on Wednesday in the latest in a string of strikes and protests by public sector workers in the small European Union country.

Most schools in Slovenia remained closed because of the one-day strike that drew an estimated 40,000 teachers. The strike follows earlier walk-outs by health care employees, police and firefighters.

More than 10,000 people gathered at a central square in the capital, Ljubljana, holding colorful banners and union balloons and flags. Participants were bused in from all over Slovenia.

“This government must surely know that the level of teachers’ salaries is a problem in Slovenia,” said Christine Blower from the European Trade Union Committee for Education, who came to offer support.

“Your demands are fair and just,” Blower told the cheering crowd. “You must win, you have the arguments!”

There was no immediate response from the government, which has negotiated with the public sector unions in the past months in a bid to avert wider strikes.

Workers’ unions are demanding that the wage growth curbed in an austerity package in 2013 be restored amid economic growth. The demands put pressure on the centrist government of Prime Minister Miro Cerar before a parliamentary election later this year.
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