Month: February 2018

Nigeria Releases 475 Boko Haram Suspects for Rehabilitation

Posted on by SeeAF

A Nigerian court has released 475 people allegedly affiliated with Boko Haram for rehabilitation, the justice ministry said on Sunday, as the country’s biggest legal investigation of the militant Islamist insurgency continues.

The first person convicted for the kidnapping in 2014 of

Chibok schoolgirls, sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment last

week, was also handed an additional 15-year sentence, to run

back-to-back, the justice ministry said in a statement.

More than 20,000 people have been killed and two million

forced to flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria since Boko

Haram began an insurgency in 2009 aimed at creating an Islamic state.

But humanitarian groups have criticized the Nigerian

authorities’ handling of those detained for infringing on the

suspects’ rights.

Some of those whose cases were heard last week in a

detention center in central Nigeria had been held without trial

since 2010, according to the justice ministry statement.

“The prosecution counsel could not charge them [with] any

offence due to lack of sufficient evidence against them,” the

ministry said.

In October, the ministry said 45 people suspected of Boko

Haram links had been convicted and jailed. A further 468

suspects were discharged and 28 suspects were remanded for trial in Abuja or Minna.
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Trump Criticizes FBI for ‘Missing Signals’ Before Florida School Shooting

Posted on by SeeUS

President Donald Trump has criticized the the top U.S. law enforcement agency for “missing signals” before a 19-year-old man carried out a mass shooting at a Florida high school last week.

“Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable,” Trump tweeted Saturday evening. “They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign – there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”

On Friday, the FBI admitted it did not act on a tipoff in January about Nikolas Cruz and his intentions six weeks before he killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. The FBI said someone with a close relationship to Cruz had called in information on Jan. 5 about the teenager’s “gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting.” 

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered an immediate review of how the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation respond to warnings about potential mass killers.

The FBI had earlier said it received a report of a social media posting from a person identifying himself as “Nikolas Cruz,” saying, “I‘m going to be a professional school shooter.” But the FBI said it could not determine the “time, location or true identity” of the person behind the message.

Meanwhile, Florida’s state social services agency said in a report it had investigated Cruz’s home life more than a year before last week’s shooting rampage. But it closed the inquiry and concluded that his “final level of risk is low,” even though it learned he had behavioral problems and planned to buy a gun. Months after the state investigation was closed, Cruz bought the AR-15 assault-style rifle police say he used to carry out last week’s massacre.

Several U.S. lawmakers are calling for stiffer background checks of gun buyers, but Congress has shown no inclination to stop the sale of assault weapons, even as national polls in the U.S. have shown widespread support among voters for such a ban.

Republican Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “I have no issue with more background checks. All the warning signs were there” about Cruz’s mental state and intentions.

“The tragedy we saw in Parkland is unthinkable,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent progressive from Vermont, told the same show. He said the loophole that allows 40 percent of guns sold in the U.S. to occur without background checks needs to be closed. Authorities, however, say Cruz bought the AR-15 legally after such a background check.

Cruz, who is being held at the Broward County jail without bond, has admitted carrying out the shooting rampage, according to authorities. Cruz, who had been expelled last year from the school for disciplinary reasons, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Calls for gun control

On Saturday, hundreds gathered at the Fort Lauderdale federal courthouse, about 45 kilometers from the suburb where the shooting took place, for rally calling for more gun control.

“We are going to be the last mass shooting,” vowed Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the mass shooting.

“The people in the government who are voted into power are lying to us,” Gonzalez said. “We are prepared to call B.S. [point out a lie].”

Gonzalez said mental health — a factor Trump and other authorities had pointed to in their responses to the shooting — was not the main problem; she blamed Florida’s lenient gun laws, under which the teenage shooter legally purchased his weapon.

Meanwhile, about 60 kilometers away at the Dade County fairgrounds, hundreds of gun enthusiasts attended a gun show featuring more than 100 vendors of firearms and accessories.

Show manager Jorge Fernandez told Reuters news service that the company holding the event, Florida Gun Shows, decided against canceling the show because of financial concerns.

At the show, 30-year-old Adolfo David Ginarte told Reuters that it would be “un-American” to cancel the gun show because of the mass shooting. “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” he said. “Things are going to happen. … This isn’t the first time and, unfortunately, it’s not going to be the last time.”

Joe Arrington, 29, told Reuters he does not believe more regulation would have stopped the shooting. “I think a lot of agencies didn’t do their job necessarily like they were supposed to,” he said.

Trump visits with victims

President Trump and his wife, Melania, visited Florida on Friday, to meet with law enforcement officials and some of the victims of Wednesday’s shooting.

At a Broward County hospital near the scene of the shooting, Trump praised the medical staff who treated the victims, saying, “The job they’ve done is incredible.” He also praised the speed at which first-responders arrived at the school. When asked by reporters if the nation’s gun laws need to be changed, Trump did not respond.

Trump is to spend the long President’s Day weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, about 55 kilometers from Parkland.

 
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Chinese New Year Skit Sparks Backlash over Relationship with Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

The Chinese government’s annual New Year’s Gala, televised to millions of households across the mainland, has drawn global criticism for its offensive caricatures and a story line about Africans’ admiration for China.

The 13-minute segment featured several dozen African actors, a Chinese co-host and a Chinese actor dressed in blackface. Several actors were also dressed as animals, including an actor from Cote d’Ivoire in a monkey costume.

Playing to stereotypes

In recent years, a range of companies have faced criticism for insensitive and, at times, overtly racist portrayals of black people in their advertisements.

These ads often portray light skin as normal and dark skin as unclean, or they associate black people with monkeys, both tropes with deep roots in American advertising.

In October, Dove dropped an ad in which a black woman removes her shirt and reveals a white woman underneath.

Earlier this year, Swedish clothing company H&M drew ire for an ad with a black child wearing a sweatshirt with “coolest monkey in the jungle” printed on the front.

And a Chinese advertisement for detergent that shows an Asian woman push an African painter inside a washing machine, only to emerge as an Asian actor, suggesting a transformation from dirty and unattractive to clean and desirable, was widely condemned.

Government-sanctioned

The Chinese Spring Festival Gala, broadcast on the state-owned China Central Television network to millions of households across China, is different. The Communist Party of China produces and vets the four-hour broadcast. It’s a chance for the central government to reinforce key messages about domestic and foreign policies.

The controversial skit, set in Kenya, begins with an African-themed dance set to “Waka Waka” (This Time for Africa) by Colombian singer Shakira, a song that prompted controversy in its own right when FIFA picked it as the theme for its 2010 World Cup in South Africa, in lieu of music by an African artist.

In the New Year’s skit, the Chinese-built railway linking Mombasa and Nairobi has just opened, and a railway trainer, played by the gala’s Chinese co-host, compliments a group of African train attendants on their command of Chinese.

The trainer explains that he’s to marry his Chinese fiancée later that day, but a young African woman — another train attendant — ropes him into pretending they’re in love to get out of a blind date set up by her mother, played by Chinese actress Lou Naiming, who appears in blackface as a Kenyan mother trying to find a husband for her young daughter.

When the groom’s older brother arrives, he cracks a joke about African transportation. “When I got off the plane, I rented an African public bike [a giraffe],” his brother said, pointing to an actor dressed as a giraffe.

When the trainer’s Chinese bride arrives, the African attendant is forced to tell her mother that she lied to get out of the blind date.

Backlash

The skit drew a prompt backlash on social media, with viewers in and out of China expressing astonishment and disgust. Hansi Lo Wang, a correspondent with National Public Radio (NPR), called out the “racial stereotypes.”

​Viewers in China expressed shame at the portrayals and regret that their country had perpetrated negative stereotypes.

China Daily, the nation’s largest English-language news organization, put a positive spin on the skit after it aired.

“The sketch, which relies greatly upon the differences in language and cultural norms, is usually one of the most anticipated programs every year. This year, for the first time ever, foreign actors took part in the sketch.”

Beyond its overt caricatures, the skit reflected Chinese ideals of hard work and industriousness. By showing that Africans aspire to the traits Chinese hold in high esteem, the Chinese government reinforced the value of Chinese foreign investment in Africa.

In the skit, the young woman makes clear why she doesn’t want to get married.

“I want to go to China to study. I want to be just like a Chinese person. I’m going to roll up my sleeves, work hard and make the whole world just like me,” she tells her mother, played by Lou.

That line drew applause and cheers from the live audience.

It’s an appealing message for a Chinese audience that might be skeptical about its country’s involvement in the development of other nations at a time when significant challenges remain at home, especially around the country’s ongoing struggle with pollution and air quality.

Infrastructure in Africa

The skit centers around the Mombasa-Nairobi railway, a $4 billion Chinese-built infrastructure project in Kenya. The Kenyan project is one of many large-scale African infrastructure projects financed and developed by China. It’s one of several railways connecting landlocked African cities to busy ports and promises to facilitate exports back to China.

At the end of the CCTV skit, the mother says that a Chinese doctor once saved her life, and now the Chinese are helping build Africa’s infrastructure and cultivating her daughter into a better person.

“I love Chinese people! I love China,” the mother said.

That message may appeal to the Chinese government, whose focus on building soft power requires positive relationships with countries with much smaller economies and far less global clout.

But for many, including Sophie Richardson, the China director for Human Rights Watch, the New Year’s portrayal missed the mark.

“China’s President Xi Jinping likes to talk about his vision for a new, just world order. It’s hard to see that happening when his own state media broadcasts a vision of racism — and then censors criticism of it,” Richardson said.
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4.4 Magnitude Quake Strikes Wales, Biggest Since 2008

Posted on by SeeEU

Britain was hit by its biggest earthquake in a decade Saturday, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said, with tremors felt across parts of Wales and southwest England but no notable damage reported.

The BGS said the quake was of magnitude 4.4, with an epicenter 20 km (12.5 miles) north of the Welsh city of Swansea, adding that it was the biggest quake in the Britain since 2008.

Earthquakes are not common in Britain and are rarely powerful. The 2008 quake in Market Rasen, northeast England, was magnitude 5.2, or 16 times more powerful than Saturday’s quake.

However, Saturday’s earthquake in Wales was felt as far away as Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, more than 200 km (125 miles) away.

Videos on social media showed people gathered outside Swansea University, which was holding an open day, after an apparent evacuation.

“Thank you to everyone who attended our visit day. We hoped that you had a surprisingly ‘earth moving’ experience!” Swansea University said on Twitter.
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Spain Has Pivotal Role in Pressuring Venezuela’s Maduro

Posted on by SeeEU

Spain has assumed a pivotal role in pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to change his regime’s “barbaric” course, according to Spanish diplomats who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity.

Venezuela’s crisis reached major dimensions last week as hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans made an exodus to neighboring countries, escaping the hyperinflation, food shortages and rampant violence prevailing over what used to be South America’s wealthiest oil producer.

Spain has openly pushed for sanctions by the European Union that target Maduro and his top officials in a move that led to the expulsion of the Spanish ambassador and insults against Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Maduro called him a U.S. lackey.

Venezuelan state media reported that the measures restricting travel and business in Europe by seven top Venezuelan officials were hatched in discussions Rajoy held with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington last September.

The U.S. has placed sanctions on more than 20 individuals in Venezuela, including politicians and government contractors, since repression of opponents to the Maduro government intensified last July.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson brought up the possibility of placing an embargo on Venezuelan oil sales during a recent swing through Latin America. He even hinted the U.S. might welcome a military coup.

Coup denials

Rajoy’s predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, backed a coup against Maduro’s mentor, Hugo Chavez, when he was in power. But Spanish officials deny that anything similar is taking place now.

“Spain’s support for sanctions did not result from any consultation with Washington,” a Spanish foreign ministry official told VOA. “It’s strictly between Spain and the EU. Our main concern is the Venezuelan people and standing up for democratic principles.”

Spain will lobby for expanding the sanctions at an EU foreign ministers meeting Monday in Brussels where Venezuela is on the agenda, according to a Spanish diplomatic expert on Venezuela.

The source also said Spain has worked to isolate Venezuela among some Latin American governments, which excluded Maduro from a regional summit last week in Lima, Peru.

When EU sanctions were adopted in January, Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said they were an “incentive to help negotiations” between Maduro and the opposition party, which were mediated by former socialist Spanish Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero.

Zapatero’s eagerness to seal an agreement has been criticized by opponents of Maduro, who say he tried to pressure them into participating in presidential elections scheduled for next April that are seen as loaded in Maduro’s favor.

“Zapatero went from being an impartial arbiter to acting as a lawyer for the regime,” said Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, who escaped from his Venezuelan house arrest to Spain last December. He was personally received by Rajoy.

​Deep ties

Spain’s ties with Venezuela run deep. Spaniards compose one of the country’s largest expatriate communities, numbering about 300,000. The Spanish oil company Repsol has invested more than $2 billion in Venezuela, and it continues operating oil and gas fields there.

But the leverage could go both ways. Venezuela appears to have some political influence with Spain’s mainstream socialist party PSOE, whose spokesmen criticized the news media for giving “too much” coverage to opposition protests at the time that Zapatero assumed his mediation role.

Venezuela also has contributed money to the far left group Podemos, which has been Spain’s third-largest political force and blocked a congressional resolution condemning Maduro’s power grab.

Podemos was joined in opposing the motion by the Catalan Leftist Republic party (ERC), one of the main pro-independence groups in Catalonia that may head the next regional government.

In an apparent tit for tat, Maduro has demanded the release of jailed ERC leader Oriol Junqueras and attacked Spain for trying to block an Oct. 1 referendum on Catalan independence.

Cyberoffensive

Venezuelan state channels joined a Russian cyberoffensive promoting Catalan separatism through social media.

According to Spanish Defense Minister Maria Dolores de Cospedal, 32 percent of robot social media accounts used to amplify the separatist movement were based in Venezuela and connected with Maduro’s ruling PSUV.

The head of the radical separatist Catalan Unity Party (CUP), Ana Gabriel, who is to appear in court next week to answer charges of rebellion, has been in Venezuela campaigning for Maduro.

The Spanish government is investigating funds linked to members of the Venezuelan government that were deposited in Andorra, an independent archdiocese bordering northern Spain.

But experts don’t expect relations between Madrid and Caracas to be radically altered by the growing tensions.

“We know that Maduro is taking Venezuela toward being another Cuba and is very close to achieving it,” a Spanish diplomatic analyst said. “But we will keep talking to Maduro the same way that we keep talking to Putin.”

Ledezma said he asked Rajoy to use his influence with Venezuela to open a corridor for humanitarian aid proposed by Venezuela’s neighbors.
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Gang Rapes in Mali Prompt Anger, Calls for Reform

Posted on by SeeAF

Two gang rapes, including one filmed and shared widely on social media, have shocked the nation of Mali.

The first case involved four assailants aged 16 to 25 who took turns raping a 14-year-old girl while she pleaded for help. When video of the incident began circulating on social media, it drew anger across Mali and an outcry from human rights groups.

The second case involved three assailants. Both took place in the capital city, Bamako.

Malian authorities have arrested 14 people involved in the two rapes and a man involved in a separate pedophilia case. The suspects include the four assailants seen on the video, authorities said.

‘Time to be tough’

But advocates say arrests aren’t enough. They want legal reforms and cultural changes.

“This has been going on for a long time,” said Mahamane Mariko, who leads la Convention des Réformateurs Pour L’alternance de la Justice, a group advocating for political and judicial reform. “But in the society that we live in, in most cases women do not voice their rape because it shameful.”

Mamadou Z. Sidibe, national deputy director of the police, said authorities need to crack down on sexual violence.

“It’s time to be tough, zero tolerance as they say,” he told VOA’s Bambara service. “It is about protecting the ethics of our youth. We want to prevent these behaviors from becoming a social phenomenon.”

Widespread gender-based violence

At least 300 women are victims of sexual violence each year in Mali, says Bamako-based Women in Law and Development in Africa, citing local police records. But the group believes the actual number is much higher, and few of the cases end in a conviction.

The problem has worsened since a political crisis in 2012 rendered much of northern Mali lawless and occupied by extremist groups such as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

In 2014, human rights groups filed a complaint in a Bamako court on behalf of 80 women and girls who were victims of rape and abuse. The complaint called for a full-scale investigation of crimes against humanity during the 2012-2013 occupation of northern Mali. At that time, allegations of serious misconduct, including rape, by U.N. peacekeepers in Mali also came to light.

Issues of violence against women were brought to the fore again in late December 2017 when a 27-year-old receptionist in the office of Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was found murdered at work. Police suspect her husband.

Why has it taken so long for Malian authorities to take stronger action against rape?

“We must see the crime before we can fight it,” Sidibe said. “And the difficulty is the silence of the victims and their relatives who do not have the courage to come forward. Families close their eyes and prefer to keep quiet on a rape case because they think, in keeping quiet, they protect the honor of the victim.”

Advocates say the rape that was shared across social media proves there is still a long way to go in solving the problem of violence against women and girls.

“The act that they did, by raping a young girl, filming it and posting it on social media, shows that this is not a country we are living in, that we are in a jungle,” said Diakite Kadidia Fofana, president of Collectif des Amazones, one of the largest women’s associations in Mali.

“Many associations are standing up for this cause and calling for the proper punishment to be applied. … They have ruined her life. They should know that anyone who does a horrible act like that should be severely punished. That’s what we are fighting for.”
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Modest Designer Finds Fashion Connects People

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New York’s Fashion Week is known as a showcase for top designers’ clothing. Among those whose clothes were on the runway at the recent Fall Fashion Week, is Vivi Zubedi, who designs modest clothing for Muslim women. Anshuman Apte reports from New York.
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Somali Migrants Returning From Libya Tell of Abuse, Horror

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It was an emotional moment for the nearly dozen Somali migrants who were repatriated to Mogadishu from Libya on Saturday.

Some fell to their knees, crying; others placed their foreheads to the ground in prayer; while some chanted the Somalia national anthem as they disembarked from a Turkish Airways plane that had flown them from Libya, where some had been stranded for years, to the Somali capital.

Since 2014, Libya has become a major transit point for migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are trying to get to Europe to flee instability and violence.

Somalia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mahdi Mohamed Guled, members of parliament and representatives from civil society organizations welcomed the migrants at the airport. The migrants then told stories of abuse, fear and horror they had experienced in Libya.

​Survivor’s tale

Abdikarim Mohamed Omar, 22, who shared his story with VOA’s Somali service, was among those repatriated Saturday. He said he left Somalia in 2016 and traveled to Libya via Ethiopia and Sudan. 

Before reaching Libya, Omar said, he lost several of his Somali friends during the journey. At one point, he said, they fought with Eritrean migrants.

“I was among 150 migrants packed into a truck by smugglers from Sudan — 100 Eritreans and 50 Somalis. They mercilessly forced us into a truck that fit only 30 people. Some of the Somali migrants were thrown out of the truck into the desert. Then we fought with the Eritreans for survival. Several of my friends were killed during the conflict,” Omar said.

Earlier this week in Libya, a truck packed with more than 200 illegal migrants, mainly from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan, overturned near Bani Walid, killing 19 of them. Sixty others were injured.

Omar said that once he reached Libya, he was filled with painful memories that he could not forget. He and other migrants were taken to the Kufra detention center, in southeast Libya.

“They lock us up in a room, where we hardly eat. You have no place to urinate. The room is overcrowded with migrants. Some of us sit the whole night, and some sleep a few hours. Every morning, they severely beat you with iron rods and sticks,” he said.

“To taste the pain and convince our parents to pay them, the smuggler woke us up with beatings early in the morning and send us to silence or sleep at night with beatings,” Omar said. “It was like our daily greetings and the first communication between the smugglers and the detainees.”

He continued, “Because of the constant torture [and] hunger, many of the migrants in the detention room where I was died, including my Somali friend who shared a blanket with me.”

Fleeing Africa, Middle East

Since 2014, more than 600,000 people have crossed the central Mediterranean to Italy. But the number of illegal migrants housed in Libyan detention centers has risen dramatically this year since armed groups in the western city of Sabratha began preventing boats from departing for Europe.

After clashes in Sabratha in September, thousands of migrants held near the coast were transferred to detention centers under the nominal control of the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli.

However, Amnesty International said in December 2017 that up to 20,000 people were being held in detention centers and were subject to “torture, forced labor, extortion and unlawful killings.”

Other human rights organizations have said similar things in recent months.

Late last year, Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairman of the African Union Commissions, said an estimated 400,000 to 700,000 African migrants were being detained in dozens of camps across the chaotic North African country, often being held under inhumane conditions.

Omar said he was lucky to escape from the Kufra detention center months ago, but he has since lived in Tripoli, in constant fear and hiding.

On Saturday, he was among 10 migrants repatriated to Mogadishu.

The repatriation effort was ordered by Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo after U.S. broadcaster CNN showed footage of a slave auction in Libya where migrant Africans were shown being sold.

“Following the order of President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo, the government has repatriated 10 Somali migrants from Libya and 30 more will be repatriated soon,” said Guled, the deputy prime minister.

Seeking to repatriate Somalis

The Somali government is working to return to their homeland a large number of Somali migrants who are in Libya. Earlier this week, that effort hit a snag, however, when the delegation sent to Libya was unable to persuade migrants to abandon the dangerous journey to Europe and instead return to Somalia.

The migrants have told government officials behind the repatriation effort that they have suffered during the journey to Libya but feel they have “nothing else to lose.”

Upon arrival, the 10 Somalis were registered with the government. For six months, they will have their relocation expenses paid for by the Somali government. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) are providing some training to help the recent returnees rejoin their communities and build their lives.

Mariam Yassin, special envoy for migrants and children’s rights of Somalia, was among the delegation sent by the Somali government to Libya this week to try to persuade migrants to return home. She said those who returned Saturday had survived a harsh journey.

“Among them are migrants who have spent three years in the hands of smugglers in Kufra, [in] south Libya. And now Allah saved them from the unbearable torments and torture they have been mentally and physically subjected to,” Yassin said.

Ahmed Abdikarim Nur, Somalia’s commissioner of refugees and internally displaced persons, said because of the extent of the abuses they faced, some migrants could not openly tell their horrific stories.

“They told us that they feel ashamed and embarrassed. … They have been subjected to all inhumane abuses against mankind,” Nur said.

The Somali government plan was to repatriate more than 5,000 migrants stranded in detention centers in Libya, but so far only about 40 migrants have accepted the repatriation.

“Our plan is to repatriate all those who want to return home,” Nur said.

Hassan Kafi Qoyste contributed this report from Mogadishu.
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US Agents Arrest 212 in California Immigration Raids

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says it arrested 212 undocumented immigrants in southern California over the past week.

ICE announced the arrests Friday, saying 122 businesses had been targeted during a five-day sweep.

In a statement, ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan said, “Because sanctuary jurisdictions like Los Angeles prevent ICE from arresting criminal aliens in the secure confines of a jail, our officers are forced to conduct at-large arrests in the community.”

He said that “fewer jail arrests mean more arrests on the street, and that also requires more resources, which is why we are forced to send additional resources to those areas to meet operational needs and officer safety.”

The statement said 88 percent of those arrested were either convicted criminals, had failed to follow deportation orders, or had previously been removed from the United States and returned illegally. It said more than 55 percent, or 107 people, had prior felony convictions for “serious” or “violent” offenses, or had past convictions for “significant” or multiple misdemeanors.

The ICE raids in Southern California and a similar operation last month in Northern California came after the state declared itself a “sanctuary state” in October, meaning state law restricts local police from detaining people on behalf of federal immigration agents.

Proponents of California’s sanctuary law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown, say it is a safety measure designed to ensure that undocumented residents are not deterred from reporting crimes or sending their children to school.

Kevin de Leon, the Democratic state lawmaker who authored the bill, said it was meant to “put a large kink in [President Donald] Trump’s perverse and inhumane deportation machine.”

After the sanctuary bill became state law, Homan said California had “better hold on tight.”

California’s sanctuary law bans employers from letting ICE inspectors into private business areas without a warrant, and requires business owners to notify their employees within 72 hours if they have been served notice of an ICE inspection.

Reports from California said some employees did not show up for work on the day their employers were slated for inspections. 
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Russia Dismisses US Election-Meddling Indictments as ‘Blather’

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Moscow is claiming the charges against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election are “blather.”

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, where dozens of world leaders are gathered this weekend, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Saturday questioned the evidence presented by the U.S. Justice Department and special counsel Robert Mueller.

“You know I have no reaction at all, because one can publish whatever one wants,” he said. “We see how accusations, statements, allegations multiply. Until we see the facts, everything else is just blather. I beg your pardon for a not really diplomatic wording.”

Mueller’s investigation has shed further light on Russia’s efforts to influence U.S. politics in cyberspace. The indictments suggest that a Russian propaganda arm oversaw a criminal and espionage conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential campaign, by supporting Donald Trump and disparaging his rival, Hillary Clinton.

The indictments have created added tension at the three-day gathering of global political and military leaders in Munich.

Lavrov’s appearance at the podium Saturday was followed immediately by that of White House national security adviser H. R. McMaster, whose response also was blunt.

“The United States will expose and act against those who use cyberspace, social media and other means to advance campaigns of disinformation, subversion and espionage,” he told delegates.

McMaster said the United States would support Russia’s proposition of a cybersecurity dialogue, but only when Moscow is sincere about curtailing its interference in Western democracies.

Effort seen backfiring

“What’s happened is in this effort to polarize our societies — to support rightist groups, even the most extreme forms of fascist groups, and then groups on the left, in an attempt to pit Western societies against each other — all that has done is appeal to those big fringes while uniting all of our polities actually against Russia,” McMaster said.

WATCH: National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster’s speech in Munich

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, also in Munich, said the West must counter Russian interference. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has to know the cost of this behavior in the long run will certainly outweigh the benefit” now perceived, he said.

Russian representatives in Munich have sought to present the claims of interference in Western democracies as part of a coordinated campaign of “Russophobia.”

In Russia, news of the indictments was met with more scorn.

“There are no official claims, there are no proofs for this. That’s why they are just children’s statements,” Andrei Kutskikh, the presidential envoy for international information security, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

One of the 13 people indicted said that the U.S. justice system was unfair.

Mikhail Burchik was quoted Saturday by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying that “I am very surprised that, in the opinion of the Washington court, several Russian people interfered in the elections in the United States. I do not know how the Americans came to this decision.”

Burchik was identified in the indictment as executive director of an organization that allegedly sowed propaganda on social media to try to interfere with the 2016 election.

He was quoted as saying that “they have one-sided justice, and it turns out that you can hang the blame on anyone.”

But Moscow is struggling to defend itself in the face of overwhelming evidence, according to Ben Nimmo of the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, a specialist in cyber- and hybrid warfare.

‘Absolutely damning’

“The fact is that now we have independent Russian media that have named the troll factory accounts; Facebook and Twitter have confirmed the troll factory accounts on Facebook and Twitter. That is absolutely damning,” Nimmo said. “There is no possible way you can say that that didn’t happen. You now have the Department of Justice further confirming it.”

U.S. officials say Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling is not finished. The White House maintains the indictments show there was no collusion between the Donald Trump presidential campaign team and Russian intelligence.

Some information for this report came from Associated Press.
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Demonstrators Rally in Florida for Tougher Gun-Control Laws 

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Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday outside the U.S. Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to rally for more stringent gun-control laws, days after the third most deadly school shooting in American history.

Amid chants of “End gun violence,” group leaders, local legislators and other public figures addressed what they felt was an urgent need for tougher laws governing the ownership of guns.

“I have called out Congress and told them … their job is to work for the people,” one young woman told the throng of demonstrators. “And they’re not working for the people. The country wants gun reform and they refuse to talk about it. They talk about mental health. They talk about bullying. They say it’s not the time. Now is the time! There is no other time!” she said to loud cheers and applause.

Broward County Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie, who was expected to attend the rally, posted on Twitter that the deadly shooting might have sparked enough outrage to force legislative action on gun control:

The demonstrators gathered one day after U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a review of how the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation respond to warnings about potential mass killers. 

That action followed an admission Friday by the FBI that it had ignored a tip about the gunman who killed 17 people and wounded 14 others at a school in Florida on Wednesday.

The agency acknowledged that it had not followed “established protocols” after receiving information about the shooter, Nikolas Cruz, on its national tip line. The FBI said someone with a close relationship to Cruz left information on January 5 about the teenager’s desire to kill people and other disturbing details.

Robert Lasky, special agent in charge of the FBI’s field office in Miami, said the office did not receive the tip. “We truly regret any additional pain that this has caused,” he told reporters.

‘Relentlessly committed’ to improvement

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Friday that he was devoted to “getting to the bottom” of the matter and that FBI employees were “relentlessly committed to improving all that we do and how we do it.”

In a statement, Florida Governor Rick Scott called for Wray’s ouster, saying his agents’ “failure to take action against this killer is unacceptable. The FBI has admitted that they were contacted last month by a person who called to inform them of Cruz’s ‘desire to kill people,’ and ‘the potential of him conducting a school shooting.’ ”

“Seventeen innocent people are dead and acknowledging a mistake isn’t going to cut it,” the governor’s statement said. “An apology will never bring these 17 Floridians back to life or comfort the families who are in pain. The families will spend a lifetime wondering how this could happen, and an apology will never give them the answers they desperately need.”

Scott noted that “we constantly promote ‘see something, say something,’ and a courageous person did just that to the FBI. And the FBI failed to act.” Therefore, he said, “the FBI director needs to resign.”

President Donald Trump made no comment to reporters on Friday as he left the White House for Florida.

Arriving in the state a few hours later, he and first lady Melania Trump drove to a hospital in Pompano Beach, meeting with some victims of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland.

Walking with Dr. Igor Nichiporenko, Trump praised the medical staff who treated the victims, saying, “The job they’ve done is incredible.” He also praised the speed with which first responders arrived at the school.

When asked by reporters whether the nation’s gun laws needed to be changed, Trump did not respond as he walked into a room.

Later, Trump traveled to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, meeting with several law enforcement officers. “Thank you all very much. Fantastic job. Thank you,” he told the officers.

Trump also met with Officer Mike Leonard, who said he was the one to locate and apprehend Cruz.

Speaking to Leonard, Trump said, “That was so modest. I would have told it much differently. I would have said, ‘Without me, they never would have found him,’ ” prompting laughter in the room.

Trump is to spend the long Presidents Day weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, about 55 kilometers (34 miles) from Parkland.

17 murder counts

Cruz, who was being held at the Broward County Jail without bond, has admitted carrying out the shootings with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, according to the county sheriff’s office. Cruz, who had been expelled for disciplinary reasons last year from the school, faces 17 counts of premeditated murder.

Some members of Congress from Florida, including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Ted Deutsch (who represents the district where the killings took place), called for congressional investigations into how the FBI fumbled the tip about Cruz.

VOA White House correspondent Steve Herman contributed to this story.
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Tears, Exuberance as ‘Black Panther’ Opens Across Africa

Posted on by SeeAF

“Black Panther” has burst onto the screen in Africa, handing a powerful response to the unfortunate remarks about the continent by President Donald Trump.

As the red carpet in South Africa swirled with stunning outfits and exclamations in the local isiXhosa language used in the film’s Wakanda kingdom, cast member John Kani laughed at the U.S. president’s views, which several African nations have openly scorned. (Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o said simply: “No comment.”)

The South African actor Kani, like many at Friday night’s Johannesburg premiere, expressed pride at seeing an Afrofuturistic society that celebrates traditional cultures and dreams of what the world’s second most populous continent can be.

“This time the sun now is shining on Africa,” he said. “This movie came at the right time. We’re struggling to find leaders that are exemplary and role models … so when you see the Black Panther as a young boy and he takes off that mask you think, `Oh my God, he looks like me. He is African and I am African. Now we can look up to some person who is African.”‘

Added actress Danai Gurira, who grew up mostly in Zimbabwe: “To bring this film home is everything.”

The film has opened in other top economic powers across Africa, where a growing middle class flocked to IMAX showings and shared vibrant opening-night images on social media.

“The African culture highlighted in the movie is so rich that it makes me feel proud of being black. I totally love it,” said Liz Muthoni after a screening in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “I can watch it again and again.”

“Black Panther” screened a few days ago in Kenya’s western city of Kisumu, where Nyong’o’s father, Anyang, is the local governor.

“Sometimes we think that we have two choices to make in Africa,” he wrote this month in The Star newspaper. “Choice one: We maintain our traditions and cultures and stay backward forever. Choice two: We modernize by becoming westernized and forgetting our cultural traditions which, by their very nature so we think, are stuck in the past. The experience of the Wakanda people teaches us otherwise.”

In Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, “Black Panther” has been selling out its five-times-a-day screenings at the only theater showing the film. 

“Moviegoers are enjoying the African heritage part of the film. This is also unique for us because Ethiopia is often mentioned alongside the black power and black movements as the only nation not colonized by Western powers,” said Elias Abraha, the cinema’s operations chief. “There are people who changed their flight plans just to watch the movie.”

Some Ethiopian fans quickly changed their Facebook profile pictures and expressed their adoration.

“Tears stream down my face as I write this,” said one Facebook user who goes by LadyRock Maranatha. “Black Panther was basically an enormous . roller coaster of emotions, adventure and most of all the affirmation of what I had felt since I left my country for Cambridge and came back. I cried for my people and felt immense pride in being Ethiopian and most importantly AFRICAN. We are truly resilient and beautiful.”

As the audience poured out of the Johannesburg screening, spirits were high.

“Totally blown away. I got emotional,” said reality TV star Blue Mbombo, who admitted that going into the film she thought the expectations had been “hype.” But she praised its use of cultural touches like Basotho blankets and called the use of the isiXhosa language “very humbling.”

Others considered the American side of the story. “An African-American coming back to Africa, it’s a nice reminder of their heritage as well,” said Ayanda Sidzatane. She called the film awesome. “We knew it would be cool but not like this.”

Some anticipated a flood of interest from African-Americans, even cheekily. “Now I know Black Panther makes Africa look cool … But please don’t come to Lagos … It’s overcrowded,” Nigerian artist Arinze Stanley tweeted of the continent’s most populous city.

As Ghanaian celebrity blogger Ameyaw Debrah put it on social media: “What will #BlackPanther make the world think of Africa now?”
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US Embassy in Ethiopia "Strongly" Disagrees with Country’s State of Emergency

Posted on by SeeAF

The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia said Saturday it opposes the Ethiopian government’s imposition of a state of emergency. 

Ethiopia’s Council of Ministers Friday declared a six-month state of emergency for the country, effective immediately, a day after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced he is resigning. 

“We strongly disagree with the Ethiopian government’s decision to impose a state of emergency that includes restrictions on fundamental rights such as assembly and expression,” the embassy said in a statement. The state of emergency, the embassy said, “undermines recent positive steps toward creating a more inclusive political space” and sends a message to the Ethiopian people that “they are not being heard.”

Ethiopian Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa ruled out a military takeover Saturday, but said security forces have been told to take “measures” against those disrupting the country’s operations. 

A government statement said the state of emergency, which Siraj said must receive legislative approval within 15 days, was declared to “protect the constitutional order and to protect peace and security.” The statement also said that recent ethnic-based violence, killings and destruction of properties were among the reasons behind the decision. 

Ethiopia has witnessed waves of anti-government protests over the past few years, stoked by demands for free and fair elections and a more equal distribution of power among the country’s ethnic groups. The ruling EPRDF coalition controls all the seats in parliament.

In an effort to ease tensions, the government this week released more than 700 prisoners arrested during the protests and a previous state of emergency. Those released included several prominent opposition leaders and well-known journalist Eskinder Nega, a critic of the government.

Hailemariam, 52, has served as prime minister since September 2012.Speaking on state television Thursday, he 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.”

His resignation must be confirmed by parliament.
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US Man Pleads Guilty in Fraud Case Connected to Russia Election Probe

Posted on by SeeUS

A California man has pleaded guilty to inadvertently selling bank accounts to Russians who were indicted Friday by a federal grand jury for interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Richard Pinedo pleaded guilty to using stolen identities to set up bank accounts that were then used by the Russians, according to a February 12 court filing.  

The special counsel investigating Russian meddling on Friday announced charges against 13 Russian citizens and three Russian entities for interfering in the election.  

The indictment alleges that the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based social media company with Kremlin ties, 12 of its employees, and its financial backer orchestrated an effort to influence the 2016 election campaign in favor of President Donald Trump. 

 

Prosecutors charged Yevgeniy Prigozhin, a businessman with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, with funding the operation through companies he controls, Concord Management and Consulting LLC, Concord Catering and a number of subsidiaries.  

 

Prigozhin and his businesses allegedly provided “significant funds” for the Internet Research Agency’s operations to disrupt the U.S. election, according to the indictment. 

 

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said that the Russian conspirators sought to “promote social discord in the United State and undermine public confidence in democracy.”

 

“We must not allow them to succeed,” Rosenstein said at a news conference in Washington. 

 

The conspiracy was part of a larger operation code-named Project Lakhta, Rosenstein said. 

 

“Project Lakhta included multiple components – some involving domestic audiences within the Russian Federation and others targeting foreign audiences in multiple countries,” Rosenstein said. 

 

Mueller, who has made no public statements about the Russia investigation since his appointment last May, did not speak at the news conference. 

 

Charges against Russian nationals

 

The indictment charges all the defendants with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, and five individuals with aggravated identity theft.

 

None of the defendants charged in the indictment are in custody, according to a spokesman for the Special Counsel’s office. 

 

The U.S. and Russia don’t have an extradition treaty and it’s unlikely that any of the defendants will stand trial in the U.S.

 

The 37-page charging document alleges that the Russian conspirators sought to coordinate their effort with Trump campaign associates, but it does not accuse anyone on the Trump campaign of colluding with the Russians.

 

Trump took to Twitter after the indictment was announced to again deny his campaign worked with the Russians.

 

“Russia started their anti-U.S. campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for president,” Trump tweeted. “The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!”

 

The indictment marks the first time Mueller’s office has brought charges against Russians and Russian entities for meddling in the 2016 election.  

 

Mueller’s sprawling investigation has led to the indictments of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and associate Rick Gates.Former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos have pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about their contacts with Russian officials.

 

Details of indictment

 

The indictment says the Russian campaign to “interfere in the U.S. political system” started as early as 2014 and accelerated as the 2016 election campaign got underway. 

 

During the 2016 campaign, the Russian operatives posted “derogatory information” about a number of presidential candidates.  But by early to mid-2016, the operation included “supporting” Trump’s presidential campaign and “disparaging” Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

                          

Taking on fake American identities, the Russian operatives communicated with “unwitting” Trump campaign associates and with other political activists “to seek to coordinate political activities,” the indictment says.

 

The indictment describes how Russian operatives used subterfuge, stolen identities and other methods to stage political rallies, buy ads on social media platforms, and pay gullible Americans to “promote or disparage candidates.”

 

To avoid detection by U.S. law enforcement agencies, the Russian operatives used computer networks based in the United States, according to the indictment.

“These groups and pages, which addressed the divisive U.S. political and social issues, falsely claimed to be controlled by U.S. activists when, in fact, they were controlled by defendants,” the indictment reads.

 

A number of the operatives are alleged to have traveled to the United States under “false pretenses to collect intelligence to inform the influence operations.”
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Iran and India Agree to Lease Part of Chabahar Port to New Delhi

Posted on by SeeEA

India and Iran sealed nine agreements during a visit by the Iranian President to New Delhi including a key accord that leases operational control of part of the Iranian port of Chabahar to New Delhi for 18 months.

India is helping develop the port to create a strategic trade route to landlocked Afghanistan and Central Asian Republics, bypassing rival Pakistan. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also agreed to step up efforts to bring stability to war-ravaged Afghanistan after holding talks in New Delhi. 

“We both will work for restoring peace, stability, prosperity and a pluralistic system in Afghanistan,” Modi said. “We want to see our region free from terrorism.”

During his three-day visit to India, the Iranian leader, who faces the threat of reimposition of sanctions, focused on seeking Indian investments as he tries to shore up his country’s economy.

Prime Minister Modi sent out a reassuring message, saying that both countries want to intensify economic cooperation and increase connectivity and trade.

New Delhi has been a key buyer of Iranian oil and gas and maintained trade ties with Tehran even when it faced international sanctions over its nuclear program.  

Chabahar is India’s first major overseas port venture and is seen as a counter to China’s development of the Gwadar port in Pakistan. India has committed $85 million for its development and although progress has been slow, the project has taken off the ground with India shipping the first consignment of wheat to Afghanistan through Chabahar in October.

Modi called Chabahar a “golden gateway” to Afghanistan and promised to help in construction of infrastructure that will make it possible to send goods from the port onto Afghanistan, and Central Asian countries.  

“We will support the construction of the Chabahar-Zahedan rail link so that Chabahar gateway’s potential could be fully utilized,” Modi said.

Rouhani said the rail line will be an economic boon for both countries. He also said that both sides “are prepared for joint ventures in gas and petroleum sectors” and sought Indian investments in the industrial and mining sectors. 

After sanctions were lifted on Iran in 2015, India had promised to invest billions of dollars in the country in petrochemical plants, railway lines and other industries in the areas. But U.S. President Donald Trump’s warning that he could scuttle the nuclear deal with Tehran has slowed progress on investments, largely because Western banks are hesitant to do business with the country. 

According to Indian media reports, India is exploring the option of investing in Iran through its own national currency, the rupee, to bypass potential problems that may arise if sanctions are reimposed. 

Rouhani also said in New Delhi that Iran would adhere to commitments under its 2015 international agreement to limit its disputed nuclear program.

Before coming to New Delhi, the Iranian president visited the southern Indian city of Hyderabad where, during an address at a prominent mosque on Friday, he strongly criticized the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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National Security Adviser: Russian Election Meddling ‘Incontrovertible’

Posted on by SeeUS

Top Russian and American officials exchanged barbs Saturday in Germany over the U.S. indictment of 13 Russians accused of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 presidential election.

H.R. McMaster, U.S. President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, said at the Munich Security Conference that the federal indictments showed the U.S. was becoming “more and more adept at tracing the origins of this espionage and subversion.”

“As you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain,” McMaster told a Russian delegate to the conference.

Just minutes before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had dismissed the indictments as “just blabber,” according to remarks through an interpreter.

“I have no response,” Lavrov said when asked for comment on the allegations. “You can publish anything, and we see those indictments multiplying, the statements multiplying.”

The two men addressed the conference of top world leaders, defense officials and diplomats, giving more general back-to-back opening remarks. But both were immediately hit with blunt questions about the U.S. indictment and the broader issue of cyberattacks.

In Russia, news of the indictments was met with more scorn.

“There are no official claims, there are no proofs for this. That’s why they are just children’s statements,” Andrei Kutskikh, the presidential envoy for international information security, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

McMaster also scoffed at the suggestion that the U.S. would work with Russia on cyber security issues.

“I’m surprised there are any Russian cyber experts available based on how active most of them have been undermining our democracies in the West,” he said to laughter. “So I would just say that we would love to have a cyber dialogue when Russia is sincere.”

The federal indictment brought Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller represents the most detailed allegations to date of illegal Russian meddling during the campaign that sent Trump to the White House.

Lavrov argued that U.S. officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, have said no country influenced the U.S. election results.

“Until we see the facts, everything else is just blabber — I’m sorry for this expression,” Lavrov said.

The indictment charged 13 Russians with running a huge but hidden social media trolling campaign aimed in part at helping Republican Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.

It outlined the first criminal charges against Russians believed to have secretly worked to influence the U.S. election’s outcome.

According to the indictment, the Russian organization was funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy St. Petersburg businessman with ties to the Russian government and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Lavrov denounced “this irrational myth about this global Russian threat, traces of which are found everywhere — from Brexit to the Catalan referendum.”

In Russia, one of the 13 people indicted said that the U.S. justice system is unfair.

Mikhail Burchik was quoted Saturday by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda as saying that “I am very surprised that, in the opinion of the Washington court, several Russian people interfered in the elections in the United States. I do not know how the Americans came to this decision.”

Burchik was identified in the indictment as executive director of an organization that allegedly sowed propaganda on social media to try to interfere with the 2016 election.

He was quoted as saying that “they have one-sided justice, and it turns out that you can hang the blame on anyone.”
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Israel Builds Case for Europeans to Accept Iran Nuclear Deal ‘Fix’

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to use the West’s pre-eminent annual security conference to argue for tougher Western action against Israel’s regional rival, Iran.

Netanyahu is scheduled to make that case in a speech to global leaders and security officials at the Munich Security Conference on Sunday.

As he left for Germany on Thursday, Netanyahu said he would present proof of Iran’s involvement in a cross-border confrontation between Israel and Syria earlier this month — the most serious clash of its kind since Syria’s civil war began in 2011. He also said he would reiterate Israel’s determination to defend itself against any threat “without restriction.”

Iran has denied Israel’s assertion that an Iranian drone launched from Syria infiltrated Israeli airspace on February 10. Israel retaliated by carrying out airstrikes in Syria, triggering return fire from Syrian forces.

​Nuclear deal on agenda

Netanyahu also has joined a Trump administration campaign to press European powers to toughen the Iran nuclear deal that they and the previous Obama administration negotiated with Tehran.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to European powers last month, saying he would pull out of the deal unless they agreed to new limits on Iran’s nuclear and other activities by May 12.

Netanyahu backed the ultimatum. Israel fears the existing deal will enable Iran to quickly develop nuclear weapons when its limitations on Iranian uranium enrichment begin expiring in the 2020s.

Israeli leaders see a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat because of repeated calls by Iranian leaders for the destruction of the Jewish state. Tehran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful.

Israel’s ruling parliamentary coalition and main opposition party dismiss the Iranian assurances.

In an exclusive January interview with VOA’s Persian service in Jerusalem, Israeli parliament speaker Yuli Edelstein said he was working constantly to keep Iran’s nuclear ambitions on the international agenda.

“We are trying not to let the world believe that in the last couple of years, everything’s already fine because a deal was signed and many important players — the United States, China, Russia and European Union — were all behind the deal,” Edelstein said. “We have to provide information, and we know for a fact what the Iranians are up to.” He said he would communicate that message to EU officials, whom he met in Brussels on Jan. 23.

Netanyahu’s former national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, also speaking to VOA Persian at his home in the central Israeli town of Ra’anana, said he believed European powers were receptive to Israeli concerns.

“The Europeans don’t feel well with the fact that the Iranians continue to enhance their long-range missile capability,” Amidror said. “They also know about terror organizations that the Iranians are building around the world. So they might say, ‘OK, we think it’s very bad to change the [nuclear] agreement,’ but the circumstances might lead the Europeans to understand that there is a need to contain Iran, and the way to contain Iran is by cooperating with the U.S.” 

Iran denies supporting terror organizations, saying instead that it fights such groups in the region.

​Europe’s alternate approach

EU officials so far have shown little sign of accepting U.S. demands for changes to the nuclear deal.

In remarks to the media Jan. 11, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said concerns about Iranian missiles and increasing regional tensions were outside the scope of the nuclear deal and should be resolved in other forums.

“The unity of the international community is essential to preserve a deal that is working, that is making the world safer and that is preventing a potential nuclear arms race in the region,” Mogherini said. “And we expect all parties to continue to fully implement this agreement.”

In another VOA Persian interview in Tel Aviv, the former chief of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, Efraim Halevy, said the EU was right to focus on preserving the nuclear deal, particularly through boosting trade ties with Iran.

“Economically, [the West should] open up areas of commerce, tourism, industry and communication [with Iran], in order to allow the Iranian public at large to benefit from the fruits of the agreement,” Halevy said.

But with U.S. officials calling the agreement a “disaster,” the Trump administration has said it is working with Britain, France and Germany to “fix” it by the May 12 deadline.

This report was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Persian service. 
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Kurdish Doctors Report Suspected Turkish Gas Attack in Syria

Posted on by SeeEA

Six civilians suffered breathing difficulties and other symptoms indicative of poison gas inhalation after an attack launched by Turkey on the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, Syrian Kurdish news outlets and Syria’s state-run news agency reported Saturday.

The news outlets quoted local doctors in Afrin as saying the hospital treated six cases of people who suffered shortness of breath, vomiting and skin rashes. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group also quoted local doctors in its report. 

The claims could not be independently confirmed, and videos released from the hospital showed people being fitted with oxygen masks who did not otherwise show symptoms of gas attack inhalation such as twitching, foaming at the mouth or vomiting. 

SANA on Saturday said Turkey fired several shells containing “toxic substances” on a village in Afrin on Friday night, causing six civilians to suffer suffocation symptoms. 

The Turkish military repeated in a weekly statement published Saturday that it does not use internationally banned ammunition in its Afrin operation and said, “the Turkish Armed Forces does not keep such ammunition in its inventory.”

The army also said it is careful to not harm civilians and only targets terrorists and their positions in the Afrin region. 

The Turkish military launched an aerial and ground offensive on Afrin, in northwestern Syria, on Jan. 20. It says the aim of the operation is to push out the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, from the enclave. Turkey considers the group to be a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdish insurgents it fights inside Turkey.

SANA, as well as Kurdish news outlets including Kurdistan 24, quoted doctor Khalil Sabri at the Afrin hospital as saying the attack occurred on the village of Aranda and that victims suffered shortness of breath, skin rashes, vomiting and low blood pressure.
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Former British Diplomat Appointed UN Envoy to Yemen

Posted on by SeeEA

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed a former British diplomat as special envoy to war-torn Yemen.

A U.N. spokesman announced the appointment of Martin Griffiths on Friday, saying he will replace Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

Ahmed had been in the post for three years. His contract expires at the end of the month.

Griffiths is the executive director of the European Institute of Peace and has served in multiple U.N. roles.

The U.N. spokesman says Griffiths brings “extensive experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, mediation and humanitarian affairs.”

Yemen’s war has killed more than 10,000 civilians since it began in March 2015. A Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against Iranian-allied rebels known as Houthis after they overran the capital and forced Yemen’s government into exile.
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Suicide Bombers Kill 18 in Nigeria Market

Posted on by SeeAF

Three suicide bombers killed 18 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri, capital of the state worst hit by the Boko Haram insurgency, its police commissioner said Saturday.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the use of suicide bombers in crowded areas is a hallmark of the Islamist militant group, which has killed more that 20,000 people since 2009 and forced more than 2 million to flee their homes.

Damian Chukwu, police commissioner for Borno state, said the attack took place at a fish market around 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the center of Maiduguri about 8 p.m. (1900 GMT) Friday.

“The three suicide bombers were killed and 18 other persons died. Twenty-two people were injured,” Chukwu said.

Suicide bombings have continued despite repeated assertions by the government and the military since 2016 that is has defeated the Boko Haram insurgency, which aims to create an Islamic state in Nigeria’s northeast.

President Muhammadu Buhari took office in 2015 with a promise to improve security for ordinary Nigerians.

But in addition to the jihadist insurgency, communal violence has plagued swaths of the country in the last few months, including a clash on Thursday that killed 18.
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Young People with Disabilities Skate Toward Glory at the Special Olympics

Posted on by SeeUS

As the world watches the Olympic Winter Games in South Korea, some American athletes in Washington are lacing up their skates to train for their own, major sporting event. Special in every way, these young people work to overcome their developmental obstacles to compete for gold — just like the world’s top athletes in Pyeongchang. Arash Arabasadi reports from Washington.
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Robot Drives Itself to Deliver Packages

Posted on by SeeEU

Delivery robots could one day be part of the landscape of cities around the world. Among the latest to be developed is an Italian-made model that drives itself around town to drop off packages. Since the machine runs on electricity, its developers say it is an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel powered delivery vehicles that cause pollution. VOA’s Deborah Block has more.
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US and Turkey Vow to Work Together to Avoid Confrontation in Syria

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The United States and Turkey have vowed to work together to avoid a potential military confrontation in Syria and to step back from the brink of a collapse in ties between the two NATO allies. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson wrapped up his six-day tour of the Middle East on Friday, amid escalating tensions in the region over the fighting in northern Syria. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
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13 Russians Indicted in Mueller Probe

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The indictment claims the Russians tried to help U.S. President Donald Trump and hurt his opponent, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports.
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