Month: June 2018

Iran Stands Ground on Nuclear Inspections as France Warns of Red Line

Posted on by SeeEU

Iran will not cooperate more fully with atomic inspectors until a standoff over its nuclear deal is resolved, its U.N. envoy said, as one signatory warned Tehran against moving ahead with preparations to boost its uranium enrichment capacity.

Tehran, meanwhile, signaled its resolve to expand its enrichment capability by detailing plans to build advanced centrifuges — the machines that enrich uranium.

European powers have been scrambling to salvage the agreement they signed in 2015 since U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out last month and said he would reimpose far-reaching U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Foreign and finance ministers from those three countries — France, Britain and Germany — have written to U.S. officials to stress their commitment to upholding the pact, and to urge Washington to spare EU firms active in Iran from secondary sanctions.

An Iranian withdrawal from the deal, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, would “further unsettle a region where additional conflicts would be disastrous,” the ministers wrote in the letter dated June 4 and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

Since the U.S. pullout was announced, authorities in Tehran have sent mixed signals on whether they believe the nuclear deal’s remaining signatories, which also include China and Russia, can salvage it.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said on Monday he had ordered preparations to increase uranium enrichment capacity if the agreement collapsed.

Tehran also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog that polices restrictions placed on its activities under the deal, of “tentative” plans to produce the feedstock for centrifuges.

In Paris on Wednesday, French Foreign Minister Yves Le Drian told Europe 1 radio that, while that initiative remained within the framework of the nuclear deal, it was unwelcome and risked sailing close to a “red line.”

Emphasizing that Tehran’s patience with European efforts to save the deal was not unlimited, its envoy to the IAEA said it had granted the three powers a few weeks.

“A few weeks means a few weeks, not a few months,” Reza Najafi said outside a quarterly meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors in Vienna.

Standoff 

He also dismissed calls by the IAEA to go the extra mile in cooperating with the nuclear watchdog’s inspectors, telling reporters that, while the standoff over the deal continued, “no one should expect Iran to go to implement more voluntary measures.”

“But I should emphasize that it does not mean that right now Iran will restart any activities contrary to the [deal],” Najafi added. “These are only preparatory works.”

Iran’s nuclear chief on Wednesday inaugurated work on a facility in Natanz plant in central Iran designed to build advanced centrifuges and said the center would be fully functional in a month.

“After the supreme leader’s order we prepared this center within 48 hours. We hope the facility to be completed in a month,” Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, said on state television.

Although the move was not a violation of the nuclear deal, it sent a strong signal to the West that Tehran would not succumb to the pressures.

Answering a question about a remark by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last month that Iran must halt all uranium enrichment, Salehi said: “We are far beyond that point. That man has been talking for himself.”

The agency has said Tehran is implementing its commitments, but also called for “timely and proactive cooperation” on providing access for snap inspections.

Diplomats who deal with the agency say an inspection in late April went down to the wire in terms of how quickly the IAEA team gained access to one site.
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May Hottest on Record, US Government Experts Say

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The United States saw its hottest May on record, with every one of the continental 48 states experiencing warmer than normal temperatures, U.S. weather climate experts say.

The average May temperature was 18.9 degrees Celsius, shattering an 84 year-old record.

Thermometers in normally cool Minneapolis hit 37 degrees on May 28. That is 100 degrees Fahrenheit and the earliest date ever for temperatures to reach triple digits in the city.

It was also wet in the continental U.S. in May, with record-setting rainfall in much of the mid-Atlantic and Southeast, while drought continued in the Southwest.

Alaska also experienced higher-than-normal rainfall, while dry conditions covered large parts of Hawaii.

“Nature is dealing cards from a very different deck now compared to the 20th century,” Pennsylvania State University climatologist David Titley said Wednesday.

Experts blame the unusual weather on changes in the jet stream, along with man-made global warming.
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Europe Accused of Failing Migrants in Libya as Human Traffickers Thrive

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Rising populism across Europe is fueling human trafficking in Libya where a growing number of migrants are being trapped in detention centers and sold into slavery, aid officials told a conference on modern-day slavery on Wednesday.

The rise of anti-immigration political parties in nations from Italy to Slovenia and Europe-wide efforts to stem migration means more migrants in Libya are struggling to leave and are falling into the hands of traffickers, several experts said.

A video appearing to show Africans sold as slaves in Libya sparked a global outcry last year and put the spotlight on the lawless nation where thousands of migrants are held, tortured, and even killed, say the United Nations and rights groups.

“It is more difficult [for migrants] to leave Libya now … and the traffickers have to monetize their investments,” said U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) senior official Vincent Cochetel.

“They sell people, they lease them, they rent them,” the UNHCR Special Envoy for the Central Mediterranean told the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s one-day Trust Conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.

The number of migrants reaching Italy has fallen sharply since last July when a major smuggling group in Libya struck a deal to halt departures under Italian pressure.

Libya’s coastguard has also returned more migrants after intercepting them at sea with backing from the European Union.

European countries need to do more to stop illegal trade in Libya in inflatable boats which are bought from China and exported through the continent, and enforce a European Union ruling to limit their sale, according to Cochetel.

“These dinghy boats have killed more people than the country’s civil war since 2011,” he added.

About 140 East African migrants escaped from traffickers holding them captive near the Libyan town of Bani Walid last month, with several hospitalized due to torture during captivity or efforts to recapture them, the U.N. migration agency said.

“Several of these people were brought to detention centers when they should have been treated as victims of trafficking,” said Inma Vazquez, representative to the EU and NATO for global aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres [Doctors Without Borders]. “We are seeing people physically and mentally broken — with burns, scars on their backs and legs broken in several parts.”

Pierre Vimont, a former head of the European Union’s foreign service, said the number of migrants trapped in Libya is likely to increase further as populism sweeps across Europe in countries including Italy, Austria and Germany.

Italy’s new interior minister Matteo Salvini this week said his country would not be Europe’s “refugee camp,” having seen more than 600,000 migrants arrive since 2014, and vowed tough action to reduce arrivals and send back migrants.

“Europe is looking to push back this migration wave … to see how they can contain and push back migrants,” said Vimont, adding that more needed to be done to stop people leaving African nations trying to reach Europe.

“But the problem with their reaction is that they are behind the curve, reacting too late. They don’t know how to act.”
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Students’ Trial a Focal Point in Criticism of Turkish Crackdown

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In an Istanbul courthouse, 22 students from one of Turkey’s elite universities went on trial Wednesday on terrorism charges. The case has become a focal point in growing criticism of an ongoing legal crackdown under emergency rule.

“As the families of these Bogazici [Bosphorus] students, we now know very well that they are no longer our children only, but the children of those who want peace and democracy in Turkey, who want freedom and autonomy in universities,” Bulent Yildiz, the father of one jailed student, said while addressing supporters and family members gathered ahead of the hearing.

The Bosphorus University students were arrested for organizing a counterprotest aimed at supporters of a Turkish military operation in Syria against the YPG Syrian Kurdish militia. Fourteen of those arrested have been jailed for nearly 70 days. According to the students’ lawyers, some were subject to police beatings and abuse.

‘Shameful’

“This is shameful that we are going through this experience,” said professor Can Candan of Istanbul’s Bosphorus University, speaking outside the court. “These students that have peacefully protested have been declared terrorists without trial, unjustly. They just expressed their opinions, and they are free to do that under our own constitution.”

With prosecutors demanding up to seven years in jail for supporting a terrorist organization, many of the students in court looked shaken by events.

One student, appearing to be holding back tears, pleaded with the judge to be freed in order to graduate. All the detained students were released by the court under judicial control, with the case adjourned until October 3.

Critics say the case is politically motivated. The arrests followed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech labeling the students terrorists for protesting the military operation in Syria. The United States has backed the YPG in the fight against Islamic State. Ankara has linked the YPG to the outlawed PKK Kurdish rebel group, which has been waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey. Turkey has labeled the PKK a terrorist organization.

The defendants say Bosphorus University is the president’s real target. “Erdogan is trying to impose his ideology on the youth. That is why they are targeting a liberal university,” said a student attending the court proceedings. “This university is a liberal-rooted university, and it was an American college before, so we had comparatively liberal politics. With the arrests of the students and even our academics [teachers] and the presence of the undercover police on campus, now everyone feels pressure and anxiety.”

Past immunity

Bosphorus is one of Turkey’s top colleges, and analysts say its status had given it some immunity to past legal crackdowns. During military rule in the 1980s, it remained a beacon of liberalism. In the 1990s, the university was one of the few institutions that did not enforce a religious headscarf ban on students.

Erdogan has recently repeatedly targeted the university as a center of subversion, fueling suspicions that politics lie behind the crackdown.

“Bosphorus is a symbol for progressive democratic values; it’s a university much more democratic and free than many other universities in Turkey. It’s not a coincidence that Bosphorus has been targeted,” Candan said. “The student arrests are not the only thing facing the university. We have the trials of academics of peace going on; we have close to 100 academics facing trial for signing a peace petition. We’ve been criminalized for calling for peace.”

Candan and nine colleagues are due in court Thursday for having signed a petition that calls for an end to the war against the PKK. Hundreds of other academics across the country are also on trial.

The Bosphorus University situation is part of the broader legal crackdown implemented after a 2016 coup attempt. Under emergency rule introduced after the botched military takeover, nearly 100,000 people were detained, and many more were fired from their jobs, including a number of academics.

‘Hands off’ university

“This court case is actually a sign of how all the liberties are restricted,” undermining Turkey’s laws, said parliamentary deputy Binnaz Toprak of the main opposition party, the CHP.

“Take your hands off Bosphorus University; take your hands off our students,” added Toprak, who once taught at the school.

Abolishing emergency rule is a shared pledge of all the opposition parties and presidential challengers in the presidential and parliamentary elections set for June 24.

Emergency rule gives the president sweeping powers and suspends many legal rights.

“The polls do show the majority of Turks do want emergency rule lifted, around 65 percent,” said Sinan Ulgen, head of the Istanbul-based Edam research institution. “This is not the normal state of affairs as the name indicates; it is something extraordinary. People want to go back to normalcy. Fatigue may be a factor [for voters], but much more so is the economy.”

Erdogan continues to robustly defend the need for emergency rule, arguing conspirators behind the failed coup still threaten democracy and that the country is continuing to fight the Kurdish rebels.
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Colorado Wildfire Rages as Firefighters Make Gains in New Mexico, California

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Crews in Colorado, New Mexico and California continue to fight wildfires as the National Interagency Fire Center warns that warmer and drier-than-normal conditions have put large portions of the Western United States at above-average risk for significant wildfires between now and September.

A fire in Colorado, dubbed the “416 Fire,” grew to more than 1,200 hectares early on Tuesday and was only 10 percent contained, fanned by strong winds near Durango, Colorado. 

The fire started on Friday and has already forced about 825 homes to be evacuated. On Tuesday, La Plata County issued evacuation orders for another 252 residences.

In New Mexico, authorities lifted evacuation orders issued to the residents of Cimarron after showers helped quell part of the blaze. 

But more than 600 firefighters, using helicopters and bulldozers, continue to fight a separate fire in Ute Park, about 16 kilometers west of Cimarron. 

The National Weather Service has placed large sections of the Four Corners region of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah under an elevated fire risk. 

Meanwhile, crews were making progress against a small wildfire that prompted evacuations in Southern California.

Two firefighters were injured in the fire that erupted late last week. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. 

Meanwhile, officials said the largest wildfire in California’s modern history is officially extinguished, more than six months after it started.

The U.S. Forest Service says the Thomas fire, which started December 4, 2017, eventually burned 114,078 hectares. 

The fire destroyed more than 1,000 structures across Southern California and was responsible for devastating mudslides in Montecito that killed 17 people and destroyed dozens of homes.
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Report: US, ZTE Sign Deal to Get Chinese Firm Operating Again

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Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE has signed a deal with the United States that lets the crippled company get back in business, Reuters reports.

ZTE was almost totally shut down after the Trump administration cut off exports of U.S. made parts to the company. It was, in the words of one expert, “caught red-handed” putting the U.S. technology into products and selling them to countries under U.S. trade embargoes, including Iran and North Korea.

ZTE depends on U.S. parts for wireless stations, optical fiber networks and smartphones.

According to Reuters, the deal to get ZTE operating again included a $1 billion fine, regular inspections of its plants and the replacement of its team of executives.

Neither ZTE nor the U.S. Commerce Department has confirmed that any definitive deal was signed.

But the reports already have U.S. lawmakers angry that the Trump administration is willing to let ZTE resume using U.S.-made components.

“If these reports are accurate, this is a huge mistake,” Virginia Democrat Mark Warner of the Senate Intelligence Committee said. “ZTE poses a threat to our national security. That’s not just my opinion — it’s the unanimous conclusion of our intelligence community.”

Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York called President Donald Trump someone who “roared like a lion and is governing like a lamb” when it comes to China and letting ZTE “off the hook.”

Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida has also called ZTE a security risk and said a bill to block the U.S. from doing business with it would have huge support in Congress.

Trump said last month he was looking for a way to let ZTE “get back into business fast.” 

“Too many jobs in China lost,” Trump tweeted as he ordered the Commerce Department “to get it done!” 

Trump has often complained about China stealing U.S. jobs and having a huge trade deficit with the U.S. His tweets in support of China and ZTE perplexed Congress and many economic experts.  

But the White House has said Trump’s tweets “underscore the importance of a free, fair, balanced and mutually beneficial economic trade and investment relationship between the United States and China.”
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114 Suspected Undocumented Workers Arrested in Ohio

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. immigration agents raided two Ohio garden stores Tuesday and arrested 114 workers believed to be undocumented immigrants for alleged identity theft.

It was the largest such sting by Homeland Security and immigration agents in recent years.

The agents carried out raids at two separate locations of Corso’s Flower and Garden Center — one in Sandusky and the other in Castalia.

Along with the arrests, agents carried out boxes of what a spokesman called “a lot of documentary evidence” from one of the stores.

The investigation into Corso’s began in October when agents arrested a woman that they called a “document vendor” — someone who sells stolen identity documents to legal and illegal would-be workers.

The suspected vendor led investigators to Corso’s.

Immigration investigator Steve Francis said some of the documents in Corso’s files included the Social Security numbers of dead people.

Corso’s is not facing any criminal charges but is still under investigation. Francis said the garden center chain was obviously unaware it was hiring workers with falsified documents.

“If you are a legitimate business, you have nothing to be concerned about,” Francis said. “But if you are harboring or hiring illegal aliens, you will be identified, arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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As Polls Close, California Holds Key on Big Night of Primary Elections

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For all their talk of a “blue wave,” Democrats needed a good day Tuesday in California to have much hope of seizing the House majority this fall.

No state will play a more significant role in the fight for control of Congress. And with primary elections across California and seven other states on Tuesday, the political battlefield will soon be set for the first midterm elections of Donald Trump’s presidency.

The first wave of polls closed at 8 p.m. EDT in New Jersey, Alabama and Mississippi.

Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker won his primary contest, as did New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat who faced federal bribery charges last year. Former Navy pilot and federal prosecutor Mikie Sherrill won the Democratic primary in New Jersey’s 11th District.

Polls were also closed in Alabama, where Republican Governor Kay Ivey faced three GOP challengers.

California’s results, however, may not be finalized for days in some cases because the state will count any mail ballots postmarked by Tuesday.

Recognizing the high stakes, Trump sought to energize his supporters in a series of tweets praising his preferred California Republican candidates.

“In High Tax, High Crime California, be sure to get out and vote for Republican John Cox for Governor. He will make a BIG difference!” Trump tweeted.

Yet nightmare scenarios exist for both parties.

Because of California’s unusual primary system, Trump’s party faces the embarrassing prospect of not qualifying any candidate for the governor’s race or the U.S. Senate. Democrats, meanwhile, could be shut out of a handful of competitive House races because they ran too many primary candidates and diluted their vote.

California tops a list of eight states with primary contests Tuesday from Montana to Mississippi and New Mexico to New Jersey.

With the possibility of a Democratic wave on the horizon, the elections will test voter enthusiasm, candidate quality and Trump’s influence as each party picks its nominees to face off in November.

Francine Karuntzos, a 57-year-old retiree from Huntington Beach, California, said she has deep concerns about the Republican president — particularly his recent declaration that he could pardon himself. She said she isn’t a member of a political party, but she voted Democratic on Tuesday.

“I’m really, really worried about our Constitution being ruined by this presidency,” Karuntzos said after casting her ballot at a local community center.

Across the country in Montclair, New Jersey, Lynnette Joy Baskinger, a psychotherapist, said she’s fed up with the GOP.

“I still consider myself an independent, but I just won’t vote Republican because of what’s going on,” she said.

It was a different story in Mississippi, where 66-year-old Gladys Cruz wasn’t sure which Republican she would support in the state’s Senate primary, but she wants whoever wins to firmly support Trump.

The president “touches my heart,” she said.

California complications

While several states had competitive primaries on Tuesday, none will be more consequential in the fight for congressional control than California, which features seven Republican seats in districts won by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016. No other state features more than three.

Yet the state’s unusual election laws complicate things for both sides.

Under California’s system, all candidates appear on a single primary ballot, with the top two vote-getters regardless of party advancing to the November election. That allows the possibility of two candidates from the same party qualifying.

That’s exactly what could happen in California’s marquee races for Senate and governor, where Republicans fear the prospect of being left off the general election ballot altogether.

In the race to succeed term-limited Democrat Jerry Brown, two Democrats, Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, are leading the pack. For the GOP, the Trump-backed Cox, a business executive, has the best chance at earning a spot.

It’s also possible Republicans may not secure a nomination spot in the challenge against 84-year-old Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is expected to easily win first place in her primary. Second place is far less certain.

On the other hand, Democrats could be shut out in a handful of House races, which would be a massive blow to the party’s fight to claim the House majority this fall. The party must wrest at least 23 seats from Republican hands.

National Democrats have spent more than $7 million trying to curb and repair the damage inflicted by Democrats attacking each other in districts opened by retiring Republican Representaives Ed Royce and Darrell Issa, and the district where Republican Dana Rohrabacher is facing challenges from the left and the right.

That’s money the Democrats would have preferred to spend promoting their candidates this fall.

Trump also urged Republicans to support the party’s congressional candidates, in light of Democrats’ increased chances of taking the House, where GOP retirements have made such a changeover more likely in the past year.

“Keep our country out of the hands of High Tax, High Crime Nancy Pelosi,” Trump tweeted, referring to House Minority Leader Pelosi of San Francisco.

Election drama

There are other kinds of drama playing out in other parts of the country.

In New Jersey, Menendez was expected to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for a third term despite being tainted by a hung jury in his recent federal bribery trial. Republican businessman Bob Hugin claimed the Republican nomination Tuesday and will face Menendez this fall.

Republicans hope to use Menendez’s legal troubles to tar other Democrats in the state, including those fighting to defeat vulnerable GOP incumbents in suburban districts.

In Montana, Republicans will pick a candidate to take on Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who is among the most vulnerable Democratic senators in the nation. The GOP struggled to recruit top-tier candidates, leaving the most likely nominees as state Auditor Matt Rosendale or retired Judge Russ Fagg.

Democrats have aimed their most aggressive attacks at Rosendale, seizing on his background in Maryland and questions about his experience as a rancher.

In Alabama, Republican Representative Martha Roby faced a difficult primary challenge after becoming the first to withdraw her endorsement of Trump in 2016. She made the decision after Trump was caught on video bragging about grabbing women’s genitals. Roby’s top challenger was the man she beat to win the seat in 2010, former Democratic Representative Bobby Bright, who switched parties to try to even the score.

Governors’ races will also take shape Tuesday in Alabama, Iowa, South Dakota and New Mexico, where Republicans in most cases were fighting to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump.

Female candidates

Women were trying to make history in a few states.

Tuesday’s contests featured one in South Dakota, where Representative Kristi Noem’s bid to become the state GOP’s first female nominee for governor opened the only House seat.

In Iowa, 28-year-old Democratic state Representative Abby Finkenauer was trying to become the youngest woman to serve in Congress. And in New Mexico, former state Democratic Party Chairwoman Debra Haaland, a tribal member of Laguna Pueblo, was making a bid to become the first Native American woman in Congress.
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Ex-Kenyan Leader Offers to Be S. Sudan Mediator

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Former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga said he thinks he can make a difference in the stalemate between South Sudan President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.

Odinga is offering to mediate talks between the president and his former deputy to end the nearly 4½-year civil war in South Sudan.

He secretly visited Juba to meet with Kiir two weeks ago, just days after the warring parties failed to reach a peace deal in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

South Sudan Information Minister Michael Makuei said that during the visit, Odinga indicated he wanted Kiir and Machar to reconcile the same way he and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta have reconciled after their past differences.

​The EastAfrican newspaper reported that Odinga is expected to travel to South Africa this week to meet with Machar. Rebel spokesmen have said Machar is being held under house arrest by South African officials at the request of the Kiir administration. Kiir officials have denied the charge.

Makuei said he expects Odinga to have a firm grasp of the contentious issues between the warring parties before he meets with Machar. He also expects Odinga to persuade Machar to denounce violence.

“The first and most important thing is denunciation of hostilities. He [Odinga] needs to know what plans others have in mind. Within these proposals that have been presented, some of them are almost impossible to implement, and they don’t in any way amount to reaching peace soon. So, he should actually work to soften the position of the opposition,” Makuei told the VOA radio program South Sudan in Focus.

Makuei outlined which Machar positions he deemed unacceptable.

“The disbandment of all the security organs and handing over to UNMISS [U.N. Mission in South Sudan] — these are conditions that are unacceptable to any person,” Makuei told VOA. “Other demands are the dissolution of the national parliament. When you say the parliament should be dissolved, and then the seats will be allocated to us again so that we appoint new members to the parliament in accordance with the parties and power-sharing formula, definitely you are creating another problem.”

General Oyet Nathaniel, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO) shadow governor for Imatong State, headed the committee on governance at the High Level Revitalization Forum. Nathaniel highlighted what issues he hopes Odinga can resolve between Kiir and Machar.

“The issues that we have been dealing with are governance issues, security issues, reform issues, how to arrest the humanitarian situation. All these are the issues at hand,” Nathaniel told South Sudan in Focus.

Makuei said the Kiir administration expects Odinga’s initiative to complement peace talks led by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), which ended without agreement last month in Ethiopia. The warring parties could not agree on a power-sharing structure or details about how to absorb rebel forces into the South Sudan army.
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French, Israeli Leaders Disagree Over Iran During Netanyahu’s Visit

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There was little likelihood that France and Israel would see eye to eye on the Iran nuclear deal, which the Europeans support and Israel strongly opposes. But as European businesses — including French carmaker PSA — begin exiting Iran over fears of U.S. sanctions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicts business, not politics, will sink the deal.

“I think the nuclear issue is going to be resolved because economic forces will do their thing,” Netanyahu said from Paris. “But the larger issue today is: How do we block Iran’s aggression? Its cash machine has been smashed by the possibility of new sanctions, and that’s good. But they still are pushing their missiles, their army and their militia in Syria.”

Speaking Tuesday at a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Netanyahu called for European support in curbing Iran’s regional influence. He drew parallels between Tehran and Islamic State — both embraced radical Islam, he said, that threatened Europe, as well as Israel.

Netanyahu’s visit to Paris follows his talks Monday in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. His next stop is Britain, the third European signatory of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, whose fate is looking increasingly bleak after U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal last month over concerns it was badly flawed.

The Europeans are scrambling to save the pact, which they claim is the best way to curb Iran’s nuclear activity.

Macron said Iran’s announcement to boost uranium enrichment did not amount to an infraction of the nuclear deal. He said Washington’s decision to back out of the deal offered a disincentive for Iran to stick to it. Macron also suggested the agreement had brought Iran a bigger windfall by unfreezing Iranian assets than through business investments to date.

Macron also criticized Washington’s decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem, which was followed by violent clashes on the Gaza border that killed dozens of Palestinian protesters. Ties between French and U.S. leaders have frayed in recent weeks, including over Trump’s decision to impose tariffs against European steel and aluminum exports.

Macron said he still had a warm rapport with his U.S. counterpart, but expected “frank” talks during G-7 meeting of industrialized nations in Canada later this week.
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Lava Destroys Hundreds of Homes in Hawaii

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Lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano destroyed hundreds of homes overnight, including one belonging to Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim.

No injuries were reported, as homeowners in those oceanfront communities had been told to evacuate weeks ago.

“We don’t have an estimate yet, but safe to say that hundreds of homes were lost in Kapoho Beach Lots and Vacationland last night,” Janet Snyder, a spokeswoman for Hawaii County, said Tuesday.

Loss of the homes would more than double the 117 homes that have been confirmed destroyed since Kilauea began erupting May 3.

The destruction was compounded by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake that rattled parts of the island Tuesday. Some areas may have experienced “strong shaking,” but no tsunami was triggered, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

Besides the lava and the earthquakes, officials are warning Hawaii residents of “vog,” or volcanic smog, created when sulfur dioxide gas and other volcanic pollutants mix with moisture and dust that can cause eye and respiratory irritation.

Officials also warned of another volcano hazard — sharp, thin strands of volcanic glass fibers known as “Pele’s hair,” a reference to the Hawaiian goddess of fire.
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Ethiopia Vows to Give Disputed Badme Town to Eritrea

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Ethiopia will give a long-disputed swath of land to Eritrea, the government announced Tuesday. 

The executive committee of the EPRDF, Ethiopia’s ruling coalition, said that it would adhere to the terms of the Algiers Agreement, which resulted in a definitive ruling on the border between Ethiopia and Eritrea. The international community backed the ruling, finalized in 2002, and both sides agreed to a U.N. boundary commission’s terms.

But Ethiopia prevented demarcation of the border, resulting in 16 years of unresolved tension — and occasional open conflict — between the East African neighbors.

The EPRDF said its decision Tuesday came after “reviewing the current Ethio-Eritrea situation” and deciding “to maintain peace between people of the two countries.”

The Algiers Agreement, signed in 2000, followed a lengthy and bloody border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. When the war ended, a boundary commission spent several years delimiting a border between the two countries. Their decision reflected the two countries’ respective claims, along with colonial-era maps from the early 1900s.

Ethiopia and Eritrea disputed nearly three-fourths of the border defined by the commission, and the town of Badme in the west became a major flash point. The commission awarded it to Eritrea, but Ethiopia refused to cede it and surrounding land.

This wasn’t the first time Ethiopia said it had accepted the decision, Lea Brilmayer, a professor of international law at Yale Law School, told VOA by phone. Brilmayer was lead counsel for Eritrea on the commission and worked on attempts to implement the ruling.

“It’s impossible to know what the intent is,” she said. “If the statement was made in good faith and they implement it, that would be great.”

Eritrea and Ethiopia share a complicated history. Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1991 after a 30-year war, and it won international recognition in 1993. Before the war for independence, Eritrea had been colonized by Italy and made part of Ethiopia’s federation.

The Eritrean government has often cited the border issue and what it calls a state of “no peace, no war” as justification for mandatory, indefinite national service.

In 2013, the late Eritrean Ambassador Girma Asmerom said, “If Ethiopia withdraws its army from occupied sovereign Eritrean territory, including the town of Badme, in the morning, dialogue between the two countries will start in the afternoon.”

Adhering to the Algiers Agreement would not be complicated, Brilmayer said. “It’s relatively straightforward to withdraw Ethiopian forces,” she said, adding, there’s “nothing for Eritrea to do” to follow through on the boundary commission’s ruling.

Brilmayer said Ethiopia’s decision, if put into action, is an important development. “Countries need to know they can count on one another to comply with the obligations they’ve assumed,” she said.
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Turkey Threatens Strike on Kurds in Iraq

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Turkey is warning it will launch a decisive strike on the longtime Kurdish separatist group PKK at the group’s base in northern Iraq. The top Turkish diplomat said Ankara would draw on cooperation from the U.S. and others do so.

U.S. officials have yet to confirm their participation in or cooperation with such an assault.

The offensive that Ankara is planning will coincide with elections later this month.

The PKK has waged a decades-long cross-border insurgency against the Turkish state for Kurdish autonomy from its remote base in Qandil in northern Iraq.

“There will be a four-way cooperation [in the fight against the PKK] between Turkey, the U.S., Baghdad and Irbil [the Iraqi regional Kurdish capital], Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters this week.

For the last few months, Turkish forces have been advancing into Iraq and are less than 20 kilometers (12½ miles) from the PKK’s Qandil headquarters.

“Qandil is not a distant target for us anymore right now,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Monday. “Timing is what is important for us right now. Qandil will be made a safe place for Turkey. No one should doubt that.”

Capturing the PKK base has been a decades-long objective of the Turkish military. However, PKK headquarters have always been viewed as all but impregnable.

“We are talking about a huge area, a mountainous area, very rugged. Militarily, it’s a big, big challenge,” said retired Brigadier General Haldun Solmazturk, who now heads the Ankara-based 21st Century Turkey Institute.

Solmazturk is a veteran of Turkey’s long war against the PKK, taking part in several cross-border operations into Iraq.

​Turkey first

“No sane general would entertain such an intervention unless Turkey pulls out of everywhere else — in Syria, in Iraq — and take control of the military situation within Turkey. Only then, perhaps, can Turkey consider taking on such intervention,” added Solmazturk.

Turkish forces have in recent months carried out extensive military operations against the PKK inside Turkey, which analysts say has significantly reduced the capabilities of the rebel group. The Turkish army has also invested in heavy-lift helicopters, allowing the deployment of large numbers of forces by air.

However, Qandil’s mountainous terrain is not the only obstacle Ankara must face.

“The main challenge is topography, not only geographical, but the political geography,” said former senior Turkish diplomat Aydin Selcen, who served in Baghdad and Irbil.

“You have to work not only with Baghdad but Irbil, and indirectly with Tehran, as well. To the east of Qandil is Iran. So, Tehran’s cooperation is needed to seal the border. So politically, Iran must see some advantage to cooperate,” Selcen added.

Analysts say securing Tehran’s support for any military operation against the PKK will not be easy.

“They [Tehran and Ankara] do not have a common commitment to wage war against the Kurds,” said Iran expert Jamshid Assadi of France’s Burgundy Business School. “They don’t have the same visions on the Kurds. Iran is the land of the Kurds.”

Further complicating Ankara’s efforts to secure Tehran’s cooperation: The PKK has an Iranian-affiliated group, the PJAK.

“Tehran from time to time cooperates with PJAK,” Selcen said. “Up until now, Iran’s approach has been pragmatic to the point of opportunist. They have some understanding with the PKK. Iran is one of the main powers that wield influence among the Kurds.

YPG factor

“Any backing by Tehran of an Ankara operation against the PKK would also most likely undermine Iranian efforts to court the Syrian Kurdish militia, the YPG, a group that analysts say has close links with the PKK.

The militia is working closely with U.S. forces against Islamic State.

“The presence of U.S. armed forces in Syria is seen as a threat by both Damascus and Tehran,” Selcen said, “so peeling the YPG away from the Americans toward Damascus is a priority.”

Analysts say Tehran’s efforts to pry the YPG away from U.S. forces may have gotten a boost from Ankara and Washington’s announcement Monday of a road map for the militia to withdraw from the strategically critical Syrian town of Manbij.

The Turkish government is heralding the agreement as a significant victory. Ankara is lobbying its NATO partner to end its support of the YPG because of its links to the PKK.

Even without Tehran’s support, Ankara could still be tempted to carry out a strike against the Qandil PKK base.

“Don’t be surprised if the flag goes up in Qandil before the June 24 elections, and the region that has been used as a hotbed of terrorism for years is cleared, and the temple of international terror is destroyed,” columnist Ibrahim Karagol wrote in the pro-government Yeni Safak newspaper.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AK Party are facing rejuvenated opposition in presidential and general elections. With the polls dominated by growing economic concerns, analysts suggest Erdogan would welcome a change in the political agenda.
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Uganda’s Women Demand Police Action on Alleged Kidnappings

Posted on by SeeAF

A group of activists marched on the Ugandan police headquarters Tuesday, protesting what they see as a lack of police response to recent kidnappings and killings.

Donning black T-shirts, the participants chanted, carried banners reading “Women’s Lives Matter,” and used saucepans and small drums to call attention to their demonstration.

But as they approached police headquarters, anti-riot police arrested four men and one woman. 

Sarah Eperu was one of the protesters led away in handcuffs.

“We want security, that is paramount,” she said. “We want conclusive investigations. And then we want a desk, specifically for these murders, put in place so that we know that there is a desk which is going to work on the murders, to investigate. … [We want] mechanisms in place which will make sure that we are secure.”

This is the second protest this week by activists who say police are not giving ordinary citizens enough protection.

The activists point to several kidnappings that have gone unsolved, with some ending up in gruesome murders of victims, even after relatives paid ransom money.

But police say that some of the alleged abductions were self-kidnappings, done by people trying to defraud their relatives.

As for the killings, police say some of those were crimes of passion or ritual murders.

“Since January, up to today, there have been 42 cases of kidnap that have been reported and investigated,” said Patrick Onyango, the deputy police spokesman. “Seven cases involved murder with eight victims. Twenty cases were of self-kidnap. [In] eight cases, all victims were rescued alive. Seven cases, victims are still missing.”

Only one recent kidnap case is in court, after the abduction and killing of a wealthy businessman’s daughter. Nine suspects have been arrested in the incident.

When people call the police in Uganda, officers sometimes seek payment for fuel before driving to the crime scene. Last year, the inspector general of police was asked about this practice. He said police are given less fuel by the government, so the public should pitch in.  
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WHO: No Confirmed New Ebola Cases in DRC Since Mid-May

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The World Health Organization (WHO) reports no new cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been confirmed since May 17. WHO finds of 56 reported cases, 37 are confirmed, 13 are probable and six are suspected. The death toll stands at 25.

The U.N. agency said not too much should be read into the fact that the number of confirmed Ebola cases has remained stable since mid-May. It said  these numbers should be viewed with some caution.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said it is critical that all people who have had contact with an infected person are identified. He said even one person with Ebola could create a number of new cases by coming in contact with people at social events or religious ceremonies such as funerals.

Jasarevic told VOA it is premature to let down one’s guard. He says health care workers, responders and communities must remain vigilant.

“The Ebola outbreak in DR Congo is not over and we need to continue to work,” he added. “… There are lots of areas that are difficult to reach that we have to go to, that we need to make sure that we get to all the contacts. So, there still are contacts that have not been reached. So, it is really too early to say that the outbreak is contained.”

Jasarevic said good progress is being made in vaccinating people who have come in contact with infected individuals. He said a vaccination campaign in Mbandaka, a city of more than one million people, is now over as all 577 known contacts of Ebola patients, health care workers and other vulnerable people there have been inoculated against the disease.

He said vaccinations are ongoing in the village of Bikoro, where Ebola was first detected and in Iboko a remote, difficult to reach area.

Ebola has broken out nine times in the DRC since the virus was discovered in that country in the 1970s. An outbreak in West Africa a few years ago left more than 11,000 people dead.
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Syrian Kurdish YPG Militia to Pull Military Advisers Out of Manbij

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The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia says its military advisers will withdraw from the northern Syrian city of Manbij, after the United States and Turkey agreed on a road map to resolve the future of the city, an issue that is a major source of tension between the NATO allies.

The agreement to ensure security and stability in Manbij came during a meeting Monday in Washington between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

The U.S. State Department did not provide further details about the agreement, but a senior official said Tuesday, “We will continue to be there. We hope Turkey can help patrol,” while declining to specify how many troops would remain.

The official added: “We want locally rooted forces to continue to support stability.”

Monday, Cavusoglu told Turkish journalists in Washington that U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters will withdraw from Manbij under a plan that could be implemented within six months.He said U.S. and Turkish officials would temporarily ensure security in Manbij.

“The aim of this road map is the clearing of Manbij of all terror organizations and the permanent instatement (establishment) of safety and stability,” Cavusoglu said.

Washington’s support of the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia in the war against the Islamic State group has angered Turkey. Ankara calls the YPG terrorists, accusing the militia of being linked to a Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

Ahead of Cavusoglu’s visit to Washington, the Turkish foreign minister said, “[The United States] has preferred to collaborate with a terrorist organization in Syria.That was a grave mistake, and we are trying to change their position.”

The Syrian town of Manbij was seized from Islamic State by mainly YPG forces.Ankara has claimed Washington reneged on an agreement the militia would withdraw after taking Manbij.

Former U.S. ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey told VOA’s Turkish Service that although there are problems between the United States and Turkey, the ties between the countries would not break down.

“Because the U.S. and Turkey share basic interests — we are status quo powers, we are both major beneficiaries of the global order, and we see in similar terms a threat to that order in the region around Turkey, from Russia, from Iran and from extremist elements — the relationship will remain extremely important and will not break down.”

He acknowledged, “The relationship will also be fraught with problems because it is very complicated.”

Jeffrey said the most difficult problem between two countries is Turkey’s agreement to buy the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system from Russia, a non-NATO country.

Turkey’s move to buy the surface-to-air missile system, which is incompatible with NATO systems, has unnerved NATO member countries.In response, a U.S. Senate committee has threatened to prevent Turkey from purchasing U.S. Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets.
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Zimbabweans Abroad Agitate for Right to Vote in July Poll

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Zimbabwe’s large diaspora community, much of it in neighboring South Africa, has lobbied for years for the right to vote remotely in the nation’s contentious elections. That’s no different this time around, as the country faces its first election without longtime leader Robert Mugabe on the ballot.

 

On Tuesday, thousands of opposition supporters marched in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, demanding free, fair and credible elections. The opposition has also lobbied for suffrage for citizens outside the country.

But the constitutional court last week struck down their petition to allow such Zimbabweans to vote.

Proponents argue that if Zimbabweans living abroad could vote, their voice would ring loud and clear in this upcoming election.

While there is no official figure on how big the diaspora is, a court petition last week put the figure at 5 million.

Sox Chikohwero is one such Zimbabwean. An opposition supporter, he fled into exile in South Africa more than 15 years ago, after he says he was arrested for his loyalties and tortured by police.

“I feel disappointed, I feel stressed,” he told VOA. “But what can I do?”

‘It’s not a question of fairness’

Constitutional law expert Lovemore Madhuku, a professor at the University of Zimbabwe, says the law is the sticking point when it comes to voting processes. In 2013, he says, the nation voted for a new constitution that didn’t provide for a diaspora vote. He said the court ruling was in line with existing law.

“It’s not a question of fairness,” he said. “I think the question you must ask is, ‘Is that what the law says?’ Fairness goes to those that put that in the constitution. Remember that this constitution went through a referendum in March 2013, and so many Zimbabweans, 93 percent, voting at the insistence of both ZANU-PF, which was the power, and the MDC, which was in the inclusive government. They campaigned for that constitution to be endorsed.”

Amending the constitution, he says, would require a 90-day notice period. But since the constitution also stipulates that the election must happen before late August, there is no way to make the changes in time.

‘They’ve earned it’

 

South-Africa based political analyst Shadrack Gutto says he thinks it’s a misconception that all Zimbabweans abroad support the opposition. Adding the untold millions of overseas Zimbabweans to the voter roll, however, would be expensive and complicated, he said.

But, he says, they’ve earned it by propping up the nation’s ruined economy from abroad.

“They, as citizens, are entitled to vote, and therefore the diaspora vote is very important,” he said. “But most importantly, the economy of Zimbabwe would not have stood the test of time without diaspora repatriation of resources to their families in the country.”

Independent observers have previously criticized Mugabe-era elections for their irregularities; his critics outright accused him of intimidating voters and rigging polls.

Mugabe, who took office in at independence in 1980, resigned in November under pressure from the army and his deputy, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

The 75-year-old Mnangagwa, nicknamed “the Crocodile” for his political cunning, is now standing as the presidential candidate of the ruling ZANU-PF party. He faces 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, who took over the struggling opposition party after the February death of its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

More than 5 million people have registered to participate in the July 30 poll — the first election since 1980 without Mugabe in a central role.
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UN Slams US Policy of Separating Immigrant Children From Families

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The U.N. human rights office (UNHCR) is criticizing the United States’ new zero tolerance policy aimed at deterring migrants and refugees from coming to the country. Under this policy, people caught entering the U.S. irregularly are subject to criminal prosecution, and their children, some very young, are taken away.

The UNHCR calls this separation of family arbitrary and a serious violation of a child’s rights. The United States is the only country that has not ratified the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child. Nevertheless, the agency said this does not absolve the U.S. from its responsibilities to adhere to and protect these rights.

Human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said the use of immigration detention and family separation as a deterrent runs counter to human rights standards and principles. She said children should never be detained because of their or their parents’ immigration status.

She told VOA there is no justification for detaining children.

“Detention is never in the best interest of the child and always constitutes a child rights violation,” she noted. “Entering a country without the relevant papers should not be a criminal offense. At most, it should be an administrative offense. So, these people should not be detained. Detention is never in the best interest of the child, and these children are effectively detained. They are separated and detained.”

The U.N. refugee agency also condemned the Trump administration’s immigration policy. It said preserving family unity is a fundamental tenet of refugee protection.

UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said the unity of the family is sacrosanct and should be preserved in the best interest of children and society as a whole. He said detention should be a measure of last resort.

“Most of the people attempting to enter the United States across the southern border are coming from three Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, which are experiencing high levels of violence and persecution, often targeting children and young people and forcing families to flee to protect their lives,” he said.

Spindler added that people fleeing countries of violence should be given international protection. He said the right to claim asylum is a fundamental human right.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the “zero tolerance” policy several weeks ago. Sessions said Congress has failed to pass legislation to fix the problem. The issue has sparked a political debate in the U.S. ahead of midterm congressional elections later this year.
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Court: EU States Must Recognize Foreign Same-Sex Marriages

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The EU’s top court, in a landmark ruling for gay rights in Europe, said on Tuesday that Romania must grant residence to the American husband of a local man even though Romania does not itself permit same-sex marriage.

In a case which has highlighted social differences between western Europe and a more conservative, ex-communist east, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that Romania must accept the validity of the mens’ 2010 Belgian marriage and treat American Clai Hamilton as Adrian Coman’s spouse under EU law.

The case did not touch on the freedom of member states to set their own matrimony laws, although campaigners have called on Brussels to push states to legalize same-sex marriage as a fundamental human right. Rather it upheld rights of EU citizens to move freely across the bloc along with their families.

“Although the member states have the freedom whether or not to authorize marriage between persons of the same sex,” the judges said, “They may not obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen by refusing to grant his same-sex spouse, a

national of a country that is not an EU member state, a derived right of residence in their territory.”

The case arose because Hamilton’s right as a non-EU citizen to live in Romania permanently was dependent on his status as Coman’s spouse. Coman challenged a Romanian decision to limit Hamilton’s residence to a three-month visa and a Romanian court referred the matter to the ECJ in Luxembourg.

Coman welcomed the ruling: “We can now look in the eyes of any public official in Romania and across the EU with certainty that our relationship is equally valuable and equally relevant for the purpose of free movement within the EU,” he said.

The deputy leader of the liberal bloc in the European Parliament, Sophie in ‘t Veld, said: “This is fantastic news and a landmark opinion for rainbow families.

“Freedom of movement is a right of all EU citizens. It cannot be restricted because of whom they love.”

The European Commission insisted that the ruling was not part of a push from Brussels to force social change in the bloc.

“Member states are in charge — but this is a useful clarification in terms of avoiding discrimination,” spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters when asked about opposition to same-sex marriage in parts of eastern Europe, where governments have also clashed with the EU executive over other civil rights.
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Spain’s Socialist Party Reveals Members of New Cabinet

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A Socialist party official in Spain says European Parliament ex-president Josep Borrell will become foreign minister in the new government.

Jose Luis Abalos, the party’s organizational secretary, on Tuesday confirmed a handful of names in Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Cabinet, which replaces the conservative government that fell last week after a corruption scandal.

 

The choice of Borrell, a 71-year-old Catalan, was criticized by separatists in Catalonia and praised by pro-Spain lawmakers in the politically divided region. Borrell has been outspoken against Catalan independence.

 

Abalos told broadcaster TVE that party official Carmen Calvo would serve as deputy premier and head of the resurrected Equality Ministry, in a nod to Spain’s feminist movement. He said Maria Jesus Montero would become finance minister.

 

Abalos would serve as development minister, according to his office.

 

 
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3 Female Suicide Bombers Kill at Least 6 in Niger Attack

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A local official in Niger says three female suicide bombers have killed at least six people and wounded several others in a suspected Boko Haram attack on a mosque in the country’s southeast.  

 

Elhadji Koura Boukar, a local councilor, says the women wearing explosive belts tried to enter the mosque in a southern area of Diffa during Ramadan prayers Monday evening. He says they had crossed into the country from Nigeria and residents in the area about 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the border alerted police.

 

The women then detonated their explosives outside the mosque.

 

Boukar says the death toll could rise given the serious injuries caused by the blast.

 

Niger contributes to the multinational force set up to fight the Nigeria-based Boko Haram extremist group in the region.

 

 
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Ethiopian Parliament Votes to End State of Emergency

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Ethiopian lawmakers voted Tuesday to lift a state of emergency imposed three months ago across the country to curb widespread anti-government protests.

The ending of the emergency rule two months before it was due to expire is the most significant reform so far by the country’s young new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has promised change.

 

The controversial emergency rule, imposed in mid-February after deadly protests, mainly in the Oromia and Amhara regions, led to several hundred arrests.

 

Ethiopia’s parliament vote to lift the emergency rule was by a general show of hands. Eight members abstained from the vote and a few members raised concerns, citing security breaches in some parts of the country.

 

The anti-government protests have persisted for more than two and a half years and brought the previous prime minister to resign. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed in the protests and several thousand detained, the majority of whom have since been released. The crippling protests were mainly in towns across the restive Oromia region, the largest of Ethiopia’s nine provinces.

 

Since Abiy, 42, became prime minister in April, his government has released several thousand prisoners and tensions in restive areas have dramatically declined. Some of the high-profile releases include an Ethiopia-born Briton, Andargachew Tsige, and a Swedish doctor, Fikru Maru.

 

The previous administration had imposed an earlier state of emergency in 2016 and 2017 in which more than 22,000 people were arrested before it was lifted nine months later.

 

Rights groups claimed people were beaten and subjected to arbitrary detentions under the previous emergency rule. The government released most of those arrested after what it described as “training.”

 

Most Ethiopians are positive about the new prime minister’s reforms that include inviting foreign-based opposition parties to return home and an effort to create a national consensus. Calls are now being made for controversial anti-terrorism, media and civil society laws to be scrapped, too.
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Jordan’s King Appoints New Prime Minister as Protests Resume

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Jordan’s King Abdullah II on Tuesday appointed a new prime minister, the royal palace said, naming a leading reformer as head of government in hopes of quelling the largest anti-government protests in recent years.

Cabinet member Omar Razzaz, a Harvard-educated former senior World Bank official, replaced Hani Mulki, who quit Monday amid widening protests against his government’s austerity program, including a planned tax increase. Razzaz served as education minister in the outgoing Mulki government.

 

It’s not clear how much of a reform mandate Razzaz will receive, since the king retains final say on all policy issues.

 

In the appointment letter addressed to Razzaz, the monarch called on the new government to conduct a comprehensive review of the tax system and produce a new tax bill, in cooperation with parliament, unions and other groups.

 

He also expressed empathy for ordinary Jordanians who have long complained that they are being asked to pay taxes for poor services. Critics say the current tax proposal unfairly targets the poor and the middle class.

 

It’s not clear if the appointment of Razzaz will defuse the growing public anger over a long-standing political and economic system widely perceived as corrupt and exclusionary, with benefits reserved for a small elite.

 

Protest organizers said they would keep up the pressure, including a one-day strike set for Wednesday, until the proposal has been shelved. Critics say the tax increase unfairly targets the poor and the middle class.

 

The embattled Mulki, who had led the push for unpopular austerity measures, resigned following several days of mass protests across Jordan against the tax plan, the latest in a series of economic reforms sought by the International Monetary Fund to get the rising public debt under control.

 

The kingdom has experienced an economic downturn in part because of prolonged conflict in neighboring Syria and Iraq, and a large influx of refugees several years ago. The official unemployment rate has risen above 18 percent, and it’s believed to be double that among young Jordanians.

 

In a sign of continued unrest, protests continued even after Mulki’s resignation. Several thousand Jordanians marched toward the prime minister’s office in the night from Monday to Tuesday.

 

Riot police scuffled with some of the marchers, trying to keep them away from the building, but the fifth street protest in as many days was largely peaceful.

 

Protesters said personnel changes at the top are irrelevant without fundamental reforms.

 

Razzaz holds post-graduate degrees in planning and law from Harvard. He taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2002 to 2006. From 2006-2010, he served as the World Bank’s country manager in Lebanon, with emphasis on private sector development and infrastructure finance. Razzaz then returned to Jordan to head the Social Security Corporation, and from 2011-12, led the national team responsible for preparing a national employment strategy.

 

 

 
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Turkey: Kurdish Militants Leaving Syria’s Manbij will be Disarmed

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The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia will be stripped of their weapons when withdrawing from the northern Syrian city of Manbij as part of a roadmap agreed with the United States, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Turkey’s southern province of Antalya, Cavusoglu said joint work on the roadmap, which he endorsed with his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo in Washington on Monday, will begin in 10 days and be carried out within six months. He said in future the model should also be applied to Syria’s Raqqa, Kobani and other areas controlled by the YPG.

The United States did not promise to declare the YPG a terrorist organisation, Cavusoglu said. He also said that Turkey’s efforts in Manbij with the United States were not an alternative to working with Russia in Syria.

 
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