Month: August 2018

Israel Bans Juul E-Cigarettes Citing ‘Grave’ Public Health Risk

Posted on by SeeEA

Israel on Tuesday outlawed the import and sale of e-cigarettes made by Silicon Valley startup Juul Labs, citing public health concerns given their nicotine content.

A statement by Israel’s Health Ministry said the Juul device was banned because it contains nicotine at a concentration higher than 20 milligrams per milliliter and poses “a grave risk to public health.”

Since launching in 2015, the flash drive-sized vaping device has transformed the market in the United States, where it now accounts for nearly 70 percent of tracked e-cigarette sales. The company is valued at $15 billion based on its most recent funding round, according to venture capital database Pitchbook.

In a statement Tuesday, Juul Labs Inc said it was “incredibly disappointed” with what it called a “misguided” decision by the Israeli government. The San Francisco company said it planned to appeal the ban, adding that its devices provide smokers “a true alternative to combustible cigarettes.”

The Israeli move was consistent with similar restrictions in Europe, the ministry’s statement said.

The ban, which goes into effect in 15 days, was signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also holds the health portfolio.

Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported in May that Juul e-cigarettes were already available for purchase at 30 locations around the country.

Juul says it targets adult smokers, but it has faced scrutiny over the popularity of its products with teenagers.

In April, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched a crackdown on the sale of e-cigarettes and tobacco products to minors, particularly those developed by Juul Labs.
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With Sensors and Apps, Young African Coders Compete to Curb Hunger

Posted on by SeeAF

From an app to diagnose disease on Zambian farms to Tinder-style matchmaking for Senegalese land owners and young farmers, young coders have been finding solutions to hunger in the first Africa-wide hackathon on the issue.

Eight teams competed in the hackathon, organized by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a Rwandan trade organization in the country’s capital Kigali this week.

Experts say keeping young people in farming is key to alleviating hunger in Africa, which has 65 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, but spends $35 billion a year on importing food for its growing population.

“In our families, agriculture is no longer a good business. They don’t get the return,” said Rwandan Ndayisaba Wilson, 24, whose team proposed a $400 solar-powered device that can optimize water and fertilizer use.

“We believe that if the technology is good and farmers can see the benefits, they will adopt it.”

Among the proposed solutions were an app that links aspiring farmers with land owners in Senegal and a Nigerian mobile platform that uses blockchain to help farmers demonstrate their creditworthiness to lenders.

The winner was AgriPredict, an app already operating in Zambia that that can help farmers identify diseases and pests – including the voracious fall armyworm, which eats crops and has wreaked havoc in much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Farmers can access it directly from their phones or via Facebook. CEO Mwila Kangwa, 31, said the initiative came out of the twin disasters that hit Zambian farmers in 2016 – tuta absoluta, a tomato disease, and the fall armyworm.

“We noticed there were no tools whatsoever that will help farmers mitigate or prevent or even counter these diseases so we came up with this idea of creating a software to help farmers,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

As winners, the Zambian team will receive coaching from the FAO to refine their product and an opportunity to meet potential funders and partners.

“What they brought was a technically sound solution … and the ability to convey the message to young people by using, for example, Facebook,” said Henry van Burgsteden, IT officer for digital innovation at the FAO and one of the judges.

The hackathon was held during a conference in Kigali on ways to attract more young people to agriculture through information and communication technology tools.

High unemployment and the challenges of rural life mean many young people desert farming for the city, while aging farmers struggle with climate change, poverty and poor infrastructure.
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US Lawmakers Seek to Impose More Sanctions on ‘Menace’ Russia

Posted on by SeeEU

U.S. lawmakers pushed for more aggressive steps to counteract the Russian “menace” on Tuesday, despite Trump administration officials insisting current sanctions were having an effect and vowing to impose more economic pain if Moscow does not change its behavior.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like better ties with Moscow, but although he met Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, relations between the two countries have been further strained.

Members of Congress, where both chambers are controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, have called for more action, including introducing new sanctions legislation “from hell,” to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea, involvement in Syria’s civil war and cyberattacks seeking to influence U.S. elections.

They held three hearings related to Russia on Tuesday, in the Banking and Foreign Relations committees and a Judiciary counterterrorism subcommittee. Lawmakers chastised administration officials for doing too little to change Russian behavior.

Both Republicans and Democrats have criticized Trump, particularly after his Helsinki summit with Putin last month, for failing to stand up to Moscow and not fully enacting a sweeping sanctions law passed nearly unanimously a year ago.

“It’s not often that Congress acts together in such a strong manner,” said Republican Senator Mike Crapo, chairman of the Banking Committee, which oversees sanctions policy. “… But then, Russia is a menace on so many different levels, today, that Congress can be compelled to act with a single voice.”

Senator Bob Menendez noted that the administration has not designated any new oligarchs for sanctions since April and has eased some sanctions.

“We’re told to judge the administration by its actions and not the president’s words, but these actions seem to be more aligned with the president’s accommodating and disturbing rhetoric than a tougher approach to the Kremlin,” Menendez said at the banking hearing.

Menendez vowed that Congress will act, with or without the administration.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters later Tuesday there was strong interest in legislation to punish Moscow, although he said chances were “probably pretty slim” such a measure would come up for a vote before the Nov. 6 congressional elections.

New cyberattacks

Microsoft said late Monday that hackers linked to the Kremlin sought to launch cyberattacks on the Senate and conservative American think tanks, warning of broader attacks ahead of the November vote.

The Kremlin rejected the Microsoft allegations.

Moscow has repeatedly denied attempting to influence U.S. elections, including the 2016 presidential vote that brought Trump into office.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in 2016, seeking to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor, and, backed by lawmakers, warned that more would come in upcoming elections.

“America is under cyberattack. We’re beginning to act, but not quick enough and not forcefully enough,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said at the Judiciary subcommittee hearing.

‘Economic pain’

Administration officials insisted existing sanctions were hitting Russia.

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear using our powerful range of authorities — and that we will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change,” senior Treasury official Sigal Mandelker told the banking panel.

The Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two Russians, one Russian company and one Slovakian firm over actions it said helped another Russian company avoid penalties over cyber-related activities.

The United States also announced sanctions on Russian shipping over violations of U.N. restrictions on North Korea.

Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told Foreign Relations that concern about sanctions has cost Russia $8 to $10 billion in arms deals. Mitchell also said foreign direct investment in Russia has fallen by 80 percent since 2013, “which is a pretty stunning number.”

“I think this administration has been clear that we are prepared to take additional steps,” Mitchell said. “There is an escalatory ladder to sanctions. We are aware of what additional steps would be needed to make an even bigger point.”

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Trump said he would only consider lifting sanctions against Russia if it were to do something positive for the United States, for instance in Syria or in Ukraine.
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President: Serbia May Reintroduce Compulsory Military Service

Posted on by SeeEU

Serbia might reintroduce compulsory military service, nine years after abolishing it, to help improve the combat readiness of its army in the Balkans, where tensions occasionally flare, President Aleksandar Vucic said Tuesday.

The armed forces of Serbia, which emerged as an independent state after the bloody collapse of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, were fully professionalized in 2011, but remain poorly paid and equipped.

Serbia, which is a candidate for European Union membership, has retained voluntary service and reserve units.

Vucic said Belgrade was considering reintroducing compulsory military service of between three and six months after 2020.

“We are still thinking about that. … It depends on the finances,” he told reporters at the air force base of Batajnica, just outside Belgrade.

Young people who served would have an advantage when seeking jobs in the public sector, Vucic added, without elaborating.

Serbian politicians have repeatedly floated the idea of reintroducing conscription. But many military experts say it would be too costly and that such a short period of service would contribute little to the country’s defense capabilities.

Under its 2018 budget, Serbia allocated $703 million, or 1.39 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for its 40,000-strong military, up from $693.8 million in 2017.

In recent years Serbia has sought to improve its defense capabilities through a donation of six MiG-29 fighters by Russia, with which it has strong historic and cultural ties, and through the purchase of 10 helicopters manufactured by Airbus.

Vucic and Defense Minister Aleksandar Vulin have frequently spoken of procuring surplus tanks, attack helicopters and armored personnel carriers from Russia and more jet fighters from Belarus, but such deals have yet to materialize.

Serbia, which maintains military neutrality, joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 2006 and in 2015 it signed the Individual Partnership Action Plan — the highest level of cooperation for countries not aspiring to join the alliance.

Although it strives for a balance between Moscow and the West, Serbia in 2017 took part in more than 100 joint activities with NATO or its member states, including 13 training drills, seven bilateral activities with the United States and only two with Russia.
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Lebanese Chafe as Economic Blues Begin to Bite

Posted on by SeeEA

For Mazen Rahhal, a shop owner in a bustling district of Beirut, Lebanon’s economy has seldom felt more precarious. In one store, he sells clothes at a fraction of their previous price. Another, which he rented to a rival business, now lies empty.

Years of gradual stagnation have in 2018 merged with several newer trends: high interest rates, falling house prices and questions about the currency at a moment of profound uncertainty as politicians wrangle over forming a new government.

For Lebanese businesses and people, economic unease and the lack of a government to take firm control over policy — some three months after they voted in a general election — have become ceaseless sources of worry.

“We are struggling just to manage the costs we have to pay: from electricity, employee wages, everything,” said Rahhal. His family has owned shops on Hamra Street, the main business thoroughfare of west Beirut, since the 1970s.

As Lebanon rebuilt after its 15-year civil war ended in 1990, there was a period of economic growth, and as in its 1950s and 60s heyday, it drew Gulf Arab tourists ready to open their wallets as they escaped the stifling summer heat of home.

But problems were never far away.

In 2005 prime minister Rafik al-Hariri was assassinated, opening up wide divisions over the roles of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, and of powerful neighbor Syria.

Syria’s own war since 2011 has aggravated those rifts, while cutting off much of Lebanon’s overland trade and scaring off the mostly Sunni Muslim Gulf tourists, who feared the growing power of the heavily armed Shi’ite Hezbollah movement.

Sclerosis ensued. After Hariri’s death, the government did not pass another state budget until last year. Parliamentary elections in 2009 were not held again until this May.

Economic growth, which averaged 8-10 percent before the Syria war, has averaged 1-2 percent since it began, and a purchasing managers’ index for Blom Bank has shown business activity in decline every month since 2013.

The state owes about 150 percent of the gross domestic product, much of it to local banks, whose own business is partly based on remittances paid into them by Lebanese working abroad, in turn partly drawn by attractive interest rates.

Difficulties 

Khoury Home is a major business in Lebanon. Its shops, a familiar sight across the country, sell home appliances. 

Romen Mathieu said he had told his staff every year since becoming the company’s chairman in 2013 that the coming year would be more difficult than the last.

“Now we reached 2018, and this year is disastrous, and I think we still didn’t see the tough part of this year,” he said. “If I have to say it in 2019, there won’t be anyone listening to me any more.”

Compounding Mathieu’s difficulties, the government last year scaled back a series of incentives to banks for home loans, which contributed to a dip in the housing market. As fewer people bought houses, fewer wanted new fridges or televisions.

“Let’s not make fools of each other. There is no money in the market and we need to adapt to this situation and get used to it,” said Mathieu.

Not all businesses are suffering. Supermarket chain Spinneys has increased sales volumes because many of its goods are imported from Europe, and currency fluctuation has brought prices down, said chief executive Michael Wright.

“We are selling more, our volumes are going up. But that’s balanced by a price drop,” he said.Since May’s election the rival political parties have squabbled over forming a new national unity government — one that contains enough of the major parties to ensure political backing across the country.

Without a new government, Lebanon cannot institute the fiscal reforms needed to get its debt under control or unlock billions of dollars in pledged foreign investment in infrastructure to get the economy moving.

Everybody Reuters interviewed said it was critical for Lebanon to form a government soon.

Meanwhile, interest rates have risen as the authorities increasingly try to attract higher levels of the bank deposits on which government debt relies.

Those high rates are hurting too.

Jessy Kojababian has been engaged for two years. Her wedding was fixed for September. But as interest rates rose, and the government incentives for banks to offer housing loans were scaled back, she and her fiance could no longer afford to buy a house.

They have now cancelled the wedding.

“We were already booking everything for the wedding. The roses, the restaurant, the church. Everything. We paid a deposit of $6,000, so how can we get it back?” she said.
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Aid Groups Warn of ‘Catastrophic’ Situation as Syrians Brace for Offensive

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A Syrian army offensive in the rebel-held enclave of Idlib would have a “catastrophic” humanitarian impact and cause levels of civilian suffering unprecedented in the seven-year war, aid agencies have warned.

The government has said it aims to recapture the northwestern Idlib region, a refuge for civilians and rebels displaced from other areas of Syria as well as powerful jihadist forces.

“If there is a large-scale military offensive, what we might see in Idlib in terms of death, injury or displacement is something we haven’t seen before. The war is far from over,” said Joelle Bassoul, spokeswoman for Care International.

“People will be stranded with nowhere to go, with no aid — what other word can we use besides catastrophic,” she told Reuters by phone Tuesday from Beirut.

Her comments came a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of rising rates of acute malnutrition in Idlib and said a failure to vaccinate could lead to outbreaks of disease such as polio.

“The health situation in northwest Syria is already dire and looks set to deteriorate,” said WHO Regional Emergencies Director Michel Thieren in a statement on Monday as the organization appealed for more funds.

“If WHO does not receive additional funding, more than two million people caught in the cross-fire may have no access to essential health care services, including life-saving trauma care.”

Bassoul said health care facilities in Idlib were already overstretched and would be unable to cope with a large military offensive.

Northwestern Syria, where Idlib is located, is the last big area still in the hands of fighters seeking to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad, after the government recaptured the area around Damascus and the southwest earlier this year.

The Syrian army dropped leaflets over Idlib earlier this month, urging people to agree to a return of state rule and telling them the war was nearing its end.

Many live in overcrowded tents and shelters with little access to clean water, food and proper health care, according to aid agencies.

The war has already killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven 11 million from their homes, and the United Nations has expressed worries that an offensive in Idlib could force 2.5 million people toward the Turkish border.

“There are no homes or other forms of shelter left really, even tents,” Amany Qaddour, regional director of the humanitarian organization Syria Relief and Development, said in a statement. “Many are prepared to stay [in Idlib] as they have no other options at this point.”
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Britain Confident Trump Will Stand Up to Putin

Posted on by SeeEU

Britain’s foreign secretary is calling for traditional Western allies to join in a united front against Russia’s “aggressive and malign behavior,” expressing confidence that the United States under President Donald Trump will lead the way. 

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt told an audience in Washington it is essential for the U.S., Britain and the European Union to stand firm against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly dangerous attacks on long-standing international norms. 

“Those who don’t share our values, need to know that there will always be a serious price to pay if red lines are crossed by the territorial incursions, the use of banned weapons, or increasingly cyberattacks,” Hunt said Tuesday prior to talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

“He [Putin] is testing us,” Hunt added. “He is just wanting to see just how robust and how united the West is.” 

Actions against Russia

Hunt said there are several reasons for optimism, praising the United States for its strong stance on Russia following the March poisoning of a former Russian agent and his daughter in the British town of Salisbury. 

The U.S. expelled 60 Russian diplomats and imposed sanctions, pointing to the use of a Soviet-era nerve toxin known as Novichok. 

U.S. and British officials have also accused Russia of seeking to interfere with their elections. 

At the same time, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on assertions that Russia sought to meddle in the U.S. election, taking to social media to dismiss an investigation into Russia’s actions as a “rigged witch hunt.” 

And in an interview Monday with the Reuters news agency, Trump said he would consider lifting sanctions against Russia in exchange for cooperation in Syria or Ukraine. 

Hunt downplayed such concerns. 

“President Trump is the most active president on social media that there’s ever been,” the British foreign secretary said. “It’s a different style of politics, but I think it’s important to look at what he does as well as what he says.” 

“What you see is an approach to foreign policy that is different to his predecessors but is absolutely focused on upholding the international order,” Hunt said. “If you look at his actions he is also prepared to be very tough — tougher actually than a number of his predecessors to make sure people get the message about vital red lines.” 

As if to back up Hunt’s assertions, top administration officials told U.S. lawmakers Tuesday they are prepared to impose additional sanctions on Russia if its behavior does not change. 

Strategy against Russia

The administration’s strategy is to “continue raising the costs until Russian aggression ceases, while keeping the door open to dialogue,” Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

Already, existing sanctions are believed to have cost Russia up to $10 billion in arms sales alone, while slashing foreign investment by 80 percent. 

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear,” Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary Sigal Mandelker told the Senate Banking Committee. “We will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change.” 

Separately Tuesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced new sanctions against two Russian companies and a Russian individual for helping Moscow try to avoid existing sanctions due to Russia’s cyber activities.

It also slapped Russian shipping companies with new sanctions for violating United Nations restrictions transferring refined petroleum products to North Korea.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov responded Tuesday in a statement on the ministry’s website, saying the new U.S. sanctions were groundless, promising a response from Moscow.

Still, some lawmakers and other officials are concerned Russia’s behavior is not changing quickly enough. 

Microsoft said late Monday it had detected and disrupted efforts by the Kremlin-linked group known as Fancy Bear or APT28, to hack into or attack conservative U.S. think tanks as well as several U.S. senators. 

Moscow has rejected Microsoft’s allegations, saying there is no evidence to support them. 

Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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War-Ravaged Bosnia Struggles to Cope With New Migrants

Posted on by SeeEU

Not so long ago, people in Bosnia were sarcastically joking that their war-scarred country is in such a bad shape that not even the migrants fleeing violence and poverty in the Mideast and Africa were willing to pass through it.

That’s not the case anymore.

As previous migration routes to Western Europe from the Balkans have closed off over the past year, the trail has shifted toward Bosnia. Now the impoverished nation is trying secure proper shelters for at least 4,000 people expected to be stranded in its territory throughout the coming winter.

Peter Van der Auweraert of the International Organization for Migration says it’s a race against time.

“We have to accelerate the process, because the danger is that when the first snow falls, we will have people sleeping outside in conditions that even in summer were already not acceptable,” he said.

Since the beginning of the year, close to 11,000 migrants and refugees have entered Bosnia, which has never truly recovered from its brutal 1992-95 war, which left more than 100,000 dead and forced more than half the population to flee before a peace deal was brokered.

That compares to just 755 migrant arrivals for all of 2017.

Bosnian authorities have increased border controls along its northeastern border with Serbia, but between 400 and 500 migrants are still entering Bosnia weekly.

Most end up living in horrible conditions in the northwestern Krajina region on the border with European Union member Croatia, which shares a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border with Bosnia.

Thousands have been staying in an abandoned dormitory, a windowless, roofless concrete building on the edge of Bihac, and in tents in the woodlands surrounding it. In the nearby cities of Velika Kladusa and Cazin, smaller groups of migrants have set up squalid makeshift camps where they spend days curled up on the ground, cooking simple meals over open fires and watching their children play in the dirt.

Local Red Cross volunteers have been providing food for migrants and refugees in Bihac since April. At first, they fed just a few hundred people, relying on local donations. But since July, they have been serving two meals a day to 1,500 migrants who are also receiving basic health care from local medical workers.

Although the U.N. refugee agency and the IOM have now joined the effort, local volunteers are desperate for more help.

“We are reaching the end of our rope, because this has been going on for four months already. Only God knows what awaits us in the future,” said Abdulah Budimlic, head of the Red Cross organization in Bihac.

While around 60 percent of those who entered Bosnia this year have managed to cross into Croatia, more and more migrants in Bihac and Velika Kladusa have accused Croatian police of beating them, confiscating their meager belongings and pushing them back into Bosnia.

Croatian police have repeatedly denied those claims.

“They take your mobile phones, your power pack. They destroy these and say `Don’t come back,”‘ said Abdul Hai Baloch from Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province.

Amjad Dakkakn, a 25-year-old from Syria, echoed the sentiment, swinging his fists to illustrate how he was treated by Croatian border guards, calling them thieves for smashing his phone and taking his money.

“They are hitting us as they hit an animal,” claimed AbuBakar Khan, a 20-year-old from Pakistan who has made several unsuccessful attempts to cross the border since arriving in Bihac about a month ago.

Having lived through their country’s brutal 1990s war, Bosnians sympathize more than most with those fleeing their homes in search of a better, safer life. But they are growing more vocal in their criticism of the national government, accusing officials of forcing towns and villages to deal with the migrants’ many needs on their own.

“In less than a month, the weather will change. It will get cold,” said Bihac resident Halid Dedic. “I fear that the local people will be left alone to face the migrants.”

Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic hopes the pressure will be eased after the EU pledged 6 million euros ($6.9 million) earlier this month to help Bosnia with the unprecedented migrant influx. It comes on top of 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) Bosnia already received from the EU in June for migration-related needs.

“Now that the EU had provided us with this substantial donation … I believe we will have enough time to set up proper reception centers where migrants can spend the winter and be treated humanely,” Mektic said.

Those better conditions can’t come soon enough for the migrants in Bosnia.

“I just want a safe life, to work and live like normal people,” said Khan, but he appeared resigned to the fact he probably will spend many months in Bosnia under the “very worst” conditions before he is able to leave.

“[The EU] needs to fund Bosnia to prepare camps here and to protect refugees,” he said.
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US Officials Threaten Russia with ‘Much More Economic Pain’

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Washington is prepared to impose more economic pain on Russia if it does not change its behavior, Trump administration officials said on Tuesday, as U.S. lawmakers pushed for stronger measures to counteract “malign” Russian activities.

“Though Russia’s malign activities continue, we believe its adventurism undoubtedly has been checked by the knowledge that we can bring much more economic pain to bear using our powerful range of authorities — and that we will not hesitate to do so if its conduct does not demonstrably and significantly change,” Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary Sigal Mandelker told the Senate Banking Committee.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he would like better ties with Moscow, but although he met Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, relations between the two countries have come under further strain.

Members of Congress, where both chambers are controlled by Trump’ fellow Republicans, have called for more action — including threatening sanctions “from hell” — to punish Russia for actions including its annexation of Crimea, involvement in Syria’s civil war and cyberattacks seeking to influence U.S. elections.

Two U.S. Senate committees held simultaneous hearings on Russia on Tuesday, where some lawmakers chastised administration officials for failing to sufficiently answer their questions, and for sending conflicting messages and doing too little to change Russian behavior.

Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have criticized Trump, particularly after his summit with Putin in Helsinki last month, for failing to stand up to Moscow on issues including what they see as Trump’s failure to hold the Russian president accountable for Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

Microsoft Corp said late Monday that hackers linked to the Kremlin sought to launch cyberattacks on the Senate and conservative American think tanks, warning of broader attacks ahead of congressional elections in November. 

The Kremlin rejected the Microsoft allegations and said there was no evidence to support them. Moscow has repeatedly denied attempting to influence U.S. elections, including the 2016 presidential vote that brought Trump into office. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 campaign, seeking to tilt the vote in Trump’s favor.

Cost to Russia

U.S. administration officials told the Senate hearings that existing sanctions were having an effect on Russia’s economy, despite continuing behavior that concerns Washington.

Separately, the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on two Russians, one Russian company and one Slovakian firm over actions it said helped another Russian company avoid sanctions over cyber-related activities.

The United States also announced sanctions on Russian shipping over the transfer of refined petroleum products to North Korea in violation of U.N. restrictions.

Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told the Foreign Relations Committee that concern about sanctions has cost Russia $8 to $10 billion in arms deals. Without the American measures, Moscow’s behavior would be further “off the charts,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell also said foreign direct investment in Russia has fallen by 80 percent since 2013, “which is a pretty stunning number.”

“I think this administration has been clear that we are prepared to take additional steps,” Mitchell said. “There is an escalatory ladder to sanctions. We are aware of what additional steps would be needed to make an even bigger point.”

Marshall Billingslea, assistant Treasury secretary for terrorism financing, told the Foreign Relations panel it was important that European allies, particularly in eastern Europe, do more to combat money laundering.

“There is an enormous amount of money that is still being exfiltrated from Russia by both organized crime and cronies surrounding Putin,” Billingslea said.

In an interview with Reuters on Monday, Trump said he would only consider lifting sanctions against Russia if it were to do something positive for the United States, for instance in Syria or in Ukraine.
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Reports: Ex-Trump Lawyer Cohen Reaches Plea Deal With US Prosecutors

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has reached a plea bargain with federal prosecutors in New York on campaign finance violations, bank fraud and tax evasion, news media outlets reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.

Cohen, 51, surrendered to the FBI, CNN said. He was to appear in federal court in Manhattan at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT) on Tuesday, a court official told Reuters.

News that Cohen had entered into a plea agreement followed a report earlier in the day by NBC News, then others, that he was discussing a deal with prosecutors.

The plea bargain could increase legal risks for the president, as it raises the possibility that Cohen will provide information to U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller in his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and has called the Mueller investigation a witch hunt. Russia has denied meddling in the election. U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded Moscow interfered.

Cohen was part of Trump’s inner circle for more than a decade, working as his personal attorney at the Trump Organization and continuing to advise the president after the election. But their relationship has frayed in recent months.

Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, declined to comment. Cohen and another of his lawyers, Guy Petrillo, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the earlier reports.

The probe is being led by the office of U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan. A spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Federal agents had seized documents and files from Cohen in April that stemmed from a referral from Mueller’s office.

Cohen once said he would “take a bullet” for Trump, but their relationship has deteriorated since the April FBI raid on Cohen’s office, hotel room and home.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that federal prosecutors were focused on more than $20 million in loans obtained by Cohen from taxi businesses owned by him and his family.

The loans are part of the investigation into whether Cohen committed bank and tax fraud, and for possible campaign law violations linked to a $130,000 payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Mueller’s investigation, which began in May 2017, has resulted in the indictment of more than 30 people and five guilty pleas.

Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, is on trial in Alexandria, Virginia, for 18 counts of financial crimes resulting from the Mueller probe. The jury in his case was in its fourth day of deliberations on Tuesday.

   

 
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Eyeing US, Iran to Boost Military Might, Showcases New Fighter Jet

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Iran said on Tuesday it would boost its military might and also showcased a new fighter jet amid increased tensions with the United States and with regional rivals over conflicts in the Middle East.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic’s military prowess was what deterred Washington from attacking it, adding that under President Donald Trump the United States was becoming isolated even from its own allies.

“We should make ourselves ready to fight against the military powers who want to take over our territory and our resources,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television ahead of Wednesday’s National Defence Industry Day.

“Why does the United States not attack us? Because of our power, because it knows the consequences,” Rouhani added.

Last week, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also said the United States would avoid any military confrontation with Tehran because of Iranian military might.

Khamenei has rejected Trump’s offer of unconditional talks on a new nuclear deal, prompting Trump to tell Reuters in an interview on Monday: “If they want to meet, that’s fine, and if they don’t want to meet, I couldn’t care less.”

Relations between Washington and Tehran worsened further after Trump in May took the United States out of an international deal that curbed Tehran’s nuclear program in return for an easing of economic sanctions.

Trump branded that 2015 deal as flawed because it did not address Iran’s missile program or involvement in conflicts in Syria and Yemen, and he has reimposed U.S. economic sanctions.

Loss of trust in US

Rouhani compared the sanctions on Iran with the U.S. trade war with China and its new tariffs on some imports from Turkey and European countries.

“It’s not only us who do not trust America. Today even Europe and China do not trust them; even American allies like Canada have lost their trust,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday Rouhani attended a ceremony, broadcast by state TV, that included the fly-past of a new fighter jet called Kowsar, which Iran says is “100-percent indigenously made” and able to carry various weapons and to be used for short aerial support missions.

However, some military experts believe the fighter jet is a carbon copy of an F-5 first produced in the United States in the 1960s.

“The airframe appears to be an externally unaltered, two-seat F-5 tiger. Whilst it may be domestically manufactured, it’s an entirely foreign airframe,” said Justin Bronk, a research fellow specializing in combat airpower and technology in the Military Sciences team at the Royal United Services

Institute.

“It’s a very small lightweight fighter with very small engines which limits the thrust output, a very low internal fuel capacity which limits range, and a very small nose which limits the size and power of radar that you can fit,” he told Reuters.

“All of those constraints are not going to be changed by updating the internal components. While you might put a modern radar, or modern avionics — by Iranian standards — in there, it is still going to be subject to all limitations of the F-5 airframe.”

Iran’s air force has been limited to perhaps a few dozen strike aircraft using either Russian or ageing U.S. models acquired before the 1979 Iranian revolution.

Iran has sent weapons and thousands of soldiers to Syria to help prop up President Bashar al-Assad’s forces, but had to rely on Russia for aerial support due to its own lack of a powerful air force.

The Islamic Republic launched in 2013 what it said was a new, domestically built fighter jet, called Qaher 313, but some experts expressed doubts about the viability of the aircraft at the time.
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US Weakens Environmental Controls on Coal Production

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration weakened environmental controls on coal production Tuesday, overturning national regulations set by his predecessor, former President Barack Obama.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it will now allow individual coal-producing states to set their own rules for carbon emissions rather than have to adhere to an overall country-wide standard. The plan is subject to a 60-day comment period before it is finalized.

The action marks a fulfillment of a 2016 Trump campaign pledge to boost the fortunes of coal companies and coal-producing states.

It came hours before the president headed to a political rally for a Senate candidate in West Virginia, the second biggest U.S. coal production state, where he was expected to promote the plan. During his successful run for the White House, Trump supporters in coal states often held signs saying, “Trump Digs Coal.”

The EPA decision is Trump’s latest effort to topple Obama’s environmental legacy, following his withdrawal of the U.S. from the 2015 international Paris climate control accord championed by the former president.

At the time that he revoked U.S. participation in the agreement, Trump said, “I was elected by the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”

The EPA said its new rule is designed to replace Obama’s 2015 Clean Power Plan that targeted greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and sought to shift power production away from coal to abundant natural gas supplies in the U.S., along with wind and solar energy. Trump’s EPA called the Obama rules “overly prescriptive and burdensome.”

The White House said the policy change will “significantly decrease bureaucratic red tape and compliance costs” for coal companies, “keeping American energy affordable and competitive on the world stage.”

But environmental groups immediately attacked the Trump administration edict, with the Natural Resources Defense Council calling it a “Dirty Power Plan.”

Environmental advocates said the Trump policy change, assuming some states weaken their regulations compared to the current national standards, will boost emissions from coal-fired power plants and worsen global warming.

Congressman Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, said “once again, this administration is choosing polluters’ profits over public health and safety.”
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Some US Officials Confident Al-Qaida Bomb Maker Killed

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The United States is confident the top al-Qaida bomb maker, believed to be the mastermind behind a failed bombing of a U.S.-bound airliner in 2009, has been killed, two U.S. officials said even as others cautioned the evidence was not conclusive.

Washington has long sought Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri, a militant with al-Qaida’s Yemen branch who is one of the world’s most feared bomb makers because of his ability to create hard-to-detect bombs, including some implanted in suicide bombers.

Two U.S. officials, including a senior official, said they were confident al-Asiri had been killed. They were speaking on the condition of anonymity.

“We are pretty confident that he has been killed,” one of the officials said.

That official added, however, that the usual fallout from a senior militant being killed, like a eulogy from Yemen’s al-Qaida branch, known as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), had not appeared. Separate U.S. intelligence officials said they do not consider the available evidence conclusive.

A report by U.N. experts monitoring Islamic State and al-Qaida for the U.N. Security Council, which was made public last week, said some states had reported that al-Asiri “may have been killed during the second half of 2017.”

“Given al-Asiri’s past role in plots against aviation, this would represent a serious blow to operational capability,” the U.N. experts wrote.

U.S. officials cautioned that while his death would be a major symbolic blow to AQAP, al-Asiri’s bomb-making skills almost certainly have been passed to others, and the threat from the group does not appear to have been significantly reduced.

The U.S. military and CIA have carried out strikes in Yemen.

Neither commented on reports that al-Asiri had been killed.

AQAP has taken advantage of Yemen’s civil war to strengthen its position in the impoverished Arab state. The militant group still operates in several provinces in south and eastern Yemen.

Intelligence analysts believe that AQAP is one of the groups most capable of carrying out attacks against the United States.

Al-Asiri is believed to have masterminded the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of a U.S.-bound passenger jet. A Nigerian man is serving multiple life sentences in prison for trying to set off the bomb in his underwear.

The United States added al-Asiri to its terrorism blacklist in 2011 after he was believed to be the key suspect in the 2010 al-Qaida parcel bomb plot against the United States.

Al-Asiri was born in 1982 in Saudi Arabia to a military family and has been accused of recruiting his younger brother as a suicide bomber for a failed attack on former Saudi counterterrorism chief Prince Mohammed bin Nayef in 2009.
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Russia Calls Microsoft’s Hacking Allegations ‘Witch-Hunt’

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denounced as a “witch-hunt” accusations put forward by Microsoft Corp over alleged attempts by hackers linked to Russia’s government to launch cyberattacks on U.S. institutions.

“It is regrettable that a large international company, which has been working in the Russian market for a long time, quite actively and successfully has to take part in a witch-hunt that has engulfed Washington,” the ministry said in a statement.

Microsoft said that hackers linked to Russia’s government tried to carry out cyberattacks on the U.S. Senate and conservative American think-tanks. It accused Moscow of broadening attacks ahead of November’s U.S. congressional elections.

 
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Pro-Mnangagwa War Veterans Accuse US of Interference in Zimbabwe Elections

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In Zimbabwe, war veterans who support President Emmerson Mnangagwa alleged Tuesday that the United States is encouraging the international community to back the opposition, and is seeking to reverse the outcome of the July 30 election, in which Mnangagwa was declared the winner. The war veterans made their remarks as a court prepares to hear the opposition’s request to nullify the election.

Veterans who support the ruling ZANU-PF party praise Mnangagwa, and denounce former President Robert Mugabe and those they consider Zimbabwe’s enemies as they prepare for a press briefing in Harare.

 

Others chant, “Down with America.”

 

Victor Matemadanda, the war veterans’ secretary, is among those who accuse the United States of interference in Zimbabwean politics.

“The international community led by America is portraying that this election was not run properly,” he said. “They are condemning ZEC and now they are looking at the courts to wait for a result and say this is wrong, this is right. But we are not going to take American law to determine how we run Zimbabwe. The president-elect won by 50.8 percent. Full stop. …We know how we voted. We do not need America’s approval.”

 

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court is scheduled to hear a petition by Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, seeking to overturn the official election results.

 

ZEC, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declared President Mnangagwa the winner with just under 51 percent of the vote. It said Chamisa took 44 percent.

 

On Monday, Chamisa called those results a “subversion of the will of the people.”

The U.S. has not directly commented on the elections. Its embassy in Harare could not be reached for a response to Matemadanda’s remarks.

Last week, the U.S. ambassador to Zimbabwe, Brian Nichols, told reporters after a meeting with President Mnangagwa at the State House that Washington did not support the opposition. He did, however, talk about the court case.

 

“I think that the courts will have to prove to the people of Zimbabwe that they are weighing the facts of the case and considering them carefully and rendering an impartial judgment. That is an answer that will be answered by the performance of the court, not by me or any person giving their opinion,” he said.

Meanwhile, the 40-year-old Chamisa, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)-Alliance, said his group would follow all “legal and constitutional routes” available if the court does not rule in the party’s favor.

 

His party said the war veterans have instilled fear in the court by “threatening to use guns and bullets to protect Mnangagwa’s so-called victory.”

 
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South Africa’s Land Bank: Land Expropriation Could Trigger Default

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South Africa’s state-owned Land Bank said on Monday a plan to allow the state to seize land without compensation could trigger defaults that could cost the government 41 billion rand ($2.8 billion) if the bank’s rights as a creditor are not protected.

Land Bank is a specialist bank providing financial services to the commercial farming sector and other agricultural businesses.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Aug. 1 that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is forging ahead with plans to change the constitution to allow the expropriation of land without compensation, as whites still own most of South Africa’s land more than two decades after the end of apartheid.

Land Bank Chairman Arthur Moloto said in the company’s 2018 annual report that the bank has approximately 9 billion rand of debt, which includes a standard market clause on “expropriation” as an event of default.

Moloto said if expropriation without compensation were to materialize without protection of the bank’s rights as a creditor, it would be required to repay 9 billion rand immediately.

“A cross default clause would be triggered should we fail to pay when these debts fall due because of inadequate liquidity or lack of alternative sources of funding,” Moloto said.

“This would make our entire 41 billion rand funding portfolio due and payable immediately, which we would not be able to settle. Consequently, government intervention would be required to settle our lenders.”

Moloto said the bank was generally funded by the local debt and capital markets, and more recently international multilateral institutions such as the African Development Bank and World Bank.

“A poorly executed expropriation without compensation could result in the main sources of funding drying up as investors might not be willing to continue funding Land Bank in particular, or agriculture in general,” he said.

Some investors are concerned that the ANC’s reforms will result in white farmers being stripped of land to the detriment of the economy, as happened in Zimbabwe, although Ramaphosa has repeatedly said any changes will not compromise food security or economic growth.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the ANC has followed a “willing-seller, willing-buyer” model under which the government buys white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. Progress has been slow.

($1 = 14.6363 rand)
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South Sudan Claims Civil War is Over but Skepticism Abounds

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South Sudan’s government claims the shattering five-year civil war is finally over, but there is considerable skepticism. It wasn’t helped by the sight of President Salva Kiir refusing to shake the hand of rival Riek Machar after they signed a power-sharing deal this month, according to video footage seen by The Associated Press.

This latest attempt at peace already shows cracks, with the armed opposition last week saying several key issues, including reconciliation, are yet to be resolved as the warring forces prepare to merge and Machar is set to return to the capital as Kiir’s deputy once more.

Machar’s side won’t sign a final agreement that doesn’t ensure “accountability and justice and free and fair elections” at the end of the three-year transition period, chairman Mabior Garang de Mabior told AP. 

Even as negotiations continue in Sudan, which has taken the lead in peace talks as it eyes South Sudan’s oil resources, the United States and many South Sudanese express deep concern that the fragile peace deal will end in violence as the previous one did in July 2016, with Machar fleeing his vice president post, and the country, on foot.

Now this East African nation, whose civil war along largely ethnic lines has created Africa’s largest refugee crisis since the 1994 Rwandan genocide, nervously awaits the rebel leader’s return.

South Sudan’s government acknowledges that some issues remain but says the current deal is genuine. 

“It is the end of the war and the beginning of a new era,” said Maal Maker Thiong, who works in the president’s office.

The civil war in the world’s youngest nation has killed tens of thousands of people and sent more than 2 million fleeing since the fighting erupted between supporters of Kiir and then-deputy Machar in December 2013, two years after the country won independence from Sudan. Half of the remaining population of roughly 12 million is near starvation, according to U.N. agencies.

The idea that the two men whose rivalry has caused so much destruction are now in charge of finding peace has alarmed some in the international community and on the ground.

“We are concerned that the arrangements agreed to date are not realistic or sustainable,” the U.S., Britain and Norway said in a statement this month.

“We have seen time again that power-sharing is a recipe for more conflict in South Sudan and that Salva Kiir and Riek Machar are in fact obstacles to ending the war and not vehicles for resolving the conflict,” said Payton Knopf, a former coordinator of the U.N. panel of experts on South Sudan and former U.S. diplomat. 

As part of the new peace agreement, Machar will return as one of five vice presidents. Government and opposition forces will merge into one national army. A three-year transitional period will follow, culminating in elections. Machar is expected to return within eight months, but opposition chairman Mabior said that will happen only with signs the agreement is being carried out. 

During a visit this month to one of the last opposition-held areas in South Sudan, the AP spoke with more than a dozen people. All said they were doubtful that peace would prevail.

The captain of the opposition’s military intelligence for Panyijiar County, James Malieth, said he was shocked when he learned that his forces soon would have to merge with government troops. 

“You can’t fight with someone and then be put together with them,” he said. “Our hearts haven’t yet calmed down from war.” It will take years before they can fight side-by-side with soldiers who killed his colleagues, he added. 

News of the peace deal has filtered down to wary people in rural areas. 

Seated on a straw mat outside her new home, 28-year-old Nyadet Kai cradled her small son to her chest. The mother of five said she escaped her hometown of Leer in May when government soldiers attacked, raping women and abducting children. 

Kai lost her husband to the war in 2013 and has been displaced seven times since then. She now seeks shelter on a remote island in the swamps, 45 minutes by boat from the opposition-held town of Nyal in Unity state. 

“In 2015 they signed something but there was fighting again,” she said of the previous peace agreement. “I’ll believe there’s peace when the government removes its soldiers from my town.” 

Another island resident, Mary Nyataba, playfully wrestled with her dog, which in disgust she had named after Kiir’s backside. 

“I called him that because the president has killed so many people,” the 40-year-old mother of five said. Stroking the dog’s nose with her thumb, she said she might change the name if peace ever comes.
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Foreign Automakers Oppose Trump NAFTA Plan as US-Mexico Talks Resume

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Foreign-brand automakers with U.S. plants do not support Trump administration rules to raise the amount of local content in North American-made vehicles, a group representing companies including Toyota, Volkswagen AG and Hyundai has told key U.S. lawmakers.

Talks between Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer are due to resume on Tuesday in Washington to try to resolve remaining bilateral issues so that Canada, which has been sidelined for weeks from the negotiations, can return to the bargaining table.

The automakers’ position was in a previously unreported Aug. 16 letter from their “Here for America” group to top trade-focused members of Congress. The letter could raise resistance to a revamped North American Free Trade Agreement from lawmakers in southern states, where foreign manufacturers have built auto plants.

“We remain concerned that, without further clarifications, assurances and modifications, many of those companies producing vehicles in multiple states will not be in a position to support legislation implementing a NAFTA 2.0,” the group said in the letter, signed by John Bozzella, president of the Association of Global Automakers.

Automotive experts have said that some foreign brand automakers with smaller North American manufacturing footprints and fewer U.S. research and development staff may have difficulty meeting the more stringent content requirements for years.

The group said its members, which also include Honda, Daimler, BMW, Nissan, Kia Motors, Subaru, and Volvo, a unit of China’s Geely Automobile Holdings , account for nearly 50 percent of U.S. vehicle production.

Detroit supportive

At the same time, the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents Detroit’s Big Three automakers is “encouraged by the direction of the discussions,” said Matt Blunt, who heads the trade group.

“We share the administration’s overall goals of strengthening U.S. auto manufacturing and creating jobs and given the importance of NAFTA to U.S. industry we urge the negotiators to quickly complete the negotiations,” added Blunt, whose group represents General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

The United States and Mexico are closing in on a bilateral deal on autos that would lift the requirement for North American content in regionally made vehicles to at least 70 percent from the current 62.5 percent.

The deal is expected to require that some 40 percent of  the value come from high wage locations paying at least $16 an hour, meaning the United States and Canada, a Mexican source close to the talks told Reuters.

USTR officials have been meeting in recent days with individual automakers to secure support for potential changes, according to auto industry sources.

A USTR spokeswoman declined comment.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who launched the renegotiation of the 1994 pact a year ago, has said he wants the reworked deal to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, particularly in autos and auto parts.

Other key unresolved issues include the phase-in time for the new automotive rules to take effect and whether the U.S. demand for a “sunset” clause that forces a renegotiation every five years is adopted, making long-term investment decisions more difficult.

The letter from the ad-hoc “Here for America” group also raised concerns that national security tariffs on autos, auto parts, steel and aluminum would undermine the benefit of a NAFTA agreement.
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Outgoing UN Human Rights Chief Warns UN Could Collapse

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The outgoing United Nations’ human rights chief says the power held by the five permanent members of the Security Council could cause the U.N. to “collapse.”

Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein spoke to reporters Monday in Geneva as he prepares to step down from office at the end of the month.

He said the five Council members with veto power — Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — are “running too much of the business” and have created a “logjam.”

“When they cooperate, things can move. When they don’t, everything becomes stuck and the organization in general becomes so marginal,” Zeid said, referring to vetoed resolutions on Syria and Israeli polices toward the Palestinians.

Zeid also alluded to rising nationalism across the globe, warning that humanity may be forgetting the lessons of World War II.

“My sense is the further away we get from those historical and dreadful experiences, the more we tend to play fast and loose with the institutions created to prevent repetition,” he said.

Zeid, a Jordanian, declined to seek another four-year term as the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is replacing him. 
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Trump: It Is ‘Dangerous’ for Twitter, Facebook to Ban Accounts

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that it is “very dangerous” for social media companies like Twitter and Facebook to silence voices on their services.

Trump’s comments in an interview with Reuters come as the social media industry faces mounting scrutiny from Congress to police foreign propaganda.

Trump has made his Twitter account — with more than 53 million followers — an integral and controversial part of his presidency, using it to promote his agenda, announce policy and attack critics.

Trump previously criticized the social media industry on Aug. 18, claiming without evidence in a series of tweets that unnamed companies were “totally discriminating against Republican/Conservative voices.” In the same post, Trump said “too many voices are being destroyed, some good & some bad.”

Those tweets followed actions taken by Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and Facebook to remove some content posted by Infowars, a website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones’ own Twitter account was temporarily suspended on Aug. 15.

“I won’t mention names but when they take certain people off of Twitter or Facebook and they’re making that decision, that is really a dangerous thing because that could be you tomorrow,” Trump said.

Trump appeared on a show produced by Infowars, hosted by Jones, in December 2015 while campaigning for the White House. In removing Jones’ content, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook each pointed to specific user agreement violations. For example, Facebook removed several pages associated with Infowars after determining they violated policies concerning hate speech and bullying.

Twitter and Facebook declined to comment on Trump’s statement. Apple and Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In July, during a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee hearing, executives from Facebook, Google and Twitter testified they did not remove content based on political reasons.

“Our purpose is to serve the conversation, not to make value judgments on personal beliefs,” Nick Pickles, Twitter’s senior strategist, said at the time.
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US Indicts Two Iranians for Allegedly Spying for Tehran

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Two Iranian men were indicted Monday for allegedly spying for Tehran by gathering information on an Iran exile group and “conducting covert surveillance” of Jewish institutions in the U.S., the Justice Department said in a statement.

Iranians Majid Ghorbani and Ahmadreza Mohammadi-Doostdar are accused of carrying out secret surveillance of Israeli and Jewish facilities in the U.S. and collecting information on members of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a group calling for the overthrow of the Iranian regime.

Ghorbani faces a federal detention hearing Tuesday morning in Washington, the statement said.

U.S. attorneys said the two were acting on behalf of the Iranian government and their activities may put Americans at risk.

“The National Security Division is committed to protecting the United States from individuals within our country who unlawfully act on behalf of hostile foreign nations,” Assistant Attorney General John Demers said in the statement. 

According to the indictment, Ghorbani, 59, who lives in California, and Doostdar, 38, who is a dual citizen of the U.S. and Iran, came to the United States last year to gather information on people and entities the Iranian government considers to be its enemies.

They allegedly staked out and photographed Hillel House and Rohr Chabad House, Jewish centers near the University of Chicago, an MEK rally in New York City, and an MEK-affiliated convention in Washington on human rights in Iran. Ghorbani appeared to have taken pictures of audience members and speakers at the convention, according to the Justice Department statement.

The two men, arrested Aug. 9, could each face as much as 35 years in prison if convicted.

Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.
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Mozambique Poised to Impose Controversial Media Fee 

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Beginning Wednesday, journalists working in Mozambique are scheduled to start paying what may be the highest registration fees in the world.  

The new fees have been widely criticized, with Human Rights Watch calling them “outrageous,” and Amnesty International saying they will keep the media from reporting on Mozambique. 

A foreign correspondent living in the southeast African country would have to pay $8,300 a year, and a new national radio station would be charged $35,000. Local journalists reporting for foreign media would be charged $3,500 for annual accreditation  in a country whose gross domestic product, per capita, is $1,200.

“We think that this is completely exorbitant and out of any reasonable proportion,” said Arnaud Froger, who heads the Africa desk for the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. 

“It affects those media outlets with very high license fees that are very likely to kill off lots of Mozambiquan radio and TV channels,” he told VOA when interviewed by phone Monday from Paris. “And journalists as well are not going to be able to pay the price to report. I mean, who is going to [spend] about 2,500 U.S. dollars to go reporting for a week or two in Mozambique? Is there any foreign freelance reporter willing to pay about 8,500 U.S. dollars to settle in Mozambique? 

“We really fear that the country may become a kind of foreign media desert,” Froger added.

He called the government move an attempt to shut down coverage of Mozambique a month before municipal elections and a year ahead of the 2019 presidential vote.  

Mozambique’s government has defended the fees as a response to market circumstances and the need to impose discipline on the media.  

Sixty percent of the fees will go to the federal budget, with the government information office getting the rest.
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Trump Decries ‘Coalition of Open Borders Extremists’

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U.S. President Donald Trump is referring to opposition lawmakers, as well as local and state officials who oppose his immigration control agenda, as “a coalition of open borders extremists.”

Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon accused opponents of waging “an unprecedented assault on American law enforcement — our greatest people,” saying they are threatening Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) “for doing their duties.”

According to the president, “They have no courage. They have no guts. They just have big, loud mouths.”

The remarks came during an East Room event honoring law enforcement officials for bravery in combating smugglers, drug cartels and transnational criminal organizations.

“You’re saving lives. You’re saving a lot of Americans,” Trump told the audience. “We don’t play games,” he said, lauding law enforcement’s performance in strictly enforcing immigration laws. He said that CBP prevents “10 known or suspected terrorists” from entering the United States every day.

During remarks, the president repeatedly attacked political opponents against his immigration and border control policies.

The president specifically targeted those who have called for ICE to be abolished for alleged human rights abuses.

“We will not stand for the vile smears, the vicious attacks,” said Trump. “It’s going to stop today. We will never surrender to anarchy, chaos and crime.”

The MS-13 criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles in the 1980s and has roots in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, would soon be destroyed “once and for all,” predicted Trump. “We’re throwing them the hell out of our country so fast your head would spin. But too many we’ve allowed in.”

Among those attending the event, in addition to Vice President Mike Pence and Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, were 150 officers from ICE, CBP and other law enforcement organizations.

During a panel on borders and immigration prior to the president’s remarks, Senator David Perdue criticized those calling for the abolition of ICE.

“This is the United States of America. That’s like saying, ‘Let’s get rid of the Marines,'” said Perdue, a Republican from the state of Georgia. “I just think it’s unconscionable and, frankly, I think it’s downright unpatriotic and treasonous.”

Two possible prominent presidential contenders from the Democratic Party in 2020 — U.S. senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York — are among those who have backed the call to get rid of ICE.

‘Building the wall’

There was no mention at the White House event of the administration’s controversial policy of separating families at the border. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 541 children remain in U.S. government care after being separated from their parents.

Cracking down on illegal immigration and fortifying the U.S. border with Mexico was a key campaign promise during Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign and is a top priority of his administration.

Trump has threatened to shut down the government next month if Congress does not give him the resources he has demanded for border security.

“The wall is getting longer and taller and stronger each and every day,” according to Trump. “We’ll soon be spending about $3.2 billion, and we’re looking for about $5 billion for this next coming year.

“We’re building the wall, and it’s not easy because we have a little opposition called the Democrats,” said Trump. “They don’t mind crime. It’s pretty sad.”

Midterm elections

At one point, some opposition Democrats in the Senate had offered to consent to $25 billion in funding for a border wall if Trump would agree to support eventual citizenship for 1.8 million young undocumented immigrants (the so-called “Dreamers”) under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program. But a possible compromise fell apart, and a political showdown now looms just months ahead of crucial midterm elections.

Trump predicted on Monday that immigration enforcement would be a key campaign theme, and his party would prevail.

“Blue wave means crime. It means open borders,” said the president, predicting in the November congressional elections “more of a red wave.”

Democrats are hoping to take enough seats to flip the House of Representatives in their favor. Currently, the Republicans are the majority in both the House and the Senate, allowing the president’s party to control the legislative agenda.
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Trump Demands Fed Help on Economy, Complains About Interest Rate Rises

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U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was “not thrilled” with the Federal Reserve under Chairman Jerome Powell for raising interest rates and said the U.S. central bank should do more to help him to boost the economy.

In the middle of international trade disputes, Trump in an interview with Reuters also accused China and Europe of manipulating their respective currencies.

American presidents have rarely criticized the Fed in recent decades because its independence has been seen as important for economic stability. Trump has departed from this past practice.

The president spooked investors in July when he criticized the U.S. central bank’s over tightening monetary policy. On Monday he said the Fed should be more accommodating on interest rates.

“I’m not thrilled with his raising of interest rates, no. I’m not thrilled,” Trump said, referring to Powell. Trump nominated Powell last year to replace former Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

U.S. stock prices dipped after Trump’s comments to Reuters and the U.S. dollar edged down against a basket of currencies.

Trump, who criticized the Fed when he was a candidate, said other countries benefited from their central banks’ moves during tough trade talks, but the United States was not getting support from the Fed.

“We’re negotiating very powerfully and strongly with other nations. We’re going to win. But during this period of time I should be given some help by the Fed. The other countries are accommodated,” Trump said.

The Fed has raised interest rates twice this year and is expected to do so again next month with consumer price inflation rising to 2.9 percent in July, its highest level in six years, and unemployment at 3.9 percent, the lowest level in about 20 years.

After leaving its policy interest rates at historic lows for about six years after the 2008 global financial crisis, the Fed began slowly raising rates again in late 2015.

Trump said China was manipulating its yuan currency to make up for having to pay tariffs on imports imposed by Washington.

“I think China’s manipulating their currency, absolutely. And I think the euro is being manipulated also,” Trump said.

“What they’re doing is making up for the fact that they’re now paying … hundreds of millions of dollars and in some cases billions of dollars into the United States Treasury. And so they’re being accommodated and I’m not. And I’ll still win.”

Trump has frequently accused China of manipulating its currency, but his administration has so far declined to name China formally as a currency manipulator in a semi-annual report from the U.S. Treasury Department.

The U.S. dollar has strengthened this year by 5.35 percent against the yuan, reversing most of its large drop against the Chinese currency in 2017.

The euro is off by about 4.3 percent against the greenback this year, beset by concerns over the pace of economic growth in the EU trading bloc and over U.S.-European trade tensions.

Trump has made reducing U.S. trade deficits a priority and the combination of rising interest rates and a strengthening dollar pose risks for export growth.

A Fed spokesman declined to comment on Trump’s remarks on Monday.

Powell last month said in an interview that the Fed has a “long tradition” of independence from political concerns, and that no one in the Trump administration had said anything to him that gave him concerns on that front.

“We’re going to do our business in a way that’s strictly nonpolitical, without taking political issues into consideration, and that carries out the mandate Congress has given us,” he said.

Asked if he believed in the Fed’s independence, Trump said: “I believe in the Fed doing what’s good for the country.”

Powell took over as Fed chief earlier this year.

“Am I happy with my choice?” Trump said to Reuters about Powell. “I’ll let you know in seven years.”
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