Month: January 2019

Security Council Regrets Somalia’s Expulsion of UN Envoy

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The U.N. Security Council is expressing regret at Somalia’s decision to expel a U.N. envoy who questioned the arrest of an extremist group defector-turned-political candidate.

The council issued a statement Saturday, a day after a closed-door discussion about Somalia’s move to kick Nicholas Haysom out.

The statement conveys gratitude to the longtime U.N. official. It also notes the international community’s support for Somalia’s efforts to rebuild peace and stability — and the council’s “expectation of full cooperation between Somalia and the United Nations.”

Although opposed to Haysom’s expulsion, the world body said it would replace him so the U.N. can function in the Horn of Africa nation. 

Somali officials say Haysom meddled in their internal matters when he raised concerns about the basis for the arrest of Mukhtar Robow.
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Russia: Too Early to Consider Exchange of US Spy Suspect 

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Russia’s deputy foreign minister brushed back suggestions Saturday that an American being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying could be exchanged for a Russian citizen. 

 

Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who also holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship, was detained in Moscow in late December. His arrest has led to speculation that Russia could be using him to bargain for a Russian who pleaded guilty of acting as a foreign agent in the United States. 

 

But Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that discussing a possible swap involving Whelan and Maria Butina would be premature because Whelan hasn’t been formally charged, according to Russian news agencies. 

 

“As to the possibility of exchanges of one sort of another, it’s impossible and incorrect to consider the question now when an official charge hasn’t even been presented,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA-Novosti.  

 

“Charges will be presented in the near future,” he said, according to the Interfax agency. 

Espionage charges

 

Some Russian news reports earlier cited unnamed sources as saying Whelan had been indicted on espionage charges that carry a possible prison sentence of 20 years. 

 

Officials haven’t given details of Whelan’s suspected activities and he was initially identified only as an American. His concurrent Canadian, British and Irish citizenships became known on Friday. 

 

U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. visited Whelan on Wednesday in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, a 130-year-old facility noted for strict conditions. Britain, Canada and Ireland have applied for consular access to him.  

Whelan, 48. was discharged from the Marines for bad conduct. He works as the global security director for a U.S. automobile parts manufacturer and lives in Michigan. 

 

His family has said he was in Moscow to attend a wedding.  In a column published by The Washington Post on Friday, his twin brother, David, urged the U.S. government to pressure Russia to release him. 

 

“Paul is a kind and considerate brother, son and uncle, and a generous and loyal friend,” he wrote. “He travels as often as he can, both for work and pleasure. He is many things to many people, but he is not a spy.” 

 

Paul Whelan established an account on VKontakte, a social media service similar to Facebook that is popular among Russians, which showed he had scores of contacts in Russia. Many attended universities affiliated with the military, civil aviation or technical studies. Many share his interest in sports and firearms. 

Another arrest

 

Also Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said it was seeking information about a Russian who was arrested Dec. 29 in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific.  

 

In a statement, the ministry said Sergei Makarenko was sent to the U.S. state of Florida after his arrest and that it wanted consular access to him. 

 

The Saipan Tribune reported that Makarenko was indicted in 2017 in Florida for the alleged illegal shipment of military goods to Russia. 

 

Konstantin Kosachev, head of the international affairs committee of the upper house of the Russian parliament, said Makarenko’s arrest was “the latest attack on a citizen of Russia outside the framework of international law,” Interfax reported.  
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Defense Secretary’s Chief of Staff Resigns

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Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney, chief of staff to the secretary of defense, has resigned, according to a Department of Defense statement released Saturday.

Sweeney had held the position since January 2017.

“After two years in the Pentagon, I’ve decided the time is right to return to the private sector. It has been an honor to serve again alongside the men and women of the Department of Defense,” Sweeney said in a statement.

His resignation was the latest of several from the Defense Department.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis, for whom Sweeney had served, announced his resignation in December and left his post earlier this month.

Mattis announced his resignation in late December, shortly after President Donald Trump said the U.S. would be pulling out about 2,000 troops from Syria. In his letter, in which he did not mention Trump by name, Mattis outlined sharp differences between his views and those of the president, notably on the importance of allies and the use of U.S. power.

“We must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours,” Mattis wrote, warning that Russia and China in particular “want to shape a world consistent with their authoritarian model gaining veto authority over other nations’ economic, diplomatic and security decisions.”

Mattis said he would stay until the end of February, but on Dec. 23 Trump announced that Patrick Shanahan would become acting defense secretary on Jan. 1, speeding up Mattis’ departure. Shanahan had been Mattis’ deputy secretary of defense.

Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White also resigned, leaving the department at the end of December.

“I appreciate the opportunity afforded to me by this administration to serve alongside Secretary Mattis, our service members and all the civilians who support them. It has been my honor and privilege. Stay safe and God bless,” White tweeted on Monday, according to a CNN report.

On Tuesday, Charles Summers Jr. was named the new Pentagon spokesperson. 
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Mexico Launches Plan to Stimulate US Border Economy  

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President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has launched an ambitious plan to stimulate economic activity on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border despite recent U.S. threats to close the border entirely.

Mexico plans to slash income and corporate taxes to 20 percent from 30 percent for 43 municipalities in six states just south of the U.S., while halving to 8 percent the value-added tax in the region.

Business leaders and union representatives have also agreed to double the minimum wage along the border, to 176.2 pesos a day, the equivalent of $9.07 at current exchange rates.

Lopez Obrador says the idea is to stimulate wage and job growth via fiscal incentives and productivity gains.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly complained that low wages in Mexico lure jobs from the U.S. 

 
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Yemen’s War Rivals Exchange Artillery Fire Around Port City

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Security officials say Yemen’s Shiite rebels and government forces are shelling each other in areas south of Hodeida, straining an already shaky cease-fire in the Red Sea port city.

They said each side blamed the other for Saturday’s shelling, and that both were reinforcing their forces in the city in violation of the U.N.-brokered truce reached in Sweden last month.

 

The violence coincided with the arrival Saturday in Sanaa of U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths, his first visit to Yemen since the Sweden talks.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Yemen plunged into civil war in 2014 when the rebels known as Houthis captured Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in the war a year later, fighting alongside government troops.
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Bolton Warns Syria Against Use of Chemical Weapons

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U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton warned the Syrian government that it should not see the impending U.S. military withdrawal from the country as an invitation to use chemical weapons.

“There is absolutely no change in the U.S. position against the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime and absolutely no change in our position that any use of chemical weapons would be met by a very strong response, as we’ve done twice before,” Bolton told reporters on his plane shortly before landing in Tel Aviv, Israel.

“So the regime, the Assad regime should be under no illusions on that question.”

Bolton added: “As we elaborate how the withdrawal is going to occur and the circumstances, we don’t want the Assad regime to see what we do as representing any diminution in our opposition to the use of weapons of mass destruction.”

 
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Egypt Tries to Block ‘60 Minutes’ el-Sisi Interview

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Egypt does not want the CBS news program “60 Minutes” to broadcast an interview conducted with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

CBS said in a statement the Egyptian embassy contacted the news show “shortly after” the interview and requested that it not be aired.

The interview, conducted by Scott Pelley, will air Sunday night.

The president confirmed in the interview that the Egyptian military has been working closely with its archenemy Israel.

“That is correct,” el-Sisi says in the interview. “We have a wide range of cooperation with the Israelis.”

Egypt and Israel have coordinated attacks on ISIS terrorists in the Sinai Peninsula.

Pelley also questioned the Egyptian leader about the 60,000 political prisoners that Human Rights Watch says Egypt holds.

“I don’t know where they got that figure,” the president said. “I said there are no political prisoners in Egypt. Whenever there is a minority trying to impose their extremist ideology we have to intervene regardless of their numbers.”

A “60 Minutes” producer says in a video posted on the show’s Twitter account shows that “we understood that he wanted to be on the show. He wanted to be a figure up there with the powerful leaders in the Middle East and so we pitched this to him that those powerful leaders come on ‘60 Minutes.’”
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Ex-N. Korea Diplomat to Colleague: Defect to Seoul, Not US

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A former North Korean diplomat who staged a high-profile defection to the South on Saturday urged an old colleague who has gone missing in Italy to defect to Seoul, following a report that he was seeking asylum in the United States.

Jo Song Gil, the 44-year-old who was until recently North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, disappeared with his wife after leaving the embassy without notice in early November, South Korean lawmakers said Thursday.

Jo has applied for asylum in the United States and is under the protection of Italian intelligence, Italy’s La Repubblica newspaper said Friday, citing an unidentified diplomatic source.

The State Department and the U.S. embassy in Seoul did not immediately respond to a query from Reuters regarding the report.

In an open letter, Thae Yong Ho, Pyongyang’s former deputy ambassador to Britain, who said he went to the same university and worked with Jo before defecting to South Korea in 2016, urged Jo to follow in his footsteps.

To defect to the South is an “obligation, not a choice” for North Korean diplomats committed to unification, Thae said, calling Seoul “the outpost” for that task.

“If you come to South Korea, the day when our suffering colleagues and North Korean citizens are liberated from the fetters would be moved forward,” Thae said in the letter released on his website. “If you come to Seoul, even more of our colleagues would follow suit, and the unification would be accomplished by itself.”

Thae said his family visited Jo in Rome in 2008, where the latter was studying from 2006 to 2009. He guided them to sites such as St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City.

South Korea could not be “heaven on earth” but a place where Jo can realize his wishes, Thae said, highlighting the ardent desire for unification among many of the roughly 32,000 defectors there.

“The defectors may not be as wealthy as South Koreans,” Thae added. “But isn’t it the only thing you and I, as North Korean diplomats, should do the rest of our lives — to bring about unification and hand over a unified nation to our children?”
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Pentagon Denies Scaling Back Operations in Somalia

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The U.S. Defense Department is denying a media report the U.S. is planning to reduce its operations in Somalia.

Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Commander Candice Tresch told VOA Friday: “There have been no recent policy changes regarding U.S. operations in Somalia. We continue to support the Federal Government of Somalia’s efforts to degrade al-Shabab.”

NBC News reported Friday the U.S. is planning to scale back its operations in Somalia because U.S. airstrikes have “taken out” a number of the militant group’s senior operatives.

The Pentagon says “the U.S. conducted 47 precision airstrikes in 2018 against al-Shabab militants. In 2017, the U.S. conducted 35 air strikes and in 2016, conducted 15 air strikes. The first U.S.-led air strike of 2019 occurred Jan. 2 to diminish al-Shabab’s freedom of movement and to increase pressure on the terrorist network in the area.”

U.S. military officials say there are and estimated 3,000 to 7,000 al-Shabab fighters and 70 to 250 ISIS-Somalia fighters in Somalia as of August 2018.

There are about 500 U.S. Department of Defense personnel in Somalia.
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Near-Blind Portuguese Boxer Gives Back to Local Children

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For any world-class athlete, losing most of his or her vision would be a devastating setback. For former Portuguese boxer Jorge Pina however, it was an opportunity to give back to young people in his country. VOA’s Elizabeth Cherneff has more.
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There’s More Than One Way to Recycle a Christmas Tree

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There are a number of reasons why Americans like to have a live tree for their Christmas centerpiece It just smells like Christmas, they grew up with a real tree, they feel it’s better for the environment than an artificial one. And although trees can be chipped into mulch after the holiday, there are other ways to environmentally dispose of a Christmas tree that’s passed its prime. Faith Lapidus reports.
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Trump, Lawmakers Again Fail to End Shutdown

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President Trump and congressional leaders failed again to reach a deal to end the partial government shutdown, with both sides signaling a deadlock over their positions on funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The president has assigned a working group to negotiate with lawmakers over the weekend, but said that he is prepared to continue the shutdown for months, even years. White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the latest.
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Norwegian Airline’s Plane Stuck in Iran Awaiting Parts

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Norwegian Air Shuttle said Friday one of its Boeing 737s has been stuck in Iran for three weeks after an unscheduled landing because of engine problems, as U.S. restrictions reportedly create headaches for the airline and possibly passengers.

The aircraft was en route from Dubai to Oslo with 192 passengers and crew members when it carried out a “safety landing” in Shiraz in southwestern Iran because of engine trouble Dec. 14, a Norwegian Air Shuttle spokesman, Andreas Hjornholm, told AFP.

While passengers were able to fly on to Oslo the following day on another aircraft, the Boeing 737 Max has been stuck on Iranian soil where the airline’s mechanics are trying to repair it, Hjornholm said.

Parts needed

According to specialized websites, the repair work has encountered problems because international sanctions bar the airline from sending spare parts to Iran.

With the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, the Trump administration decided to re-impose sanctions on Tehran.

Norwegian Air Shuttle refused to comment on those reports.

“I can only say that we are working with several options to get the plane back on the wings, and right now we are waiting for our technicians to be able to service the plane and to get it working,” Hjornholm said.

The incident has fueled jokes on social media.

“Iran has become a Bermuda Triangle that feeds on planes,” one Iranian Twitter user wrote.

Problem for passengers, crew

It could also pose problems for the plane’s passengers and crew members if they want to travel to the U.S. in future.

Since 2015, anyone who has traveled to seven countries considered at risk (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) since March 2011 is excluded from the U.S. visa waiver program applied to most Europeans.

According to Hjornholm, the passengers and crew on the Dubai-Oslo flight officially entered Iran and stayed overnight at a hotel, Dec. 14-15.

 

The US embassy in Oslo was not available for comment.

Last year, former NATO secretary general Javier Solana was refused entry to the U.S. because he had visited Iran for the inauguration ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani in 2013.
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Weather Channel App Sued, Accused of Selling Users’ Data

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People relied on the most popular mobile weather app to track forecasts that determined whether they chose jeans over shorts and packed a parka or umbrella, but its owners used it to track their every step and profit off that information, Los Angeles prosecutors said Friday. 

The operator of The Weather Channel mobile app misled users who agreed to share their location information in exchange for personalized forecasts and alerts, and they instead unwittingly surrendered personal privacy when the company sold their data to third parties, City Attorney Michael Feuer said.

 

Feuer sued the app’s operator in Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop the practice. He said 80 percent of users agreed to allow access to their locations because disclosures on how the app uses geolocation data were buried within a 10,000-word privacy policy and not revealed when they downloaded the app.

“Think how Orwellian it feels to live in a world where a private company is tracking potentially every place you go, every minute of every day,” Feuer said. “If you want to sacrifice to that company that information, you sure ought to be doing it with clear advanced notice of what’s at stake.” 

App defends practices

A spokesman for IBM Corp., which owns the app, said it has always been clear about the use of location data collected from users and will vigorously defend its “fully appropriate” disclosures.

Feuer said the app’s operators, TWC Product and Technology LLC, sold data to at least a dozen websites for targeted ads and to hedge funds that used the information to analyze consumer behavior. 

The lawsuit seeks to stop the company from the practice it calls “unfair and fraudulent” and seeks penalties of up to $2,500 for each violation. Any court decision would only apply to California.

 

Marketed as the “world’s most downloaded weather app,” The Weather Channel app claims approximately 45 million users a month, the lawsuit said. 

 

Users who download the free app are asked whether to allow access to their location to “get personalized local weather data, alerts and forecasts.” It does not say how the company benefits from the information.

 

While disclosures may be included in the privacy policy, state law says “fine print alone can’t make good what otherwise has been made obscure,” Feuer said.

He said he learned about the sale of the private data from an article in The New York Times.

Personal data

The lawsuit comes as companies, most notably Facebook and Google, are increasingly under fire for how they use people’s personal data. Both companies faced congressional hearings last year on privacy issues, which are likely to remain on lawmakers and regulators’ minds both nationally and in California. 

In June, California lawmakers approved what experts are calling the country’s most far-reaching law to give people more control over their personal data online. That law doesn’t take effect until next year.

Feuer said he hopes the case inspires other lawsuits and legislation to curb data-sharing practices.

 

IBM bought the app along with the digital assets of The Weather Company in 2015 for $2 billion but did not acquire The Weather Channel seen on TV, which is owned by another company.
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US Sends Troops to Gabon to Watch for Congo Violence

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President Donald Trump said Friday that U.S. military personnel had deployed to Gabon in response to possible violent demonstrations in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a presidential election there.

In a letter to congressional leaders, Trump said the first of about 80 military personnel arrived in Gabon on Wednesday in case they are needed to protect U.S. citizens and diplomatic facilities in Congo’s capital Kinshasa.

He said they “will remain in the region until the security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo becomes such that their presence is no longer needed.”

Trump said additional forces may deploy to Gabon “if necessary.”

Congo’s electoral commission is scheduled to release provisional results of the presidential election Sunday, but it has said there could be delays because of the slow arrival of tally sheets.

Observers and the opposition say the election was marred by serious irregularities. Congo’s government says the election was fair and went smoothly.

President Joseph Kabila’s ruling coalition is backing his handpicked successor Emmanuel Ramazani Shadary.

The international community has raised concerns that a disputed result could cause unrest, as was the case after the 2006 and 2011 elections.

On Thursday, the U.S. State Department called on the electoral commission to ensure votes were accurately counted and threatened to impose sanctions against those who undermined the process or threatened peace and stability in the country.
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UN to Replace Expelled Diplomat in Somalia 

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The United Nations secretary-general said Friday that he “deeply regrets” the decision of Somalia’s federal government to expel a top U.N. official, Nicholas Haysom, from the country, but that he will name a replacement.

“The secretary-general has full confidence in Mr. Haysom, an experienced and respected international civil servant who has distinguished himself in numerous senior leadership roles, in the field and at U.N. headquarters,” Antonio Guterres’ spokesman said Friday. “At the same time the secretary-general is totally committed to ensuring that the needs of the Somali people are at the forefront of the work of the United Nations in Somalia.”

The Somali federal government declared U.N. envoy Haysom “persona non-grata” on Jan. 1, ordering him to leave the country just four months after he took up his post as the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative and head of the U.N. assistance mission in the country.

Letter upsets Somalia leaders

The government was upset over a letter to the authorities from Haysom raising the case of Mukhtar Robow, a former al-Shabab leader who has moved into politics and sought to participate in elections in the South West state. 

​The national electoral commission banned Robow from running, while the South West state electoral body said he could be a candidate. Robow was arrested last month and violent protests ensued both for and against the decision. 

Guterres’ spokesman said the U.N. chief spoke twice this week with Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi “Farmajo” Mohamed. Efforts to smooth over the disagreement apparently failed. 

In a letter from Guterres’ office to the government of Somalia seen by VOA, the U.N. argues that the doctrine of “persona non grata” does not apply to U.N. personnel, but to “diplomatic agents who are accredited by one state to another in the context of their bilateral relations.” It goes on to say that it is the secretary-general’s prerogative to appoint staff and decide where they serve, for how long and when they are to be recalled. 

Zenenga takes over

Until a replacement is named for Haysom, deputy special envoy Raisedon Zenenga will head U.N. activities in Somalia. 

At a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Thursday, Somalia’s ambassador, Abukar Dahir Osman, said the U.N. has a duty not to interfere in his country’s internal affairs. Of the Robow case, he argued that a former member of al-Shabab or any terrorist group must undergo “stringent” rehabilitation before being allowed to assume leadership positions. 

Haysom, a South African lawyer, is an experienced U.N. diplomat. He was previously the special envoy for Sudan and South Sudan and was head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, in addition to other high-level posts in the organization. 
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Pompeo to Seek Khashoggi Case Update on Middle East trip: Statement

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will seek an update to Saudi Arabia’s investigation into the October killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi when he visits Riyadh during a trip to the  Middle East next week, the State Department said on Friday.

Khashoggi, a U.S.-based Washington Post journalist from Saudi Arabia who had become a critic of the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.

U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded the crown prince ordered an operation to kill Khashoggi, whose body was dismembered and removed from the building to a location still publicly unknown. Top Turkish officials have also tied his death to the highest levels of Saudi leadership. Saudi officials have denied accusations that the prince ordered the murder.

A Saudi court on Thursday held its first hearing on Khashoggi’s case in which Saudi Arabian prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for five of the 11 suspects in the case. The United Nations human rights office on Friday called the trial “not sufficient.”

Pompeo will also visit Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait as part of his Jan. 8 to Jan. 15 trip, the State Department said in a statement.

As part of his talks with Middle Eastern leaders, Pompeo will also discuss the war in Yemen as well as Iran, Syria and other regional issues, the department said.
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Russian, Israeli Leaders Hold Phone Discussion on Syria

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have held telephone consultations centering on Syria.

In the Friday call, Putin and Netanyahu “focused on developments in Syria, including in light of the United States’ stated intention to withdraw its troops from that country. They pointed to the need for the final defeat of terrorism and speedy achievement of a political settlement in Syria,” a Kremlin statement said.

Netanyahu also offered condolences following an apartment building collapse in the Russian city of Magnitogorsk this week that killed 39 people, the statement said.
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Navy SEAL to Plead Not Guilty to Murder Charge of IS Teen

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A decorated Navy SEAL is facing charges of premediated murder and numerous other offenses in connection with the fatal stabbing of a teenage Islamic State prisoner under his care in Iraq in 2017, along with the shooting of unarmed Iraqi civilians.

Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher plans to plead not guilty to all the charges Friday during an arraignment hearing at Naval Base San Diego, his attorney Phil Stackhouse said.

The case stands out because of the seriousness of the allegations against an elite special warfare operator and the fact that the prosecution’s case includes the accounts of fellow Navy SEALs, an extremely tight-knit group even by military standards.

Stackhouse said his client is being falsely accused by disgruntled SEALs who wanted to get rid of a demanding platoon leader.

Gallagher was awarded the Bronze Star twice.

Navy prosecutors have painted a picture of a highly trained fighter and medic going off the rails on his eighth deployment — indiscriminately shooting at Iraqi civilians — and stabbing to death a captured Islamic State fighter estimated to be 15 years old, and then posing with the corpse at his re-enlistment ceremony.

If convicted, the 19-year Navy veteran faces life in prison.

At a two-day preliminary hearing at the Navy base in November, investigators said Gallagher stabbed the teen in the neck and body with a knife after he was handed over to the SEALs in the Iraqi city of Mosul to be treated for wounds sustained by the Iraqi Army and its prisoners during an airstrike in May 2017.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Joe Warpinski told the court that a SEAL medic told him he believed he had just stabilized the teen when Gallagher “walked up without saying anything at all” and started stabbing him. Afterward, prosecutors say he took photos of himself with the corpse, holding up his knife in one hand and the teen’s head in the other. He also posed with the body during his re-enlistment ceremony captured in the footage, Warpinski said.

Warpinski said when another SEAL questioned Gallagher, the chief replied that “I was working on him, and he just died.” His defense attorney also indicated to the court the teen died from injuries from the airstrike.

SEAL accounts

Warpinski, who spoke to nine members of SEAL Team 7, said he was told Gallagher would fire into crowds of Iraqis. He is accused of shooting an elderly man carting a water jug in Mosul in June 2017, and a month later shooting a girl walking along a riverbank in the same area. Investigators told the court that he had threatened to publicly name fellow SEALs if they reported his actions.

According to Warpinski, some SEALs were so concerned about his actions that they did not tell him his sniper rifle settings were off so his shooting would be less accurate and they would fire warning shots to clear areas of civilians.

There has been speculation that the case may widen to implicate others for not reporting what they witnessed. Prosecutors have already accused Gallagher’s platoon commander, Navy Lt. Jacob Portier, of not acting on the allegations. His attorney Jeremiah Sullivan said Portier was the first to report them to superiors and did so as soon as he learned of them. His arraignment hearing has not been scheduled yet.

But Navy spokesman Brian O’rourke said the case for now is focusing solely on Gallagher and Portier. “There is zero interest in taking action against any witnesses at this time,” O’rourke said.

Online fundraiser

Gallagher’s attorney Stackhouse said his client looks forward to the trial to clear his name. “He’s never run from a fight, and he’s not going to run from this one,” he said.

Stackhouse plans to ask the judge Friday to allow Gallagher to be released from the brig, where he has been held since his arrest Sept. 11.

The Navy SEALs Fund has raised more than $200,000 through an online fundraiser for his defense. According to the foundation’s posting online: “Eddie’s record and reputation as an elite warrior is rivaled only by a few men who have served by his side as special warfare operators and heroes who have gone before him.”
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UN Peacekeepers Provide Free Clinic in Remote Village in Troubled Mali

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Residents of some of the more remote parts of Mali are now receiving free medical care. The United Nations Mission in Mali recently deployed armed peacekeepers to the landlocked African nation. The country has been in turmoil since the government temporarily lost control of the north in 2012. Arash Arabasadi reports.
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Insurers Sue California Utility Over Wildfire Damages

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Several insurance companies have filed lawsuits blaming Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a deadly California wildfire that destroyed 14,000 homes and triggered billions of dollars in insurance claims.

The lawsuits filed by Allstate, State Farm, USAA and their subsidiaries come on top of several other cases filed by victims of the Camp Fire, which devastated the towns of Paradise, Magalia and Concow north of Sacramento after it started Nov. 8.

Investigators have not pinpointed a cause for the fire. But the insurance companies note in their lawsuits that flames ignited near the site of a transmission-line irregularity reported by the utility. They also note a potential second ignition point involving PG&E distribution lines. 

​California law

Under California law, PG&E is held entirely liable if lawyers can prove the fire is linked to the utility’s power lines or other equipment, a fact that sent shares of the company tumbling following the start of the fire.

Following a series of deadly fires in 2017 in Northern California’s wine country, PG&E executives and lobbyists tried to persuade state lawmakers to change the legal standard and reduce the company’s liability. Lawmakers declined, but they allowed the company to pass along some of the costs from the 2017 fires to its customers in hopes of sparing it from bankruptcy. The law does not help the company for the 2018 blazes.

The lawsuits were filed last month in Sacramento County Superior Court. They were first reported by the Sacramento Business Journal.

“We are aware of lawsuits regarding the Camp Fire,” Lynsey Paulo, a PG&E spokeswoman, said in a statement. “Our focus continues to be on assessing infrastructure to further enhance safety and helping our customers recover and rebuild.”

​Manslaughter charges possible

PG&E, one of the nation’s largest electric utilities with more than 5 million customers in Northern and Central California, is facing legal and regulatory challenges on a number of fronts, including the potential for criminal charges.

The California attorney general told a judge last week that PG&E could face charges as serious as involuntary manslaughter or murder if investigators determine that reckless operation or maintenance of power equipment caused any recent wildfires in the state.

A federal judge overseeing a case that resulted in a criminal conviction for the company following a 2010 pipeline explosion has asked PG&E to explain any role it may have had in the Camp Fire. The judge could impose new requirements on the utility if it’s found to have violated its probation in the pipeline case.
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House Passes Funds to Re-Open Government, Not for Wall

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U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional leaders are scheduled to meet late Friday morning at the White House to discuss how to end the government shutdown that has entered its third week.

The meeting comes a day after a new group of lawmakers was sworn into office in what is now a Democratically led House of Representatives.

Thursday night, the House passed a plan to reopen the federal government.

The measure did not include the $5 billion the president has demanded to build a wall at the U.S. border with Mexico.

“We’re not doing a wall,” Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, said after she was sworn in Thursday as the new speaker of the House of Representatives. She suggested that the money could better be used for border security technology and hiring more border agents.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called the House plan to end the shutdown “political theater,” even though the Republican-led Senate passed an identical bill last month.

The legislation passed in the House Thursday called for the reopening of the federal government and the funding of the Department of Homeland Security until early February.

While Trump himself has not used the word “veto,” other White House officials have. One official said the president told Democratic leaders he would “look foolish” if he ended the shutdown.

 

Trump is blaming Democrats for the current situation.

“The shutdown is only because of the 2020 presidential election,” he tweeted Thursday. “The Democrats know they can’t win based on all of the achievements of Trump, so they are going all out on the desperately needed wall and border security and presidential harassment. For them, strictly politics.”

Trump said the country needs protection, and warned that crime, drugs and gangs were pouring into the United States from Mexico.

He also claimed there are as many as 35 million illegal immigrants in the United States, contradicting experts who say the number is far lower.

Meanwhile, 800,000 federal workers have been furloughed or are working without pay.
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Justice to Probe if Zinke Lied to Investigators

Posted on by SeeUS

The Justice Department has launched an investigation into whether Ryan Zinke lied to Interior Department investigators. 

The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Justice Department’s public integrity section had begun the probe of the interior secretary, who left office Wednesday. 

Zinke told the Associated Press that he had not lied to the investigators looking into possible ethics violations and that the report had been leaked by people wanting to smear his legacy. 

His personal conduct and executive decisions have raised questions about whether he used his position for personal gain, triggering at least 15 investigations, several of which cleared him of wrongdoing.

Served for almost two years

The former Republican congressman from the western state of Montana, who has served as Interior Secretary for almost two years, left just weeks before Democrats took control of the House. 

As head of the Interior Department, which oversees federal land and wildlife, Zinke helped lead the Trump administration’s successful roll-back of environmental regulations. He also promoted U.S. energy development, but questions about his conduct dogged him throughout his term.

Report sent to Justice Department

The Interior Department’s internal watchdog investigated Zinke for his involvement in a Montana land agreement backed by David Lesar, chairman of the oil field services company, Halliburton.

The agency’s Office of Inspector General has referred the investigation to the Justice Department for potential wrongdoing. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, has denied any wrongdoing.

Zinke also drew criticism for mixing official business with political campaigning and family travel. The IG’s office said, in an investigation it released in October, that Zinke had staffers explore designating his wife an agency volunteer so that she could travel with him at taxpayers’ expense. Some of the taxpayer-funded trips were taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands, an Alaska steakhouse and a Montana ski resort. 

VOA’s Wayne Lee contributed to this report
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Most Members of May’s Party Oppose Her Brexit Deal

Posted on by SeeEU

A majority of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party members oppose her Brexit deal with the European Union, according to a survey published Friday.

With less than three months until Britain leaves the bloc, May has yet to win parliament’s backing for her deal, and the survey may dent hopes that pressure from local members over Christmas might persuade Conservative lawmakers to support it.

May postponed a planned December vote on her deal in parliament after admitting it would be defeated and is seeking further assurances from EU leaders ahead of a vote now set for the week beginning Jan. 14.

​Survey findings

The survey of 1,215 Conservative Party members found 59 percent opposed May’s deal, with 38 percent in favor.

More than half of the members questioned said they did not believe it respected the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum.

Asked how they would vote if another referendum were held to choose between May’s deal or leaving without a deal, just 29 percent said they would pick May’s agreement, compared to 64 percent who would opt for no deal.

The survey was conducted Dec. 17-22 by YouGov for the Party Members Project, a three-year study of membership of the six largest British parties funded by a non-departmental public body, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Local party members 

“Grassroots Tories are even less impressed than Tory Members of Parliament (MPs),” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, who helps run the Party Members project.

“If some of those MPs can be persuaded to back the prime minister’s deal, it won’t be because they’ve come under pressure to do so from their local party members over the Christmas break,” he added.

EU and Irish backstop

May is seeking assurances from the EU over the so-called Irish backstop, an insurance policy to avoid a hard border between the British province and EU-member Ireland, which remains the main obstacle to securing the backing of parliament.

The backstop has cost her the support of dozens of her own lawmakers and the small Northern Irish party that props up her minority government, with critics fearing it could leave Britain indefinitely trapped in the EU’s customs union.

Only 11 percent of Conservative members thought the backstop made sense and should be part of the Brexit deal. Although 23 percent thought it was a bad idea but a price worth paying to secure a deal, 40 percent said Britain should reject any deal that included the backstop.

The government has said it is stepping up planning for a no-deal Brexit, which Brexit minister Stephen Barclay said Thursday was a more likely outcome if parliament rejects May’s deal.

Business leaders have warned a no-deal Brexit would cause huge disruption, clogging up ports with additional border checks and dislocating supply chains in Europe and beyond.

Asked about warnings over the risks of no-deal disruption, including potential food and medicine shortages, 76 percent of Conservative members said they were “exaggerated or invented.”
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