Greece: 10 Detained After Paint Thrown at US Embassy

Greek police detained ten people and formally arrested two of them Monday after the U.S. Embassy in Athens was vandalized with paint.

Police said the 10 were detained after a group of people on motorbikes threw red paint at the embassy’s parking entrance at around 3:30 a.m. local time. An anarchist group known as Rouvikonas claimed responsibility for the attack in an internet post.

 

It cited “American imperialism” as well as Greece’s deal with neighboring Macedonia for the latter to change its name to North Macedonia in return for NATO membership, and the recent US decision to pull out of Syria, a move it said delivers Kurdish forces there “to the semi-fascist state of Turkey.”

 

Rouvikonas has carried out similar paint attacks in the past against embassies, Greek state organizations and political party offices.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt condemned “this morning’s silly and senseless vandalism” in a Twitter post.

 

 

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Greece: 10 Detained After Paint Thrown at US Embassy

Greek police detained ten people and formally arrested two of them Monday after the U.S. Embassy in Athens was vandalized with paint.

Police said the 10 were detained after a group of people on motorbikes threw red paint at the embassy’s parking entrance at around 3:30 a.m. local time. An anarchist group known as Rouvikonas claimed responsibility for the attack in an internet post.

 

It cited “American imperialism” as well as Greece’s deal with neighboring Macedonia for the latter to change its name to North Macedonia in return for NATO membership, and the recent US decision to pull out of Syria, a move it said delivers Kurdish forces there “to the semi-fascist state of Turkey.”

 

Rouvikonas has carried out similar paint attacks in the past against embassies, Greek state organizations and political party offices.

 

U.S. Ambassador to Athens Geoffrey Pyatt condemned “this morning’s silly and senseless vandalism” in a Twitter post.

 

 

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Saudi Woman Fleeing Family under UN Care in Thailand

Thai authorities says a young Saudi woman who was stopped in Thailand as she tried to flee to Australia to seek asylum has left the Bangkok airport and is under the care of the U.N. refugee agency.

“She is under the care of the UNHCR now but we also sent Thai security to help take care (of her),” the head of Thailand’s Immigration Police  Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn told reporters about the case of the woman, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun.  He has said she will not be forcibly sent back to Saudi Arabia.

The 18-year-old fled from Kuwait during a family vacation and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport Saturday night.  

She had barricaded herself inside her airport hotel room and on Monday made several Twitter posts demanding she be allowed to meet with someone from the U.N. 

In an earlier video post,  Alqunun can be seen pacing inside the hotel room and saying, “I just want to survive.”

“My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair. I am 100 percent certain they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail,” she said.

Thai authorities had refused to let her into the country, saying she had no travel documents or money.

But Alqunun says Saudi and Kuwait officials took away her passport when she arrived  — a claim backed up by Human Rights Watch.

“Thai authorities should immediately halt any deportation and either allow her to continue her travel to Australia or permit her to remain in Thailand to seek protection as a refugee,” Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director Michael Page said.

He appealed to Saudi and Thai officials not to follow through with their initial plan to send Aqunun back to Kuwait on Monday.

“Saudi women fleeing their families can face severe violence from relatives, deprivation of liberty, and other serious harm if returned against their will,” he said.

Women have few civil rights in the ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom. They need permission from a male relative to obtain a passport and travel overseas.

Women who commit so-called crimes against morality can sometimes meet the death penalty.

Another Saudi woman, Dina Lasloom, flew to the Philippines in 2017 while trying to escape Saudi Arabia.

An airline security official reported seeing her dragged out of the airport with her mouth, hands, and feet bound with duct tape.

Human rights activists have seen no trace of her since.

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Saudi Woman Fleeing Family under UN Care in Thailand

Thai authorities says a young Saudi woman who was stopped in Thailand as she tried to flee to Australia to seek asylum has left the Bangkok airport and is under the care of the U.N. refugee agency.

“She is under the care of the UNHCR now but we also sent Thai security to help take care (of her),” the head of Thailand’s Immigration Police  Maj. Gen. Surachate Hakparn told reporters about the case of the woman, Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun.  He has said she will not be forcibly sent back to Saudi Arabia.

The 18-year-old fled from Kuwait during a family vacation and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport Saturday night.  

She had barricaded herself inside her airport hotel room and on Monday made several Twitter posts demanding she be allowed to meet with someone from the U.N. 

In an earlier video post,  Alqunun can be seen pacing inside the hotel room and saying, “I just want to survive.”

“My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair. I am 100 percent certain they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail,” she said.

Thai authorities had refused to let her into the country, saying she had no travel documents or money.

But Alqunun says Saudi and Kuwait officials took away her passport when she arrived  — a claim backed up by Human Rights Watch.

“Thai authorities should immediately halt any deportation and either allow her to continue her travel to Australia or permit her to remain in Thailand to seek protection as a refugee,” Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director Michael Page said.

He appealed to Saudi and Thai officials not to follow through with their initial plan to send Aqunun back to Kuwait on Monday.

“Saudi women fleeing their families can face severe violence from relatives, deprivation of liberty, and other serious harm if returned against their will,” he said.

Women have few civil rights in the ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom. They need permission from a male relative to obtain a passport and travel overseas.

Women who commit so-called crimes against morality can sometimes meet the death penalty.

Another Saudi woman, Dina Lasloom, flew to the Philippines in 2017 while trying to escape Saudi Arabia.

An airline security official reported seeing her dragged out of the airport with her mouth, hands, and feet bound with duct tape.

Human rights activists have seen no trace of her since.

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Britain Testing ‘No-Deal’ Scenario as Brexit Vote Nears

Britain is testing how its motorway and ferry system would handle a no-deal Brexit by sending a stream of trucks from a regional airport to the port of Dover — even as some legislators try to pressure the government to rule out the scenario.

The tests began Monday morning and are intended to gauge how severe the disruption would be if Britain leaves the European Union on March 29 without an agreed upon withdrawal deal.

 

It is expected that an abrupt departure without a deal would lead to the introduction of tariff and customs barriers that would slow fast-moving ferry and rail traffic that links Britain to continental Europe. There are concerns that major traffic jams leading into and out of ferry ports like Dover could greatly hamper trade and leave Britain without adequate food and medicine.

 

Parliament is expected to resume its debate over the government’s planned withdrawal deal Wednesday, with a vote tentatively scheduled for early next week.

 

There are no indications that lobbying over the holidays has garnered Prime Minister Theresa May more support for her plan, which has sparked wide opposition in Parliament. A vote that had been scheduled in November was delayed as May admitted it would face certain defeat.

 

The prospect of the bill’s possible defeat next week has renewed concern about the “no-deal” situation that Britain would face as the withdrawal date approaches without any arrangements in place.

 

Fears about economic disruption Monday sparked roughly 200 legislators including some from the prime minister’s Conservative Party to write to May asking her to rule out the no-deal scenario.

 

May has not spelled out how she will respond if the withdrawal bill is voted down next week.

 

Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng said Monday that the government is still focused on winning the vote.

 

“A week is a very long time in politics. We don’t know what the numbers are,” he told BBC. “We have got a week. I think the situation — as it always does — has developed, it evolves. I am very hopeful that the deal will be voted through next week.”

 

 

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Kurdish Official Asks for US Clarifications Over Withdrawal

A Syrian Kurdish official says Syria’s Kurds are awaiting clarifications from the U.S. over America’s withdrawal plans following comments made by a top White House aide that appeared to contradict earlier comments by President Donald Trump.

Speaking to The Associated Press from northern Syria Monday, Badran Jia Kurd says the Kurds have not been informed of any change in the U.S. position and were in the dark about the latest comments by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton and what they indicated.

 

Bolton, on a visit to Israel Sunday, said U.S. troops will not leave northeastern Syria until IS militants are defeated and American-allied Kurdish fighters are protected. The comments appeared to put the brakes on a withdrawal abruptly announced by Trump last month and initially expected to be completed within weeks.

 

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Mobile DNA Analysis Device Helps Farmers Fight Crop Diseases

A leap in technology has allowed scientists to take their DNA labs out into the fields, so farmers can identify diseases quickly and tackle the problem before their crops die, or the virus spreads to neighboring farms. Faith Lapidus reports.

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Mobile DNA Analysis Device Helps Farmers Fight Crop Diseases

A leap in technology has allowed scientists to take their DNA labs out into the fields, so farmers can identify diseases quickly and tackle the problem before their crops die, or the virus spreads to neighboring farms. Faith Lapidus reports.

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Bolton to Seek Turkey’s Reassurance on Kurds In Syria

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton says U.S. troops will not withdraw from Syria without an agreement from Turkey that it will not attack Kurds in northern Syria. U.S. President Donald Trump’s December 19 announcement of an imminent pullout raised fear among U.S.-backed Kurds in Syria. Turkey has announced plans to attack Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria claiming they are allied with a Kurdish terrorist group. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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Bolton to Seek Turkey’s Reassurance on Kurds In Syria

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton says U.S. troops will not withdraw from Syria without an agreement from Turkey that it will not attack Kurds in northern Syria. U.S. President Donald Trump’s December 19 announcement of an imminent pullout raised fear among U.S.-backed Kurds in Syria. Turkey has announced plans to attack Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria claiming they are allied with a Kurdish terrorist group. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

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Gabon Arrests Military Officers Involved In Coup Attempt

A Gabonese government spokesman says all but one of the military officers who attempted a coup early Monday have been arrested. 

“Four have been arrested and one is on the run,” said Gabon spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou. 

Military officers seized Gabonese National Radio, the state radio station, Monday in Libreville, the capital.

The soldiers announced their intent to establish a national restoration council. 

Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang said on the airwaves that President Ali Bongo’s recent radio address “reinforced doubts about the president’s ability to continue to carry out the responsibilities of his office.” 

The president is in Morocco, recovering from a stroke.

The French news agency AFP reports that shots were heard at the state television offices in the Libreville at the same time the military statement was being read on the radio. 

U.S. President Donald Trump recently deployed American military personnel to Gabon because of fears on political unrest in neighboring Congo. 

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Gabon Arrests Military Officers Involved In Coup Attempt

A Gabonese government spokesman says all but one of the military officers who attempted a coup early Monday have been arrested. 

“Four have been arrested and one is on the run,” said Gabon spokesman Guy-Bertrand Mapangou. 

Military officers seized Gabonese National Radio, the state radio station, Monday in Libreville, the capital.

The soldiers announced their intent to establish a national restoration council. 

Lieutenant Kelly Ondo Obiang said on the airwaves that President Ali Bongo’s recent radio address “reinforced doubts about the president’s ability to continue to carry out the responsibilities of his office.” 

The president is in Morocco, recovering from a stroke.

The French news agency AFP reports that shots were heard at the state television offices in the Libreville at the same time the military statement was being read on the radio. 

U.S. President Donald Trump recently deployed American military personnel to Gabon because of fears on political unrest in neighboring Congo. 

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US: No Abrupt Withdrawal of Troops from Syria

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton is due to hold talks Monday in Turkey as the Trump administration seeks assurances that Turkish forces will not target Kurdish fighters allied with American forces.

The visit to Turkey comes a day after Bolton said protection for the Kurdish fighters who have helped battle Islamic State militants was one of the necessary conditions for a U.S. withdrawal of its 2,000 troops in Syria.

“We don’t think the Turks ought to undertake military action that’s not fully coordinated with and agreed to by the United States at a minimum so they don’t endanger our troops, but also so that they meet the president’s requirement that the Syrian opposition forces that have fought with us are not endangered,” Bolton told reporters Sunday.

WATCH: John Bolton on Turkey-Syria relations

Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters, known as the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units or YPG, to be linked to the PKK, a Kurdish group that has waged a decades-long insurgency in southeastern Turkey.

Bolton said there is no timetable for a U.S. withdrawal, but that the process would not be abrupt. His comments were the first public confirmation that the administration had backed off an initial indication that it would pull out the troops within 30 days.

Bolton said President Donald Trump “wants the ISIS caliphate destroyed,” referring to Islamic State, which once claimed Raqqa in northern Syria as the capital of its religious territory in Syria and Iraq.

Trump overruled U.S. national security officials and surprised allies with his Dec. 19 announcement he was withdrawing the U.S. troops from Syria, where they have carried out air attacks on Islamic State and Syrian positions and advised Kurdish fighters. Trump’s action, meeting a long-time pledge of his to get U.S. troops out of Syria, drew widespread protests, including from Republican lawmakers and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

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Trump Stands by Wall Money Demand as Democrats Plan New Funding Bills

The partial U.S. government shutdown reached its 17th day Monday with President Donald Trump retaining his demand for money to build a border wall and House Democrats preparing votes on new bills aimed at opening shuttered agencies.

As a new work week began in the United States, several hundred thousand government workers remained at home while hundreds of thousands more are continuing to report for work with no idea when they will receive their next paycheck.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said this week she will hold votes on individual spending bills to re-open closed agencies. She said the priority would be the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service, “an action necessary to make sure working families received their tax refunds on schedule.”

​Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected a previous House package that would have funded most of the agencies through the end of September and the Department of Homeland Security for a month to allow for further border security negotiations. McConnell called the plan a “non-starter.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer called on McConnell to bring the new set of bills to a vote once they pass the House.

“They are essentially the same funding bills that the Republican Senate wrote and approved by a 92-6 margin during the last Congress,” Hoyer said in a statement Sunday.

Democrats have previously offered to approve $1.3 billion for border security methods, but not the more than $5 billion Trump desires for a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, saying the wall would be an ineffective and expensive effort.

Trump insists the wall is needed to stop people from illegally crossing into the country from Mexico, as well as preventing drug trafficking and terrorism.

He praised a meeting Sunday between Vice President Mike Pence and Democratic officials about border security, and said that if Democrats are willing to make a deal, one could be reached “in 20 minutes if they want to.” 

Otherwise, Trump said, the shutdown is “going to go on for a long time.”

The president says he is considering declaring a national emergency that would allow him to build a wall without congressional approval — a move some Democrats say would be challenged in the courts.

“Look, if (President) Harry Truman couldn’t nationalize the steel industry during wartime, this president doesn’t have the power to declare an emergency and build a multi-billion dollar wall on the border,” Congressman Adam Schiff said on CNN.

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Egypt’s El-Sissi Inaugurates Cathedral, Mosque

Egypt’s president on Sunday inaugurated a new cathedral for the Coptic Orthodox Church and one of the region’s largest mosques in a highly symbolic gesture at a time when Islamic militants are increasingly targeting the country’s minority Christians.

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, a general-turned-president, has made sectarian harmony a cornerstone of his rule, fighting Islamic militancy while advocating equality between the overwhelming Muslim majority and Christians, who account for 10 percent of Egypt’s 100 million people.

“This is a historic and important moment,” said el-Sissi inside the cathedral. “But we still have to protect the tree of love we planted here together today because seditions never end.”

The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar, the world’s primary seat of learning for Sunni Muslims, echoed el-Sissi’s sentiments in comments also made at the cathedral. The two places of worship, he said, stand as a symbol in the face of “attempts to undermine the country’s stability and sectarian seditions.”

El-Sissi’s widely publicized policy to staunch sectarianism, however, has done little to protect Christians in rural Egypt, where Muslim extremists frequently attack their homes and businesses or force them to leave their homes after violent disputes. Critics and activists say discrimination against Christians there is often tolerated by local authorities and branches of the security agencies. Christians also complain of stringent restrictions on the construction of churches.   

But Sunday’s opening ceremony in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital, el-Sissi’s brainchild that is located in the desert east of Cairo, stressed what the pro-government media like to call the “unbreakable national fabric” of Christians and Muslims. Entertainers and chorus lines took to the stage to sing about the two faiths living peacefully side by side. Short films on the same topic were also screened.

The ceremony’s presenters portrayed the construction of the cathedral and the mosque, which took 18 months to complete, as a message to humanity. “It is a message to the whole world that Egypt is a nation for all,” said one presenter.

The ceremony, attended by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and a host of Arab dignitaries, included recorded video messages of support from the region’s top Christian clerics as well as Pope Francis.

Speaking in Italian, Pope Francis said: “With joy I greet all of you on the joyful occasion of the dedication of the new Cathedral of the Nativity, built in the new administrative capital. May the prince of peace give to Egypt, the Middle East and the whole world the gift of peace and prosperity.”

The inauguration ceremony, which ended with a display of fireworks, took on added significance because it fell on Christmas Eve for Egypt’s predominantly Coptic Orthodox Christians, and just hours after a police bomb squad major was killed trying to defuse an explosive device near a Cairo church. El-Sissi and participants observed a minute of silence in memory of the fallen policeman.

The late Saturday blast came a little more than a week after a roadside bomb hit a tourist bus near the Giza Pyramids, killing three Vietnamese tourists and their Egyptian driver. It likely will compel authorities to further tighten security around churches ahead of the Coptic Orthodox Christmas. Already, armed policemen guard churches and security guards check the identity of visitors. Metal detectors have also been set up outside churches.

The heightened security followed a spate of attacks claimed by the Islamic State group which has targeted churches and buses carrying pilgrims to remote desert monasteries, killing more than 100 Christians over the past two years.

Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, with the army and police now engaged since early last year in an all-out campaign to eradicate them, throwing into battle tens of thousands of troops backed by armor, fighter jets, helicopter gunships and warships.

 

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Saudi Woman Who Fled to Thailand Fears Death if Sent Home

A young Saudi woman who fled to Thailand is pleading not to be forced back to Saudi Arabia.

“I just want to survive,” 18 year-old Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun said in a social media video where she can be seen pacing inside a Bangkok airport hotel room.

“My family is strict and locked me in a room for six months just for cutting my hair. I am 100% certain they will kill me as soon as I get out of the Saudi jail.”

Rahaf fled from Kuwait during a family vacation and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport Saturday night, intending to seek asylum in Australia.

Thai authorities refused to let her into the country, saying she had no travel documents or money.

But Rahaf says Saudi and Kuwait officials took away her passport when she arrived, a claim backed up by Human Rights Watch.

“Thai authorities should immediately halt any deportation and either allow her to continue her travel to Australia or permit her to remain in Thailand to seek protection as a refugee,” Human Rights Watch deputy Middle East director Michael Page said.

He appealed to Saudi and Thai officials not to follow through with their plans to send Rahaf back to Kuwait Monday.

“Saudi women fleeing their families can face severe violence from relatives, deprivation of liberty, and other serious harm if returned against their will,” he said.

Women have few civil rights in the ultra-conservative Saudi kingdom. They need permission from a male relative to obtain a passport and travel overseas.

Females who commit so-called crimes against morality can sometimes meet the death penalty.

Another Saudi woman, Dina Lasloom, flew to the Philippines in 2017 while trying to escape Saudi Arabia.

An airline security official reported seeing her dragged out of the airport with her mouth, hands, and feet bound with duct tape.

Human rights activists have seen no trace of her since.

 

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Saudi Women Given Right to Know Аbout Divorce

In a new breakthrough in women’s rights, Saudi men will no longer be able to divorce without the knowledge of their wives.

As of Sunday, courts will be required to notify women by text message that а marriage has ended.

The rule is aimed at ending the practice of Saudi men getting a divorce without informing their wives and hence denying the women their rights, such as alimony payments.

“Women… will be notified of any changes to their marital status via text message,” the justice ministry said in a statement carried by state-run Al-Ekhbariya news channel and other local media.

“Women in the kingdom will be able to view documents related to the termination of their marriage contracts through the ministry’s website,” the statement said.

“In most Arab countries, men can just divorce their wives,” Suad Abu-Dayyeh from global rights group, Equality Now, told Reuters.

“At least women will know whether they are divorced or not. It is a tiny step, but it is a step in the right direction.”

The change is the latest in a series of moves designed to give women in the Islamic kingdom more freedoms.

Just last year, women were given the right to drive. In recent years they have been allowed to attend public sports events, vote in local elections and take a greater part in the workforce.

But rights groups say all of those changes don’t matter until the kingdom changes it male guardianship policy, under which women are not allowed to marry, divorce, travel, work or even get some medical treatment without the permission of  a man, usually a father, husband or son.

“The male guardianship system is a core issue and it must be dismantled. It controls women in each and every step of their lives. This system strangles Saudi women,” said Abu-Dayyeh.

 

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Sudan: Police Fire Tear Gas at Anti-Bashir Protesters

Riot police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters in Sudan’s capital on Sunday, as demonstrations calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down continued for the third week.

Crowds of protesters gathered in Khartoum Sunday, heeding a call from the Sudanese Professionals’ Association — a group of doctors, teachers, and engineers which have called for strikes and demonstrations over the past month.

Police responded by firing tear gas to disperse crowds. Videos posted online from anti-government activists show people fleeing down side streets and alleyways downtown to escape the noxious gas.

Sudan’s government said 19 people have been killed, including two security personnel, since the protests broke out the northeastern city of Atbara on December 19.

Human rights group Amnesty International said 37 people have been killed in the protests.

Authorities have closed schools and declared curfews and states of emergency in several regions since the protests began.

Protesters have repeatedly targeted and burned the offices of Bashir’s party and called for an end to his 29-year rule. Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup.

Prices for food in Sudan have climbed sharply in recent months, with inflation topping 60 percent. This comes after the government cut subsidies earlier in 2018.

Sudan’s economy deteriorated after South Sudan became independent, depriving Khartoum of much of its oil revenue. Sudan is facing a foreign exchange crisis and soaring inflation, despite the United States lifting a trade embargo in October 2017.

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Sudan: Police Fire Tear Gas at Anti-Bashir Protesters

Riot police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters in Sudan’s capital on Sunday, as demonstrations calling for President Omar al-Bashir to step down continued for the third week.

Crowds of protesters gathered in Khartoum Sunday, heeding a call from the Sudanese Professionals’ Association — a group of doctors, teachers, and engineers which have called for strikes and demonstrations over the past month.

Police responded by firing tear gas to disperse crowds. Videos posted online from anti-government activists show people fleeing down side streets and alleyways downtown to escape the noxious gas.

Sudan’s government said 19 people have been killed, including two security personnel, since the protests broke out the northeastern city of Atbara on December 19.

Human rights group Amnesty International said 37 people have been killed in the protests.

Authorities have closed schools and declared curfews and states of emergency in several regions since the protests began.

Protesters have repeatedly targeted and burned the offices of Bashir’s party and called for an end to his 29-year rule. Bashir came to power in a 1989 military coup.

Prices for food in Sudan have climbed sharply in recent months, with inflation topping 60 percent. This comes after the government cut subsidies earlier in 2018.

Sudan’s economy deteriorated after South Sudan became independent, depriving Khartoum of much of its oil revenue. Sudan is facing a foreign exchange crisis and soaring inflation, despite the United States lifting a trade embargo in October 2017.

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Trump Shows No Sign of Bending on Wall Funding Demand

U.S. President Donald Trump showed no signs Sunday of backing down on his demand for taxpayer funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico, saying there is “not going to be any bend” on his part.

“We have to build a wall, a barrier. It can be steel,” Trump told reporters at the White House before heading to his Maryland retreat at Camp David for discussions with key administration officials about border security and policies they plan to pursue this year.

In the meantime, Trump is engaged in a dispute with opposition Democratic lawmakers over his demand for more than $5 billion in funding for the barrier, a stalemate that has shut down about a quarter of U.S. government operations for 16 days, already one of the longest government closures in U.S. history.

“This shutdown could end tomorrow, or it could go on a long time,” Trump said, noting that Democrats refusing his demand for wall funding have voted for barriers at the U.S.-Mexican border in the past. “Democrats agree, you need border security.”

Trump said he does not expect anything to come out of a second day of negotiations Sunday between top White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, and key congressional aides on how to bridge differences over border security and Trump’s demand for wall funding. But he said progress could be made in talks over the next few days.

The U.S. leader said, “If we don’t have border security, we’ll be crime ridden,” with people crossing into the U.S. illegally “killing our citizens.” He said supporters, who often cheered his call for a wall during his successful 2016 run for the White House, are telling him, “Make sure you win this battle.”

He said, “People that didn’t vote for Donald Trump also want border security.”

 Democrats have offered Trump $1.3 billion in new funding for border security, but not for a wall, which they say is an immoral, ineffective way of controlling border access to thwart illegal immigration. They have called for heightened use of technology to catch immigrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the 3,200-kilometer border with Mexico.

Trump declared, as he first did on Friday, “I may declare a national emergency, depending on what happens in the next few days,” to build the wall without congressional approval by using money that had been designated for military construction projects.

The shutdown has forced the closure of museums in Washington, with trash going uncollected at understaffed national parks. If the shutdown extends to February, food assistance for poorer Americans would be curtailed, as would tax refunds at the height of the annual period when Americans file tax returns on their income from the previous year.

About 800,000 federal government workers have been furloughed or are continuing to work without pay during the shutdown. In recent days, Trump voiced little concern about any inconvenience they may have in meeting their household bills, saying that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats.”

On Sunday, he said, “I can relate,” but added, “I’m sure people will make adjustments.” In past shutdowns, furloughed government workers have been paid retroactively when government funding has resumed and most officials in Washington assume the same will happen this time as well.

Trump officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to support his position on border wall funding and refusal to reopen the shuttered government agencies that are unrelated to the wall while continuing to debate a budget for the Department of Homeland Security, which controls border operations, for another month.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told Fox News that Democrats are “just unwilling to let this president win” on the wall dispute. She said that “at some point, we have to say ‘enough is enough,'” to extend the shutdown in order to secure wall funding.

“This president is prepared to do what is necessary to protect our borders,” she said.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes Democrats “think they’re winning the PR battle and they’re willing to drag this out because they think it hurts the president.”

Democrats have vowed they will not give Trump taxpayer money for the wall, especially since he said repeatedly during his 2016 campaign that Mexico would pay for it, which Mexican officials have often said they will not do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trump Shows No Sign of Bending on Wall Funding Demand

U.S. President Donald Trump showed no signs Sunday of backing down on his demand for taxpayer funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico, saying there is “not going to be any bend” on his part.

“We have to build a wall, a barrier. It can be steel,” Trump told reporters at the White House before heading to his Maryland retreat at Camp David for discussions with key administration officials about border security and policies they plan to pursue this year.

In the meantime, Trump is engaged in a dispute with opposition Democratic lawmakers over his demand for more than $5 billion in funding for the barrier, a stalemate that has shut down about a quarter of U.S. government operations for 16 days, already one of the longest government closures in U.S. history.

“This shutdown could end tomorrow, or it could go on a long time,” Trump said, noting that Democrats refusing his demand for wall funding have voted for barriers at the U.S.-Mexican border in the past. “Democrats agree, you need border security.”

Trump said he does not expect anything to come out of a second day of negotiations Sunday between top White House officials, including Vice President Mike Pence, and key congressional aides on how to bridge differences over border security and Trump’s demand for wall funding. But he said progress could be made in talks over the next few days.

The U.S. leader said, “If we don’t have border security, we’ll be crime ridden,” with people crossing into the U.S. illegally “killing our citizens.” He said supporters, who often cheered his call for a wall during his successful 2016 run for the White House, are telling him, “Make sure you win this battle.”

He said, “People that didn’t vote for Donald Trump also want border security.”

 Democrats have offered Trump $1.3 billion in new funding for border security, but not for a wall, which they say is an immoral, ineffective way of controlling border access to thwart illegal immigration. They have called for heightened use of technology to catch immigrants trying to cross into the U.S. along the 3,200-kilometer border with Mexico.

Trump declared, as he first did on Friday, “I may declare a national emergency, depending on what happens in the next few days,” to build the wall without congressional approval by using money that had been designated for military construction projects.

The shutdown has forced the closure of museums in Washington, with trash going uncollected at understaffed national parks. If the shutdown extends to February, food assistance for poorer Americans would be curtailed, as would tax refunds at the height of the annual period when Americans file tax returns on their income from the previous year.

About 800,000 federal government workers have been furloughed or are continuing to work without pay during the shutdown. In recent days, Trump voiced little concern about any inconvenience they may have in meeting their household bills, saying that “most of the workers not getting paid are Democrats.”

On Sunday, he said, “I can relate,” but added, “I’m sure people will make adjustments.” In past shutdowns, furloughed government workers have been paid retroactively when government funding has resumed and most officials in Washington assume the same will happen this time as well.

Trump officials made the rounds of Sunday news talk shows to support his position on border wall funding and refusal to reopen the shuttered government agencies that are unrelated to the wall while continuing to debate a budget for the Department of Homeland Security, which controls border operations, for another month.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told Fox News that Democrats are “just unwilling to let this president win” on the wall dispute. She said that “at some point, we have to say ‘enough is enough,'” to extend the shutdown in order to secure wall funding.

“This president is prepared to do what is necessary to protect our borders,” she said.

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he believes Democrats “think they’re winning the PR battle and they’re willing to drag this out because they think it hurts the president.”

Democrats have vowed they will not give Trump taxpayer money for the wall, especially since he said repeatedly during his 2016 campaign that Mexico would pay for it, which Mexican officials have often said they will not do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trump: Alleged USS Cole Attack Mastermind Killed

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has killed one of the alleged masterminds of the USS Cole bombing which killed 17 sailors in 2000.

“Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi,” Trump tweeted Sunday, adding that U.S. efforts against al-Qaida will continue. “We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!,” he said.

Last week, U.S military officials said a precision U.S. airstrike in Yemen’s Marib governorate Tuesday targeted al-Badawi, one of six al-Qaida operatives convicted of the bombing and a fugitive on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, had said U.S. forces were still assessing the results of the strike but Trump has now confirmed al-Badawi was killed.

In October 2000, 17 American sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole died in a suicide bomb attack at Aden harbor. Dozens more sailors were wounded. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

Al-Badawi was arrested by Yemeni authorities in 2000, escaped from a prison in 2003, was recaptured by Yemeni authorities in 2004, and escaped again in 2006.

Al-Badawi was charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel. In addition to his role in the bombing, he has been charged with attempting to attack a U.S. Navy vessel in January 2000.

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Trump: Alleged USS Cole Attack Mastermind Killed

President Donald Trump says the U.S. has killed one of the alleged masterminds of the USS Cole bombing which killed 17 sailors in 2000.

“Our GREAT MILITARY has delivered justice for the heroes lost and wounded in the cowardly attack on the USS Cole. We have just killed the leader of that attack, Jamal al-Badawi,” Trump tweeted Sunday, adding that U.S. efforts against al-Qaida will continue. “We will never stop in our fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism!,” he said.

Last week, U.S military officials said a precision U.S. airstrike in Yemen’s Marib governorate Tuesday targeted al-Badawi, one of six al-Qaida operatives convicted of the bombing and a fugitive on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, had said U.S. forces were still assessing the results of the strike but Trump has now confirmed al-Badawi was killed.

In October 2000, 17 American sailors from the guided-missile destroyer USS Cole died in a suicide bomb attack at Aden harbor. Dozens more sailors were wounded. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility.

Al-Badawi was arrested by Yemeni authorities in 2000, escaped from a prison in 2003, was recaptured by Yemeni authorities in 2004, and escaped again in 2006.

Al-Badawi was charged with 50 counts of various terrorism offenses, including murder of U.S. nationals and murder of U.S. military personnel. In addition to his role in the bombing, he has been charged with attempting to attack a U.S. Navy vessel in January 2000.

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Russian Space Agency Bemoans Head’s Canceled US Trip

Russia’s space agency is complaining that the invitation for its head to visit the U.S. has been cancelled without informing the organization.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told The Washington Post in a story Saturday that he has rescinded the invitation to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin after several senators raised complaints.

Rogozin is under U.S. sanctions for his role in the Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, when he was a deputy prime minister.

Roscosmos spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko told state news agency Tass on Sunday that “it seems strange to us that our NASA colleagues dealt with us through the media and not directly.”

Russian lawmaker Frants Klintsevich said the decision shows that “the U.S. political establishment doesn’t intend to change its Russophobic vector.”

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