The United States is ending sanctions waivers on five countries importing Iranian oil, hoping to choke off Tehran’s main source of revenue. Iran was swift to respond, threatening to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a major shipment artery in the Middle East, if it cannot export oil. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine has more reaction from the countries most affected by the U.S. action, including China and Turkey.
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The United States is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that disrupts the finances of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant organization. 

The U.S. State Department announced the award Monday, saying it would be paid to those who give information about major Hezbollah donors and financiers as well as businesses that support the organization and banks that facilitate the group’s transactions.

The payments will be made by the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, which until now has focused on offering cash rewards for information that leads to the capture of wanted terrorists. 

Hezbollah was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 1997.

The Shi’ite group, backed by Iran, has recently been increasing its influence on Lebanon’s government. It has also been growing its regional clout, including sending fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad.

The State Department said its Rewards for Justice program has paid more than $150 million to more than 100 people for giving information that helped brings terrorists to justice or prevented acts of terrorism. The program began in 1984.
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Opponents of constitutional amendments that could see Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi stay in power until 2030 urged people to vote “no” on Monday, the third and final day of a referendum on the proposal.

The amendments would also bolster the role of the military and expand the president’s power over judicial appointments. The constitutional changes were approved by parliament last week.

While the amendments are expected to be passed in the referendum, observers say the turnout will be a test of Sissi’s popularity, which has been dented by austerity measures since 2016. He was re-elected last year with 97 percent of votes cast.

Sissi’s supporters say he has stabilized Egypt and needs more time to reform and develop the economy. Critics fear changing the constitution will shrink any remaining space for political competition and debate, paving the way for a long period of one-man rule.

Ahmed al-Tantawi, one of a small number of opposition members of parliament, said the referendum was being held against a backdrop of intimidation and “vote buying”.

The electoral commission said on Monday afternoon it had not received any formal complaints so far about any irregularities.

“We can say that the first two days of voting were held under the slogan, the ‘ticket and the cardboard box’,” Tantawi said, referring to reports that grocery boxes were being handed out to people in exchange for casting a vote.

“But there is a chance on the third day of voting for Egyptians, particularly the youth, to return things to their natural course,” he said.

Activists have posted photos on social media that appeared to show white cardboard boxes packed with groceries being handed out to people after they voted.

A Reuters reporter saw some voters receiving vouchers for groceries after leaving a central Cairo polling station, which they then exchanged for packages of cooking oil, pasta, sugar and tea at a nearby charity.

It was not immediately possible to verify who was distributing the food.

When asked about the boxes, Mahmoud el-Sherif, spokesman for Egypt’s election commission, said it was monitoring for any violations. But he added: “The commission has received no notifications or complaints of this kind so far.”

The commission says it has strict measures to ensure a fair and free vote, posting judges at each polling station and using special ink to prevent multiple voting.

If approved, the amendments would extend Sissi’s current term to six years from four and allow him to run again for a third six-year term in 2024.

They would also grant the president control over appointing head judges and the public prosecutor from a pool of candidates, and give Egypt’s powerful military the role of protecting “the constitution and democracy”.

Cairo’s streets have been adorned with banners encouraging people to vote, some of them backing a “yes” vote.

Ahmed Maher, a founder of the April 6 Movement, one of the youth groups behind the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, said Egyptians still had a chance to make their voice heard.

“Try to change the result, even by a small ratio,” he wrote in a message posted on social media. “Tell your relatives, friends and acquaintance to go down and say ‘No’.”

Some 61 million of Egypt’s nearly 100 million population are eligible to vote. The result is expected within five days.
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Five Algerian billionaires, some of them close to former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika who quit over mass protests, have been arrested as part of an anti-graft investigation, state TV said on Monday.

They were later brought to court to face charges from the general prosecutor’s office, private Ennahar TV channel said, a legal requirement after an arrest. Further details were not immediately available.

The five are Issad Rebrab, considered the richest businessman in the energy-rich north African nation who is especially active in the food and sugar refining business, and four brothers from the Kouninef family, it said.

Rebrab is chairman of the family-owned Cevital company, which imports raw sugar from Brazil and exports white sugar to Tunisia, Libya and other destinations in the Middle East.

The Kouninef family is close to Bouteflika, who ruled Algeria for 20 years. Bouteflika stepped down three weeks ago, bowing to pressure from the army and weeks of demonstrations by mainly younger Algerians seeking change.

There was no immediate statement from those arrested.

The move came after Algeria’s army chief, Lieutenant General Gaid Salah, said last week he expected members of the ruling elite in the country to be prosecuted for corruption.

An Algerian court has already summoned former prime minister Ahmed Ouyahia and current Finance Minister Mohamed Loukal, two close associates of Bouteflika, in an investigation into suspected misuse of public money, state TV said on Saturday.

Mass protests, which began on Feb. 22 and have been largely peaceful, have continued after Bouteflika’s resignation as many want the removal of the entire elite that has governed Algeria since independence from France in 1962. They also want the prosecution of people they see as corrupt.

Bouteflika has been replaced by Abdelkader Bensalah, head of the upper house of parliament, as interim president for 90 days until a presidential election is held on July 4.

Hundreds of thousands protested on Friday to demand the resignation of Bensalah and other top officials.

Bensalah invited civil society and political parties on Monday to discuss the transition to elections but several parties and activists said they would not participate.

The army has so far patiently monitored the mostly peaceful protests that at times have swelled to hundreds of thousands of people. It remains the most powerful institution in Algeria, having swayed politics from the shadows for decades.

Salah said on April 16 that the military was considering all options to resolve the political crisis and warned that “time is running out.”

It was a hint that the military was losing patience with the popular upheaval shaking Algeria, a major oil and natural-gas exporter and an important security partner for the West against Islamist militants in north and west Africa.
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Leaders of Pakistan and Iran agreed Monday to expand border security cooperation to fight terrorist groups waging deadly attacks in both countries, and vowed to continue joint efforts to help bring peace to their conflict-ravaged neighbor Afghanistan.

Iranian President Hassan Rohani and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, who arrived in Iran on his first official visit a day earlier, discussed the details at a joint news conference after concluding extensive delegation-level talks on strengthening bilateral security, economic and trade ties.

“We have agreed to expand our security and intelligence cooperation, particularly in border areas, and we also agreed to set up a joint rapid reaction force in order to guard our common borders,” Rohani said while speaking through his interpreter. The Iranian leader said he was confident Khan’s visit would be “a turning point” in improving bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Khan also acknowledged the border security issue figured high in his discussions, citing recent terrorist attacks in both countries, which share a frontier of more than 900-kilometers.  He noted his two-day visit to Iran was primarily aimed to resolve the issue of terrorism before it increases mutual differences.

“So, the (Pakistani) security chief will be sitting with his counterpart here, and today they will be discussing ways of cooperation so that we have trust in each other that both countries will not allow any terrorist activity from their soil and we hope that this will build confidence between us,” Khan said.

Khan’s visit comes after Pakistan asked Iran to take action against terrorist groups believed to be behind last week’s killing of 14 Pakistani soldiers. Islamabad strong protested and said in a formal letter to the Iranian government that the assailants came from an alliance of three Baluch terrorist organizations based in Iran.  The attack took place in Gwadar district in the sparsely populated largest Pakistani province of Baluchistan.

Tehran has repeatedly alleged in recent years that anti-Iran Sunni Muslim extremist group Jaish al-Adl uses Pakistani soil for carrying out deadly raids in southeastern Iranian Sistan-Baluchistan border province.

Earlier this year, Tehran called on Islamabad to take action against the militants it blamed for a suicide car bombing that killed 27 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Iran alleges Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, both having traditionally close ties with Pakistan, are providing support to the militants.  Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have recently pledged billions of dollars in new investments in Pakistan, including a $10 billion Saudi oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Gwadar, a move analysts say is fueling security concerns in Tehran.

Khan attempted to assure Iran his country is determined not to allow its soil to be used against anyone, pointing to Islamabad’s “unprecedented” successes against terrorism.

“We have come to the conclusion that we will not allow any militant groups to operate from our soil.  This government, for the first time in Pakistan, is dismantling any militant group in our country and this is not from outside pressure,” the Pakistani leader stressed.

Both Khan and President Rohani said they also discussed the need for enhancing cooperation to promote a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan.  Iran and Pakistan still jointly host about six million Afghan refugees, fleeing decades of conflict and persecution in their country.

“It is in the interest of both our countries that there is peace in Afghanistan.  We will cooperate with each other in helping bring a political settlement there,” said the Pakistani prime minister

Rohani, while speaking Monday, again denounced the United States for “insulting” Iran’s IRGC by declaring it as a foreign terrorist organization.
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