April 2019 - Page 8 of 17

Pollsters: Britain’s Governing Conservatives Heading For Electoral Wipe-Out

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeEU

Britain’s governing Conservative Party faces an historic loss in next month’s European Parliament elections, warn party insiders and pollsters, as a result of its handling of Brexit and the delay of the country’s departure from the European Union.

Half-a-dozen opinion polls suggests the Conservative government of Prime Minister Theresa May could fall off a cliff and the center of British politics could be eroded, benefiting a new Brexit party founded in January by populist Nigel Farage and the Labour Party, which, under the leadership of socialist Jeremy Corbyn, has moved significantly to the left.

“Populist parties are resurgent, politics is re-fragmenting, trust has all but vanished and left, center and right are in a rage. The atmosphere is surly, nasty and vicious,” according to Allister Heath, a commentator.

Few voters expected

Some opinion polls are forecasting Conservative candidates in the May elections for the European Parliament will attract only 15 percent of the vote, which, if accurate, would be the party’s worst electoral performance ever. The forecasts suggest Farage’s Brexit party, which wants an immediate clean break with the European Union, regardless of the economic or political consequences for Britain, including Scotland opting for independence, will top the election.

The Labour Party likely will come in a close second, thanks mainly to pro-Remain voters, who want Britain to stay in the European Union, the pollsters say.

The polls bring home how Brexit is reshaping British politics and setting the country up for a major realignment not seen since the 1920s and the rise of the Labour Party. The likely biggest casualty of the political shift will be the Conservatives, also known as Tories, party insiders admit.

Opposite camps

Voters now identify more strongly with either the Leave or Remain camps than they do with Britain’s parties, in a division that’s falling more along socio-cultural lines than traditional socio-economic ones.

When it comes to a possible general election in Britain, which many politicians expect to happen this year, polling data suggests that just half of the Conservative Party’s lifelong voters would back it.

A quarter say they will switch their vote to Farage’s group or his old UK Independence Party, setting up the likelihood of Labour emerging as the largest parliamentary party and reliant on the support to govern of Scottish Nationalists, Liberal Democrats and a breakaway pro-Remain party called Change UK, made up of Labour and centrist Conservative defectors.

Until this month it was unthinkable that Britain would have to take part in European elections. The country was due to leave the bloc on March 29, but now has a new departure date of October 31.

But deadlock in the British parliament, where lawmakers refused to approve an exit deal negotiated by Prime Minister May with the European Union and also have not been prepared to leave the bloc without a deal, forced the exit delay. EU leaders had no option under the bloc’s rules but to demand Britain participate in the elections for as long as it remains a member.

Political system in crisis

The Euro-elections couldn’t have come at a worse time for a British political system that’s cracking and creaking under the strain of an ill-tempered Brexit, which has seen Leavers demanding a sharp break with the Continent and pro-Europeans trying to salvage a so-called soft Brexit.

May is holding talks with Labour in an attempt to secure a compromise exit deal involving a deeper, permanent customs deal with the European Union, a move that’s infuriating hardline Brexiters in her party.

Dozens of local party chairmen and hundreds of grassroots activists the party relies on for campaigning have said they will shun the elections and offer no help. The Conservative Party is also running out of money with big donors on both sides of the Remain and Leave debate, withholding their normal funding.

“Many long-standing Tories are on strike,” says Daniel Hannan, a Brexiter and Conservative European Parliament lawmaker. Writing in Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper, Hannan raised the prospect of a complete Conservative meltdown next month.

“There comes a point when a political party gets so badly hammered at a national poll that its position becomes irrecoverable. It happened to the Canadian Tories in 1993. It could happen to the British Tories next month,” he warned.

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Pope’s Good Friday Meditations to Focus on Sex Slavery Victims

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeEU

On Good Friday, Pope Francis presides over the Passion of the Lord service in Saint Peter’s Basilica taking part in the candle-lit Way of the Cross procession, attended by thousands of faithful at Rome’s ancient Colosseum. The meditations for this celebration have been written by Sister Eugenia Bonetti, an 80-year-old nun who, along with her missionary sisters, has spent the last quarter century fighting human trafficking.

Pope Francis has called forcing women into prostitution “a crime against humanity” and has urged Catholics “to open their eyes” to victims. The aim of Sister Bonett’s meditations will be to show the way in which Christ still suffers today. The 80-year-old is president of the Italian association “Slaves No More”, which provides assistance to women and children forced into the sex trade.

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis celebrated the mass of the Lord’s Supper in the prison of Velletri, south of Rome. The prison is overcrowded and home to over 500 inmates, 60 percent of whom are foreigners. The pope reflected on the gesture of washing the feet, which at the times of Jesus, was the job of slaves and servants.

“Every one of us must be the servant of others,” the pope said in his short homily. “This is the rule of Jesus and the rule of the gospel. The rule of service, not of domination, of hurting or humiliating others.”

The pope told the inmates to be brothers in service, not in ambition, adding “The one who thinks he is the strongest, must be a servant. We must all be servants.”

Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 inmates, including nine Italians, and one each from Morocco, Ivory Coast and Brazil. Also on Holy Thursday, the pope celebrated a morning Chrism mass in which he blessed the oils that will be used during the year.

An Easter Vigil will take place on Saturday evening in Saint Peter’s Basilica, ahead of Easter Sunday mass in the square, at the end of which the pope will give his traditional blessing to the city and to the world.

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Ghanian Rapper Turned Director Taps Traditional Themes in First Film

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeAF

A new film called “The Burial of Kojo” is a tale of family tensions with an overlay of magical realism. Set in Ghana, it is the first feature from Blitz Bazawule, a Ghana-born rapper and director. As Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, the film got its start as a crowd-funded project and is being widely distributed on Netflix.
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Ghanaian Rapper-Turned-Director Taps Traditional Themes in 1st Film

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeAF

A new film called “The Burial of Kojo” is a tale of family tensions with an overlay of magical realism. Set in Ghana, it is first feature from Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule, an Ghana-born musician and director who wanted to avoid the cliches of many films set in Africa, themes of war and famine.

Bazawule maintained creative control of the project by using the crowd-funding site Kickstarter, and he hired a Ghanaian cast and local crew. The Burial of Kojo is now reaching a global audience on Netflix.

Bazawule lives in Brooklyn but says the story is reminiscent of the tales that he heard as a child in Ghana. It concerns a girl, Esi, her father, Kojo, and his brother, Kwabena.

“One of the brothers goes missing on a mining expedition,” Bazawule explains, “and his daughter has to go on the magical journey to rescue him.” The quest lands Esi in a dreamlike world.

Rapper and filmmaker

Bazawule, known as Blitz from his days as a rapper, wanted to move from musical to visual storytelling, and this film includes both. He wrote its script and composed the film’s soundtrack. With several short films already under his belt, this was his feature debut.

The project was initially self-funded, and he completed the film by raising $78,000 through the website Kickstarter. That “gave us the autonomy that we needed,” Bazawule said. “We didn’t have anyone looking over our shoulder, we didn’t have anyone telling us what to do, what not to do. It was always us deciding with ourselves, does this make sense for this narrative?”

Showing on Netflix

The film is being shown on the streaming service Netflix as part of a distribution deal with ARRAY, a Hollywood company founded by filmmaker Ava DuVernay, that highlights the work of filmmakers of color and women directors.

“Netflix is in 190 countries, so that’s a lot of places where you can find beautiful work,” said ARRAY’s Tilane Jones.

It’s good for movie lovers, Bazawule added, and international filmmakers are also finding an audience.

“You build credibility for the stories that you’re telling,” he said, with fresh faces and new voices bringing art from countries like Ghana to the screen.
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Macron, UNESCO Officials Discuss Notre Dame Reconstruction

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeEU

French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting officials from the United Nations’ cultural agency, where he is expected to set out ideas for the reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral.

He will meet with state delegates from UNESCO, which oversees global heritage issues, in the Elysee Palace Friday.

Macron’s push for a speedy rebuild indicates he wants the fire-ravaged monument’s reconstruction to be part of his legacy, and is seizing the moment to try to move on from the divisive yellow vest protests. His initial wish for it to be rebuilt in just five years was met with incredulity.

Macron had been scheduled to deliver an uneasy speech Monday setting out long-awaited plans to quell anti-government protests that have marred his presidency, but it was postponed after the fire broke out. Instead, the French leader immediately went on the scene of the fire and announced: “We will rebuild Notre Dame.”

According to an opinion poll by BVA institute published Friday, the first one carried out since the fire, Macron gained three points in popularity, from 29 to 32% compared to last month. It places him at a level equivalent to last September, before the yellow vest crisis, BVA said.

All French polls show that Macron’s popularity have hovered around low levels for more than a year — they started plunging when he applied a tax rise on retirees.

Yet the same pollsters predict that Macron’s party may be ahead in May 26 European Parliament elections, in close competition with the far-right party of Marine Le Pen, the National Rally.

The French leader is now expected to detail his measures to respond to the yellow vest protests next week.

According to the text of his pre-recorded speech, Macron was planning to respond to demonstrators’ concerns over their loss of purchasing power with tax cuts for lower-income households and measures to boost pensions and help single parents.

A new round of yellow vest protests is planned Saturday across the country, including in Paris.

Even the reconstruction of the cathedral will not provide the French leader with a topic for consensus, as experts and politicians debate whether to build it exactly as it was, or whether to introduce new technologies and designs.

Macron’s office said that since the collapsed spire wasn’t part of the original cathedral, “the President of the Republic wants … a contemporary architectural gesture to be considered.”
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Zimbabwe President: Time to Talk About Mugabe-Era Massacres

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeAF

On Thursday, Zimbabwe marked the anniversary of its 1980 independence from Britain. The anniversary coincides with efforts to heal the wounds brought on by state-sanctioned massacres in the 1980s.

Some 20,000 people were massacred during the presidency of Robert Mugabe, human rights organizations say. One of the most affected areas is Tsholotsho, a rural district about 600 kilometers southwest of the capital, Harare. There, people are opening up about reburial efforts and requesting compensation from the government.

Local resident Melwa Ngwenya says a recent decision by President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration – to allow victims in shallow or mass graves to be reburied – is not cause for celebration on this Independence Day. Ngwenya says his son was beaten to death during the massacres when Mnangagwa was state security minister. The killings were known as Gukurahundi.

According to Ngwenya, the army assaulted his son, Sibangani, who died along with eight others in February 1983. They were buried in a shallow grave about five kilometers from the family home.

“I don’t usually come to this place,” Ngwenya said, standing at Sibangani’s grave site. “… For the pain and sorrow to go, I have to be given something to console me. A two-bedroom house will console my spirit that, yes, my son died.”

Gukurahundi debate

Under Mugabe’s rule, people were persecuted for discussing the massacres, and reburial of the victims was prohibited. On the eve of Independence Day, his successor, Mnangagwa, said that citizens were now free to talk about Gukurahundi.

“The question of Gukurahundi – personally, I don’t see anything wrong [with] debating it in newspapers, on television,” the president said on state TV. “… Actually, it’s critical that we have that debate. Some of the issues could’ve been resolved a long time back. … Gukurahundi has nothing to do with other people. It is an internal matter which has happened among us Zimbabweans, which we must discuss among ourselves.”

But Ngwenya, still grieving for his son, is skeptical. “He is not sincere,” the 80-year-old said of the president. “He is blindfolding us. He is trying to silence us because we want compensation.

“I want to have a place to mourn my son,” he said, saying it should be “a permanent structure, something to stay in.”

Calling for compensation, Ngwenya added, “If he {Mnangagwa] cares about our cries and if the government cares about us and has sympathy, it must build me at least a two-bedroom house.”

Only half of the issue

The rights organization Ibhetshu Likazulu has been vocal in calling for addressing the Gukurahundi issue. The group’s secretary, Mbuso Fuzwayo, says Mnangagwa has to deal with more than just allowing people to discuss the massacres and reburials openly.

“It is not those who are in mass or shallow graves who are going to be buried. Everyone will have peace when he knows where his father, daughter, son is lying,” Fuzwayo said. Mnangagwa “doesn’t talk about women who were raped. He is talking about half of what happened. Gukurahundi is complex.”

Now it remains to be seen if the government has the will and funds to accommodate the people’s demands on Gukurahundi.
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Release of Mueller Report Raises New Questions About Trump Obstruction

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeUS

After 22 months of investigation, the public and Congress Thursday got to see the report of special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. The report found no evidence of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, but Mueller and his team could not make a judgment on whether the president had sought to obstruct justice. Opposition Democrats are pushing for further investigation in Congress. VOA National correspondent Jim Malone has more from Washington.
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Three Climbers Presumed Dead in Banff Avalanche

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeUS

Three renowned mountain climbers are presumed dead after an avalanche in Alberta’s Banff National Park, Canadian officials said Thursday.

Outdoor apparel company The North Face said that American Jess Roskelley and Austrians David Lama and Hansjorg Auer disappeared while attempting to climb the east face of Howse Peak on the Icefields Parkway. They were reported overdue Wednesday.

“They are missing, and local search and rescue has assumed the worst,” North Face said in a statement.

Roskelley climbed Mount Everest in 2003 at age 20. At the time he was the youngest American to climb the world’s highest peak.

The North Face says it is doing what it can to support the climbers’ families and friends.

Parks Canada said the three men were attempting to climb the east face of Howse Peak on the Icefields Parkway Wednesday.

Officials say recovery efforts are on hold because of a continued risk of avalanches.

Parks Canada says safety specialists immediately responded by air and observed signs of multiple avalanches and debris containing climbing equipment.

“Parks Canada extends its sincerest condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the mountaineers,” Parks Canada said in a statement.

Roskelley’s father, John Roskelley, was himself a world-renowned climber who had many notable ascents in Nepal and Pakistan, mostly in the 1970s. John Roskelley joined his son on the successful Everest expedition in 2003.

Jess Roskelley grew up in Spokane, Washington, where his father was a county commissioner. John Roskelley told The Spokesman-Review the route his son and the other climbers were attempting was first done in 2000.

“It’s just one of those routes where you have to have the right conditions or it turns into a nightmare. This is one of those trips where it turned into a nightmare,” John Roskelley said.

John Roskelley had climbed the 10,810-foot Howse Peak, via a different route, in the 1970s and knows the area well. On Thursday he was preparing to go to Canada to gather Jess Roskelley’s belongings and see if he could get into the area.

“It’s in an area above a basin,” he said. “There must have been a lot of snow that came down and got them off the face.”

The elder Roskelley said: “When you’re climbing mountains, danger is not too far away. … It’s terrible for my wife and I. But it’s even worse for his wife.”
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7 Black S. Carolina Lawmakers Endorse Sanders

Posted on 04/19/2019 by SeeUS

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Thursday announced endorsements from seven black lawmakers in the critical early voting state of South Carolina, a show of force in the first place where African American voters feature prominently in next year’s primary elections.

Sanders’ 2020 campaign made the announcement just ahead of a Spartanburg town hall meeting with members of the state’s Legislative Black Caucus. The backing represents the biggest number of black lawmakers to back a 2020 hopeful to date in this state, which holds the first primary in the South.

The support is part of Sanders’ attempt to turn things around in South Carolina, where his 47-point loss to Hillary Clinton in 2016 blunted the momentum generated in opening primary contests and exposed his weakness with black voters. Sensing the coming defeat, Sanders left South Carolina in the days leading up to the state’s 2016 vote, campaigning instead in Midwestern states where he hoped to perform better.

Different approach

Sanders, a senator from Vermont, has taken a different approach this time, working to deepen ties with the black voters who comprise most of the Democratic primary electorate in the state and pledging to visit South Carolina much more frequently. Our Revolution, the organizing offshoot of Sanders’ 2016 campaign, has an active branch in the state, holding regular meetings and conferences throughout the state. Sanders addressed the group last year.

The campaign recently hired a state director and, according to adviser Jeff Weaver, is putting together a “much stronger team on the ground, much earlier in the process.”

Last month, Sanders made his first official 2020 campaign stop in this state, holding a rally at a black church in North Charleston. Attracting a mostly white crowd of more than 1,500 that night, Sanders recounted many of the efforts of his previous presidential campaign, noting that some of his ideas had since been adopted by the Democratic Party and supported by other candidates vying for the party’s nomination.

Diverse crowd

On Thursday, the pews of Mount Moriah Baptist Church were filled with a diverse crowd of several hundred as Sanders took to a lectern and addressed his ideas for criminal justice reform, issues that he said disproportionately affect the African American community.

“We understand that we are just denting the surface,” Sanders said, going on to discuss racial discrepancies in arrests for traffic violations and marijuana possession. “I think a new day is coming.”

Applauding Sanders’ attention to the needs of the black community, Spartanburg Councilman Michael Brown reminded the crowd of Sanders’ participation in the civil rights movement in the 1960s and encouraged him to stay the course in terms of his efforts to reach out to the black voters here.

“Thank you, sir. Keep the conversation going,” Brown said. “Remain unapologetic in what you have to say because your message is resonating in our community and throughout this land.”

The South Carolina lawmakers endorsing Sanders are state Reps. Wendell Gilliard, Cezar McKnight, Krystle Simmons, Ivory Thigpen and Shedron Williams. He’s also being backed by state Reps. Terry Alexander and Justin Bamberg, both of whom backed Sanders in 2016 and served as national surrogates for his campaign.
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Israeli Team: Human Error May Have Caused Spacecraft Crash

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeEA

The Israeli start-up behind last week’s failed lunar landing says human error may have caused the spacecraft to crash into the moon.

SpaceIL, the non-profit that undertook the botched lunar mission, said Thursday that its engineers collectively decided to restart the inertial measurement unit, a critical part of the spacecraft’s guidance system, following its malfunction in the lander’s final descent.

The team says the command triggered a “chain of events” that culminated in the spacecraft slamming into the moon, otherwise “things may have been OK, but we’re still not sure.”

SpaceIL says it will continue to analyze the fatal glitch and publish a formal assessment in the coming weeks.

Had the mission succeeded, it would have marked a first for Israel and for privately-funded lunar voyages.

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Greek Anarchists Claim Russian Consulate Grenade Blast

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeEU

A Greek anarchist group on Thursday claimed responsibility for exploding a grenade outside the Russian Consulate in Athens in March.

In a statement on anti-establishment website Indymedia validating the hit, the group calling itself “FAI/IRF Revenge Plot” accused Moscow of torturing arrested anarchists.

They dedicated the attack to Mikhail Zhlobitsky, a 17-year-old anarchist killed in a suicide bombing at the regional offices of federal security service FSB in Arkhangelsk in October.

The Athens grenade explosion on March 22 caused no injuries. The consulate was closed at the time.

Domestic far-left outfits regularly carry out acts of violence against diplomatic missions in Greece.

FAI/IRF is associated with the Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei, a Greek anarchist group, several of whose members are serving long prison terms for letter bomb attacks.
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Man in New York Cathedral with Gasoline Charged with Attempted Arson

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeUS

A 37-year-old man was charged Thursday with attempted arson, reckless endangerment and trespassing after he walked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Wednesday with two full gasoline cans, lighter fluid and lighters, police said.

The incident occurred two days after a massive fire severely damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, causing global shock and sorrow. That blaze was most likely the result of an accident though a major investigation is under way.

A New York City Police Department official said Marc Lamparello was charged with second-degree attempted arson, second-degree reckless endangerment and trespassing on Thursday after he entered the Roman Catholic cathedral in midtown Manhattan just before 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) on Wednesday and was confronted by a security guard.

As the man turned to leave, gasoline spilled onto the floor and the guard alerted police officers stationed outside.

Lamparello is a resident of New Jersey and a faculty member in the philosophy department at the City University of New York, according to the university’s website. Local media reported that he has previously been arrested in New Jersey for trespassing.

He has no arrest record in New York, a New York Police Department official said.

It was not immediately clear if Lamparello had a lawyer.

Officers caught up with Lamparello on Wednesday and he was taken into custody after questioning, said John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism for the NYPD.

“An individual walking into an iconic location like St. Patrick’s Cathedral carrying over four gallons of gasoline, two bottles of lighter fluid and lighters, is something we would have grave concern over,” Miller told reporters.

Asked if terrorism was a possible motive in the incident, Miller said Wednesday it was “too early to say that.” But, alluding to worldwide publicity about the Notre Dame fire, he added: “This is an indicator of something that would be very suspicious.”

Lamparello’s alleged arson attempt comes only a few weeks after a man was arrested and charged with arson and hate crimes for burning down three predominantly African-American churches in Louisiana between March 26 and April 4.

Lamparello told police he was taking a short cut through the cathedral to get to Madison Avenue from 5th Avenue to return to his van, which had run out of gasoline, Miller said.

When police checked the vehicle they found it was not out of fuel, at which point the man was arrested, he said. “He is known to police and we are looking into his background. We don’t know what his mindset was, what his motive was.”

St. Patrick’s, a neo-gothic church across from Rockefeller Center, has stood in the heart of Manhattan since 1879 and is considered one of the most important symbols of the Catholic Church in the United States.
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Bulgaria Seizes 288 Kilos of Heroin in Truck From Iran

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeEU

Bulgarian customs officials confiscated more than 288 kilograms (635 pounds) of heroin hidden on a truck from Iran, prosecutors announced Thursday.

The haul was the biggest amount of heroin seized at Bulgaria’s borders this year, the customs agency said.

Two men — the Iranian truck driver and a Turkish man, who was allegedly to receive the drugs in Bulgaria — were detained and indicted for drug trafficking, the Haskovo regional prosecution said in a statement.

They risk jail terms from 15 to 20 years, it added.

The drugs were placed in 144 packages hidden inside the floor and ceiling of a spray painting machine transported inside the truck.

It was found when the vehicle was X-rayed upon entering Bulgaria from Turkey at the southeastern Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint on Sunday, but the seizure was announced Thursday.

Bulgaria, which lies on the so-called Balkan drug route from the Middle East to Western Europe, has seen a several-fold increase in heroin seizures over the past three years.

In 2018, the customs agency confiscated a total of 994 kilos of heroin at the country’s borders, a rise of 13 percent from 2017.

The amount included the biggest heroin haul in the agency’s history — over 712 kilos found in two Iranian trucks travelling to Austria in October.

Over the past week, Bulgarian authorities also found over 210 kilos of cocaine washed ashore or floating in life jackets in the Black Sea, just days after similar packages were seized along the coast in neighboring Romania.
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US Will Support Transition in Sudan Led by Civilians

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeUS

The United States supports a democratic and peaceful transition in Sudan led by civilians who represent all Sudanese, the State Department said on Thursday, as protesters in Khartoum kept up demands that the country’s military hand over power to civilians.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Sudan remained labeled by the U.S. as a state sponsor of terrorism, and emphasized that Washington’s policies toward Sudan would be based on “our assessment of events on the ground and the actions of transitional authorities.”

She said the U.S. was “encouraged” by the release of political prisoners and the cancellation by the transitional military council of a curfew.
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Debate Over Future Notre-Dame Spire Fuels French Divisions

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeEU

President Emmanuel Macron might have hoped he was striking a note for modernity and openness in announcing an international competition to design a new spire for Notre-Dame cathedral, but he may have opened a can of worms instead.

There was already debate about whether his goal of rebuilding the church by 2024, when Paris hosts the Olympic Games, was overly ambitious, but now he’s unsettled those who would prefer to return the national symbol to just how it was.

“Since the spire wasn’t part of the original cathedral,” the Elysee Palace said in a statement late on Wednesday, “the President of the Republic hopes there will be some reflection and a contemporary architectural gesture might be envisaged.”

Computer-generated pictures online included ideas for a soaring glass needle to replace the 91-metre (300 foot) spire, which was added to the cathedral in the mid-1800s, replacing a Medieval one that was removed in 1786.

But that appears to be too much for many French, especially those with a traditional or Catholic bent.

In an online survey conducted by conservative newspaper Le Figaro, more than 70 percent of the 35,000 people who responded said they opposed any contemporary style design.

Francois-Xavier Bellamy, a 33-year-old philosopher who will head the right-of-center Les Republicains party list in next month’s European Parliament elections, said Macron’s government lacked humility in suggesting a modernist rethink.

“We are the inheritors of patrimony, it doesn’t belong to us, and it’s important therefore that we hand it on in the way that we received it,” he told Reuters.

“There are rules in France about protecting national heritage. The President of the Republic is not above the law.

It’s not up to him to decide to build a modern spire.”

Plus ca change…

While Bellamy is a conservative Catholic and might be expected to campaign for returning the 850-year-old Gothic masterpiece to exactly how it was before the fire, his views are shared by some architectural historians.

Patrick Demouy, an emeritus professor of medieval history who specializes in the Notre-Dame de Reims cathedral, said it would be difficult to imagine something starkly different to the 19th century spire, even if its architect, Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, was himself quite inventive with his design.

“Personally, I’m in favor of restoring it to how it was because that’s the spire that has imposed itself on the collective memory,” he told Reuters. “It would be hard to perceive [a contemporary spire] because we wouldn’t really recognize it any longer as being Notre-Dame.”

Macron’s culture minister, Franck Riester, said it was important the nation debated the issue and generated ideas.

There is likely to be months if not years of discussion before a design — contemporary or otherwise — is fixed upon.

“The masterpiece that Viollet-le-Duc left us is exceptional, but we must not dogmatically insist that we recreate an identical cathedral,” he told BFM TV. “We must let the debate take place, see what ideas are presented, and then decide.”

Paris has a track-record of being experimental with its architecture, whether via buildings such as the Pompidou Center, or the glass pyramid at the heart of the Louvre, which blends modernism with classical lines.

Other constructions, such as the 210-metre Montparnasse tower or the vast empty square of the Arche de la Defense, have come in for more criticism, even if they have fans, too.

For Jean-Michel Leniaud, an art historian at the National Institute of Art History, Notre-Dame is special because it is both a work of art and among the nation’s greatest monuments, a source of unity for citizens in times of strife.

“The restoration of Notre-Dame de Paris shouldn’t be the opportunity for creative architects to show off their inventive spark,” he told Reuters. “We should go back to the original, the spire of Viollet-le-Duc,” he said.

“The best way, the most consensual way to overcome this terrible disaster is to return it to the original state.”
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US Senate Leader Calls for Raising Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco Products to 21

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeUS

U.S. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he plans to introduce legislation to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products, including vaping devices, to 21 from 18 to curb their “epidemic” use among teens.

McConnell said the bill would be introduced in May.

Shares of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, which owns a 35 percent stake in e-cigarette maker Juul, fell 3 percent on the news. Philip Morris International and U.S-listed shares of British American Tobacco were also trading lower.

“For some time, I’ve been hearing from the parents who are seeing an unprecedented spike in vaping among their teenage children…. Unfortunately, it’s reaching epidemic levels around the country,” the Republican senator from Kentucky said in a statement.

McConnell’s proposal comes as states and cities across the United States have moved to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco in an effort to prevent addiction at young ages. A 2015 study from the National Academy of Medicine found that among adults who became daily smokers, about 90 percent started using cigarettes before they were 19.

The study found that raising the minimum legal age to 21 would prevent 223,000 premature deaths.

So far 12 states have enacted laws to raise the minimum age to 21, including New Jersey and California. Lawmakers in New York state and Maryland have also approved legislation.

In a statement, Altria Group Chief Executive Howard Willard said the company “strongly supports” McConnell’s move, calling it “the most effective action to reverse rising underage e-vapor usage rates.” A representative for British American Tobacco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

E-cigarette makers are already under pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which laid out plans in March to clamp down on the use of the popular nicotine devices among teens.

Altria made a big bet on e-cigarettes in December with its $12.8 billion purchase of a 35 percent stake in Juul Labs Inc, which makes a sleek line of devices that became popular among teenagers, prompting an FDA crackdown.

Altria Group has been a major contributor to McConnell’s campaigns, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. McConnell’s campaign received $31,900 from Altria employees or political action committees in the most recent election cycle, making him one of the top four recipients of campaign cash in Congress, according to the data.

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Ivanka Trump Finishes Africa Tour at Women Entrepreneur Summit

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeUS

Ivanka Trump, U.S. President Donald’s Trump’s daughter and senior White House adviser, spoke Wednesday to a summit of women entrepreneurs in the Ivory Coast.

“Societies that empower to succeed are more peaceful and more prosperous. And this is evident in all the research that we see,” Trump told an auditorium full of female business owners, community organizers, politicians and students.

Her appearance at the Women Entrepreneurs Financial Initiative (WeFi) summit in Ivory Coast was Trump’s last stop on a four-day tour of Africa to promote a $50 million initiative signed by her father in February that is aimed at encouraging women’s employment in developing countries.

“We launched WGDP, the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, in February of this past year. It is the first ever whole-of-government approach to women’s economic empowerment in the developing world, and the goal is to empower 50 million women by 2025,” she said at the summit.

The WGDP is one of many international funding projects that will work with the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank to distribute money to projects throughout the continent.

Backbone of African economies

“It’s very known that women form the backbone of African economies … yet they’re very much marginalized in terms of their access to most productive resources, from land to finance to acquiring information,” Vanessa Moungar, director of Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, told VOA.

Moungar gave the example of one specific program, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), which was developed to bridge the gap between men and women in how they gain access to capital.

The summit touted successful businesswomen speakers and panels, mixed with representatives like Moungar to discuss the potential of women in business on the continent.

Change for the better

And many left the conference feeling inspired about their future.

“From what I’ve heard today, I do believe that things are going to change for the better,” Tatou Dembele, who owns the food marketing company Ivorian Food, told VOA.

“I believe that there is a strong will to help women in their own businesses. I believe this is the most important thing and we need to focus on that, whether or not we receive or might receive so much money or less money,” Dembele added.

$2 million for cocoa

Earlier Wednesday, at a cocoa farm about 100 kilometers from Abidjan, Trump announced a $2 million commitment to help women in Ivory Coast’s cocoa industry.

Speaking at Cayat, a cocoa cooperative in the town of Adzopé, Trump said the $2 million, promised by USAID and private chocolate companies, would go toward savings associations, which are a popular way for businesswomen to gain capital in the West African country.

Cayat is an example of one company that was able to grow through use of a savings association. It is a company, however, in an industry largely run by women, but where women are still outearned by men.

“Oftentimes women are left out of the decision-making process. Women do a lot of the work, but women often don’t have the ability to own land,” Tim McCoy, vice president of country relations for the World Cocoa Foundation, told VOA.

“So what we’re seeing here is a change in that and an example of women really taking responsibility and exercising really amazing leadership,” he added about Cayat.

“Thanks for allowing us to highlight a best-in-class example,” Trump told an audience of Cayat employees after touring the facilities Wednesday.

Trump was received warmly both in the town and the cocoa cooperative. Dozens of people wearing shirts with Trump’s photo lined the streets to greet her.

“We are ready to work with them,” Adingra Yawa, a Cayat employee, told VOA after Trump’s announcement. “We want our children to be able to go to school. We want to be happy like other women.”
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Court Sets Hearing on Trump Administration’s Asylum Policy

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeUS

A federal appeals court Wednesday scheduled a hearing over whether to stop the Trump administration from forcing asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their immigration court hearings.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals set a hearing for April 24 in San Francisco over whether a lower court ruling to block the policy should go into effect while the case proceeds.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg ruled April 8 that the unprecedented policy violated U.S. law and should be halted because it failed to evaluate dangers migrants face in Mexico.

He issued an order to stop the policy, but gave the government time to appeal, which it did, claiming the ruling was erroneous and would endanger the public.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit issued a temporary stay last week — leaving the policy in place — and requested written arguments from the government and immigrant advocates before setting the hearing date, now set for next week.

Policy introduced in January

The administration introduced its “Migrant Protection Protocols” policy Jan. 29 in San Diego and later expanded it to Calexico, California, and El Paso, Texas. Homeland Security officials have said they planned to sharply expand enforcement along the entire border with Mexico.

Families seeking asylum that typically would have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court, were instead sent back to Mexico to await their hearings.

Eleven Central Americans sued to challenge the policy, arguing it jeopardized asylum seekers by forcing them to stay in Mexico, where crime and drug violence are prevalent.

According to the Mexican government, Central American asylum seekers have been returned to Mexico 1,323 times to await court dates in the U.S.

The U.S. stopped returning people to Mexico in the immediate aftermath of Seeborg’s ruling and at least some who reported to court that week were allowed to stay in the United States.
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Yemeni Artist’s Murals Depict Costs of War

Posted on 04/18/2019 by SeeEA

As the war in Yemen continues to inflict suffering on its millions of civilians, a Yemeni graffiti artist is taking her art to the streets of Sanaa to draw images of war and hunger in the conflict-torn country.

Haifa Subay, 28, is weaponizing her art to disseminate messages of peace at home and to try to bring the world’s attention to the toll that war has taken on Yemenis, particularly women and children.

“I wanted to send a message of peace, a plea to stop the fighting and alleviate the suffering caused by the ongoing war,” Subay told VOA from her home in Sanaa.

Subay said her art campaign focuses on various humanitarian and social consequences of the conflict, including famine, land mines, displacement, child soldiers, child marriage and domestic violence against women. She chose Sanaa’s most populated areas to make sure her striking art is seen by as many people as possible.

’Just a Leg’

One of her popular works, called “Just a Leg,” shows a one-legged boy who is holding his amputated leg, the result of a land mine accident. Another artwork, “Child of Bones,” portrays a mother holding her malnourished son.

“All of my murals are of real people and real situations,” Subay said, and each one “has a story behind it representing an aspect of the conflict. My favorite mural is of the child victim of land mines holding a leg he lost in an explosion.”

The war in Yemen started in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition entered the conflict in support of the internationally recognized government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi after Iran-aligned Houthi rebels staged a takeover of Sanaa and large swaths of Yemeni territory. Since then, the conflict has morphed into a proxy war between neighboring Saudi Arabia and Iran.

According to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a database tracking violence in the country, the conflict has, since early 2016, caused 67,600 deaths; 7,000 of those victims were civilians.

The United Nations has warned that Yemen is facing the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis, with two-thirds of all districts in the country in a “pre-famine” state and an estimated 80 percent of the population in need of some form of humanitarian assistance.

Yemeni women

The agency said women and girls are paying the heaviest price in the conflict, with many being prevented from going to school or even having access to public spaces.

According to a report released in February by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), the conflict has forced about 4.3 million Yemenis to flee from their homes, with almost half of the displaced being women and girls under age 18.

“With limited shelter options, displaced women and girls tend to suffer most from lack of privacy, threats to safety and limited access to basic services, making them ever more vulnerable to violence and abuse,” UNFPA reported.

As a female artist, Subay said she wanted to use her work as a tool to express women’s suffering due to the war and their abilities to make positive change when they are given an opportunity.

“When I started painting on the walls of my city, some people were surprised by seeing a woman drawing graffiti on the street. But my illustrations of war touch the hearts of every Yemeni,” Subay told VOA.

“With time, the gazes of surprise have turned into support and encouragement,” she said, adding that she has been able to change the attitude of many toward women’s abilities.

Similarly, she hopes her murals can also help promote peace and respect for civilian lives as warring sides seek a compromise to end over four years of war.

Peace talks

The Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed Houthis reached a U.N.-backed cease-fire agreement in December that demanded all parties pull back from the main ports and parts of the strategic city of Hodeida. The agreement, however, fell short of its goals as the parties started accusing each other of using the cease-fire to prepare for war.

The U.N. on Monday said efforts were under way to get the warring parties to the negotiating table again.

“I hoped for a peace that alleviates the suffering of Yemenis, but my hope is fading as the conflict is deepening my people’s agony. … My country’s grave suffering is a wound in my heart,” Subay said.
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Notre Dame Fire Exposes Priorities of Giving

Posted on 04/17/2019 by SeeUS

The remains of precious religious objects lay charred on the church floor, black and smoldering after a devastating fire.

But this wasn’t Notre Dame, the Catholic cathedral known as the “Heart of Paris,” parts of which collapsed in flames this week as millions watched in horror on broadcast news. This was three small Baptist churches in rural Louisiana.

While these churches in a stubbornly segregated part of America’s South were destroyed by suspected arson over several days, they received scant attention on the news landscape. (The 21-year-old son of a local sheriff’s deputy has been charged with arson and hate crimes.)

“I think it’s a question that we all have to ask ourselves: Why is it that we can be more moved by the destruction of a beautiful but inanimate object rather than, say, the death of refugees in the Mediterranean or elsewhere? Or the continuing and growing problems of climate change, and the deaths of animal species?” asked Nick Jubber, a travel writer in London who lived in Paris.

The Twittersphere agreed. After an overnight of collective grief and social mourning over the 850-year-old Paris cathedral, people started to talk about priorities.

“My heart is broken over the loss of Notre Dame,” tweeted Megan Romer of Lafayette, Louisiana, just south of the parish where the Baptist churches burned. “If you are going to donate money to rebuild a church this week, I implore you to make it the black churches in St. Landry Parish.

“I am not saying this to minimize any suffering. Loss is loss and it all hurts,” Romer continued. “But if you happen to be reading this, remember that famous history isn’t the only history. Imagine the courage it took to build and fill a black house of worship in postbellum rural Louisiana. AND NOW.”

While Notre Dame receives about 30,000 visitors a day as one of the biggest attractions in the world, the predominantly black Louisiana churches receive little tourism attention or dollars. Instead, tourists in that part of Lousiana come to admire the plantations constructed before the Civil War by wealthy white landowners who built their sizable fortunes on generations of enslaved black people.

Besides the Louisiana churches, people worldwide noted the outflow of money going to Notre Dame, while, in their eyes, other parts of the world were burning.

Three French “billionaires have pledged 600+ million euros for the Notre Dame reconstruction in less than 12 hours,” tweeted Iman. “Let that put into perspective how easily billionaires could end world hunger, poverty, lack of access to healthcare/clean water/education but choose not to.”

“The 800-year-old Keriya Aitika mosque in China’s Xinjiang province was also razed to the ground by the Chinese (government), the latest in a string of historic mosques destroyed,” tweeted Kaveh Akbar. “Pray for these histories, too.”

“Masjid Al-Aqsa got burned and there’s not media coverage??! But Notre Dame fire is on every news channel??? Ok,” lamented @Salmaabellaa, referring to a fire at Islam’s Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

When others with significant social media followings tweeted about the inequity, the Baptist churches were no longer anonymous. A GoFundMe account asking for donations to restore the churches raised close to $1.5 million by Wednesday afternoon EST.

Nearly 27,000 donations were made worldwide to the Seventh District Baptist Association, a 149-year-old nonprofit religious organization comprised of 60 Baptist churches in southwest Louisiana, which includes the three churches affected by the recent fires, the GoFundMe webpage states.

“As we hold Paris in our thoughts today, let’s also send some love to our neighbors in Louisiana. Three historically black churches have burned in recent weeks, charring buildings and scattering communities. If you can, contribute to rebuilding funds …” tweeted former Secretary of State and 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Jubber explained that the outpouring for the Catholic cathedral is because Notre Dame “is just as alive as any person and, perhaps, more so … because it’s been there and present through so much history, it has this living force that gives it this emotional power. … It feels like more than just a building … its so permanent. I never would have imagined that Notre Dame would have burned. It seemed like something that was always there. It was always something so stable.

“It will never be the same,” said Jubber, who recently published “Epic Continent: Adventures in the Great Stories of Europe.”

“There may seem something perverse about this display of grief when species are falling extinct on a regular basis, and we’re increasingly faced with the effects of climate change. But it reflects a truth that is increasingly apparent: We look to the past for our collective identity.”
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Instagram Blocks Iranian Guard Commanders’ Pages

Posted on 04/17/2019 by SeeEA

With 800,000 followers, the Instagram page of the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force was among the most popular pages of Iranian officials on the photo-sharing website.

The Instagram comments, public appearances, travels and promotional posters of Qassem Soleimani — who as head of Quds commands the vaunted Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) outside Iran — were shared on the Instagram page, which is one of the only major social media sites that has not been blocked by Iran.

On April 16, a day after Washington’s designation of the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization came into effect, Soleiman’s page, along with the Instagram pages of several other IRGC commanders, were blocked.

“Sorry, this page isn’t available,” a message on the page reads. “The link you followed may be broken, or the page may have been removed.”

An Instagram spokesman said it was operating “under the constraints of U.S. sanctions laws.”

“We work with the appropriate government authorities to ensure we meet our legal obligations, including those relating to the recent designation of the IRGC,” the spokesman said.

Iranian media reported that the English-language Instagram page of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the page of judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi were also blocked.

Khamenei’s Persian-language Instagram page, with 2.5 million followers, remains available. Khamenei’s English-language page was back up on April 17.

‘Take reciprocal actions’

The blockages were condemned in Tehran and prompted renewed calls from hard-liners for a blocking of Instagram, the second most popular social media platform in Iran after the communications app Telegram, which was blocked last year.

“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you aren’t proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you FEAR what he might say,” Communications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahrom wrote on Twitter, blocked in Iran since 2019, quoting the cult TV series Game of Thrones.

Other hard-liners, including Hossein Allah Karam, a leader of the paramilitary Ansar-e Hezbollah group, blacklisted by the U.S. for human rights abuses, also agreed that the time had come for the Islamic Republic to block Instagram.

“Social media sites use any opportunity to harm national interests. We need to be ready to confront these plots and take reciprocal actions,” Allah Karam was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

“Under the current conditions it is needed more than ever to filter these social media sites in support of the IRGC,” he said, adding that “the blocking of hostile social media sites such as Instagram will [prevent] them from doing what they want.”

The conservative chairman of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alaeddin Borujerdi, said he would stop posting on Instagram to protest the blocking of the pages of Khamenei and the IRGC commanders.

In a video posted on Instagram, Borujerdi said the “unwise move” reflected “the depth of America’s hostility” toward the Islamic establishment.

To block or not to block?

Iranian hard-liners have long called for tighter Internet censorship, including the blocking of Instagram.

Earlier this year, Javad Javidnia, secretary of Iran’s state committee on online censorship and deputy state prosecutor in charge of cyberaffairs, was quoted by domestic media as saying that the country was ready to block Instagram once the authorities agreed.

The move has been opposed by the government of President Hassan Rouhani, who came to power in 2013 promising people more freedom and less censorship.

Iran blocks tens of thousands of websites, including news sites and social media networks such as Facebook and Twitter, but many Iranians access banned sites through virtual private networks and other anti-filtering tools.
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Turkish Opposition Has Historic Victory Confirmed in Istanbul, as Erdogan Seeks to Overturn Vote

Posted on 04/17/2019 by SeeEU

After 17 days of recounts and controversies, Turkey’s opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was confirmed the official winner Wednesday in the Istanbul mayoral election.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is seeking to overturn the historic vote, which ends his Justice and Development Party’s (AKP), and other Erdogan-affiliated parties’, 25-year control of Turkey’s largest city.

Ekrem Imamoglu, Istanbul’s new mayor, addressed thousands of jubilant supporters outside the city’s mayoral building.

“I take this victory for Turks, Kurds, Greeks and Armenians,” Imamoglu said, referring to Istanbul’s diverse population.

Imamoglu’s victory speech included a theme of inclusivity that underpinned his winning campaign, which secured a narrow victory by 14,000 votes out of 9 million ballots cast.

Potential game changer

Victory for the CHP in Istanbul, the country’s industrial, financial and cultural capital, is already touted as a potential political game changer for an opposition that has suffered nearly two decades of defeat at the hands of the AKP.

“The unquestionable significance of this election is that power can be changed through the ballot box, and that is a big change,” said Soli Ozel, professor of international relations, at Istanbul’s Kadir Has University. “On the other hand, it will be quite disastrous for the (AK) party — in terms of finances, power, psychology, morale— to lose Istanbul.”

The AKP vigorously challenged the result, calling for numerous partial recounts of the millions of votes. In an attempt to prove fraud, interior minister Suleyman Soylu sent police to knock on the doors of Istanbul residents to confirm voter lists.

Erdogan is calling for the vote to be annulled. Tuesday, AKP officials delivered five suitcases of evidence to the Supreme Electoral Board to back calls to rescind the Istanbul election.

Analysts warn of the dangers a vote annulment holds.

“All the opponents from various parties and different ways of life are tired of this regime, and people are rejoicing now,” political scientist Cengiz Aktar said. “The annulation of the vote will have a devastating effect on them. I worry about the reaction.”

The High Election Board (YSK) is predominantly made up of government and presidential appointees. Opposition parties have in recent polls questioned the board’s impartiality, but have raised few criticisms of its handling of the Istanbul result.

Evidence of impartiality

On election night, the YSK declared Imamoglu to be provisionally ahead, contradicting claims of victory by AKP candidate Binali Yildirim. Analysts cite the electoral board’s decision to give Imamoglu the mayoral mandate, and with it further political momentum to his claim for power, as further evidence of impartiality.

“The credibility of the electoral board was on the line,” Ozel said. “I think they have been compromised in other places, but at least the procedural lines were at last followed (in Istanbul).

“In that sense, it’s both a political victory for Mr. Imamoglu, and at least a somewhat legal victory, too. So we are, in my judgment, on a different plateau. A threshold has been crossed,” he added.

Observers suggest the AKP will be lobbying the YSK hard behind the scenes to overturn the vote, given the importance of Istanbul to the party.

“Istanbul presents so many patronage opportunities. It greases the wheels of politics for those who control it,” Ozel said. “And for the AKP, in the last 25 years, they have truly mastered that, as well.”

“They’ve generated enormous urban rents, which they used to help the dependent and poorer sections of society, but also enrich contractors, who in turn supported the party. So, that wheel of fortune will be broken,” he added.

Significant risks

Any rerun of the Istanbul vote brings with it significant risks for the AKP, as well as for Erdogan. The underlining causes for the AKP’s defeat — high unemployment and inflation — remain unchanged. Observers also point out that voters usually punish the party blamed for re-elections, especially any considered unjustified.

There are unconfirmed reports that the AKP has conducted private polls in Istanbul that indicate Imamoglu would win with a larger margin of victory in a revote.

Analysts also warn that Turkey’s current economic woes could be further exacerbated by another Istanbul poll held in a profoundly polarized atmosphere.

Analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners suggests while Erdogan is publicly calling for another vote, he may not be too disappointed if his calls for a new ballot are rejected.

“Erdogan’s finely honed political instincts tell him repeating the elections carry several political and economic hazards, which are costlier than losing the center of cronyism,” Yesilada said.
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UN: Fighting in Libyan Capital Intensifies

Posted on 04/17/2019 by SeeEA

The United Nations said Wednesday that the Libyan capital saw its most intense fighting overnight since the forces of Gen. Khalifa Haftar began their battle to take Tripoli earlier this month.

“Tripoli witnessed the heaviest fighting since the outbreak of clashes, with indiscriminate rocket fire on a high-density neighborhood in the Libyan capital,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York. He said that at least five civilians were reportedly killed and several others injured.

The U.N.’s top diplomat in Libya, Ghassan Salamé, condemned the shelling on Twitter: “Horrible night of random shelling of residential areas. For the sake of 3 million civilians living in Greater Tripoli, these attacks should stop. NOW!”

In a statement to the media on Tuesday, Salamé renewed his call for international unity to spare Libya from the devastating consequences of a civil war.

To that end, the U.N. Security Council has been considering a draft resolution this week calling for an immediate de-escalation and cease-fire.

Russian objection

Diplomats said Russia had objected to the naming of Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) in the text as originating the new violence. But after a revised draft was circulated Wednesday afternoon, it did not appear to satisfy Moscow, which raised objections, as did council member Equatorial Guinea on behalf of itself and the other two African council members — South Africa and Ivory Coast. Negotiations continue in search of a consensus as the fighting goes on.

The International Organization for Migration said Wednesday that the offensive has displaced 25,000 people in the capital, with 4,500 displaced in the past 24 hours alone.

Humanitarians are also having difficulty evacuating civilians trapped by the fighting. A request for a temporary truce Tuesday to allow civilians to leave volatile neighborhoods in Tripoli was not granted.

“Civilians trapped in conflict areas are reportedly running low on basic food items, as well as fuel, and experiencing prolonged electricity and water cuts,” Dujarric told reporters.

Libya has been in political and economic chaos since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011.

The latest cycle of fighting began after forces loyal to Haftar advanced from the east on Tripoli, which is controlled by the U.N.-backed Presidential Council and Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj in a bid to capture the capital.

The fighting scuttled a national conference the U.N. had planned this week as part of an effort to secure a political settlement.
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