Month: May 2019

Sweden Reopening Assange Rape Case

Posted on by SeeEU

Swedish prosecutors are reopening a rape case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

 

Speaking to reporters Monday in Stockholm, Eva-Marie Persson, deputy director of public prosecutions, said that “there is still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed a rape,” adding that in her assessment “a new questioning of Assange is required.”

Persson said that the circumstances now allow for the extradition of Assange from Britain. However, she said, it is for Britain to decide whether to extradite him to Sweden or to the United States where he is wanted for allegedly hacking into a Pentagon computer.

Reacting to the Sweden’s decision, WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a statement that the reopening of the case will give Assange a chance to clear his name.

“Since Julian Assange was arrested on 11 April 2019, there has been considerable political pressure on Sweden to reopen their investigation, but there has always been political pressure surrounding this case,” Hrafnsson said.

Swedish prosecutors filed preliminary charges against Assange in 2010. The investigation into alleged sexual misconduct was dropped seven years later after Assange fled into the Ecuadorian embassy and the statute of limitations then expired.

The statute of limitations on the reopened rape case expires in August 2020, in which case the investigation would be suspended if no conclusion were reached.
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Pompeo Arrives in Belgium

Posted on by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived at the European Union headquarters in Brussels, the first stop on his European trip.

State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said Monday that Pompeo will meet with European allies in Belgium “to discuss recent threatening actions and statements by the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Ortagus added that the Secretary “will continue to coordinate closely with our allies and partners and ensure the security of our mutual interests in the Middle East and around the world.”

Originally Pompeo had planned to meet Monday with U.S. diplomats and business leaders in Moscow.

There was a late Sunday change of plans, instead, for the secretary to stop in Belgium first.

The schedule for the rest of schedule for the U.S. top diplomat’s trip plans remain intact.

Pompeo travels to Sochi Tuesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Pompeo’s trip comes a few weeks ahead of a G-20 summit meeting in Osaka, Japan, which both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Putin will attend.

Pompeo’s trip to Russia also comes as tensions simmer between the two countries over Iran.

 

The U.S. is strengthening its military presence in the Middle East in what officials said was a “direct response to a number of troubling and escalatory indicators and warnings” from Iran.

 

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and four B-52 bombers have arrived in the Middle East in response to concerns Iran may be planning an attack against American targets.

 

On Wednesday, Lavrov asked Pompeo to use diplomacy instead of threats to solve issues after Lavrov’s talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarifin Moscow.
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Wife of Popular Ghanaian Actor Chris Attoh Shot Dead Near Washington

Posted on by SeeUS

Police in a Washington suburb are searching for the killer of Bettie Jenifer, wife of popular Ghanaian actor Chris Attoh.

Police say Jenifer was shot and killed Friday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland, as she left the office building where she worked.

Witnesses say Jenifer saw a man with a gun standing in the parking lot. As she tried to run away, the gunman chased her, shooting her twice.

Police say they believe she was the victim of a targeted killing and that the gunman is at large. 

Attoh was in Los Angeles working on a film and immediately flew to Maryland.

Reports say investigators are studying Attoh’s social media posts after he deleted all photographs of him and Jenifer together on his websites — leading to speculation in Ghana that the couple was splitting up.

Attoh and Jenifer were married for just seven months.
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Uncertain Future Awaits Displaced Syrian Yazidis in Lebanon

Posted on by SeeEA

Concern is growing among hundreds of Yazidis who fled their homes due to the Turkish intrusion of northwestern Syria to neighboring Lebanon, as the religious minority faces a possible forced return by Lebanese authorities.

An estimated 500 Yazidis fled the town of Afrin in early 2018 during the Turkish Operation Olive Branch against the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. They say they fear being targeted by Islamist militants if they return home.

One of the refugees, Ronahi Hassan Alias, said her family’s situation has become increasingly desperate as the political rhetoric grows against Syrian refugees in Lebanon. She worked as a schoolteacher before fleeing Afrin in January 2018 to the government-controlled areas in Aleppo, Syria. The family was displaced again later that year and forced to sleep on the streets and in the fields of Aleppo because the Syrian government failed to help the minority refugees.

“After all what we have been through, now we are threatened of a forced return to Syria. We are afraid because we cannot go back to Afrin and the Syrian government hasn’t offered us any aid,” Alias told VOA.

Alias said the Yazidi families lack basic humanitarian support in Lebanon, despite the country’s high living costs. Like thousands of other Syrians in Lebanon, they face legal challenges due to the difficulty of receiving their refugee status paperwork.

“We are completely neglected, and no one is paying attention to our ordeal and what we are going through. We are out of solutions,” she said, adding it is unclear how they will be received even if they return to Syria.

“The men will be taken by the Syrian regime to fight its wars while children and women will be left on the streets,” she added.

Refugees in Lebanon

With an estimated population of just more than 6 million, Lebanon has hosted about 1.6 million Syrian refugees since the outbreak of violence in Syria in 2011, according to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The country also hosts a half-million Palestinian refugees.

Lebanese officials complain the large number of refugees has created a serious burden on the economy of their country. They urge the international community to help address the issue by quickly returning the refugees to their home countries or resettling them elsewhere.

Lebanon President Michel Aoun on Thursday warned that his country “would never survive” and “its demographics would change completely” if the Syrian and Palestinian refugees remained in his country with no obvious timeline to return home.

The Lebanese government has announced it may not be able to wait for international action on Syrian refugees any longer and soon may come up with a solution of its own. Lebanese Minister of State for Refugee Affairs Saleh Gharib last month said his ministry would submit a plan to the cabinet in the coming weeks.

According to the Syrian Yazidis Council, a Germany-based advocacy group for the Syrian Yazidi community, international protection is needed to ensure the safe return of the religious minority group to Afrin. In the absence of such a guarantee, the only choice the refugees are left with is relocation to another country.

Hassan Nasser, a representative of the council, said that many Yazidi refugees have applied to be relocated to another country in the hope of starting a new life. But they face numerous challenges, primarily due to lack of support networks to help them through the process.

“Once they file an application with the UNHCR office in Lebanon, they have to wait for an entire year just to get an interview. During this year, they must find a way to survive financially while hiding from Lebanese patrols that arrest undocumented Syrians regardless of their situation, and send them back to Syria,” Nasser told VOA.

Despite the hardships in Lebanon, most Yazidis prefer to stay rather than go back to Syria, where they can be exploited by the Syrian regime or targeted by Islamists, Nasser said.

Violations in Afrin

The predominantly Kurdish town of Afrin was home to about a half-million people, including religious minorities like Yazidis, Christians and Alawites. Many of the minorities have reportedly fled the town to escape persecution.

There is no official data on the number of Yazidis in Afrin, but Kurdish and Yazidi sources estimate their numbers were about 25,000 before Operation Olive Branch.

The town was also home to 300 Christian families, all of whom have left the area and settled in different parts of Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based war monitor, recently reported Turkey has started building a wall in southern Afrin to separate the area from other parts of the Syrian territory. The Observatory has warned against “large-scale violations” committed by militants aligned with Turkey, from looting farmers’ crops to confiscating properties and arbitrarily arresting residents.

 
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New Talks on Sudan Civilian Rule Expected Monday

Posted on by SeeAF

Sudan’s army rulers and protesters are to hold fresh talks over handing power to a civilian administration on Monday, spokesmen for the generals and the protest movement said.

 

On Saturday, the Alliance for Freedom and Change – an umbrella for the protest movement – said the generals had invited it for a new round of talks after several days of deadlock.

 

“The meeting was planned for today but it has now been postponed to Monday,” alliance spokesman Rashid al-Sayed said.

 

Sayed did not explain why the talks were postponed, but sources in the alliance said that more time was needed for consultations within the leadership.

 

Late on Sunday the spokesman for the ruling military council, Lieutenant General Shamseddine Kabbashi, confirmed the new round of talks will be held on Monday.

 

The talks are being held in an “optimistic atmosphere,” Kabbashi said in a statement, adding that the negotiations aimed “to reach an agreement over the arrangements of the transitional period”.

 

The latest planned round of talks come as thousands of protesters remain camped outside army headquarters in central Khartoum.

 

They say they are determined to force the ruling military council to cede power — just as they pushed the military into deposing veteran president Omar al-Bashir on April 11.

 

The army generals and protesters are at loggerheads over who will sit on a new ruling body that would replace the existing military council

 

‘Totally unacceptable’

 

The generals have proposed that the new council be military led, while the protest leaders want a majority civilian body.

 

Late last month, the alliance — which brings together protest organizers, opposition parties and rebel groups — handed the generals its proposals for a civilian-led transitional government.

 

But the generals have pointed to what they call “many reservations” over the alliance’s roadmap.

 

They have singled out its silence on the constitutional position of Islamic sharia law, which was the guiding principle of all legislation under Bashir’s rule but is anathema to secular groups like the Sudanese Communist Party and some rebel factions in the alliance.

 

“We want to hold the talks quickly and sort out all these points in 72 hours,” the alliance said on Saturday.

 

Protesters meanwhile blocked the Nile street, a major avenue that runs along the river Nile in the capital, witnesses and the military council said.

 

Witnesses said angry protesters blocked the avenue after police initially stopped them from going to the sit-in outside the army complex from that road.

 

Groups of men and women then blocked the avenue using rocks, tree trunks and branches, witnesses said.

 

The military council slammed the blocking of the avenue.

 

“It is totally unacceptable what is happening on the Nile street as it creates chaos and makes life difficult for citizens,” the council said in a statement.

 

It also dismissed unconfirmed reports that security forces were trying to disperse the sit-in outside the army complex.

 

“There are reports circulating on social media about the military council’s intention to disperse the sit-in by force,” it said.

 

“We assure that this is totally false.”

 
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White House Economic Adviser Acknowledges US Importers, Not China Will Pay Tariffs

Posted on by SeeUS

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday acknowledged that U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will be paid by U.S. importers, contrary to President Donald Trump’s claims that China will pay for the U.S.-imposed levies. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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Murder Charge Dropped Against Jewish Suspect in Arson Attack on Palestinians

Posted on by SeeEA

Israeli prosecutors have dropped murder charges against a Jewish suspect in a 2015 arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents.

Under a plea bargain, the unnamed suspect pleaded guilty to a racially motivated conspiracy and staking out the Palestinian village with a codefendant.

Prosecutors will seek a five-year prison sentence. They agreed not to pursue the more serious charge of murder, noting the suspect was a minor at the time of the attack.

The other suspect, identified as Amiram Ben Oliel, is in jail while the investigation continues.

The two allegedly firebombed the home belonging to the Dawabshe family in the West Bank village of Duma near Nablus.

The flames killed 18-month-old Ali and his parents. An older brother survived with serious burns.

The attack angered many Israelis, including conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who condemned it as “terrorism.”

Ali’s grandfather criticized the plea bargain, saying prosecutors are giving “a green light to a Jewish suspect, who will leave prison and continue the murder spree he and his friend started.”

 
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UAE: Sabotage on 4 Commercial Ships in Gulf of Oman

Posted on by SeeEA

The United Arab Emirates says four commercial ships were subjected to “sabotage operations” Sunday near its territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman.

Authorities gave no details, however, on what kind of sabotage they suspect or to whom the ships belong, other than saying they were of different nationalities.

They say no one was hurt and no chemicals or fuel were spilled from the ships.

The UAE did deny Iranian and Lebanese news reports of explosions at the port of Fujairah and added “media outlets must be responsible and rely on official sources.”

The UAE says international bodies are helping with the investigation.

“Carrying out acts of sabotage on commercial and civilian vessels and threatening the safety and lives of those aboard is a serious development,” the foreign affairs ministry said Sunday, urging all nations to take their responsibilities to prevent actions by anyone looking to undermine maritime safety.

UAE officials declined to say who they thought was behind whatever happened on the ships.

The U.S. Maritime Administration warned last week of what it calls the “increased possibility that Iran and/or its regional proxies could take action against U.S. and partner interests… by targeting commercial vessels, including oil tankers or U.S. military vessels.”

There has been no response from Iran. But the head of parliament’s national security committee tweeted “security of the south of the Persian Gulf is like glass.”

 
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Tanzania’s Top Male Model Embraces Loss of Skin Pigmentation

Posted on by SeeAF

A long-term condition began robbing his skin of its color a decade-and-a-half ago. Since then the man recently named Tanzania’s top male model publicly embraced his condition. He says it makes him unique. Arash Arabasadi has more.
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Albania Anti-Government Protesters Keep Up Heat

Posted on by SeeEU

Albania’s center-right opposition has called for further protests as it continues a months-long effort to bring about the resignation of the left-wing government and force early parliamentary elections.

The Democratic Party said after a meeting of its leaders on May 12 that it will hold another protest on May 13.

The move comes after thousands of demonstrators gathered early on May 11 in front of the main government building at Tirana’s Martyrs of the Nation Boulevard before moving on to other sites.

Protesters threw flares, firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, and other items as security personnel used tear gas when some in the crowd broke through a police cordon and attempted to storm the government building.

Protesters did not enter the site, and clashes were later reported near the parliament building.

“Barbarous violence against hundreds of protesters…will get [on May 13] the proportional response from the united and determined people,” Lulzim Basha, leader of the Democratic Party, told hundreds of supporters at the Tirana police department on May 12.

The opposition has alleged fraud in the 2017 parliamentary elections, organized protests, and cut its ties to parliament to force early polls. The Socialist government of Prime Minister Edi Rama has dismissed the allegations.

The opposition also accuses Rama’s cabinet of having links to organized crime, which the government denies.

The protests are taking place weeks ahead of an expected decision by European Union members whether to approve opening accession talks with Albania and neighboring North Macedonia.

The EU and the United States have expressed support for the government and have urged the opposition to return to parliament and take part in local elections on June 30.

Both Rama and Basha have backed the moves to join the EU, but the opposition leader has said the Socialists’ alleged corruption could prevent the small Western Balkan country from reaching its membership goal.

Protesters are “determined to keep waging a bigger and more resolute battle as long as the government was keeping Albania apart from Europe,” he said.

“We are here with a mission, to liberate Albania from crime and corruption, to make Albania like the rest of Europe,” Basha told supporters at a May 11 rally in central Tirana. “I call on our European and international friends not to punish Albania.”

Ambulances were seen taking injured people away from the protests, but there was no immediate information on numbers of casualties.

Interior Minister Sander Lleshaj said 13 policemen were injured.

President Ilir Meta called on protesters “to avoid acts of violence and confrontation,” while Rama denounced the violence and expressed support for police forces.

The U.S. Embassy in Tirana condemned protesters’ violence and called for restraint by all sides.

“Protest leaders have a responsibility to encourage calm. We call on all parties to show restraint,” a statement said.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that “violence is not the answer. Also, heavy response to violence will not help.”

 
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South Africa Chief Vows to Purge ANC of ‘Deviant Tendencies’

Posted on by SeeAF

South Africa’s president is vowing to purge his party of “bad and deviant tendencies” as he prepares to appoint a new Cabinet following a victory in national elections.

The 57 percent share of the vote was the worst-ever election showing for the African National Congress, which has ruled since the apartheid system of racial discrimination ended 25 years ago.

 

Low voter turnout also reflected the frustration of many South Africans after corruption scandals around the ANC that led former president Jacob Zuma to resign last year under party pressure.

 

Current President Cyril Ramaphosa in his first speech to supporters since the election win said Sunday he will not appoint leaders who work “to fill their own pockets.”

 

Ramaphosa is believed to be facing a revolt within the party by Zuma allies.

 

 
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Afghan Official: US Diversion of Funds Not to Undermine Security Cooperation

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Afghan officials are downplaying the significance of the United States diverting funds from its military mission in Afghanistan, as a senior American diplomat has arrived in Kabul for high-level discussions.

Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan on Friday approved the transfer of $1.5 billion to build barriers on the border with Mexico, including taking more than $600 million designated for beleaguered Afghan security forces, which are struggling to contain Taliban battlefield advances.

“We do not see any change in security-related programs and coordination ongoing with U.S. forces,” Afghan Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi told reporters in Kabul.  He noted Washington remains committed to supporting Afghan security forces and emphasized it is an internal U.S. policy matter as to how and where they want to spend their money.

The private Afghan TOLO News television station quoted a U.S. military spokesman as saying the diversion of funds is part of the plan to reduce expenditures of foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan. Colonel David Butler noted the cost savings move will not impact “the effectiveness or the readiness” of Afghan security forces to fight terrorism.

“U.S. forces in Afghanistan will return $600 million to the Department of Defense. We did this through very close work with the Afghan security forces and with very close work with the Afghan government to make things more efficient and make things better, and we were spending our money on the right things,” Butler said. The military spokesman reiterated Washington’s complete commitment to Afghan security forces in their fight against terrorism.

The United States is also holding direct talks with Taliban insurgents to try to promote a political settlement to the Afghan conflict. The latest round of discussions concluded last Thursday, but neither side has reported any breakthrough.

President Donald Trump announced in January progress in the talks with the Taliban could lead to withdrawal of half of some 14,000 American troops from Afghanistan.

Recent reports the Trump administration has decided to accelerate plans to reduce the staff by half at the embassy in Kabul coupled with diverting funds designated for Afghan forces raise questions about a “strong future U.S. commitment to Afghanistan,” tweeted Washington-based analyst, Michael Kugelman.

Meanwhile, visiting senior State Department diplomat for the region, Alice Wells, held talks with President Ashraf Ghani and discussed matters related to U.S. civilian assistance aimed at strengthening Afghan institutions and promoting Afghan self-reliance.

A presidential spokesman said Ghani and Wells also reviewed efforts the government is making to advance the Afghan peace process, and preparations underway for the presidential elections scheduled for September 28.

 
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Burkina Faso: 6 Killed in Catholic Church Attack

Posted on by SeeAF

VOA Africa’s Bagassi Koura contributed to this report.

Gunmen killed six people attending mass at the Catholic Church of Dablo in northern Burkina Faso Sunday morning, officials and witnesses said.

The priest and five churchgoers were among the victims, a witness told VOA Africa.

“They were about forty on motorcycles,” the witness said of the attackers. “They made everyone lie down, executed 5 before torching the church.”

The attackers set parts of the church and nearby shops on fire before fleeing the scene roughly an hour and a half after they arrived. Multiple injuries have been reported.

Last week, gunman killed five people in a Protestant church in the small northern town of Silgadji.
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US Expects China Tariff Retaliation

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The U.S. said Sunday it expects that China will retaliate with increased tariffs on U.S. exports after President Donald Trump sharply boosted levies on Chinese products headed to the United States.

Chief White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told “Fox News Sunday” that “both sides will suffer” from the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest economies.

In the U.S., he said that “maybe the toughest burdens” are on farmers who sell soybeans, corn and wheat to China. But he said the Trump administration has “helped them before on lost exports” with $12 billion in subsidies and that “we’ll do it again if we have to and if the numbers show that out.”

Trump on Friday more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, boosting the rate from 10 percent to 25 percent, while also moving to impose tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese products, although Kudlow said it could take months for the full effect of the tariffs to be felt. China had previously imposed taxes on $110 billion of American products, but has not said how it might retaliate against Trump’s latest increase in tariffs.

Trade talks between the two economic super powers have been going on in Beijing and Washington for months, but they recessed again in the U.S. capital on Friday without a deal being reached.

“We were moving well, constructive talks and I still think that’s the case,” Kudlow said. “We’re going to continue the talks as the president suggested.”

Kudlow said Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are likely to discuss trade issues at the G-20 summit in Japan at the end of June.

The economic adviser renewed U.S. claims that China had backtracked from earlier agreements reached in the talks, forcing negotiators to cover “the same ground this past week.”

“You can’t forget this: This is a huge deal, the broadest scope and scale…. two countries have ever had before,” Kudlow said. “But we have to get through a lot of issues. For many years, China trade was unfair, non-reciprocal, unbalanced in many cases, unlawful.”

The U.S. has claimed that China steals technology and forces U.S. companies to divulge trade secrets it uses in its own production of advanced technology products.

On Saturday, Trump suggested that China could be waiting to see if he wins reelection next year, but said Beijing would be “much worse” off during a second term of his in the White House.

“I think that China felt they were being beaten so badly in the recent negotiation that they may as well wait around for the next election, 2020, to see if they could get lucky & have a Democrat win,” he said, “in which case they would continue to rip-off the USA for $500 Billion a year.”

“Such an easy way to avoid Tariffs?” the U.S. leader said, “Make or produce your goods and products in the good old USA. It’s very simple!”

 

 

 

 

 

 
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Al-Shabab Claims Responsibility for Targeted Blast

Posted on by SeeAF

The Turkish Embassy in Mogadishu says a Turkish citizen was killed Sunday following an explosion near the city’s busy K-4 junction.

The embassy told VOA Somali the victim was an engineer working for a Turkish company.

Witnesses told VOA Somali there was an explosion in the vehicle the victim was riding in. The explosion is believed to have been from improvised explosive device planted in the car.

The al-Shabab militant group claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming the engineer was working at the Turkish military training facility in Mogadishu.

Al-Shabab also claimed a killing in the central Somali town of Galkayo. Major Khalif Nur Shil, commander of joint security forces in the town died from wounds suffered in an attack by gunmen armed with pistols as he left a mosque late Saturday.

 

 
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Merkel’s Preferred Successor Says Won’t Seek Post Before 2021

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s preferred successor, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said Sunday that she would not seek the top job before Merkel’s term ends in 2021.

The woman usually dubbed “AKK” took over from Merkel as head of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) last December, while the chancellor said she wants to serve out her 2017-2021 term.

“The chancellor and the government were elected for an entire legislative term and the citizens rightly expect them to take seriously the commitment that came with the election,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer.

“So I can rule out the possibility that I will work deliberately to seek a change earlier,” she told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

Rather, the CDU should work on a new policy platform and nominate its chancellor-candidate in the late autumn of 2020, she said.

German media have been speculating for months over whether Germany’s veteran leader Merkel may leave earlier as head of her left-right coalition government.

Under one scenario, her junior partners the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) could quit the “grand coalition” if they receive further election setbacks.

Upcoming electoral tests are the European parliament elections this month and three state polls in Germany’s ex-communist east later in the year.

In all those elections, the far-right and anti-immigration AfD could make further gains at the expense of the mainstream CDU and SPD parties.

Kramp-Karrenbauer acknowledged that the coalition with the SPD “did not emerge smoothly and doesn’t always have an easy time cooperating”.

On her relationship with Merkel, she said that “on some days I speak more with her than with my husband”.

She stressed however that Merkel to her was neither a “personal friend” nor a “benefactor”, and that instead they are “fellow travelers”.

“Our relationship is very good, just as it was before,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told the newspaper.
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Spain Says 52 Migrants Climb Fence into Its African Enclave

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Spanish authorities say 52 migrants have climbed a guarded fence to gain entry into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla from Morocco.

An official with the Spanish Interior Ministry in Melilla says four police officer and one migrant sustained light injuries as the group scaled the high fence around dawn Sunday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with government rules.

Spain’s proximity to North Africa has made it a target for migrants trying to reach the European Union. The migrants try to get in either by land via Spain’s two North African enclaves or by crossing the Mediterranean Sea in small boats.

Spain became the leading entry point to Europe last year, with some 60,000 migrants arriving irregularly, almost all of them by sea.
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Berlin Airlift Remembered, Key Moment in Cold War

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Berliners on Sunday celebrated the 70th anniversary of the day the Soviets lifted their blockade strangling West Berlin in the post-World War II years with a big party at the former Tempelhof airport in the German capital.

Among the invited guests of honor was 98-year-old U.S. pilot Gail Halvorsen, who dropped hundreds of boxes of candy on tiny parachutes into West Berlin during the blockade.

 

Halvorsen came to Berlin from Utah with his two daughters on Friday, the German news agency dpa reported.

 

On Saturday, a baseball field at Tempelhof airport was named after him — the “Gail S. Halvorsen Park — Home of the Berlin Braves” in honor of his help for Berliners during the Cold War.

 

Dressed in a military uniform, Halvorsen told Berlin’s mayor Michael Mueller that “it’s good to be home.”

 

The airlift began on June 26, 1948, in an ambitious plan to feed and supply West Berlin after the Soviets — one of the four occupying powers of a divided Berlin after World War II — blockaded the city in an attempt to squeeze the U.S., Britain and France out of the enclave within Soviet-occupied eastern Germany.

 

Allied pilots flew a total of 278,000 flights to Berlin, carrying about 2.3 million tons of food, coal, medicine and other supplies.

 

On the operation’s busiest day, April 16, 1949, about 1,400 planes carried in nearly 13,000 tons over 24 hours — an average of one plane touching down almost every minute.

 

On the ground in Berlin, ex-Luftwaffe mechanics were enlisted to help maintain aircraft, and some 19,000 Berliners, almost half of them women, worked around the clock for three months to build Tegel Airport, providing a crucial relief for the British Gatow and American Tempelhof airfields.

 

Finally, on May 12, 1949, the Soviets realized the blockade was futile and lifted their barricades. The airlift continued for several more months, however, as a precaution in case the Soviets changed their minds.

 

Halvorsen is probably the best known of the airlift pilots, thanks to an inadvertent propaganda coup born out of good will. Early in the airlift, he shared two sticks of gum with starving Berlin children and saw others sniffing the wrappers just for a hint of the flavor.

 

Touched, he told the children to come back the next day, when he would drop them candy, using handkerchiefs as parachutes.

 

He started doing it regularly, using his own candy ration. Soon other pilots and crews joined in what would be dubbed “Operation Little Vittles.”

 

After an Associated Press story appeared under the headline “Lollipop Bomber Flies Over Berlin,” a wave of candy and handkerchief donations followed.

 

To this day, the airlift still shapes many Germans’ views of the Western allies, especially in Berlin. After the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. in 2001, some 200,000 Berliners took to the streets of the German capital to show their support for the country that had helped prevent their city falling completely to the Soviets.

 

On Sunday, up to 50,000 people were expected to participate in the festivities, which include musical performances, talks with witnesses, exhibitions of historical vehicles and lots of activities for children, dpa reported.
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Lebanon’s Former Maronite Patriarch Sfeir Dies

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Lebanon’s former Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, who wielded considerable political influence during the country’s civil war and was an ardent advocate of a Syrian troop withdrawal, died Sunday, the church said. 

Sfeir, who would have turned 99 on May 15, died about 3 a.m. (0100 GMT) “after days of intensive medical care,” said a statement by the Maronite church. 

He became the leader of the church in 1986 until he resigned in 2011, because of his declining health, and held the title “76th Patriarch of Antioch and the Whole Levant.”

He was a respected power broker during the 1975-1990 civil war, which saw bitter infighting between rival militias including opposing Christian factions.

Sfeir, who spoke fluent Arabic and French, was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1994.

Helped end civil war

Born in 1920 in Rayfoun, a village in Lebanon’s Kesrwan mountains, Sfeir studied theology and philosophy but was never shy about delving into Lebanon’s tumultuous politics.

His backing of the 1989 Taif agreement that brought the 15-year civil war to an end bolstered Christian support for the accord, but reduced the powers of the presidency, a seat reserved for Lebanon’s Maronite Christians under the country’s confessional power-sharing.

Maronite Christians made up the most powerful single community before Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, but their influence has since waned as they have been outnumbered by Shiite Muslims in the multisectarian country.

Syria out of Lebanon

Sfeir also spearheaded the opposition to Syria’s three decades of military and political domination over Lebanon.

“His biggest struggle was to end the Syrian presence in Lebanon, which we all thought was impossible because of the divisions in Lebanon,” his biographer Antoine Saad told AFP.

“But he worked on it steadily, objectively, meticulously and quietly,” he said.

Sfeir refused to visit Syria during his time as patriarch, even when John Paul II made a trip to the country in 2001.

His outspokenness helped swell the anti-Syria movement in 2000.

It eventually led to the withdrawal of thousands of Syrian troops from the country five years later, following the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, whose murder the opposition blamed on Damascus.

Sfeir’s opinion and advice continued to be sought by politicians of all stripes, not only Christians, after he stepped down.

“He was completely against war,” Saad said of the cleric who enjoyed hiking in nature until his late years. “His loss can’t be compensated for.”
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Generic Drug Companies Accused of Price Gouging

Posted on by SeeEA

Forty U.S. states have filed a lawsuit against 20 pharmaceutical companies that make generic drugs, accusing the companies of participating in a scheme to inflate drug prices, sometimes by as much as 1,000%.

“We have hard evidence that shows the generic drug industry perpetrated a multibillion dollar fraud on the American people,” said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. “We all wonder why our health care and specifically the prices for generic prescription drugs, are so expensive in this country — this is a big reason why.”

Generic drugs are lower price alternatives to brand name drugs.

The 500-page lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court in Connecticut, is seeking damages, civil penalties and actions by the court to restore competition to the generic drug market. The suit accuses Teva Pharmaceuticals of being the mastermind behind the scheme.

“Teva and its co-conspirators embarked on one of the most egregious and damaging price-fixing conspiracies in the history of the United States,” the suit said.

Teva Pharmaceuticals, an Israeli company, has denied the allegations and says it will fight the lawsuit.

Other drug companies named in the suit include Sandoz and Pfizer.
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Heir Apparent: Germany’s Merkel Should Serve Full Term

Posted on by SeeEU

The leader of Germany’s ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and heir presumptive to Angela Merkel said she had no ambition to succeed her as chancellor until 2021 ahead of a major test of popularity at this month’s European election.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who last December won a party leadership contest as Merkel, Europe’s longest-serving leader, sets the stage for her gradual exit from politics, said she had no desire to accelerate the process.

“The chancellor and the government are elected for a full term and citizens are right to expect that they take this mandate seriously,” Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper in an interview. “Speaking for myself, I can rule out that I am working in my own interest for a change.”

​AKK struggles to impress

Merkel, 64, has run Germany since 2005 but agreed to step down as CDU leader after losing votes in the 2017 general election to the far-right Alternative for Germany, which ran on an anti-immigration platform.

Kramp-Karrenbauer, known as AKK for short, has since struggled to make an impression. Support for the CDU is running around 30 percent ahead of the May 23 election to the European Parliament, less than Merkel’s general election tally.

“Fundamentally, the mood towards Europe is good. But European elections are always a reaction to the national situation, and this contributes to us not being seen very positively at the moment,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer.

The division of leadership roles had created room for speculation that there was a lack of harmony, she added: “That doesn’t leave the party unaffected.”

Kramp-Karrenbauer said, however, that her relationship with Merkel is “very good, as ever.”

“Now that we’re in an election campaign, on many days I speak with her more often than with my husband,” she said.

Coalition friction

While Merkel has yet to join campaigning for the European vote, Kramp-Karrenbauer also blamed the CDU’s weak showing on the poor impression created by its fractious coalition government with the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD).

We have a coalition that simply hasn’t come together and doesn’t find it easy to cooperate,” she said.

Weighing in on one issue where the two disagree, Kramp-Karrenbauer said it was high time to abolish an income tax surcharge imposed after unification three decades ago to fund financial support to ex-communist eastern Germany.

Gridlock in Berlin, against the backdrop of a slowing economy, has fueled speculation that the coalition could fall apart well before the next general election.

That would create a potential opening for Kramp-Karrenbauer, a former regional premier in the small western state of Saarland, to make an earlier bid to unite the roles of party leader and chancellor.

She said, however, that she was working toward launching a new platform at the CDU’s party conference in late 2020. Only then would the party choose its candidate to run for chancellor in the 2021 general election.
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Labour: Brexit Talks Threatened by Fight to Replace May

Posted on by SeeEU

The battle among leading Conservatives to replace Theresa May as prime minister threatens to derail talks with the opposition Labour Party and the bid to find a Brexit compromise, Labour’s John McDonnell said.

May, who has offered to quit if lawmakers accept her Brexit deal, opened cross-party talks with Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party more than a month ago after parliament rejected her European Union withdrawal deal three times.

The talks with Labour are a last resort for May, whose party’s deep divisions over Brexit have so far kept her from winning approval for an exit agreement and left the world’s fifth largest economy in prolonged political limbo.

McDonnell, Labour’s financial spokesman and a member of the party’s negotiating team, said the situation was precarious.

“The problem they have is that literally in front of us they will fall out,” he told the Sunday Mirror. “So the exercise here is holding themselves together. And that is proving impossible. The administration is falling apart.”

In terms of progress, the second most powerful man in the Labour Party said nothing new had been put on the table, and in some cases the talks had gone backwards.

“It’s so precarious. We’re dealing with an institution that might not be there in three weeks.” He said the talks had been made more difficult by May’s offer to resign, because a new leader could rip up anything agreed to by the current administration.

“We’re in a position now where we’re asking, ‘How can we trust them to deliver — not just in the short-term, in the medium term as well?’”

May’s Conservatives have said the talks are difficult, as both parties gear up to contest European elections later this month, but that they will continue to try and find a deal that can get parliamentary support.
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Hostages Rescued From Burkina Faso Laud Fallen Commandos 

Posted on by SeeEU

Three hostages freed by French commandos from militants in Burkina Faso arrived in Paris on Saturday, expressing sorrow at the deaths of two French 

soldiers in the rescue operation. 

President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the hostages as they stepped off the French government jet less than 48 hours after French special forces stormed their captors’ hideout in a daring nighttime raid. 

Two Frenchmen kidnapped while on safari in Benin more than a week earlier, as well as an American woman and a South Korean woman who were being held with them, were liberated in the high-risk mission authorized by Macron.

The American, who has not been identified, was being repatriated separately. 

“All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell,” Laurent Lassimouillas earlier told reporters as he met Burkinabe President Roch Kabore in Ouagadougou. 

The French government identified the two soldiers killed as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. Macron will lead a national tribute to the men, both officers in the naval special forces, at the Les Invalides military hospital and mausoleum in Paris on Tuesday. 

Lassimouillas also expressed regret over the death of a Beninese park guide, who was shot dead when the two tourists were kidnapped. 

 

Islamist insurgency

French officials said Friday that it wasn’t clear who had kidnapped them in Benin but that their captors planned to hand them over to an al-Qaida affiliate in neighboring Mali. 

Jihadist groups with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State have expanded their presence across West Africa’s Sahel region, a strip of scrubland beneath the Sahara desert, in recent years and taken a number of Western hostages. 

France, the former colonial power in the region, intervened in Mali in 2013 to halt an advance by Islamist militants and has kept about 4,500 troops in the Sahel since then. 

“France’s message to terrorists is clear: Those who want to attack France, the French, should know that we will hunt them, we will find them and we will kill them,” Defense Minister Florence Parly said after joining Macron at the Villacoublay military airport outside Paris. 

France was doing all it could to secure the release of another French hostage, Sophie Petronin, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. Gunmen kidnapped Petronin in December 2016 in the northern Malian city of Gao. 
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Saudi Forces Kill 8 in Shiite Area, Agency Says

Posted on by SeeEA

Saudi security forces have killed eight people during an operation in the predominantly Shiite eastern Al-Qatif region, state news agency SPA said 

Saturday. 

The oil-producing province is a regular flash point between the Sunni-dominated government and minority Shiites, who complain of discrimination and marginalization. Saudi authorities deny mistreatment. 

The operation occurred on Tarout island, just off the city of Qatif, and targeted a newly formed “terrorist cell,” SPA said in a statement, adding there were no casualties among civilians or policemen. 

Security forces were still at the site, it said. 

Saudi security services regularly carry out operations in the area, with fatalities reported during operations in January and September, according to Saudi media. 
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