China aims to slash its growing dependence on gas imports by boosting domestic projects like shale fields as the security of its energy supply comes under the spotlight amid a festering trade war with the United States.The row with Washington has overshadowed China’s economy, likely slowing gas demand growth considerably this year, a new government research report shows. But Beijing is funding new efforts to boost domestic production, particularly from so-called unconventional sources like shale gas, as weaning China off its import reliance takes on new importance.The report, released on Saturday by the oil and gas department at the National Energy Administration (NEA) and a State Council research arm, calls for boosting natural gas production in key resource basins in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the Erdos basin in the north and offshore China.According to the report, China’s gas consumption will rise by about 10% this year to 310 billion cubic meters (bcm), and to continue growing until 2050. Though slowing from last year’s 17.5%, 2019’s growth still represents an annual addition of 28 bcm, faster than the annual average growth of 19 bcm during 2007-2018, the report said.While China imposed tariffs on imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United States starting last year, it remains the world’s second-largest buyer of the super-chilled fuel.”China’s reliance oil and gas imports is growing too rapidly, with oil topping 70% and gas moving towards 50%,” said Lin Boqiang, Director of the Energy Economics Institute at Xiamen University.The NEA report calls for building the Sichuan basin into the country’s top gas hub due to its rich resource base in both conventional gas fields and unconventional resources, such as shale gas and ‘tight gas’, a low-permeability gas derived from reservoir rocks and costly to develop.”Through expanding development of deep-reservoir gas, tight gas and shale gas, Sichuan is likely to account for about a third of the country’s total natural gas output,” the report said, up from 20% currently.Shale gas in Sichuan, the key region for China’s still fledgling shale gas development, could overtake conventional gas in output, the report added.Shale gasIn a separate report carried by official news agency Xinhua on Saturday, Zhao Wenzhi, an influential researcher at China’s Academy of Engineering forecast that China’s shale gas output could reach 280 bcm, or 23% of the country’s total gas output, by 2035. Zhao also serves as president of Exploration and Production Institute at state giant PetroChina.China last year produced about 10.9 bcm shale gas, less than 7% of the nation’s total gas output at 161 bcm.The leap in projected shale gas output would require companies drilling over 500 wells a year between 2019 and 2035, double the 2018 level, Zhao was cited as saying.Dominant state oil and gas firms have already ramped up drilling activities with near-record spending, in response to a call by President Xi Jinping in August last year to boost domestic energy security.To expedite the growth, Beijing should consider offering tax sweeteners such as waiving resource tax on the shale gas, Zhao said.China recently also announced a policy to extend subsidies for another three years on domestic production of unconventional gas, to include also tight gas for the first time.In a research note last week, Wang Xueke, a consultant at Wood Mackenzie, raised China’s tight gas outlook to 85 bcm by 2040, up from an earlier forecast at 68 bcm.Despite the lofty forecast and state subsidies, China faces complex geology and a lack of technological breakthroughs to make shale gas a profitable enough business to lure private money.”The investment is still too small as only a handful state-run companies are exploring it … Technology progress is not fast enough,” said Xiamen University’s Lin.
…
Month: September 2019
Rouhani Rules Out Bilateral US Talks
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday his country would not hold bilateral talks with the United States.Speaking to parliament, Rouhani said the only way negotiations would happen is if the United States lifts all of its sanctions against Iran, and that such talks would involve the other signatories of the 2015 international nuclear deal.U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year after being a sharp critic of the terms agreed to between Iran and a group of nations that included Britain, China, France, Russia, Germany and the European Union.Trump last week expressed openness to meeting with Rouhani, saying “there’s a really good chance” they would talk. The U.S. leader wants any new deal to go further than the 2015 pact to include not only restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity but also banning it from testing ballistic missiles.Rouhani reiterated Tuesday that Iran wants European nations to commit to buying oil to circumvent U.S. sanctions or else Iran plans to further step back from the nuclear agreement.Already Iran has gone past the stated limit on the amount of enriched uranium it can hold as well the limit on the level to which it can enrich. It hasn’t specified what the next step would be, but potential options include enriching to an even higher level or restarting centrifuges it had agreed to stop using.
…
Hong Kong Leader Insists She Is Not Quitting in Face of Protests
Embattled Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam says she has no intention of stepping down in order to end the heated anti-government demonstrations that have shaken the city for three months.Lam was responding to a Reuters news agency report about a voice recording in which she told a group of business leaders last week that she had caused “havoc” for introducing a controversial extradition bill that sparked the protests. She told the group that she would apologize for actions and resign “if I have a choice.”But Lam told reporters Tuesday she “had not even contemplated” discussing her resignation with Beijing, and has told herself “repeatedly” during the last three months that her administration “should stay on to help Hong Kong.”She said the release of the recording as “unacceptable.”The protests over the now-suspended extradition bill, which would have sent criminal suspects to mainland China to face trial, have since evolved into calls for greater democracy and an independent probe into allegations of police brutality. The demonstrations have nearly ground everyday life in the Asian financial hub to a halt, with protesters disrupting activities at the city’s subway system and airport. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested amid violent clashes with police, who have wielded batons and fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds.
…
East Timor Remembers a Vote and a Bloody Rampage
East Timor is marking the 20th anniversary of a referendum that ended 24 years of Indonesian occupation and delivered independence, but that also sparked a bloody rampage by pro-Jakarta militias who killed 1,500 people and pushed another half-a-million out of their homes.The capital has been sprucing up with freshly painted structures, newly paved streets and manicured gardens for the arrival of foreign dignitaries for celebrations that will last until the end of the month.But beneath the cheery facade is a lingering anger.Joao Borras, now 37, was forced to flee as militias rampaged through the capital, Dili, shot dead his two best friends, and razed his home.He said the killings were not just in the open but also behind closed doors by a government apparatus backed by militias that watched every move.“It’s a horrible life actually,” Borras said. “There’s a lot of people killed, but you didn’t see because they took you in the night time. They said ‘let’s go for interviews’ – and you will not come back the next morning.”The struggle since independenceUnited Nations peacekeepers landed three weeks after the August 30, 1999 referendum and restored order. Independence followed on May 20, 2002, with the election of resistance leader Xanana Gusmao as president.But East Timor has struggled to develop its democracy and rebuild an economy shattered by conflict and ongoing internal fighting, which hampered its ability to attract much needed investment dollars.In 2006, the United Nations sent in security forces to restore order after 155,000 people fled their homes to escape factional fighting. Then, in early 2008, President Jose Ramos-Horta was critically wounded in an assassination attempt.The presence of peacekeeping forces helped buoy the economy but since that ended in 2012, East Timor’s Gross Domestic Product has crashed by half to less than $3 billion. Other financial figures are sketchy. An official unemployment rate of 3.5% is scoffed at even by the country’s leaders.“Unemployment is a constant concern,” President Francisco Guterres said during a speech to commemorate the independence vote. “Our economy has been in recession since 2017, which has had an impact on the job market.”He said 60% of East Timorese are of working age but only 19% of them are in the job market.Of that, just 8% work in the private or public sectors while the rest work in the informal market, which Guterres said, “offers workers no security because it’s based on low wages, no contracts, irregular employment and poor working conditions.”The bright sideCompounding these challenges is East Timor’s fickle foreign relations with much larger regional powers like Australia, China and Indonesia. Anticipated foreign aid, revenues from the sale of oil and gas and the construction of infrastructure projects have fallen far short of expectations.However, East Timor is pushing for membership to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its long running feud with Australia over sea boundaries and revenue from offshore oil and gas claims appears to be over.A settlement over its shared maritime border with Australia will entitle East Timor to a bigger share of the Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields, which has reserves estimated at $50 billion.Australia will also refurbish a naval base and bolster high-speed Internet traffic, widely seen as an effort by Canberra to further its influence in the region.“This is a new chapter for Australia and Timor-Leste that is based on our shared respect, interests and values,” Morrison said in Dili.Filmmaker Lyndal Barry, producer of Viva Timor Lorosae, has covered this country since the early 1990s and said Dili deserves recognition for rebuilding its security sector with an effective police force and military.“There needs to be more done maybe in tourism, there needs to be more done in the countryside and to help people to rebuild there and be able to stand on their own two feet,” Barry said.China is also investing heavily, financing a deep water port, an electricity grid, and a four lane highway. The China Railway Construction Corporation has signed a $943 million contract with state-owned Timor Gap to help run a liquid natural gas (LNG) plant.Michael Maley worked for the Australian Electoral Commission as part of an international team that prepared the logistics for the referendum on self-determination. He said two big changes were taking place in East Timor.“One is the effect of independence and they’re being a self-governing country, meeting their long term aspirations. But the other thing that has happened at the same time is they’ve been hit by globalization,” he said. “The young people from the time when they were almost totally isolated from the world are now incredibly connected. Everyone has a mobile phone, everybody is using Facebook and social media to communicate.”His sentiments were backed by Borras who said life in East Timor 20 years after the slaughter had improved dramatically, despite the poverty, particularly in the countryside.“Right now is clearly safe and secure, economic things are up and down but our life is great, better and I feel free and I’m enjoying my life, and my family and my friends – we are working and it’s nice.”
…
Nigerian Recyclers Reduce Plastic Waste by Exchanging Trash for Cash
Nigeria generates an estimated 32 million tons of solid waste per year, one of the highest amounts in Africa. Of that figure, plastic constitutes 2.5 million tons. Every day in a junk yard provides an opportunity to make ends meet for 30-year-old Awodu Suleiman.He has been here every day for six years, scouring heaps of waste for recyclables.When he’s done gathering and sorting plastic or aluminum, Suleiman sells what he has found to recyclers for processing.He says the work is money for him and that is why he does it with passion. Thanks to this job, Suleiman says, he was able to marry his wife. He says the money sustains them and that life has been easy with him.Recycle, reuseLocal recyclers, including 55-year-old Mahmud Ahmed, buys plastic and aluminum waste at a low price, then converts it into reusable products, especially pots, local burners and cookware before they are sold.Ahmed said he has recycled aluminum for more than 25 years.“I started this work in Lagos before I came to this place,” he said. “From what I get from the sales of my pots, I’m able to pay school fees for my seven children,” he added.The venture is nothing more than a means of daily survival for the recyclers, but experts say local recycling has more significance.Millions of tons of trashNigeria is one of the biggest contributors of solid waste in Africa with an estimated 32 million tons each year.Environmental engineer Maryann Atseyinku, the founder of Community Waste and Recycling, says that while small in scale, local recyclers are making an impact exchanging trash for cash.“Almost any country in the world has problems with waste management, so Nigeria is not a particularly peculiar case. The thing is the fundamental problem we have is because of the logistics that’s in the same. Waste management is pretty expensive.”In 2009, the government awarded contracts for the procurement and installation of recyclers in 26 Nigerian cities, including the capital, but little of what they recycle is plastic.Solid waste management is the most pressing environmental challenge facing urban and rural areas.Nigeria’s population is estimated to double by 2050 and that could mean more solid waste hanging around and more plastic for recycling.
…
High-Capacity Magazines Get New Scrutiny as US Congress Returns
Lawmakers around the country are making a renewed push to ban high-capacity magazines that gunmen have used in many recent massacres, allowing them to inflict mass casualties at a startling rate before police can stop the carnage. Nine states have passed laws restricting magazine capacity to 10 to 15 bullets, and the Democratic-led U.S. House plans to consider a similar ban at the federal level in the coming weeks.In arguing for the bans, politicians, experts and gun-control advocates point out that in the time it takes for a driver to wait through a stop light, a shooter with a 100-round magazine can kill and injure dozens of people.The man who opened fire in Dayton, Ohio, last month killed nine people and injured 27 others in only 30 seconds, in part because of the 100-bullet drum attached to his rifle. It only took 85 seconds for a gunman to empty several 30-round magazines at an IHOP in Carson City, Nevada, killing four people and injuring 14 in 2011. Authorities have not released any information on the accessories the gunman in Odessa, Texas, used over the weekend when he opened fire on police and bystanders with an AR-style weapon.The deadliest example occurred in Las Vegas two years ago when a gunman possessed a dozen 100-round magazines that helped him squeeze off 10 rounds per second onto a crowd of concert-goers from his hotel room, killing 58 people. Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock had an arsenal of high-powered rifles along with his large-capacity magazines and bump stocks – now-banned devices that attach to a gun to make it fire bullets more rapidly. The Trump administration banned bump stocks after that massacre, but the high-capacity magazines that smoothly fed hundreds of bullets into Paddock’s rifles remain legal.U.S. President Donald Trump stands with first lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen (R) during a moment of silence in the wake of the the mass shooting in Las Vegas at the White House in Washington, Oct. 2, 2017.”We know from video evidence that he was firing about 10 rounds per second,” said Louis Klarevas, a research professor at Teachers College, Columbia University. “The reason he was able to do that was he had a combination of assault rifles with bump stocks and large-capacity magazines. Imagine if he only had 10-round magazines. He would only have shot 10 rounds at a time.”The Keep Americans Safe Act will soon be debated in the House Judiciary Committee. It would prohibit the transfer, importation or possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The bill is co-sponsored by three Democratic members of Congress whose states suffered mass shooting involving these magazines: Ted Deutch of Florida, Diana DeGette of Colorado and Dina Titus of Nevada.”There is only one purpose for a high-capacity magazine: to maximize human casualties and allow gunmen to fire more rounds of ammunition at a time without reloading,” Deutch said in a statement. “But those precious seconds it takes to reload can mean saving countless lives.”Firearm magazines are not regulated by federal law, but some states have set limits on their sizes. They include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington D.C. More Republicans are warming up to the idea as well. Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio called for legislation after the Dayton killings that would put a limit on magazine sizes, as well as a ban on the sale of military-style weapons. But federal legislation is expected to face deep resistance in the Republican-led Senate and from the National Rifle Association. Critics point out that there are millions of high-capacity magazines in circulation, limiting the effectiveness of a ban.A man walks past a memorial for those killed in a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, Aug. 7, 2019.Alan Gottlieb, with the Bellevue, Washington-based Second Amendment Foundation, said large-capacity magazines are important for self-defense and can help when there are multiple attackers in a home.”Plus, it only takes one second to switch out one magazine for another,” he said. “There are lots of videos on how easy it is to do that.”The advocacy group Everytown For Gun Safety’s study of mass shootings between 2009 and 2017 found that 58 percent involved firearms with high-capacity magazines. The study looked at shootings where the magazine capacity was known and where at least four people were killed, not including the shooter. The cases included the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater killings in which the gunman used a 100-round magazine drum, killing 12 and injuring 70. The gunman who killed 77 people at a youth camp and in Oslo, Norway, in 2011 purchased his 30-round magazines from the U.S., according to his manifesto. The 19-year-old man who killed 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last year also carried high-capacity magazines, according to the official Public Safety Commission report released in January that said police recovered eight 30- and 40-round magazines from the scene.The advocacy group Sandy Hook Promise has been running a promotion on Twitter asking people to sign a petition in support of the passage of the Keep Americans Safe Act, the measure being debated Wednesday. The tweets say the man who killed dozens at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 used a 30-round magazine and 11 children were able to escape when he stopped to reload. The military-style firearms used in many mass shootings in the U.S. can be fired rapidly, but “the limitation to the carnage is the capacity of the magazine,” said David Chipman, a former agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives who works as a policy adviser at Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence.Others have argued that if the shooter only has smaller-sized magazines, they’ll just carry more guns or extra magazines.Dr. Michael Siegel, a researcher at Boston University, conducted a study on high-capacity magazines in 2017 that found that states that limit magazine size have fewer mass shootings. “The only thing that limits the number of causalities is the number of rounds that are in the gun, because the only thing that stops the shooter is having to reload,” Siegel said. “Even though it might only take a few seconds to reload, it provides a few moments for people to flee or for an intervention.”
…
Spain Rescues Almost 200 Migrants in the Mediterranean
Almost 200 people were rescued attempting to make the dangerous crossing from North Africa to Spain on Monday, the coastguard said.The rescues come amid a debate in Spain over the role that charity boats should play in assisting government efforts after a Spanish non-governmental organization ship was at the center of a standoff with European states last month.In the Strait of Gibraltar, 73 people were rescued from three boats, among them 10 minors, Spanish rescue services said.A member of Spanish Red Cross carries a migrant child, intercepted off the coast in the Mediterranean Sea, after arriving on a rescue boat at the port of Malaga, southern Spain, Sept. 2, 2019.Another 110 people were rescued from five boats in the Alboran Sea, the majority of whom will be taken to the port of Malaga.Arrivals to Spain so far this year by mid-August were a little over 18,000, Interior Ministry data shows, a 39% reduction on the same period last year.United Nations data show irregular sea arrivals from the Middle East and North Africa to European Union dropped from over 1 million in 2015 to some 141,500 people last year while nearly 15,000 people are estimated to have died or gone missing in the perilous sea voyage.
…
Biden, Buttigieg Say No Compromises on Overhauling Gun Laws
Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, moderates who project themselves as pragmatic collaborators, are taking a no-compromise approach on the overhaul of the nation’s gun laws after the latest mass shooting.
Campaigning separately in eastern Iowa on Monday, the former vice president and the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, say the minimum provisions include universal background checks, a ban on military-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition, and red flag laws to allow officials to confiscate firearms from dangerous people.
Biden told reporters before a Labor Day picnic in Cedar Rapids that inaction from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans is “disgraceful.” Asked if there’s room for negotiation, he declared: “None. This is one we have to just push and push and push and push and push.”Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks with local residents at the Hawkeye Area Labor Council Labor Day Picnic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sept. 2, 2019.Buttigieg also rejected compromise, saying after a campaign event in Cedar Rapids: “There is just no good faith in the congressional GOP nor, I believe, in the White House when it comes to dealing with this issue.”Their comments come two days after a gunman toting an assault-style rifle went on a rampage in Odessa, Texas, killing seven people around town before being gunned down by police. The FBI said the shooter “was on a long spiral of going down.” This shooting occurred less than a month after two other high-profile mass shootings, in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.Biden’s and Buttigieg’s positions represent a rare case of absolutism from the two men. Despite their generational divide, at ages 76 and 37, both have staked their campaigns in part on calls for a more civil, productive governing process in Washington.They both pointed to public opinion polls as a reason for their uncompromising approach. According to national public opinion polls for the past several years, large majorities of Americans support requiring background checks for all gun buyers. Majorities, though smaller, also support banning the sale of military-style weapons such as the AR-15.
“Look, you can either defy the American people or you can defy the NRA,” Buttigieg said. “You have a choice.”
Trump, NRA
Yet any movement to tighten gun laws has stopped cold for years with Republicans controlling one or both chambers of Congress.
FILE – President Donald Trump talks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House, Aug. 9, 2019, in Washington.Buttigieg and Biden both predicted that intransigence will draw voters’ ire at the ballot box.
“If Republicans don’t make that right choice this time, I think they will be punished with the loss of power. And maybe that’s what it will take to motivate them to come a little more in line with the American people,” Buttigieg said.
Added Biden: “It’s going to result in seeing some of them defeated.” Trump expressed a commitment Sunday, hours after the latest deadly mass shooting, to work with a divided Congress to “stop the menace of mass attacks.”
He notably came out in favor of background checks in 2018 after 17 students and adults were killed at a Parkland, Florida, high school, only to quickly retreat under pressure from the National Rifle Association. He’s followed the same course after recent killings in California, Ohio and Texas.
Another Democratic presidential candidate, Amy Klobuchar, on Monday noted Trump’s reversal.
“He flipped” after talking to the NRA, Klobuchar said. “That’s what happens.” Klobuchar, other Democrats
The Minnesota senator stopped short of taking the same stance as Biden and Buttigieg, however. Klobuchar has co-sponsored a Senate proposal to ban military-style weapons. But she acknowledged that’s more of a wish-list item for Democrats given GOP control of the Senate. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar talks with attendees during the Hawkeye Area Labor Council Labor Day Picnic in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sept. 2, 2019.For now, she said, the “minimum of what we should do” includes expanded background checks, the red flag laws and closing the so-called boyfriend loophole that deals with gun rights for perpetrators of domestic violence. Federal law that bars those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence against spouses and “similarly situated” companions from possessing firearms. The prohibition has been applied in cases of live-in companions, but Klobuchar argues it doesn’t go far enough to protect some victims who weren’t living with their abuser.
Democrats’ broad field of presidential candidates has been unified in calling for stricter gun laws. But Biden’s strong position Monday stands out given his advocacy for more compromise on Capitol Hill.
Previously, he has said he is capable of working with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and recalled that, as a young senator in the 1970s, he found ways to work with Southern segregationist senators elected during the Jim Crow era.
This time, he said, there’s no place for a bargain because Republicans are being “irrational.”
“I’ll work with Mitch McConnell where we can agree, but on this one he’s not going to agree because he is where the president is,” Biden said. “So we just have to beat them, flat out beat them.”
…
UN Chief Appeals for Donors to Follow Through on Ebola Pledges
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres encouraged donors to honor the pledges they have made to combat Ebola as he visited the Democratic Republic of Congo to offer support in fighting the outbreak.Guterres told reporters Monday in Kinshasa that the United Nations has received only 15% of what it needs to fight the Ebola epidemic for the remainder of the year. He said further delays in receiving donor funding could mean ”we lose the war against Ebola.”The U.N. head later met with DRC President Felix Tshisekedi. On Sunday, Guterres traveled to the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, visiting a treatment center in the eastern city of Beni. “I could not go to the DRC without coming to meet the brave inhabitants of this beautiful territory,” he said.The current Ebola outbreak has killed more than 2,000 people and infected 1,000 others.In another development Monday, Congo’s former health minister, Oly Ilunga, was questioned by police over his management of funds to fight the Ebola epidemic, according to his lawyers.Ilunga resigned from his position in July, after overseeing the government response to the Ebola outbreak for nearly a year.Lawyers for Ilunga say he has been questioned about payments his office made to village chiefs to help spread information about Ebola, as well as bonuses distributed to members of his staff.The lawyers denied Illunga was involved in any wrongdoing.
…
French Petition Adds Fuel to Amazon Spat
An environmental spat between France and Brazil, rolling in questions about integrity, colonialism and Bic pens, shows signs of deepening with calls by dozens of French lawmakers and environmental groups to slap trade sanctions on Brazilian beef and soybeans. In a petition published Sunday in France’s weekly Le Journal du Dimanche, the group also called on the European Union to suspend a recently agreed Mercosur trade deal with South America and take broader steps barring products issued from deforestation and other environmentally harmful activities from entering the European market.FILE – Climate activists of the Extinction Rebellion group hold signs, including “Mercosur sells Amazon,” outside the embassy of Brazil in Brussels, Belgium, Aug. 26, 2019.”What is lacking is political will” in France and elsewhere in Europe in ensuring green commerce, wrote the group of signatories, who included members of French President Emmanuel Macron’s La Republique en Marche (LREM) party.While opposition to trade pacts is nothing new, the backlash to Mercosur comes at a time when other trade spats, including between the U.S. and China and Japan and South Korea, are also making headlines. And, some analysts say, it reflects growing alarm of ordinary Europeans about the social and environmental impacts of trade deals that is resonating among their leaders. “Europeans are very concerned about climate and human rights, and the Bolsonaro administration’s policies are going in all the wrong directions,” said Uri Dadush, senior fellow at Brussels-based economic think-tank Bruegel, referring to Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro. “That’s a different dimension from the trade agreement, but the two are becoming linked.” G-7 and wildfiresThe citizen pushback adds kindling to a diplomatic dispute that ignited last month when G-7 host Macron added Amazon wildfires to the summit’s agenda, claiming their environmental impact was of global concern. The move, along with Macron’s threat to block the Mercosur trade deal over Amazon inaction, spiraled into trans-Atlantic barbs, ranging from Bolsonaro’s accusations of colonialism and an apparent slur targeting Macron’s wife, to claims the Brazilian leader lied over climate change promises. FILE – France’s President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro attend a meeting at the G-20 Summit in Osaka, June 28, 2019.More recently, Bolsonaro — who conditioned accepting some $20 million in G-7 aid to fight Amazon fires to Macron’s apologizing for calling him rude — announced he would stop using French Bics, although the pens sold in Brazil are manufactured locally.Beyond the mud slinging, however, environmentalists hope the wildfires will nudge European leaders into a bigger rethink of Mercosur. “We saw Europe was inclined to sign the treaty,” said Adelie Favrel, forest specialist for NGO France Nature Environnement, one of the signatories of the Amazon petition. “If deforestation had not become center stage, with the media talking about it, these environmental concerns might not have been raised.”She and others are demanding France enforce a two-year-old law requiring companies to mitigate the environmental and human rights consequences of their actions — such as importing soybeans that may contribute to the Amazon’s deforestation — and that EU countries adopt similar legislation. A separate French petition to boycott companies supporting Bolsonaro’s government has recently collected nearly 2,000 signatories. More broadly, a number of U.S. and European countries have paused or reconsidered financial deals with Brazil over the Amazon fires, Britain’s Guardian newspaper reports. Mercosur trade agreement Still Europe is divided over linking the Mercosur pact to Amazon action. Along with France, Luxembourg and Ireland have similarly threatened to block it. But powerhouse Germany counts among other EU members opposed to such a move. FILE – Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri, right, gives a thumbs up to photographers with Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro during the Mercosur Summit in Santa Fe, Argentina, July 17, 2019.”We’re not going to attack the climate challenge by refusing to do trade,” European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told Le Monde newspaper. Macron initially gave a thumbs up to the Mercosur trade agreement signed in June between the EU and four South American nations after years of talks. But the good will vanished with the Amazon fires, as the French leader accused Bolsonaro of “lying” over climate change promises made just weeks before.The French president has earned kudos overseas for spearheading a green agenda, including his iconic “Make the Planet Great Again” twist to the Trump administration’s America-first agenda. But at home, critics claim Macron has failed to match rhetoric with deeds. His popular environment minister Nicolas Hulot quit a year ago, citing lack of progress on climate and other green goals. “Macron’s talked a lot about being an environmental champion, but we haven’t seen any action,” said environmentalist Favrel. “If the EU ultimately signs Mercosur without any concrete changes, it will be the same as what’s happened in France.” Dadush of Bruegel thinks Mercosur faces challenges for other reasons. Other powerful interest groups, including European farmers, are against the deal. Brazil has threatened to pull out of Mercosur if Argentina’s opposition wins next month’s presidential elections. “The agreement overall is under significant risk,” he said, “and the fires in the Amazon do not help at all.”
…
Nigerian Insecurity Requires Urgent Attention, UN Rapporteur Warns
Nigeria’s multiple security problems have created a crisis that requires urgent attention and could lead to instability in other African countries if it is not addressed, a United Nations rapporteur said Monday.Security forces in Africa’s most populous country are trying to tackle a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast, banditry in the northwest and bloody clashes between nomadic herdsmen and farming communities over dwindling arable land in central states.Agnes Callamard, the U.N. special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Nigeria was a “pressure cooker of internal conflict.””The overall situation I have found is one of extreme concern,” she told a news conference in the capital, Abuja, where she presented her preliminary findings following a 12-day visit to the country.Callamard said the police and military had shown an excessive use of lethal force across the West African country which, combined with a lack of effective investigations and meaningful prosecution, caused a lack of accountability.She said the country required changes in the judiciary, police and military to stop people resorting to violence in the absence of justice.”The lack of accountability is on such a scale that pretending this is nothing short of a crisis will be a major mistake. If ignored, its ripple effect will spread in the sub-region given the country’s important role in the continent,” she said.Spokesman for the ministries of justice, military and police did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Callamard’s findings.MIlitant groupsThe Islamist insurgency waged by Boko Haram began in northeast Nigeria in 2009 but has spread to parts of neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger where members of the group and militants allied to Islamic State carry out attacks.The rapporteur also condemned what she said was the “arbitrary deprivation of life” and the excessive use of lethal force in the case of processions held by banned Shi’ite Muslim group the Islamic Movement in Nigeria.Callamard said the move to ban the group appeared be based on what the authorities thought IMN could become rather than its actions. She said she had not been presented with any evidence to suggest the group was weaponized and posed a threat to the country.
…
Texas Gunman Was Fired From Job, Called FBI Before Shooting
The gunman in a spate of violence after a routine traffic stop in West Texas had just been fired from his job and called both police and the FBI before the shooting began, authorities said Monday.Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said 36-year-old Seth Aaron Ator had been fired over the weekend from Journey Oilfield Services. He said both Ator and the company called 911 after being fired Saturday but that Ator was gone by the time police showed up. FBI special agent Christopher Combs says Ator’s statements on the phone were “rambling.”Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke speaks during a news conference in Odessa, Texas, Sept. 2, 2019.Authorities said Ator killed seven people and injured at least 22 others Saturday before officers killed him outside a busy movie theater in Odessa.Combs said Ator “was on a long spiral down” before the shooting on the day he was fired. He went to work that day “in trouble,” Combs said. He said the place where Ator lived was “a strange residence” and that the condition reflected “what his mental state was going into this.”Online court records show Ator was arrested in 2001 for a misdemeanor offense that would not have prevented him from legally purchasing firearms in Texas, although authorities have not said where Ator got the “AR style” weapon he used.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted Monday that “we must keep guns out of criminals’ hands” — words similar to his remarks that followed another mass shooting in El Paso on Aug. 3, when he said firearms must be kept from “deranged killers.” But Abbott, a Republican and avid gun rights supporter, has been noncommittal about tightening Texas gun laws.
He also tweeted that Ator failed a previous gun background check and didn’t go through one for the weapon he used in Odessa. He did not elaborate, and a spokesman referred questions to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which didn’t immediately respond for comment.
Authorities said those killed were between 15 and 57 years old, but did not immediately provide a list of names. Family and employers, however, said that among the dead were Edwin Peregrino, 25, who ran out of his parents’ home to see what the commotion was; mail carrier Mary Granados, 29, slain in her U.S. Postal Service truck; and 15-year-old high school student Leilah Hernandez, who was walking out of an auto dealership.Hundreds of people gathered at a local university in the Permian Basin region known for its oil industry Sunday evening for a prayer vigil to console each other and grieve the loss of life.”We’re out here in the middle of nowhere,” Midland Mayor Jerry Morales told the crowd. “All we’ve talked about is oil forever. And then this happens.” Saturday’s shootings
The attack began Saturday afternoon when Texas state troopers tried pulling over a gold car on Interstate 20 for failing to signal a left turn. Before the vehicle came to a complete stop, the driver “pointed a rifle toward the rear window of his car and fired several shots” toward the patrol car stopping him, according to Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger. The gunshots struck a trooper, Cesinger said, after which the gunman fled and continued shooting. He fired at random as he drove in the area of Odessa and Midland, two cities more than 300 miles (482 kilometers) west of Dallas.FILE – Law enforcement officials process the crime scene Sept. 1, 2019, in Odessa, Texas, from Saturday’s shooting which ended with the alleged shooter being shot dead by police in a stolen mail van, right.Police used a marked SUV to ram the mail truck outside the Cinergy Movie Theater in Odessa, disabling the vehicle. The gunman then fired at police, wounding two officers before he was killed.”Local law enforcement and state troopers pursued him and stopped him from possibly going into a crowded movie theater and having another event of mass violence,” FBI special agent Christopher Combs said.Police said Ator’s arrest in 2001 was in the county where Waco is located, hundreds of miles east of Odessa. Online court records show he was charged then with misdemeanor criminal trespass and evading arrest. He entered guilty pleas in a deferred prosecution agreement where the charge was waived after he served 24 months of probation, according to records.Gerke, the Odessa police chief, refused to say the name of the shooter during a televised news conference, saying he wouldn’t give him notoriety. But police later posted his name on Facebook. A similar approach has been taken in some other recent mass shootings in an effort to deny shooters notoriety.2019 mass killingsThe shooting came at the end of an already violent month in Texas following the El Paso attack at a Walmart that left 22 people dead. Sitting beside authorities in Odessa, Abbott ticked off a list of mass shootings that have now killed nearly 70 since 2016 in his state alone.Officials to work the scene Sept. 2, 2019, in Odessa, Texas, where teenager Leilah Hernandez was fatally shot at a car dealership during Saturday’s shooting rampage.”I have been to too many of these events,” Abbott said. “Too many Texans are in mourning. Too many Texans have lost their lives. The status quo in Texas is unacceptable, and action is needed.”On Sunday, a number of looser gun laws that Abbott signed this year took effect on the first day of September, including one that would arm more teachers in Texas schools.
Saturday’s shooting brings the number of mass killings in the U.S. this year to 25, matching the number in all of 2018, according to The AP/USAToday/Northeastern University mass murder database. The number of people killed this year has reached 142, surpassing the 140 people who were killed of all last year. The database tracks homicides where four or more people are killed, not including the offender.Daniel Munoz, 28, of Odessa was headed to a bar to meet a friend when he noticed the driver of an approaching car was holding what appeared to be a rifle.”This is my street instincts: When a car is approaching you and you see a gun of any type, just get down,” said Munoz, who moved from San Diego about a year ago to work in oil country. “Luckily I got down. … Sure enough, I hear the shots go off. He let off at least three shots on me.”He said he was treated at a hospital and is physically OK, though bewildered by the experience.”I’m just trying to turn the corner and I got shot — I’m getting shot at? What’s the world coming to? For real?”
…
Facing Criticism Over Deportations, US to Look Again at Some Deferral Requests
The Trump administration, facing criticism over deportations from lawmakers and civil rights groups, said on Monday it would reopen consideration of some deferral requests for compelling circumstances such as medical conditions.In August, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) said it was “no longer entertaining” such requests from people outside the U.S. military, but on Monday said it would reopen and complete cases that were pending on Aug. 7, the day the new policy took effect.The agency said it still believed it was appropriate to hand over responsibility for such work to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), enabling its own staff to focus more efficiently on other legal immigration applications.Nearly 130 Democratic U.S. senators and members of Congress last week sent a letter Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and Ken Cuccinelli, director of USCIS, protesting what they called a “cruel” and “inhumane” move.”Individuals requesting deferred action from USCIS are among the most vulnerable. Children and families submit such requests due to severe medical conditions like cancer, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis,” the lawmakers wrote. “In many cases, the treatments are life-saving.”They said letters sent out by USCIS in early August summarily denying the requests gave people 33 days to leave the country, and said they face forcible removal and denial of future visas if they did not comply.The decision caused fear and confusion, the lawmakers said, warning it could force people to return to countries where lack of necessary medical care threatened their lives. They asked DHS, USCIS and ICE to answer a list of 14 detailed questions about the policy shift.The agency sent out letters in early August informing those who had requested deferred action about the new policy, but providing few details on how to submit requests with ICE.Deferred action is a discretionary determination to temporarily postpone the removal from the United States of a person who is illegally present, and occurs on a case-by-case basis, factoring in medical conditions and other circumstances.USCIS said those denied requests that were pending on Aug. 7 did not have removal orders pending, and had not been targeted for deportation.
…
Indonesian Police Ban Violent Protests, Separatism in Papua
Indonesian police have banned violent demonstrations and speeches promoting separatism in the easternmost region of Papua, which had been rocked by protests for two weeks, its security chief and the state news agency said on Monday.Papua has been racked by the most serious civil unrest in years over perceived racial and ethnic discrimination. Some protesters have also been demanding a referendum on independence, something the government has ruled out.The Papuan police issued six notices over the weekend, which included the ban on demonstrations and a list of criminal charges that could be brought against violators, chief security minister Wiranto told a news conference.”Any person or organisation is prohibited from carrying out or spreading separatism in expressing opinions in public and violation of this will result in strict action and law enforcement,” state news agency Antara reported, citing the notices.Police also said in the notices that spreading fake news was a punishable crime, Antara reported.
Police have arrested 41 people in several Papuan cities for damaging public facilities and looting, Wiranto said.Separately, two students were arrested in Jakarta and charged for treason.Four Australians who allegedly took part in a pro-independence demonstration in the city of Sorong, West Papua, would be deported, immigration authorities said in a statement.About 6,000 police and military personnel have been flown in to Papua, national police chief Tito Karnavian said, reinforcing the already heavy military presence in a region that has endured decades of mostly low-level separatist conflict.”If necessary I will deploy more troops,” Karnavian told reporters in televised remarks, adding that he planned to spend most of this week in the region.Security was being maintained throughout Papua on Monday as police worked with influential people in the region to control the situation, said national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo.Television footage showed people cleaning up a partly charred building that protesters torched in the provincial capital of Jayapura.Antara said four people were killed in Jayapura during protests last week, citing the city’s police chief.
At least one soldier and five civilians were killed in the rural town of Deiyai last week, among the deadliest of the latest demonstrations, Papuan police spokesman Ahmad Kamal said.The authorities and activists have different accounts of what happened in Deiyai.An internet blackout across Papua has made verifying information difficult.Wiranto promised to withdraw the additional troops and lift an internet curb “when the situation returns completely to normal.”Papua and West Papua provinces, the resource-rich western part of the island of New Guinea, were a Dutch colony that was incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969.The spark for the latest protests was a racist slur against Papuan students, who were hit by tear gas in their dormitory and detained in the city of Surabaya on the main island of Java on Aug. 17, Indonesia’s Independence Day, for allegedly desecrating a national flag.
…
Benghazi Port Bustling Again Despite Libya’s Divisions
The commercial port in Libya’s second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion.The port was caught in the cross-fire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a conflict that left parts of the eastern Libyan city in ruins. It suspended operations as the main gate and some buildings were destroyed and the roads strewn with shells.Forces led by Khalifa Haftar eventually declared victory in Benghazi in 2017. Repairs and reconstruction have been limited — two out of three damaged tug boats are still out of service.But the port is now doing brisk business and trucks loaded with cars and containers carrying foodstuffs, motor oils and other goods can be seen streaming out of the main gate near the city center.FILE – Laborers carry out maintenance work at Benghazi port, Libya, Oct. 3, 2017.Port manager Yzaid Bozraida said monthly revenues stood at more than 7 million Libyan dinars ($4.9 million) before the war, though the income had not been used to develop the port.”We have not got back up to that previous rate yet,” Bozraida said. “But every month is better than the previous one, we are seeking to get to more than 7.8 million dinars [monthly]. We have extended working times to 24 hours.””All shipping lines have returned. The most recent one began with just seven containers and its last shipment was already about 400 containers,” he added.Before the war, revenues were deposited with Libya’s General Administration of Ports in the western city of Misrata, but the management of Benghazi port is now separate, he said, a situation that reflects the divisions in the country.Misrata, a coastal city in western Libya with a major port of its own, is a hub of opposition to Haftar’s LNA, which since April has been waging a military campaign to try to take control of the capital Tripoli.HopeSince reopening, Benghazi’s port has been receiving more than 400,000 tons of grains at 18 docks, twice what the port was receiving before 2014.It pays salaries of 2.25 million Libyan dinars to 1,400 employees. It does not export oil, but imports gas and some petroleum products as well as general cargo.Living standards have declined drastically during the conflict, and conditions remain tough across Libya. Governments have done little to alleviate economic suffering.But Benghazi’s port is well placed to supply the city and hinterland, and its revival has given staff there hope.”Work has returned to this vital facility which will revive the city’s economy,” said port employee Naser Bozaid. “It is a source of livelihood for us.”Customs broker Sabri Imraj said the port was loading more containers than it had before 2011. “We’ve now got to uploading 1,500 containers weekly,” Imraj said. “Before 2011 it was 400.”
…
Burkina Faso Coup Leaders Sentenced to Up to 20 Years in Prison
Two senior allies of Burkina Faso’s deposed former president Blaise Compaore were sentenced to up to 20 years in prison on Monday for organizing a 2015 coup attempt against a transitional government.Protesters, angered by Compaore’s attempt to change the constitution to extend his 27-year rule, forced him to flee the West African nation in 2014. He now lives in exile in neighboring Ivory Coast.Troops from the elite Presidential Security Regiment under the command of General Gilbert Diendere, Compaore’s right-hand man, took members of the transitional government hostage less than a month before elections the following year.The week-long power grab failed, but 14 people were killed and more than 250 others were wounded as they attempted to resist the putsch.Former spy chief Diendere was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder and threatening state security.Compaore’s former foreign minister Djibril Bassole, who was accused of being the coup’s mastermind, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason.
…
Indonesia to Close Giant Lizard Island, Leaving Guides, Villagers in the Lurch
Almost every day 20-year-old Rizaldian Syahputra puts on his blue uniform, laces up his high boots and leaves his wooden house on stilts for a job many nature-lovers would envy.But by next year, he may no longer be employed.Syahputra works as a wildlife guide at Komodo National Park on the eastern Indonesian island of Komodo, taking visitors around the park on foot to get up close to the leathery Komodo dragons, the world’s largest living lizard species.The Indonesian government plans to close the island to the public from January next year in a bid to conserve the rare reptiles.The scheme also involves moving about 2,000 villagers off the island. Authorities are holding talks with community leaders on how to relocate the residents, Josef Nae Soi, deputy governor of the province of East Nusa Tenggara, told Reuters recently.It is hoped that closing the island to tourists will cut the risk of poaching and allow a recovery in the numbers of the animals’ preferred prey, such as deer, buffalo and wild boar.The island could reopen after a year, but the plan is to make it a premium tourist destination, Soi said.Syahputra, who says he enjoys his job because of his passion for nature and conservation, shares the fears of many others on the island who rely on tourism for a living.”The closure is definitely something that makes us unhappy,” he said.”If we really have to do it, I hope we can find a middle ground on the solution, not closing the whole island but just a certain area.”More than 176,000 tourists visited Komodo National Park, a conservation area between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, in 2018. The whole area was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991.About 1,700 Komodo dragons are estimated to live on Komodo island. Other islands in the national park that are home to more than 1,400 of the giant lizards, such as nearby Rinca and Padar, will remain open to tourists.Villagers who have lived on Komodo island for generations are unsurprisingly opposed to the idea of having to leave.”We have been living as one for years with this village,” said resident Dahlia, who gave only one name. “The graves of my father and ancestors are here. If we move, who will take care of those graves?”
…
Britain’s Johnson Threatens Expulsion of Tory Rebels Over Brexit Dispute
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson threatened Monday to expel any Conservative Party rebels if they try to block his push for a no-deal exit next month from the European Union.Johnson has only a one-seat majority in the House of Commons. But as parliament returns Tuesday from its summer recess, as many as 20 Tory rebels could join opposition lawmakers to tie the government’s hands against Johnson’s efforts to quit the EU on Oct. 31 without spelling out the terms of the divorce.The spokesman for the new British leader told reporters that it “would be entirely unreasonable” for the parliamentarians, “having rejected the previous deal three times, to attempt to bind the hands” of Johnson “as he seeks to negotiate a deal they can support.”Britain Set For Explosive Week Ahead In Brexit ShowdownJohnson summoned his Cabinet ministers for a meeting, stoking speculation that he would call for a snap election next month if parliament rejects his Brexit plans, possibly a vote ahead of a mid-October summit of EU leaders on final terms of Britain’s departure from the 28-nation bloc after 46 years of membership.Former Justice Minister David Gauke told the BBC, “Their strategy to be honest is to lose this week and then seek a general election having removed those of us… who believe we should leave with a deal.”Opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said, “We want a general election” to oust what he described as Johnson’s “phony, populist cabal.”Corbyn said, “We must come together to stop no deal – this week could be our last chance.”But former Labor leader Tony Blair warned Corbyn, a veteran socialist, that an election is an “elephant trap” Johnson has laid for Labor.”Boris Johnson knows that if no-deal Brexit stands on its own as a proposition it might well fail,” Blair said, “but if he mixes it up with the Corbyn question in a general election he could succeed despite a majority being against a no-deal Brexit because some (voters) may fear a Corbyn premiership more.”Johnson’s spokesman said the prime minister has been asked many times whether he wants a snap election and “his answer has always been that he doesn’t want there to be an election.”The Ladbrokes betting house said odds now are that there will be an election next month, with a 75% probability there would be one before the end of 2019.
…
Lithuania: Chinese Diplomats Interfered at Pro-Hong Kong Protest
Lithuania said on Monday it had lodged an official protest to the Chinese embassy after some of its diplomats became involved in disruptions at a pro-Hong Kong demonstration in the capital Vilnius last month.Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Chinese diplomats acted “in violation of public order” at the Aug. 23 event, which was organized to show solidarity with anti-Beijing protesters in Hong Kong.A police spokesman told Reuters that two Chinese citizens were detained and fined 15 euros ($17) each after people waving Chinese flags agitated at the protest.”We have information that some (Chinese) diplomats were more active than they should, and that is not acceptable,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius told reporters, without giving further details or naming them.There was no immediate comment from the Chinese embassy.The event in Vilnius was held as activists formed human chains across Hong Kong, inspired by a similar protest against Soviet rule in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in 1989.Mantas Adomenas, a member of parliament who organized the Vilnius protest, told Reuters that before police intervened, several Mandarin speakers with Chinese flags jostled activists and attempted to wrestle away their megaphone.After the arrest of the two Chinese citizens, police were approached by people who showed embassy identification and asked for the detainees’ release, Adomenas said, citing witnesses in a version partly corroborated by the police spokesman.”I reviewed filmed footage of the protest, and I saw that the Chinese ambassador was present at the sidelines, and was several times approached by people from the protest,” Adomenas
added.The unrest in Hong Kong began over a now-suspended extradition bill but quickly morphed into a wider pro-democracy movement resisting Chinese control of the former British-ruled
territory.
($1 = 0.8973 euros)
…
US to Vacate 5 Bases in Afghanistan if Deal With Taliban Signed
The United States has reached a draft framework agreement with the Taliban that will require American troops to vacate five military bases in Afghanistan within 135 days of the signing of the document.U.S. chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad made the comment Monday while speaking to the largest private Afghan television channel TOLOnews. He said that 5,000 troops will withdraw from the bases. Currently, 14,000 U.S. troops are deployed to Afghanistan and there are seven known U.S.-run bases in the country.”We have reached an agreement in principle but it is not final until the president of the United States approves it,” Khalilzad stressed.He explained that Washington rented the bases from the Afghan government and violence will significantly reduce in areas from where the American troops withdraw.In the first stage, Khalilzad added, Kabul and the neighboring Parwan province, where the U.S.-run Bagram military airfield is located, will see a reduction in violence. He said the text of the agreement will not be made public until Trump decides its fate.The disclosure came hours after Khalilzad shared with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani “key details” of the deal but did not hand him a copy of the document that could bring an end to America’s longest military intervention abroad.“He [Khalilzad] talked about the details of framework of that agreement that is going to be signed anytime in the near future. … So, we went through all those details and the president had a look at the details,” presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi told reporters in Kabul.He refused to go into specifics of the agreement, saying the Afghan government will study the details to formulate its observations and share them with Khalilzad’s team.“So, it will take a couple of days probably that we will get back to them and we will give them our observation,” Sediqqi said.The spokesman insisted the U.S.-led peace effort would eventually lead to cessations of Taliban hostilities and direct peace talks between the Afghan government and the insurgent group.There was no immediate reaction from the Taliban to Sediqqi’s assertions. The insurgents have persistently refused to engage in any talks with the Ghani government, dismissing it as an illegitimate entity and an American puppet.Khalilzad announced Sunday via Twitter he had concluded the ninth round of peace talks in Qatar with the Taliban and was leaving for Kabul to brief Afghan leaders on his discussions with the insurgents.FILE – Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, May 28, 2019.Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen also tweeted Sunday that the ninth round of talks with U.S. interlocutors ended successfully. “I assure our believing Mujahid nation that we are on the verge of ending occupation & peaceful resolution for Afghanistan,” Shaheen said.U.S. President Donald Trump said in a television interview last Thursday that U.S. troops would be initially reduced to 8,600, and “then we make a determination from there as to what happens.”Trump reportedly wants to pull out all U.S. forces from Afghanistan by the end of next year, allowing him to claim a foreign policy victory as he campaigns for re-election. The U.S. presidential election takes place in November 2020.Washington maintains that the withdrawal would be “conditions-based” and stop if the Taliban reneged on the agreement.In return for the U.S. military drawdown, the Taliban would renounce ties with al-Qaida and guarantee that Afghanistan would not be used to plot terrorist attacks against the United States or its allies.U.S. officials have said the Taliban will also be required to open talks with a wide-ranging delegation representing all sections of Afghan society, including government officials.In the midst of the peace negotiations, the Taliban have continued to launch major attacks and unsuccessfully tried to capture two key northern Afghan cities, Kunduz and Pul-e-Khumri, over the past several days.The fighting and bomb attacks elsewhere in Afghanistan on Saturday and Sunday have reportedly killed around 200 people, including combatants and civilians.
…
China Lodges Tariff Case at WTO against US
China has lodged a case against the United States with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over U.S. import duties, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Monday.The United States began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods on Sunday – including footwear, smart watches and flat-panel televisions – as China began imposing new duties on U.S. crude, the latest escalation in a bruising trade war.The latest tariffs actions violated the consensus reached by leaders of China and the U.S. in a meeting in Osaka, the commerce ministry said in the statement. China will firmly defend its legal rights in accordance with WTO rules, it said.
…
Rights Group Skeptical That Myanmar’s Military Seeks Justice
Plans announced by Myanmar’s military to prosecute soldiers for actions at a village where security forces reportedly killed as many as 400 members of the Muslim Rohingya minority drew skepticism Monday from the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch.The military announced over the weekend that investigations had determined that orders were not properly followed at a village in Rakhine state. It gave no dates or other details of the offense, but said a court martial is being convened to act “in accordance with the military discipline due to the weakness in following the instructions in some of the incidents at Gutabyin village.”The Associated Press reported in January last year that evidence indicated that security forces had carried out a massacre in the village, also known as Gu Dar Pyin, and that the victims were buried in at least five mass graves. The military known in Myanmar as the Tatmadaw denied the report, and it is unknown if the new announcement is related to the same incident.Human Rights Watch said Monday that the announcement did not indicate a change of attitude by the military, which denies carrying out abuses in a self-proclaimed counter-insurgency campaign two years ago that resulted in more than 700,000 Rohingya fleeing to neighboring Bangladesh. It has said its military operations in Rakhine were justified in response to attacks by Rohingya insurgents.Many human rights groups have accused Myanmar of carrying out genocide or ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya. A U.N. fact-finding mission has documented major abuses in Rakhine since 2016, including widespread killings and torching of villages, and said its findings warrant prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity in a forum such as the International Criminal Court.“The Tatmadaw’s decision to court-martial a few soldiers is hardly enough when we’re talking atrocities that included murder, torture, rape and arson that destroyed people and their communities. This court-martial looks like just another game to divert international attention by sacrificing a few low-level scapegoats,” Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch, said in an email, urging that it should be the military’s top commanders who face punishment.“You can tell the Tatmadaw are not serious since they refuse to review their overall operation and hide these court-martial proceedings behind closed doors, out of sight of the public and media,” Robertson said. “No one should be fooled to think this action marks any change of attitude in Myanmar’s military, which is still denying they violated the rights of the Rohingya in the first place, and seeking to evade all international accountability for their crimes.”
Myanmar has rejected the legitimacy of the U.N.’s fact-finding mission and asserted it is carrying out its own investigations. The announcement of the planned prosecutions came after what it said was investigations carried out by the military’s own Court of Inquiry.
Radhika Coomaraswamy, a Sri Lankan lawyer who is one of the U.N. mission’s three international experts, last month told an informal Security Council meeting on accountability in Myanmar that they believe a domestic judicial process is not possible at this time.She pointed to seven soldiers who were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison with hard labor for the killings of 10 Rohingya villagers but then were released after just nine months “because of the national and political pressure.” The arrests followed an investigation by two Reuters journalists who were imprisoned for their reporting on the killings.Last year’s Associated Press report said the existence of five mass graves in the village under investigation had been confirmed through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors in Bangladesh refugee camps and through time-stamped cellphone videos. It said its reporting showed a systematic slaughter of Rohingya civilians by the military, with help from Buddhist neighbors.The story said it was unclear just how many people died, but that community leaders in the refugee camps compiled a list of 75 dead up to that point, and villagers estimated the toll could be as high as 400, based on testimony from relatives and the bodies they’ve seen in the graves and strewn about the area.
…
Tunisia Kicks off Presidential Campaign Amid Tensions
Tunisia’s 26 presidential candidates have launched their campaigns in a political climate marked by uncertainty, money laundering allegations and worries about violent extremism.There is no clear front-runner as campaigning began Monday for the Sept. 15 first-round vote to replace Tunisia’s first democratically elected president, who died in office in July.Candidates held rallies Monday in Tunis and in poorer provinces to present their platforms.One prominent candidate is in jail facing accusations of money laundering and tax evasion.Tunisia’s provisional leader after its 2011 Arab Spring uprising, former activist Moncef Marzouki, is also running. He lamented to The Associated Press that candidates are “fighting each other with methods unworthy of democracy.”The campaign kickoff came the same day that four people were killed in clashes near the Algerian border.
…
US Promotes Free and Open Indo-Pacific at Naval Exercise
A senior U.S. naval officer has underlined Washington’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific as the United States launched its first joint naval exercise with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
…