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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Turkey's Davutoglu nominated new premier

August 21, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's ruling party has picked Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to replace president-elect Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its new chairman and prime minister.

Erdogan announced Davutoglu's nomination on Thursday following a meeting of the senior leaders of his ruling Justice and Development Party. Davutoglu, a loyal party official, was long reported to be Erdogan's top choice to replace him. Erdogan has indicated he intends to keep his grip on government by making use of the largely ceremonial presidency's seldom-used powers such as calling and presiding over Cabinet meetings.

Davutoglu, 55, has steered Turkey's foreign policy as foreign minister since 2009 and as Erdogan's adviser before that.

Turkey prepares to pull down statue of slain PKK commander

2014-08-18

DIYARBAKIR - A newly unveiled statue of a militant commander who planned the first attacks of the Kurdistan Workers Party's 30-year insurgency against the Turkish authorities is to be demolished, a court ruled on Monday.

The monument to Mahsum Korkmaz, a PKK commander killed in 1986, was just unveiled on Saturday in the village of Yolacti in the majority Kurdish Diyarbakir province in southeast Turkey.

But the move sparked outrage among nationalists who denounced it as the unwanted result of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's policy of granting greater rights to Turkey's Kurdish minority.

A court in Lice ordered that the statue be demolished after the Diyarbakir governor's office launched a legal complaint on Sunday, the Dogan news agency reported.

Preparations are already under way to pull down the statue, according to a reporter at the scene.

The monument -- which shows Korkmaz standing on a high triangular plinth dressed for battle and with a rifle by his side -- was placed in a new cemetery for slain PKK fighters.

It had been unveiled on the 30th anniversary of the first attacks by the PKK in the southeastern towns of Eruh and Semdinli on August 15, 1984.

The head of Turkey's ultra-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Devlet Bahceli called the statue a "very clear and dirty challenge to our moral and historic rights."

Turkey is seeking to restart stalled peace talks with the PKK -- which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies -- to end a conflict that claimed an estimated 40,000 lives.

The jailed head of the PKK, Abdullah Ocalan, said in a statement Saturday that the 30-year conflict was "coming to an end".

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67680.

Turkey ruling party disqualifies Gul as possible successor to Erdogan

2014-08-17

ISTANBUL - Turkey's outgoing President Abdullah Gul is not being considered as a possible successor to Recep Tayyip Erdogan as prime minister, a senior ruling party official said Sunday.

Erdogan is set to be sworn in as president on August 28 after his first-round election victory, and some observers had seen his longtime ally Gul as a possible replacement as prime minister.

But amid speculation of a growing rift between Gul and Erdogan, the deputy chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Mehmet Ali Sahin, said the outgoing president had no chance of becoming premier.

"After his term expires Abdullah Bey will not be able to become prime minister... because he is not a member of parliament," Sahin said, using a traditional Turkish form of address.

Reports on Saturday said the AKP strongly favoured Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, an Erdogan loyalist, becoming the new prime minister.

But Sahin said in televised comments there was "no resentment" within the party about the exclusion of Gul, given that the reasons for his ineligibility were clear.

Some analysts have argued that the whole succession process has been set up with the specific aim of making sure Gul cannot become premier and party leader.

The AKP executive committee is due to meet this Thursday to agree on who will simultaneously hold both the posts of premier and party leader.

Sahin was equivocal about what role Gul could play in the future as Turkey prepares for 2015 legislative elections.

"Time will tell which duties fall on who," he said.

Gul co-founded the AKP with Erdogan but in recent years has taken a more conciliatory approach than the combative premier, particularly after the anti-government protests of 2013.

His exclusion will disappoint those -- particularly in financial markets -- who hoped that Gul would play a moderating influence in an Erdogan presidency.

The Milliyet daily on Sunday reaffirmed Davutoglu was the frontrunner to become prime minister in a government that appears set to be filled with Erdogan loyalists.

The head of Turkey's secret service, Hakan Fidan, was a likely choice to replace Davutoglu as foreign minister, although Europe Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was also under consideration, it said.

Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, the government's economic pointman who is highly respected by markets, could leave the government and be replaced by top party official Numan Kurtulmus.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67643.

Turkey raises $20.8 million aid for Gazans in need

17 August 2014 Sunday

Turkey has raised 45 million Turkish liras ($20.8 million) to help Gazans in need, an official said Sunday.

The Gaza Strip has reeled under an Israeli offensive that has killed at least 1,980 Palestinians – most of them civilians – and injured more than 10,000 since July 7.

An aid campaign initiated by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the money, Deputy Prime Minister Emrullah Isler said in a written statement.

“Turkey's international development agency (TIKA) has provided 15,000 families with food through its permanent office in Gaza under the ongoing heavy Israeli attacks," Isler said. "TIKA also has provided more than 350,000 Palestinians with daily food since the beginning of Ramadan.”

Ramadan, the holiest month in the Muslim calendar, began on June 28 this year.

Palestinians and Israelis are now observing a five-day ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, which came into effect early Thursday.

Tension remains high in the West Bank, as well, as Israeli forces clash with Palestinians protesting in solidarity with those in the Gaza Strip.

“The Palestinian Energy Authority was provided with desperately-needed fuel," Isler said. "The Turkish Red Crescent has delivered aid basically consisting of medicine. Gaza and other municipalities’ immediate needs, like generators, were also delivered.”

He said some injured Gazans are being treated in Turkish hospitals.

On Wednesday, a Turkish Armed Forces plane airlifted 18 injured Gazans, including a pregnant woman and five children, to Ankara, the Turkish capital, for medical treatment.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/142648/turkey-raises-208-million-aid-for-gazans-in-need.

Mauritania president names new PM

2014-08-21

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on Wednesday (August 20th) named his new prime minister, AFP reported. Yahya Ould Hademine had served as transport minister.

Outgoing Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf had earlier submitted his resignation.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/newsbriefs/general/2014/08/21/newsbrief-03.

Troubled Libya now faces dueling governments

August 26, 2014

CAIRO (AP) — Libya's past, Islamist-dominated parliament reconvened Monday and voted to disband the country's current interim government, defying voters who elected its opponents to take over amid ceaseless fighting by rival militias.

The power grab highlights the lawlessness that has swept Libya since rebels overthrew dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 and later formed powerful militias that successive governments have been unable to tame. It also leaves troubled Libya with two governments and two parliaments, deepening divisions and escalating the political struggle that's torn the country apart.

Islamist militias have attempted to cement their power in the capital after claiming its airport and forcing rival militias to withdraw. The fighting began after Islamist candidates lost parliament in June elections and a renegade general began a military campaign against Islamist-allied militias in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city.

The Islamist-led past parliament voted unanimously to appoint a new "national salvation government" headed by Omar al-Hassi, a university professor. That happened as Islamist-militias said in a statement that their forces had "liberated" all facilities and barracks in Tripoli, inviting the United Nations and foreign diplomats to return.

Libya's newly elected parliament meanwhile continues to meet in the far eastern city of Tobruk far from the militia violence. Those lawmakers have branded Islamist militias as terrorists, sacked the country's chief of staff over his alleged links to Islamists and named a new one who vowed Monday to wage war against "terrorists."

Libya's interim government is also unable to return to the capital and has been holding its meetings in the eastern city of Bayda. It sent its foreign minister to Egypt to meet officials from neighboring countries to discuss ways to stop the spiraling violence.

The meeting ended with calls for disarming the militias and opposition to outside military intervention in Libya's affairs. That appears to be an attempt to mute accusations that Libya's neighbors, including Egypt, played a role in recent unclaimed airstrikes that have targeted Islamist militias' positions in Tripoli.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri warned the gathering that the situation in Libya threatens the entire region and other parts of the world. "The developments in Libya have left an impact we have felt on the security of neighboring countries, with the presence and movement of extremist and terrorist groups whose activists are not only limited to the Libyan territories but also spill over to neighboring countries," he said.

Meanwhile, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States issued a joint statement to "strongly condemn the escalation of fighting and violence" and urged "all parties in Libya (to) accept an immediate ceasefire and engage constructively in the democratic process, abstaining from confrontational initiatives that risk undermining it."

Also on Monday, retaliatory attacks swept Tripoli, targeting houses and buildings of Islamist rivals, including Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni. He accused Islamists of attacking his house in Tripoli, then torching and looting it.

"It is impossible that you can impose anything on Libyans using force," al-Thinni warned. "It will be like a devil who wants to enter heaven." Libya's divisions are rooted in rivalries between Islamists and non-Islamists, as well as powerful tribal and regional allegiances between groups who quickly filled the power vacuum after Gadhafi's fall. Successive transitional governments have failed to control them.

The formation of a new government by the Islamist-dominated outgoing parliament came on the grounds that handover of authority earlier this month was improperly handled. However, Libya's court system and laws remain in disarray, meaning whomever has the guns has the power.

The political rivalry has been coupled with militia infighting that has scarred the capital and driven out thousands of its residents. It has also turned Benghazi into a battlefield between Islamist militias and fighters loyal to a renegade army general who vowed to weed them out.

Libya's Islamist militias claim control of capital

August 24, 2014

CAIRO (AP) — Libya's Islamist militias said Sunday they have consolidated their hold on Tripoli and its international airport, driving out rival militias to the outskirts of the capital following a weekslong battle for control of the strategic hub.

The umbrella group for Islamist militias calling itself Dawn of Libya said it has also taken hold of other locations in the capital controlled by the rival militias, drawing to a close one chapter in a prolonged confrontation between the Islamist-allied militia, largely from the city of Misrata, and the powerful militia from the western mountains of Zintan.

The fight has largely destroyed the airport and scarred the capital, prompting diplomats, foreign nationals and thousands of Libyans to flee. The violence in Libya is rooted in the empowerment of militias after successive transitional governments since the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi depended on them to maintain order in the absence of a strong police force or a unified military.

It also comes as part of a backlash by Islamist factions after losing their power in parliament following June elections and in the face of a campaign by a renegade military general against extremist Islamic militias in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city.

But this has been the worst bout of violence in the battle over turf and influence since 2011. Mysterious airstrikes have struck the positions of Islamist militias, sparking accusations by the groups that Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, who oppose Islamists in the region, were behind it.

A field commander of the Dawn of Libya militia said Sunday his forces are in control of Tripoli and adjacent cities, pushing back the rival Zintan forces some 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the capital. It was not immediately possible to reach members of the Zintan militias.

The commander spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters. The fighting on the ground has mirrored a political standoff between Islamists and the outgoing parliament they controlled, and anti-Islamist groups who control the newly elected parliament. Each considers the other illegitimate.

After claiming control over the airport, Dawn of Libya called on the outgoing parliament to convene in the capital to take "the necessary measures to protect state sovereignty." On Sunday, the speaker of the outgoing parliament, Omar Hmeidan, said the body will convene until it hands over power to the newly elected deputies.

Further inflaming the situation, the newly elected parliament described the Dawn of Libya militias as "outlawed" and "terrorist groups" who fight to undermine the legitimacy of the state. The newly elected parliament has been convening in Tobruk because of security concerns amid a growing lawlessness in the capital and Libya's second largest city of Benghazi.

Fresh clashes Saturday in Benghazi pitting forces loyal to renegade Gen. Khalifa Hifter against a group of Islamist militias called The Benghazi Revolutionary Shura Council left eight troops killed and 35 wounded, a health official said. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the militias.

Islamist militias also controlled an air defense base near the city's international airport, a security official said. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Expanding the tension to neighboring Egypt, the Dawn of Libya militia accused Cairo and United Arab Emirates of being behind mysterious airstrikes on its posts in Tripoli, a claim that Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi rebuffed Sunday.

El-Sissi said his armed forces have not carried out any military operations outside Egypt "so far." Egypt is hosting a conference with Libya's neighbors Monday.

Libya shuts state TV stations

By Aya Elbrqawi in Benghazi for Magharebia
21/08/2014

The Libyan interim government shut down both state TV channels on Tuesday (August 19th).

Egyptian satellite company Nilesat took Al-Wataniya and Al-Rasmiya off the air after receiving an official request from the acting Libyan media minister.

The TV stations had been under the control of anti-government forces and backed the Islamists fighting for control of Tripoli international airport.

Al-Rasmiya chief Nadhim Tayari slammed the move, calling it "a political decision and a desperate attempt by the House of Representatives and the interim government to suppress the voice of the revolution of February 17th".

"We will call on all international organizations for freedom of speech to denounce this act and work to correct it," he said.

Tarek Al-Houni, head of Al-Wataniya, has stepped down of his role as director of Channel 3 earlier this month, saying: "The reason for my resignation is because of the extremist groups who took over the channel and prevented it from exerting its role impartially."

Libyans interviewed by Magharebia praised the decision to crack down on the militia-controlled television stations.

"It is a daring and brilliant move to shut down these channels that promoted the corrupt groups and their agendas at the expense of the Libyan people," commented Samar Barqaoui, a 34-year-old bank employee. "From now on, the state channels will not promote the Egyptian supreme guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, nor will it promote Hassan al-Banna or al-Zawahiri. It will promote a free civil state."

Barqaoui added: "Let them go to Qatar, their masters, so that they will open up channels for them at their own expense."

"The first positive move made by the House of Representatives was to shut down the channels of strife that incite killing and support Libya Dawn that seeks to destroy the capital," remarked Amal Bsikri, a 41-year-old human rights activist. "Al-Wataniya belonged to the previous government, and Al-Rasmiya also belonged to the previous National Congress, and since they were taken over by the terrorists from Misrata they immediately began inciting violence and war."

She added: "The terrorists are trying to use other frequencies to broadcast these two channels."

"There is news confirming the closure of the Misrata channel," journalist Fariha Mansouri said. "It spreads more strife and lies, because it calls for overthrowing the new parliament and the re-election of a new one, where the head of state would be from Misrata."

"The city of Misrata is the cause of Libya's problems. It was Misrata that carried out the Libya Dawn operation, which destroyed the Tripoli airport, bombed warehouses, and expelled families from their homes," Mansouri added.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://magharebia.com/en_GB/articles/awi/features/2014/08/21/feature-01.

Ukrainian president dissolves parliament

August 25, 2014

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president on Monday dissolved parliament and called for early elections in October as his country continues to battle a pro-Russian insurgency in its eastern regions.

In a statement on his website, President Petro Poroshenko said snap elections would be held Oct. 26. Poroshenko said the dissolution, which was prefigured by the breakup of the majority coalition last month, was in line with "the expectations of the vast majority of the citizens of Ukraine" and called it a move toward "cleansing" the parliament.

Many members of parliament "are allies of the militants-separatists," Poroshenko said, referring to the pro-Russian rebels who have battled government troops in the country's east since April. The Party of Regions, which is backed by much of the country's industrial, Russian-speaking east and was supported by pro-Russian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych, was the largest party in parliament before Yanukovych fled the country in the wake of massive protests in February and still has a substantial presence.

Most of these members "accepted dictatorial laws that took the lives of the Heaven's Hundred," he said, using the common term for those killed during the protests against Yanukovych, many by sniper fire.

He emphasized the need to elect new leaders from the war-torn areas of east Ukraine in order to represent the region in the new government. It wasn't clear how it would be possible to conduct elections at such short notice in Donetsk and Luhansk, where hundreds of thousands have fled their homes and shelling between rebel and government forces continues daily.

Over the past month, Ukrainian forces have made substantial inroads against pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, taking control of several sizeable towns and cities that had been under rebel control since April, when the clashes began.

But the advances have come at a high cost — more than 2,000 civilians reportedly killed and at least 726 Ukrainian servicemen. There is no independent figure for the number of rebel dead, although Ukrainian authorities said Monday that 250 rebels were in fighting around Olenivka, a town 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of Donetsk.

Many have expressed hopes ahead of a summit Tuesday in Minsk, Belarus that includes both Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and could be aimed at pressuring Ukraine into seeking a negotiated end to the conflict rather than a military victory.

Earlier Monday, a Ukrainian official said a column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles entered southeastern Ukraine — a move that brings the conflict to an area that has so far escaped the intense fighting of recent weeks.

Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security Council, told reporters that the column of 10 tanks, two armored vehicles and two trucks crossed the border near the village of Shcherbak and that shells were fired from Russia toward the nearby city of Novoazovsk. He said they were Russian military vehicles bearing the flags of the separatist Donetsk rebels. The village is in the Donetsk region, but not under the control of the rebels.

The Ukrainian National Guard later said two of the tanks had been destroyed. In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday he had no information about the column. Russia announced plans, meanwhile, to send a second aid convoy into rebel-held eastern Ukraine, where months of fighting have left many residential buildings in ruins.

Russia's unilateral dispatch of over 200 trucks into Ukraine on Friday was denounced by the Ukrainian government as an invasion and condemned by the United States, the European Union and NATO. Even though the tractor-trailers returned to Russia without incident Saturday, the announcement of another convoy was likely to raise new suspicions.

Lavrov said the food, water and other goods the convoy delivered Friday to the hard-hit rebel city of Luhansk were being distributed Monday and that Red Cross workers were involved in talks on how best to do that. There was no immediate confirmation from the Red Cross.

In sending in the first convoy, Russia said it had lost patience with what it called Ukraine's stalling tactics. It claimed that soon "there will no longer be anyone left to help" in Luhansk, where weeks of heavy shelling have cut off power, water and phone service and made food scarce.

The Ukrainian government had said the aid convoy was a ploy by Russia to get supplies to the rebels and slow down the government's military advances.

Laura Mills in Moscow contributed to this report.

Serbia says it won't impose sanctions on Russia

August 22, 2014

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Despite pressure from the European Union, Serbia will not impose sanctions against Russia or curb its food exports to that country, Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said Friday.

After the U.S. and the EU slapped sanctions on Russian state banks and major industries last month over the crisis in Ukraine, Russia responded with a wide-ranging ban on food products imported from those countries.

Serbia, a traditional Russian Slavic ally which is seeking EU membership, is hoping to capitalize on Russia's ban by increasing its food exports and replacing some Western goods on the Russian market.

The EU has warned candidate countries to refrain from exploiting the Russian ban. Vucic said his government will accept EU's demands not to additionally subsidize those exports to Russia, but will not prevent Serbian companies from making new deals. Serbian officials have said that they hope to increase the food and agricultural exports to Russia from the current $170 million (128 million euros) a year to $300 million (226 million euros).

The EU said Friday it welcomes that "Serbia will not increase the state support for its exports to Russia." "We welcome the attention the Serbian government pays to this issue and we appreciate the constructive approach as announced by Prime Minister Vucic," the European Commission said in a statement.

Although Serbian officials had said they respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and are against Russia's annexation of Crimea, they told the West that imposing sanctions against Russia would be disastrous for its economy, especially because its energy sector is almost entirely in Gazprom's hands.

"It is Serbia's strategic goal to become a member of the European Union," Vucic told reporters. "At the same time, Serbia did not and will not introduce sanctions against the Russian Federation." "In the interest of Serbia, we need to maintain friendly relations with Russia," he said.

Leaders clash in final debate before Scotland vote

August 25, 2014

LONDON (AP) — Scotland's leading politician vied with Britain's former treasury chief in a heated televised debate Monday, making a final push to capture wavering voters three weeks ahead of a historic referendum on Scottish independence.

Pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling argued and shouted over each other on questions from defense to the sustainability of an economy dependent on revenues from North Sea oil, but the heart of the 90-minute exchange centered on what currency an independent Scotland would use.

The two rivals had faced off in a first debate session on Aug.5, and both men stuck to familiar arguments Monday. Salmond reiterated that he wanted the territory to keep using the pound sterling in a currency union with the rest of the U.K.

But Darling, who leads the "No" campaign, maintained that such a deal would not work and would leave Scotland with little control over its economy. His opponents provided no financial security for Scotland's future generations, he argued.

"Any country's starting point is currency, money," he said. "Uncertainty about currency can bring a country to its knees." Salmond appealed to television audiences to vote for a Scotland governed by Scottish people.

"We can create a prosperous nation and a fairer society. A real vision for the people of Scotland. This is our time, it's our moment — let us do it now," he said in his opening remarks. The debate was the last one before the Sept. 18 referendum.

Polls have suggested that voters are narrowly divided on whether to break up Scotland's 307-year-old union with England, or remain alongside the English, Welsh and Northern Irish inside the United Kingdom.

While the anti-independence side has maintained a consistent lead, support for independence has been growing and thousands of still-undecided voters are holding the balance.

Debaters hope to sway undecided in Scotland vote

August 23, 2014

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP) — Scotland's long debate over whether the country should become independent has proved a bonanza for printers of bumper stickers, posters, balloons and even umbrellas.

Nationwide the words "Yes" and "No" can be found emblazoned on everything from street lights to shopping bags. Posters proclaiming "Proud to be Scots. Delighted to be United" and "Yes to a better, fairer Scotland" adorn the windows of homes sharing the same street.

On Monday, it's showdown time. Scotland's pro-independence First Minister Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling, leader of the "No" campaign, will face off in their last televised debate before the Sept. 18 referendum.

Both sides claimed victory when the two clashed Aug. 4 — and interest from outside Scotland was so high it caused the Internet platform streaming the event to crash. This time the 90-minute debate will be shown on the BBC across Britain, and on C-SPAN in the United States.

At stake is the support of thousands of voters who, despite a campaign lasting two years, have yet to make up their minds. Up and down the country activists have held thousands of town hall meetings, coffee mornings in private homes, and passionate discussions in pubs, clubs, town squares and on public transport.

People who have never been involved in politics before have come together and created a truly grassroots national debate about a vote that could affect everything from Scotland's economy, passports, currency and military to its sense of national pride and its role in the European Union and other international organizations.

"Wherever you go somebody is talking about it," said Mairi Campbell, 38, a hairdresser from Glasgow who says she's definitely voting against independence. "I used to spend a lot of my time talking to customers about whether they had a good holiday or were planning a night out. Now the conversation might start that way but ends up with something about the referendum and what it means," she said. "Almost everyone has an opinion and different reasons as to which way they will vote."

Politicians from both sides have toured Scotland's cities, towns and villages to address the public, often out in the open, distributing miniature flags — the blue and white Saltire of Scotland, or the red, white and blue of the Union Jack — while standing on modern equivalents of the corner soap box.

School halls have held question-and-answer sessions for students, reflecting the fact that, for the first time in Britain, 16- and 17-year-olds are being given the right to vote. "This is the biggest grassroots campaign Scotland has seen and it has encouraged more people to engage and get involved with politics than at any point in my lifetime," said Robin McAlpine, 41, director of Common Weal, which was set up to promote the ideals of a fairer society.

On the pro-independence side stand more than 350 independent groups. Not one is centrally controlled, organized or funded. The "No" campaign, which claims to have the support of the silent majority, has brought together a wide range of unionists from Labor and Conservative party members to socialists and members of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party.

Opinion polls suggest voters are narrowly divided on whether to break up Scotland's 307-year-old union with England or remain alongside the English, Welsh and Northern Irish inside the United Kingdom. In opinion polls the anti-independence side has maintained a consistent lead — but as many as a million undecided voters hold the balance.

Voter turnout in the referendum is expected to be high, possibly topping 80 percent. That would be the highest-ever figure in Scotland and much greater than the 50 percent who voted in Scotland's last parliamentary election.

Nighet Nasim Riaz, 46, a member of Scots Asians for Yes, said people are hoping to see the TV debaters maintain their civility. "The last televised debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling was not what people wanted to see: two middle-aged men having digs at each other," she said. "It's what you do in a playground. People want a bit more dignity and answers to questions that don't skirt around the issues."

But with a positive mood on the streets, both sides hope the debate will provide a final push to capture wavering voters. "Whatever the outcome," Riaz said, "something fundamental has changed in the way people are now becoming engaged and taking an interest in politics."

Russian ban on Polish apples sparks cider debate

August 22, 2014

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's Economy Ministry wants the nation of beer and vodka lovers to drink more cider.

The ministry, which is struggling to help apple producers hurt by a Russian embargo on European foods, has proposed exempting cider from a law that bans advertising any alcohol other than beer. But the Health Ministry and other health advocates are fighting the proposal. They say it is dangerous to encourage any alcohol consumption at all in a society that does not share the Mediterranean tradition of simply savoring small amounts of wine or beer at mealtimes.

"Poles are not light drinkers — it's the Eastern European model," said Krzysztof Brzozka, director of the State Agency for the Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems. He said there are some people who don't like the bitterness of beer or other strong drinks who could take a dangerous liking to the lightness and sweetness of cider, which is currently consumed in only small quantities in Poland. For instance, young women could start drinking more, increasing the already high number of infants with fetal alcohol syndrome.

His agency, which is under the umbrella of the Health Ministry, is fighting the proposed change, which is to be debated in the Senate after it convenes in late September. The Economy Ministry says it makes no sense to ban advertising cider when there is no similar ban on beer, which has a similar alcohol content.

The changes it has proposed to the so-called "law on educating about sobriety and counteracting alcoholism" are meant to help Polish farmers use the excess apples swamping the market due to the embargo that Moscow imposed weeks ago.

Poland is a major global apple exporter and had previously sent half its output to Russia.

Ireland unites for funeral of ex-premier Reynolds

August 25, 2014

DUBLIN (AP) — Generations of Irish leaders united Monday at the Dublin funeral of Ireland's peacemaking former prime minister, Albert Reynolds, in a ceremony leavened with wit, raw emotions and barnstorming performances from Eurovision stars.

Reynolds, 81, died Thursday after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. His requiem Mass brought together political rivals from past Republic of Ireland governments and the Northern Ireland peace process, packed shoulder to shoulder in front-row pews.

Beside Reynolds' flag-draped coffin, former British Prime Minister John Major chatted with former Irish Republican Army commander Martin McGuinness, today the deputy leader of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government. Seated nearby were Irish President Michael Higgins, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and Ireland's four surviving ex-prime ministers.

Reynolds worked closely with Major in 1993 to forge the Downing Street Declaration, a peace plan for Northern Ireland that inspired an IRA cease-fire the following year and, eventually, the creation of a unity government for the British territory.

"Had Albert not taken those risks for peace, in all probability we'd all still be killing one another to this day, and in the name of what?" the officiating priest and Reynolds family friend, the Rev. Brian D'Arcy, told the congregation.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin read a letter of condolence from Pope Francis, who expressed gratitude for Reynolds' commitment to peacemaking. From the pulpit, Reynolds' seven children offered tributes tinged with anger at the harsh criticisms their father faced during his 1992-1994 run as prime minister, when both of his coalition governments collapsed in acrimony.

Soprano Eimear Quinn, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996, took turns singing hymns alongside Red Hurley, another Eurovision finalist, who in the 1970s was Ireland's top dance band frontman. Grandchildren carried symbolic artifacts of his life to the altar, including his personal copy of the 1993 declaration and a can of puppy chow from the pet food company that Reynolds founded.

Greek archaeologists enter large underground tomb

August 25, 2014

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Archaeologists excavating an ancient tomb under a massive burial mound in northern Greece have entered the underground structure, which appears to have been looted in antiquity.

The Culture Ministry said Monday that archaeologists have partially investigated the antechamber of the tomb at Amphipolis and uncovered a marble wall concealing one or more inner chambers. However, a hole in the decorated wall and signs of forced entry outside the huge barrel-vaulted structure indicate the tomb was plundered long ago. The excavation will continue for weeks.

The tomb dates between 325 B.C. — two years after the death of ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great — and 300 B.C. Its discovery and a visit there by Greece's prime minister have sparked extensive speculation on its contents.

Alexander was buried in Egypt.

Protesters against brown coal form human chain

August 23, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — Several thousand people have formed a human chain across the German-Polish border to protest the expansion of open-cast mining for brown coal in the region.

Organizers said more than 7,500 people linked up in an 8-kilometer (5-mile) chain between Kerkwitz, Germany, and Grabice, Poland — two villages that activists fear will be evacuated to make way for further brown coal mines, also known as lignite.

Some of Saturday's demonstrators waded into the Neisse river, which divides the two countries, as part of the chain. The leaders of Germany's opposition Green party were among those attending the protest.

Both coal and lignite, which is decried as a dirty fuel by environmentalists, play a significant part in the energy mix of both Germany and Poland.

France marks 70th anniversary of Paris Liberation

August 26, 2014

PARIS (AP) — Paris celebrated on Monday the 70th anniversary of its liberation after four years in the grip of the occupying Nazis, with President Francois Hollande saying France now has a moral obligation to answer the call of those under the boot of dictators or barbarism like the Islamic State group that has conquered large swaths of Syria and Iraq.

In a speech at Paris' ornate City Hall, Hollande said the uprising of the citizens of Paris a week before the Aug. 25, 1944, liberation has a modern-day message for those fighting dictatorships, trying to preserve democracy or calling for help.

"It is from Paris that democracies seek protection from terror. It is to Paris that today the Iraqi people and all the minorities persecuted by the barbarous Islamic State turn," Hollande said. "We must answer those calls. Our history commands it," he said.

France has furnished Iraqi Kurds with weapons to better fight the Islamic State group going after Christians and Yazidi minorities in the area and taken in dozens of Yazidis. The French president also updated the message of the Paris Liberation for "people in Europe who despair at this time," as nations like France confront zero growth, high unemployment and unpopular measures to put the country back on its feet.

Hollande made no reference to an announcement from his office earlier in the day that Prime Minister Manuel Valls has been instructed to form a new government by Tuesday following criticism of its economic policies by the economy minister.

A steady rain drummed down on the festivities which included a sound and light show recounting the liberation of the French capital as American troops of the 4th American Infantry Division and the 2nd French Armored Division rolled into Paris amid chaotic gunfire of Germans making a last stand and jubilation of Parisians seeing an end to hunger, humiliation and fear.

Paris City Hall was awash in the blue, white and red of the French Tricolor, and Hollande underscored the role Parisians had played in taking to the barricades in a rebellion against German rule. "France, in ruin, found the strength to redress itself," he said.

French government dissolves over economic policy

August 25, 2014

PARIS (AP) — President Francois Hollande is weighing his options after dissolving the government on Monday over open feuding in the Cabinet about how much cutting — or spending — will revive the country's stagnant economy.

Hollande is to announce a new government on Tuesday. The debate among French Socialists mirrors one taking place across Europe on whether to pursue a German-led model of fiscal austerity or use more government spending to spur growth.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls offered up his Socialist government's resignation after accusing France's outspoken economy minister of crossing a line with his blunt criticism of the government's policies. Hollande accepted the resignation and ordered Valls to form a new government by Tuesday.

Hollande has promised cuts to taxes and spending as well as reforms to make it easier for businesses to open and operate. The measures are meant to reduce the tax burden for companies and also contain the government's deficit, which is above the European Union's limit of 3 percent of GDP.

France has had effectively no economic growth this year, unemployment is hovering around 10 percent and Hollande's approval ratings are sunk in the teens. The country is under pressure from the 28-nation EU to get its finances in order, but Economy Minister Arnaud Montebourg has criticized austerity as the wrong medicine to foster growth and argues the government should spend more freely to create jobs.

He lashed out at the government's policies in a final adieu as minister on Monday. "The entire world is urging us —even begging us — to end these absurd austerity policies that are plunging the eurozone into an economic slowdown," he said in a statement to the press.

"My responsibility as economy minister is to tell the truth, and observe... that not only these austerity policies are not working, but they are also unfair, as well as being ineffective" Hollande's promised reforms have stalled, in large part because of the divisions within his Socialist Party.

Montebourg unsettled his government bosses over the weekend by proclaiming that a "major change in our economic policy," was needed — just days after Hollande had expressly said there would be no change in the government's economic direction.

The minister's comments angered the Socialist leadership, which said Montebourg's job was to support the government, not criticize it from within. "He's not there to start a debate but to put France back on the path of growth," Carlos Da Silva, the Socialist Party spokesman, told the Le Figaro newspaper.

Montebourg represents the hard-left Socialist base, and his departure from the government is likely to anger many of the voters who brought Hollande to office in 2012. Since that time, France's economy has only worsened, and the sense of impending crisis weighs heavily.

Montebourg was conducting a "very responsible and constructive debate on questions that we have been asking for months," said Christian Paul, a Socialist parliamentarian who is among a clutch of leftist rebels backing Montebourg. "It looks like a schoolyard punishment."

French officials have already made clear the deficit will again surpass the EU's 3 percent limit and are negotiating a delay. The new government is unlikely to include Montebourg or other left-wing Socialists and there will be no new election. Instead, led by Valls, the new Cabinet is expected to work toward smoother ties with the EU.

Montebourg's criticism of austerity — and his pointed remarks about German Chancellor Angela Merkel — have rankled before. In an interview last week with the newspaper Le Monde after Germany's economy also showed signs of stagnation, Montebourg said France's neighbor had been "trapped by the policy of austerity."

He went on to say "when I say Germany, I mean the German right wing that supports Angela Merkel. It's not France's job to align itself to the ideological axioms of Germany's right wing." Merkel on Monday declined to comment directly about France's change in government but said she wishes "the French president success with his reform agenda."

The Socialists still have a majority in parliament, but one that will remain fractured even after the new government is installed — and vulnerable to inroads from France's resurgent right-wing National Front.

"It looks more like an atmosphere of purge than an atmosphere of reconstruction," said Paul. "The president is diminishing his majority at every step."

David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

Paris to celebrate end to Nazi rule 70 years later

August 23, 2014

PARIS (AP) — Her code name was Rainer and she had a gun she called Oscar. Not yet 20, she aimed her weapon at a Nazi officer and shot him to death on a Paris bridge on a Sunday afternoon.

That deed on July 23, 1944, was Madeleine Riffaud's summons to Parisians to rise up. "Everyone saw that a young girl on a bicycle can do this," she recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. Riffaud's solitary act represented an opening salvo for a popular uprising in Paris, which was spurred by the Allied landings in Normandy following four years of Nazi occupation. When American and French troops liberated the City of Light on Aug. 25, 1944, it came against a backdrop of jubilation and chaos.

On Monday, Paris will mark the 70th anniversary of its freedom from Hitler's Third Reich with a day of tributes, including an outdoor ball, a speech at City Hall by President Francois Hollande, and a sound and light show re-enacting the day of liberation.

The commemoration underscores how much has changed in a Europe, and wider world, that is confronting new dangers with echoes of the past. "I think there is a certain degree of forgetting precisely what the right wing across Europe in the 1930s actually meant," said University of Nottingham historian Karen Adler, who draws a parallel between that dark time and the rise of far-right parties across much of Europe today.

Some Parisian elders who lived through the occupation now advocate unity and dialogue among Europeans to ensure that extremism can never take hold of the continent again. "What happened was monstrous," said Jacqueline Courret, now 85 and living at the Liberty rest home in Paris.

During the occupation, Courret lived in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood on the Rue de Rivoli. She recalled how the Nazis' regular roundups of Jews meant that her school eventually closed because so many pupils had disappeared, including a friend. Some 77,320 Jews were deported from France during the war.

From 1940 to 1944, a European capital that had epitomized culture, bounty and the sweet life fell to its knees as humiliation, hunger, cold and distrust became the measures of daily life. Long food lines, black markets and coveted ration tickets marked the memories of those years.

Courret and two other women at the Liberty care home described how age-based food tickets determined their daily rations. Potatoes, rutabagas, soup and milk for the children were standard fare. Meat was a delicacy. Sometimes, Courret said, her parents served up cat meat.

"There wasn't a cat left in Paris at the end of the war," she said, chuckling. Understanding how ordinary life goes on in an occupied country can be hard for outsiders to grasp. "Ordinary things go on as well as the terrible things and the spectacular things," Adler said. "People are still getting married. ... They're still having arguments with their spouse." Life, she said, "is not always being lived at an incredibly high pitch."

With fuel scarce, bicycles provided taxi services. The family of 83-year-old Michele Le Meleder tried warming up in winter around an electric toaster. Scarcity bred a thriving black market for goods, some smuggled from the countryside. Parisians honed their bargaining skills.

"One person had shoes; another had butter. We bartered," said Josepha Bercau, 93. Her family's fabric store helped put food on the table by trading fabric or clothes, some made from curtains. When their silk stockings failed, ladies resorted to using make-up on their legs to imitate the look of the stockings.

Yet worries about whom to trust tainted relations and snuffed out the legendary ambiance of the city. Fears that neighbors could be collaborating with the Germans restrained conversations. Identifying the collaborators was no easy task.

"Collaboration works at so many levels. It was every state agency, if you like, every ministry, every government agency," Adler said. Paris police carried out the Nazis' dastardly tasks until they rebelled on Aug. 19 as the uprising spread six days before the liberation.

Women who consorted with Germans, derided as "horizontal collaborators," were paraded through the streets with shaved heads after the liberation. Adler offered a rough estimate that at least 20,000 women suffered this humiliation, even though some of them simply had a "visible" relationship with a German, even as a maid.

Small-scale sabotage was part of life for some, from giving incorrect directions to a German soldier to drawing on a wall the Cross of Lorraine, the sign of Free French Forces leader Gen. Charles de Gaulle, then based in London.

Riffaud, who turned 90 on Saturday, carried out more daring feats. As a member of a Paris resistance group of medical students, she put pamphlets in mailboxes and passed secret messages using the numbers on Metro tickets as a code.

When Riffaud shot the German officer, she said, she waited until he turned — so that he wouldn't be shot in the back. She was arrested, tortured and eventually freed in a prisoner exchange. "We always knew we couldn't win alone," she said.

The D-Day invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944, fueled the fervor of Parisians and opened the way for American troops of the 4th American Infantry Division to march on Paris alongside the 2nd French Armored Division.

"All the emotions suppressed by four years of German domination surged through the people," veteran AP correspondent Don Whitehead wrote on Aug. 25, 1944, in the first eyewitness account of the liberation. That joy was immortalized in iconic photos showing young ladies kissing American soldiers.

Whitehead's dispatch describes the liberation as messy, chaotic and dangerous with shooting from Germans making their last stand. "Machine guns and rifles cracked on all sides as the column I was with drove within a block of the Luxembourg (Gardens)," Whitehead wrote.

Riffaud saw one of her comrades fall dead from a gunshot wound at the Place de la Republique. "Everyone was hugging and kissing," she said. "People were happy. All the while, we were picking up dead bodies."

Austrian vice chancellor, finance minister resigns

August 26, 2014

VIENNA (AP) — Austria's vice chancellor and finance minister has announced he is stepping down, citing criticism from his own political party over his refusal to accelerate tax reform plans.

Michael Spindelegger also said Tuesday that he is giving up his function as head of the conservative People's Party, the junior government coalition partner of the Social Democrats. Spindelegger says that reducing taxes for the average wage-earner now would come at the cost of new government debt or increasing other forms of taxation. He told reporters that he opposes both scenarios.

Spindelegger became vice chancellor three years ago and was appointed finance minister last year.

Norwegian Muslims rally against Islamic militants

August 25, 2014

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Norway's prime minister and other politicians have joined Muslim leaders and thousands of other people for a demonstration in Oslo against radical Islamists.

Monday's rally was an initiative by young Norwegian Muslims who wanted to show a united front against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq and their sympathizers in Norway. Mehtab Afshar, head of the Islamic Council in Norway, told the crowd: "They stand for terrorism, they stand for terror ... and we condemn that in the strongest terms."

A small radical group in Norway has expressed support for Islamic State militants, angering moderate Muslims in immigrant communities in the country. According to the Norwegian security service at least 50 people have left Norway to become foreign fighters for militant groups in Syria.

Ancient Ethiopian Walled City Keeps Modern Life at Bay

Aug 22, 2014

Harar, Ethiopia. Hyenas howl and feast on flesh every night outside the ancient walls of Harar — one of Islam’s holiest cities that is holding out against the pressures of the modern world.

But change is coming, and campaigners are working hard to preserve the gated Ethiopian city’s unique history, cultural and religious traditions.

Inside the thick stone walls modern influences abound: beer signs propped on crumbling old buildings, Chinese electronics in shop windows and shiny trucks on the main road alongside ageing Peugeot sedans.

But despite the encroachments from the outside world, a generation of cultural campaigners are determined to preserve ancient customs — from clothing to bookbinding, to dance and song.

“Because of globalization, you can’t prevent all changes, but the culture, the religion, still survives,” said Abdela Sherif, owner of a museum housing the largest collection of Harari cultural relics in the world.

“We are going to keep our culture, our customs, our old civilization, we are going to keep it by revitalization,” Sherif adds, speaking inside his museum in Harar packed with old coins, yellowed Korans, vintage silk dresses and rusting daggers.

He runs bookbinding workshops, and makes digital copies of old books and songs as part of his preservation campaign.

Closed city opening up

Founded in the 10th century, Harar — also called Jugol — is reputed to be one of the oldest cities in east Africa, with three mosques more than a thousand years old, some of the oldest outside the Arabian Peninsula.

The UNESCO-listed town, lying some 525 kilometers east of the capital Addis Ababa, is said by some to be the fourth holiest city in the Islamic world — after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem — and locals boast it has the highest concentration of mosques and shrines in the world.

Legendary British explorer Sir Richard Burton was famously one of the first foreigners to penetrate the “forbidden” walls in 1854, disguised as a Muslim trader, his face smeared with dye.

Three decades later, French poet Arthur Rimbaud made the fortified town his home, trading in coffee and, reportedly, in ivory and guns.

Visitors continue today, exploring its brightly painted 82 mosques in a labyrinth of narrow cobblestone alleyways.

The four-meter high wall was built in 1551 by one of Harar’s 72 kings, with its five gates remaining today.

The walls repelled enemies and foreigners, remaining mostly closed to non-Muslims until 1887 when it was conquered by Ethiopia’s Emperor Menelik, ushering in a new era that opened the city for Christians and Ethiopians of diverse ethnicities.

Long years of enclosure allowed Harari culture to flourish and its dwellers became famous for a modern trade system, hand-bound books, Islamic teaching, poetry and lively religious festivals, which make up Harar’s unique identity.

“The culture of the Hararis is different. Even the way they eat, even the way they act, even the way they behave,” said historian and sociologist Abdusemed Idris.

Modern ways to preserve the old

Modern-day Harar is a pastiche of old and new, and despite the presence of mobile telephones, computers and satellite dishes, a deeply embedded religious piety closely linked to cultural customs remains.

“They want to remain themselves always, not to imitate others. So when it comes to the influence of the West still they say: ‘This is theirs, and ours is ours’,” Abdusemed said, speaking from his office near a busy market selling prayer mats, sunglasses and football tops.

“We take some, but we don’t take all, the influence is not that big, but we use the gadgets in the way we want to use it,” he added.

As a result, some traditions remain strong, especially the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, which draws thousands of people for three days of song, music and feasting, as their ancestors have done for centuries.

But unlike previous generations, most people are not dressed in traditional silk gowns, with drummers wearing hooded sweatshirts, and revelers using smart phones to film the party.

But Mariam Sherif, who traveled from the US for the festival, insists the customs at root remain firm.

“That’s the only difference between now and then — everything we do, all the festivities, remain the same,” she said, standing near a crush of people dancing inside a shrine.

Young Hararis like Sherif are actively embracing their heritage, even using social media to teach young people about the old way of life.

“We fear that we might lose it someday and we will cry,” said Amir Redwan, sitting on a floor mat chewing the herbal stimulant khat, as the evening call from a mosque called out.

Redwan uses Facebook to reach out to Harari youth, to encourage them to learn about their heritage and history.

“It is upon them, upon us all, to keep this with whatever might that we have,” he said.

Source: The Jakarta Globe.
Link: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/features/ancient-ethiopian-walled-city-keeps-modern-life-bay/.

Thai junta leader assumes prime minister post

August 25, 2014

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's junta leader, who seized power in a military coup three months ago, officially assumed his new post as prime minister on Monday following an endorsement from the country's monarch.

During a ceremony in Bangkok, Gen. Prayuth Chan-ocha accepted a written royal command issued by King Bhumibol Adulyadej certifying his appointment as the country's 29th premier. Bhumibol, who is 86 and in poor health, was not present at the ceremony.

Thailand's junta-appointed legislature voted overwhelmingly last week to name the 60-year-old army chief to the new post. He was the only candidate. Prayuth is due to retire from the military next month and will hold both jobs until he does so.

On May 22, Prayuth oversaw a coup in which the military toppled Thailand's elected civilian government. Analysts say his new post cements the military's control of government. The move was the latest in a series of moves by the junta to consolidate power on its own terms. In July, the military adopted a temporary 48-article constitution and appointed the legislature.

Prayuth, who is expected to name his Cabinet next month, has said elections could be held in 2015. Prayuth has said the army had to stage the coup to end half a year of political deadlock between protesters and the government, and to stop sporadic protest-related violence that had killed dozens of people and wounded hundreds more. While stability has been restored, it has come at a steep price: Thailand's democratic institutions have been entirely dismantled, and the country's authoritarian rulers have crushed all dissent.

Last week, Human Rights Watch issued a statement criticizing the deterioration of human rights in the country. "Since the May coup, the generals have tightened rather than relaxed their grip on power," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Instead of the promised path back to democracy through free and fair elections, Thailand's military seems to be opting for a road to dictatorship."

"As both prime minister and junta leader, Gen. Prayuth can wield broad power without accountability," Adams said. "This marks a dark day for human rights and the future of democracy in Thailand."

Associated Press writer Todd Pitman contributed to this report.

4 white lion cubs born at German circus

August 22, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — A circus in Germany is celebrating the birth of four rare white lion cubs.

A spokeswoman for Circus Krone says the three males and their sister were born Wednesday in the eastern city of Magdeburg and are doing well. Susanne Matzenau said Friday that their father, King Tonga, now has 16 children from two mothers.

Matzenau says the cubs will stay with their mother for three months before starting circus training. The circus is considering names, with 'Otto' among the most popular. White lions have a genetic mutation that gives them very light fur, but they are not albinos. They were extinct in the wild for 12 years, but were reintroduced in South Africa in 2004, according to the Global White Lion Protection Trust. Still, most are held in captivity.