Bulgaria replaces candidate for the United Nations' top job

September 28, 2016

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov announced Wednesday that the government is nominating its European commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, as a candidate to be United Nations Secretary-General, replacing its previous candidate, UNESCO chief Irina Bokova.

The decision came two days after Bokova, came in sixth of nine candidates in the Security Council's latest informal poll to succeed Ban Ki-moon on Jan 1. Earlier this month, Borisov said his government would continue backing Bokova's candidacy only if she was among the top two candidates in the fifth "straw" poll on Sept. 26.

"We made huge efforts, not only the government, but also the president, the foreign ministry and Irina Bokova herself, but you see the result," Borisov said at the government meeting. In order to be replaced, however, Bokova would need to file a letter announcing her withdrawal. She said she sees no reason to do that.

"None of the other candidates, even those with worse results, is doing it because the real race is still ahead," Bokova said in an interview for the daily 24 chasa on Wednesday, before the prime minister's announcement.

Under the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general is elected by the U.N. General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, this means the votes of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N.'s most powerful body — the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France — are critical.

By tradition, the job of secretary-general has rotated among regions. Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have all held the post. East European nations, including Russia, argue that they have never had a secretary-general and it is their turn.

There has also never been a woman secretary-general and more than 50 nations are campaigning to elect the first female U.N. chief, along with many organizations. In Monday's informal poll, Portugal's former Prime Minister Antonio Guterres retained first place and was the only candidate to get the minimum nine required "yes" votes.

The key question for Guterres is whether one of the permanent members opposes his candidacy. That should become clear in the sixth straw poll expected next week which will be the first to distinguish the votes of the permanent and non-permanent council members.

One of the big question marks is who Russia will support. Borisov spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, before he announced the government's support for Georgieva. Bokova said in the interview that calls for her to leave the race are undignified. She added that "with a second candidate, Bulgaria will become a laughing stock."

Since entering the race, Bokova has been a controversial candidate in Bulgaria because of her communist past. "It appears that my successful start was not liked by certain circles in Bulgaria and outside Bulgaria. They saw that I have a chance to win and launched a negative campaign against me," she said.

"Regretfully, I am the only candidate facing a hysterical campaign of name-calling and slander in my own country." In Brussels, Georgieva's boss, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, has granted her an unpaid leave of absence for the month of October to stand for the U.N.'s top post.

Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said the EU's executive arm will "ensure a strict separation between activities relating to her candidacy and her work" at the commission, where she has the portfolio in charge of budgetary affairs and human resources.

Bulgarian Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov said the government will be seeking support for Georgieva from neighboring countries. "I want to thank Ms Bokova, but we must transfer our support to Kristalina Georgieva," Mitov said.

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the U.N. contributed to this report.

Austrian leader: EU's outer borders must be better protected

September 24, 2016

VIENNA (AP) — Austria's chancellor vowed Saturday to better protect the European Union's outer borders to curb illegal migration, as he held a summit with his German, Greek and west Balkans counterparts to debate strategies to deal with Europe's migrant crisis.

"We need to regain control over our external border," Chancellor Christian Kern said at a press conference after the Vienna summit. "We need to decide who gets to come to Europe," not the traffickers.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a speedier return of migrants who didn't get asylum status is another important goal. "We therefore talked today about the necessity of quickly finishing agreements with third countries, especially with Africa, but also Pakistan and Afghanistan," Merkel said. "So that those who cannot stay for humanitarian reasons will be returned to their home countries."

Both Merkel and Kern stressed that the migrants' situation in Europe was better than a year ago, when thousands crossed the Mediterranean Sea each day from Turkey to Greece then trekked up the Balkans to northern Europe. About one million migrants entered Europe last year, the majority from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other crisis-torn countries.

The closing of Balkans migrant route in the spring and the March EU-Turkey agreement to reduce migration have led to a dramatic reduction of the number of people reaching northern Europe. Still, both leaders pointed out that they were considering strengthening the EU's border agency Frontex not only along the continent's sea borders, but also to help protect inner European borders, for example at the border between Greece and Macedonia.

"We need to make sure, practically and politically, that the west Balkans route will remain closed to illegal migration for good," EU Council President Donald Tusk said. Merkel also offered support for Greece and Italy and said Germany would take in several hundred migrants from both countries every month, the German news agency dpa reported.

Grieshaber contributed from Berlin.

Austrian leaders urge EU action to tighten Europe's borders

September 20, 2016

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ahead of a major European meeting on the refugee crisis convened by Austria, the country's chancellor and foreign minister on Tuesday urged joint EU action on tightening up Europe's external borders and a "Marshall Plan" for countries responsible for most of the migrant influx to the continent to reduce incentives to leave.

Austria is governed by a coalition of Social Democrats and the center-right People's Party. At a time of increased tension between the two parties, comments by Chancellor Christian Kern and Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz reflected attempts to stake out political positions that will appeal to their voter base. Kern, a Social Democrat, focused on the need to reduce the migrant influx by improving the lives of those most likely to leave their home countries. Kurz, of the People's Party, hit hard on the need to secure border controls.

But both strove to reduce fears of a rightward lurch by Austria, through increasingly restrictive border policies and amid projections that Norbert Hofer of Austria's xenophobic Freedom Party has the edge in delayed presidential elections now scheduled for December.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, Kern avoided directly responding when asked if that perceived rightward shift had been raised by other leaders attending the session. "Even in case Mr. Hofer would win the election, life would go on," he said. "We have a stable government, and we are part of the European Union representing the values of its foundation."

Kurz's party has moved further right on refugees than Kern's, opening it up to criticism that its policies are not much different from those of the Freedom Party. But Kurz said Austria is not alone in its switch this year from open to tight borders.

"There is now an understanding in the European Union that we have to stop the flow of illegal migrants, and that we need border controls to our external borders," he said. "I don't think this is a far-right position. It's a necessary position."

The two spoke ahead of a regional refugee summit in Vienna on Saturday, convened by Kern to try and harmonize policies — a difficult proposition considering that those attending will include German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who lead opposing camps on the issue.

Kern saw no problem, saying the two often meet at summits. Still, their encounters have been bumpy. At a summit of EU leaders on Friday in Slovakia, Orban again criticized Germany for refusing to set limits on migrant arrivals. Unless Berlin caps arrivals, he said, the flood will continue "because everyone sees ... that there is a place in Europe where the good life can be achieved, where they are welcomed and where their needs are taken care of."

He said Hungary's razor-wire barrier is meant 'to stop at the Hungarian border the negative consequences of the suction effect of German domestic politics."

Sweden to reintroduce military service

Stockholm (AFP)
Sept 28, 2016

Sweden said Wednesday it would reintroduce compulsory military service from 2018, eight years after it was abolished.

The Scandinavian nation, which has not seen armed conflict on its territory in two centuries, ended conscription in 2010 after it was deemed an unsatisfactory way of meeting the needs of a modern army.

"I hope that we are going to find a path to a more stable, robust and functional means of recruitment," Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told a news conference.

The new policy will affect Swedes born after 1999, according to a report by a former member of parliament for the defense ministry.

The measure is expected to be adopted by parliament, subject to agreement between the leftist government and the center right opposition.

Around 4,000 young Swedes, 18-year-olds of both sexes, are expected to be called up each year.

The move was "an intelligent proposal given that we have seen for a number of years now that volunteers are not sufficient to supply either the quality or quantity of soldiers" needed, Johan Osterberg, a researcher from the School for Advanced Defense Studies, told news agency TT.

Sweden is not a NATO member but has signed the body's Partnership for Peace program launched in 1994 to develop military cooperation between NATO and non-member countries.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Sweden_to_reintroduce_military_service_999.html.

Norwegian returns home after yearlong captivity Philippines

September 23, 2016

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Norwegian man who was freed by militants in the Philippines has returned home after a year of jungle captivity. Kjartan Sekkingstad arrived in Oslo on Friday, six days after being released by Abu Sayyaf extremists who had kidnapped him along with two Canadians who were later beheaded and a Filipino woman.

The 57-year-old Norwegian told reporters he had experienced "a year of terror," with little food, long jungle treks and a constant fear of being killed. He recalled feeling "helpless" seeing his captors take away the first Canadian hostage to be executed "but there was nothing you could do."

Abu Sayyaf released Sekkingstad last Saturday to a rebel group, which handed him over to Philippine authorities. Sekkingstad was kidnapped from a yacht club he helped manage in September 2015.

UC Berkeley reinstates Palestine course

September 20, 2016

UC Berkeley has reinstated a course on Palestinian history which was suspended last week.

The school’s dean announced the decision after the teacher revised the course description.

“Palestine: A Colonial Settler Analysis” course was suspended by social science dean Carla Hesse after receiving a complaint from Jewish and civil rights groups that the course syllabus appeared to describe a politically motivated, anti-Semitic class.

Activists protested against the decision saying it threatened academic freedom.

Paul Hadweh, a student who teaches the one unit course, said he wasn’t told that it had been suspended.

“The university threw me under the bus, and publicly blamed me, without ever even contacting me,” Hadweh said. “To defend the course, we had to mobilize an international outcry of scholars and students to stand up for academic freedom. This never should have happened.”

The dean said she suspended the class for review after discovering that neither she nor the chair of the ethnic department had seen or approved the course syllabus.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160920-uc-berkeley-reinstates-palestine-course/.

South Sudan rebel chief urges armed resistance to Juba govt

September 24, 2016

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A top South Sudanese opposition leader called Saturday for armed resistance to the government in Juba — a stance that suggests the troubled Central African nation could face a renewed civil war in the near future.

Leader Riek Machar and top officials of the opposition SPLM-IO party issued a statement saying their forces would reorganize to "wage a popular armed resistance against the authoritarian and racist regime of President Salva Kiir." It's the first political statement by Machar since he fled South Sudan in August.

The statement, obtained by The Associated Press, came after a meeting Saturday of Machar and his supporters in Khartoum, Sudan. His call for armed resistance adds to South Sudan's spiraling problems. South Sudan gained independence in 2011 but fell into a civil war in 2013 in which at least 50,000 civilians died and more than 2 million were displaced. A peace deal was forced on both Kiir and Machar last August, but fighting in the capital, Juba, in July put that deal in doubt.

"We have been driven back to the bush," James Gadet, a spokesman for Machar, told the AP on Saturday in a call from Nairobi, Kenya. Gadet called for the removal of Taban Deng Gai, who was controversially named to replace Machar as the country's First Vice President. He says the South Sudan government must stop attacking civilians and a regional protection force must be deployed in the country or there will be "an escalation of the civil war," which he says began again on July 8.

"(We) call on the international community to declare the regime in Juba a rogue government," the document says, adding that international agencies monitoring the peace deal should "suspend their activities" until the agreement is "resuscitated."

Some critics blame American foreign policy in South Sudan, saying the U.S. has given Kiir a "blank check" to pursue a militant policy. "It's not at all surprising to see Machar call for continued armed struggle, in light of the U.S. policy to back Taban Deng as First Vice President and the clear absence of a viable political process," Kate Almquist Knopf, director of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, told the AP.

Machar has demanded that the government accept the U.N. Security Council's decision to send an additional 4,000 peacekeepers to increase the size of the existing U.N. force of 12,000 in South Sudan. The Kiir government has resisted the U.N. decision, saying it violates South Sudan's sovereignty. State Department officials say if South Sudan doesn't accept the additional peacekeepers, the U.S. would support an arms embargo on the country.

Gabon opposition candidate decries high court ruling

September 24, 2016

LIBREVILLE, Gabon (AP) — Opposition candidate Jean Ping vowed to not back down from his pursuit of the presidency hours after the constitutional court upheld the victory of incumbent President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has been in power for nearly half a century.

It was not immediately clear what additional recourse Ping might pursue in the aftermath of the announcement Bongo had won by 50.66 percent of the vote. Ping and his supporters have accused the ruling party of vote-rigging, and the opposition leader reiterated his call Saturday for people to object.

"This decision does not bring the Gabonese people together and it does not appease them because they don't recognize it, nor does the international community, which gives it no value," Ping said. "I will not back down," he said. "As I promised you as the president clearly elected by the Gabonese, I will remain by your side to defend your vote and your sovereignty."

Ping's refusal to concede raises the specter of prolonged unrest in Gabon, the oil-rich nation where Bongo became president in 2009 after the death of his father. The late Omar Bongo ruled the country for more than four decades, and was accused of siphoning off oil profits to enrich his family and associates.

Already the opposition has said that as many as 100 people have been killed while some 1,200 have been detained by authorities as part of a government crackdown on dissent. On Saturday, there was a heavy security presence around the capital of Libreville, with troops keeping a watchful eye on residents.

Bongo thanked his supporters In a victory speech and underscored the challenges ahead following such a close election. "The tight margin of this victory means there are many voters who, for one reason or another, did not choose us," he said. "We must decipher their message, hear and understand it."

International observers had raised doubts about results in one Bongo stronghold where he won 95 percent of the vote and turnout was reported to be 99.9 percent. However, the constitutional court said that the results still showed that Bongo had won the national election regardless.

Larson reported from Dakar, Senegal.

Israelis pay respects to Peres, Clinton arrives in Israel

September 29, 2016

JERUSALEM (AP) — Former U.S. President Bill Clinton joined thousands of Israeli mourners Thursday who paid their respects to the late Shimon Peres outside Israel's parliament in Jerusalem, as the country somberly remembered the Nobel-winning politician who helped lead Israel during a remarkable seven-decade career.

Clinton is among the dozens of current and former world leaders, including President Barack Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, expected to gather in Jerusalem on Friday for Peres' funeral. The former Israeli president and prime minister died Wednesday, two weeks after suffering a stroke, at the age of 93.

A senior Palestinian official said that Abbas had decided Thursday to attend the funeral, and will come to the event with a small delegation of top aides, including his chief negotiator Saeb Erekat and his security chief Majid Faraj.

In contrast to an outpouring of grief from Western leaders, Arab leaders have remained largely silent over Peres' death. The reaction reflected general Arab animosity toward Israel, particularly at a time when the peace process Peres helped launch two decades ago has collapsed and anger is high at the hard-line policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Abbas was the only Arab leader to express sorrow over Peres' death on Wednesday. In attending the funeral, Abbas wanted to "send a strong message to Israeli society that the Palestinians are for peace, and appreciate the efforts of peaceful men like Shimon Peres," the senior official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to the media.

Friday's funeral is expected to be the largest gathering of world leaders in Israel since the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by a Jewish nationalist in 1995. Rabin's killing, coming at the height of Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, drew dozens of world leaders, including a large delegation of American officials led by then-President Clinton and his wife Hillary, then-President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, the late King Hussein of Jordan and other dignitaries from the Arab world.

Peres' funeral was also shaping up to be a high-profile affair. In addition to Obama and Bill Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Britain's Prince Charles, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and French President Francois Hollande were expected. More than 60 private planes, including the one that carried Clinton on Thursday, were expected to arrive ahead of the ceremony. There was no word on whether the two Arab countries at peace with Israel — Jordan and Egypt — were sending delegations.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said some 8,000 officers were deployed to maintain order over the mourning period. He said officers were also monitoring social media for potential attackers. Peres' casket lay in state outside the Knesset, or parliament, on Thursday, as thousands of people lined up on a warm September day to pay their respects. The casket was covered in a blue and white Israeli flag and watched over by a small honor guard. Mourners slowly walked by, snapping pictures and reciting prayers.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin lay wreaths beside the casket in a brief ceremony early Thursday. Later in the day, Clinton, escorted by Rivlin and Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, stopped by, staring solemnly at the casket without commenting.

Clinton landed in Israel Thursday morning on the private jet of Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban, according to a spokesman for the Israel Airports Authority. Saban is a major donor to the Democratic party and to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

Clinton was president when Peres helped negotiate a historic interim peace agreement with the Palestinians in 1993. The following year, Peres shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have said they lost "a true and treasured friend" in Peres. Dr. Rafi Walden, the son-in-law and personal physician of Shimon Peres, said the ex-president left behind detailed plans for Friday's funeral, including requests that his three children speak, along with Netanyahu, Rivlin, a foreign dignitary and an Israeli cultural figure.

Walden said Peres also requested Israeli singer David D'or sing at his funeral. Walden predicted the song would be the prayer "Avinu Malkeinu," or "Our Father Our King." Jews sing the prayer on the Day of Atonement, which falls this year in mid-October.

Peres loved the song. Barbra Streisand sang it to him at a gala marking his 90th birthday. Peres gained international recognition for his Nobel prize, and late in life, became a virtual celebrity as he traveled around the globe preaching a message of peace and coexistence.

While eulogies poured in from the West, reactions in the Arab world, where Peres had a much more checkered legacy, have been largely absent. Many in the Arab world are deeply critical of Peres because of his role in building his country's defense arsenal, supporting Israeli settlements in the West Bank and waging war in Lebanon.

The foreign minister of Bahrain issued a tribute to Peres early Thursday, a rarity for an Arab leader. Khalid al-Khalifa tweeted, "Rest in peace President Shimon Peres, a man of war and a man of the still elusive peace in the Middle East."

Reaction to the death of ex-Israeli President Shimon Peres

September 28, 2016

Quotes from around the world after the death of former Israeli President Shimon Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and elder statesman of Israeli politics, at age 93.

"A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever. Shimon Peres was a soldier for Israel, for the Jewish people, for justice, for peace, and for the belief that we can be true to our best selves — to the very end of our time on Earth, and in the legacy that we leave to others. For the gift of his friendship and the example of his leadership, todah rabah, Shimon." — President Barack Obama

"With the passing of Shimon Peres, Israel has lost a leader who championed its security, prosperity, and limitless possibilities from its birth to his last day on earth. The Middle East has lost a fervent advocate for peace and reconciliation and for a future where all the children of Abraham build a better tomorrow together. And Hillary and I have lost a true and treasured friend.

"I'll never forget how happy he was 23 years ago when he signed the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, heralding a more hopeful era in Israeli-Palestinian relations. He was a genius with a big heart who used his gifts to imagine a future of reconciliation not conflict, economic and social empowerment not anger and frustration, and a nation, a region, and a world enhanced by caring and sharing, not torn asunder by the illusions of permanent dominance and perfect truth. His critics called him a dreamer. That he was — a lucid, eloquent dreamer until the very end. Thank goodness. Let those of us who loved him and love his nation keep his dream alive." — Former President Bill Clinton and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton

"I am more sad than words can express. This is a man who was a political giant, a statesman who will rank as one of the foremost of this era or any era, and someone I loved deeply. He was an inspiration, a mentor and a friend. His intellect, his way with words that was eloquent beyond description, his command of the world and how it was changing were extraordinary.

"Though he grew older, his spirit never did. Above all, his commitment to peace and his belief that it was in the interests of the country he adored marked him out as a visionary whose vision was never dimmed or displaced. He saw every setback as a spur to further action and every moment of hope as a sign of what could be done." — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair

"Shimon Peres never stopped trying to reach peace and believing in peace. His hand was always extended to a historic compromise with our neighbors, and even if this compromise tarried, he taught us never to give in to despair, but to cling to hope." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

"Today with deep sorrow we bid farewell to our beloved father, the 9th president of Israel. Our father's legacy has always been to look to tomorrow. We were privileged to be part of his private family, but today we sense that the entire nation of Israel and the global community share this great loss. We share this pain together." — Chemi Peres, Shimon Peres' son

"A giant, a leader and an outstanding statesman has left us. The last of the leaders of the country's founding. A man who made an immeasurable contribution to Israel's security, its standing in the world and its efforts for peace. A world statesman, who even during his greatest achievements and until his last days had a great vision for a better Israel and a better world, along with an inexhaustible curiosity of a young man for every emerging innovation and revolution. His memory will be forever bound up with the chronicles of Israel's history. May his memory be a blessing." — Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak

"Words cannot quantify the tremendous amount that Shimon Peres did for the security of Israel. Shimon Peres shaped the character and values of the Ministry of Defense, led the building and development of the Israel Defense Forces and its strategic capabilities, developed defense relationships between Israel and different countries around the world, and played a key role in the developing Israel's defense industries." — Director General of Israel's Ministry of Defense, Udi Adam

"Barbara and I join Shimon Peres' countless admirers around the world in saluting his singular life of service — to the universal cause of freedom, to the timeless cause of Israel, to the noblest cause of peace. By his unyielding determination and principle, Shimon Peres time and again helped guide his beloved country through the crucible of mortal challenge. But it was by his innate humanity, his decency, that Shimon inspired the world over and helped pave a path to peace broad enough that future generations will walk it one day, side-by side." — Former President George H. W. Bush

"Laura and I join the people of Israel and those around the world in mourning the death of Shimon Peres. As a young man, he worked for his country's independence. For the rest of his life, he led it with a deep and abiding concern for his people and a commitment to freedom and peace. The Bush family will miss Shimon Peres and his grace, dignity, and optimism." — Former President George W. Bush

"My heart is bleeding.my tears are falling.because President Shimon Peres is no longer in this world. He was a father figure not only to his beloved country of Israel, but also to me, because he was what I imagined my father would have been like. Shimon's mind was expansive and his heart was compassionate. He was a brilliant statesman, gifted with the ability to listen to others who did not share his views and still remained determined to find a path forward.

He was a voice of reason who also happened to have the sensibility of a poet.thoughtful and soft-spoken, but his words echoed loudly around the world. I adored Shimon.and I'm so grateful that I was able to spend some time with him over the years, and sing for him at his 90th birthday celebration in Israel. Thank god his spirit, his wisdom, and his ideals will live forever." — Barbra Streisand

"My friend Shimon had a very rare human quality: He had the ability to change.

When I met Peres in the early 70s, he was in my eyes a banal hawk. Supporting settlers, a settler lover, a security man, the more land the better, the more power the better. He changed before my eyes ... into an enthusiastic and stubborn believer in Israeli-Palestinian peace and Israeli-Arab peace." — Israeli author Amos Oz

"The Last of the Mohicans has left us. He was one of the founding fathers, or founding sons, and all his generation is gone. Shimon is the last who remained.

"I also was very close to him when he was around (Israel's first prime minister David) Ben Gurion. I remember the entire group of younger people who were around the old man. Shimon was the last. They are all gone. It's a kind of feeling of losing your father. Because he is a father of modern Israel." — Peres' biographer and former political adviser Michael Bar Zohar

"President Peres believed that the best way to serve the State of Israel and to deliver security to the Israeli people was through peace with the Palestinians. We can only honor his memory with a daily commitment to reconciliation, preserving and advancing his vision for a two-State solution." —European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini

"The world has lost a true legend and statesman. Shimon Peres was a gift to the country he helped establish and lead, and a persistent voice for the cause of peace. President Peres' countless contributions to the world earned him the Nobel Peace Prize, Congressional Gold Medal, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. While we join the State of Israel and people around the globe in mourning his death, we also give thanks for his incredible life." — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan

"Shimon Peres' story was the story of modern Israel — a saga of daring, dynamism and wisdom. With all of his heart, this farmer, fighter, author, Nobel Peace Prize winner, prime minister and president worked to guide his nation into a secure and confident future. I valued his friendship. He was an intellectual resource who personified the unbreakable bond between the United States and Israel." — House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi

"My wife Lucy had the honor of visiting Shimon Peres a few months ago, at the Peres Centre for Peace. He told her the secret of perpetual youth was to ensure that your list of dreams always remained longer than your list of achievements. On that test, Shimon Peres remained the youngest of leaders." — Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

"On behalf of the entire New York Jewish community, we deeply mourn the passing of Shimon Peres, one of the greatest Jewish leaders of our time. President Peres was one of the extraordinary visionaries of our age, a towering Zionist hero of deep courage who devoted his life to serving and defending Israel and the Jewish people." — Eric S. Goldstein, CEO, UJA-Federation of New York.

Shimon Peres witnessed Israel's history, and shaped it

September 28, 2016

JERUSALEM (AP) — At every corner of Israel's tumultuous history, Shimon Peres was there. He was a young aide to the nation's founding fathers when the country declared independence in 1948, and he played a key role in turning Israel into a military power. He was part of the negotiations that sealed the first Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, garnering a Nobel Peace Prize. He was welcomed like royalty in world capitals.

But only at the end of a political career stretching more than 60 years did Peres finally win the widespread admiration of his own people that had eluded him for so long. He died at 93 early Wednesday, his son, Chemi, confirmed at the hospital where Shimon Peres had been treated for the past two weeks.

Peres began a new chapter at age 83, assuming the nation's presidency following a scandal that forced his predecessor to step down. The job cemented Peres' transformation from down-and-dirty political operator to elder statesman.

"After such a long career, let me just say something: My appetite to manage is over. My inclination to dream and to envisage is greater," Peres told The Associated Press in an interview on July 15, 2007, moments before he was sworn in as president.

He said he would not allow his age, or the constraints of a largely ceremonial office, to slow him down. "I'm not in a hurry to pass away," Peres said. "The day will come that I shall not forget to pass away. But until then, I'm not going to waste my life."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement mourning the passing of Peres. He said he will convene his Cabinet for a special session later in the day. Former President Bill Clinton and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said they had "lost a true and treasured friend" with the death of Shimon Peres. Former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush also issued statements of mourning, as did former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

As president, Peres tirelessly jetted around the world to represent his country at conferences, ceremonies and international gatherings. He was a fixture at the annual World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, Switzerland, where he was treated like a rock star as the world's rich and powerful listened breathlessly to his every word, on topics ranging from Mideast peace to nanotechnology to the wonders of the human brain.

He also became Israel's moderate face at a time when the nation was led by hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Peres sought to reassure the international community that Israel seeks peace, despite concerns over continued settlement construction in the occupied West Bank and the paralysis of negotiations under Netanyahu. Still, while Peres never tired of speaking of peace, he tended to avoid strident criticism of Netanyahu.

It was his 1994 Nobel Prize that established Peres' man-of-peace image. He proudly displayed the prize — which he shared with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat — on the desk of his presidential office.

As foreign minister, Peres secretly brokered the historic Oslo interim peace accords with the Palestinians, signed at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993. Accepting the award, he told assembled dignitaries that "war, as a method of conducting human affairs, is in its death throes, and the time has come to bury it."

Despite the assassination of Rabin, the breakdown of peace talks, a second Palestinian uprising in 2000, wars in Lebanon and Gaza, and Netanyahu's continued re-elections, Peres maintained his insistence that peace was right around the corner.

"I'm sure I shall see peace in my lifetime. Even if I should have to extend my life for a year or two, I won't hesitate," he said in a 2013 interview marking his 90th birthday. Peres was born Shimon Perski on Aug. 2, 1923 in Vishniev, then part of Poland and now in Belarus. He moved to pre-state Palestine in 1934 with his family, where he changed his surname to Peres, or songbird, in Hebrew. Relatives who remained in Poland, including his grandfather, a prominent rabbi, were killed when Nazis set a synagogue on fire during the Holocaust. Peres often spoke lovingly of his grandfather in speeches. The actress Lauren Bacall was a cousin.

Still in his 20s, Peres rose quickly through the ranks of Israel's pre-state leadership, and served as a top aide to David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, after independence in 1948. Peres once called Ben-Gurion "the greatest Jew of our time."

At 29, he served as director of Israel's Defense Ministry, and is credited with arming Israel's military almost from scratch. He later worked with the French to develop Israel's nuclear program, which today is widely believed to include a large arsenal of bombs.

Still, he suffered throughout his political career from the fact that he never wore an army uniform or fought in a war. Peres was elected to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, in 1959, serving in nearly all major Cabinet posts over his long career. As finance minister, he imposed an emergency plan to halt triple-digit inflation in the 1980s. He also was an early supporter of the Jewish settler movement in the West Bank, a position he would later abandon.

But he had trouble breaking into the prime minister's post, the top job in Israeli politics. He was hampered by a reputation among the public and fellow politicians as both a utopian dreamer and a political schemer.

He ran for prime minister in five general elections, losing four and tying one, in 1984, when he shared the job in a rotation with his rival Yitzhak Shamir. His well-tailored, neck-tied appearance, swept-back gray hair and penchant for artists and intellectuals seemed to separate him from his more informal countrymen. He never lost his Polish accent, making him a target for mimicry.

One of the lowest points of his political career came in 1990, when he led his Labor Party out of a unity government with Shamir's hardline Likud on the strength of promises from small factions to support his bid to replace Shamir.

At the last minute, several members of Parliament changed their minds, approving a Shamir government without Peres and Labor. The incident became known in Israeli political lore as Peres' "stinking maneuver." Rabin scorned him as a "relentless meddler" and in 1992 replaced him as party leader.

The two eventually repaired their relationship and worked together on pursuing peace with the Palestinians. After Rabin's assassination by a Jewish ultranationalist opposed to Israel's peace moves, Peres became acting prime minister.

But he failed to capitalize on the widespread sympathy for the fallen leader and lost a razor-thin election the following year to Netanyahu. In one famous incident, an angry Peres rhetorically asked a gathering of his Labor Party whether he was a "loser." Resounding calls of "yes" rained down on him.

Peres would later blame a wave of suicide bombings for his defeat. He described his visit to the scene of a deadly bus explosion in Jerusalem, where people started screaming "killer" and "murderer" at him. "I knew that I lost the election," he said.

He suffered another humiliation in 2000 when he ran for the presidency, a largely ceremonial position elected by Parliament. Peres believed he had wrapped up the election, but the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party broke a promise to him and switched its support to Likud candidate Moshe Katsav. Peres was a loser once again.

Even so, he refused to quit. In 2001, he took the post of foreign minister in a unity government led by his rival Ariel Sharon, serving for 20 months before Labor withdrew from the coalition. In Peres' final political defeat, Labor overthrew him as party leader in 2005, choosing instead the little-known Amir Peretz.

Peres subsequently followed Sharon into a new party, Kadima, serving as vice-premier and maintaining that post under Sharon's successor, Ehud Olmert. He was able to attain the presidency when Katsav was forced to step down weeks before his term ended to face rape charges. Katsav was later convicted and sent to prison.

Seeking to stabilize the cherished institution, Parliament turned to Peres and elected him president. Peres cultivated an image as a grandfatherly figure, frequently inviting groups of children and teens to the presidential residence. He embraced social media and promoted Israel's high-tech industry in meetings with top officials at Google, Facebook and other major companies.

Peres also launched his "President's Conference," which became an annual high-powered gathering in Jerusalem of artists, thinkers and business leaders from around the world. Derided by critics as extravagant and unnecessary, the gathering drew some of the world's most powerful personalities. The 2013 conference also became a 90th birthday party, with figures such as Bill Clinton, Barbara Streisand and Robert DeNiro in attendance.

He also exhibited a humorous side. When he left the presidency in 2014, he appeared in a video his granddaughter produced where he jokingly tried out new jobs including a supermarket cashier, gas station attendant and standup comedian — peppering his comments with puns and visionary slogans.

Asked about his secret to longevity, Peres said he never dwelled on the past. "What happened until now is over, unchangeable. I'm not going to spend time on it. So I am really living in the future," he said. "I really think that one should devote his energies to make the world better and not to make the past remembered better."

Peres' wife Sonya died in 2011. He leaves a daughter, Tsvia Valdan, a university professor, and two sons, Nehemia, a leading Israeli venture capitalist, and Yonatan, a veterinarian. Peres represented "the essence of Israel itself," President Barack Obama said.

"There are few people who we share this world with who change the course of human history, not just through their role in human events, but because they expand our moral imagination and force us to expect more of ourselves. My friend Shimon was one of those people," he said. "A light has gone out, but the hope he gave us will burn forever."

Aron Heller contributed from Jerusalem.

World leaders mourn Peres, praise him as a man of peace

September 28, 2016

WASHINGTON (AP) — Current and former world leaders mourned the passing of Shimon Peres early Wednesday, praising him as a patriot, visionary statesman and man of principle who was deeply committed to pursuing peace in a region that has mostly eluded it.

President Barack Obama called Peres "the essence of Israel itself," noting he had fought for Israel's independence, worked its land and served Israel in virtually every government position, including three stints as prime minister.

Peres, who died early Wednesday at the age of 93, was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize after he secretly brokered the historic Oslo interim peace accords with the Palestinians a year earlier. He shared the prize with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"I'll never forget how happy he was 23 years ago when he signed the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn, heralding a more hopeful era in Israeli-Palestinian relations," former President Bill Clinton said in a statement. "He was a genius with a big heart who used his gifts to imagine a future of reconciliation not conflict, economic and social empowerment not anger and frustration."

Peres, who served in the largely ceremonial role of president from 2007 to 2014, represented a moderate face of Israel after the more hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in 2009. Peres sought to reassure the international community that Israel seeks peace despite stalled negotiations under Netanyahu. He remained active at his peace center, which sponsored programs promoting Israel-Arab coexistence, until weeks before his death.

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who also worked as a Mideast peace envoy, said Peres' "commitment to peace and his belief that it was in the interests of the country he adored marked him out as a visionary whose vision was never dimmed or displaced."

Peres' had a major stroke two weeks ago that led to bleeding in his brain. He was sedated and on a respirator during most of his hospitalization, but his condition suddenly worsened. Netanyahu issued a statement mourning the passing of Peres and said he would convene his Cabinet for a special session later in the day. After that, a special committee was to meet to prepare arrangements for a funeral that many international dignitaries and leaders from around the world are expected to attend.

Former President George H. W. Bush noted Peres' "innate humanity, his decency," while his son, former President George W. Bush, noted that his family "will miss Shimon Peres and his grace, dignity, and optimism."

Philippines' Duterte vows to end joint US military drills

Hanoi (AFP)
Sept 28, 2016

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte said Wednesday he will soon end joint military exercises with the United States, a move that could further dampen relations with Manila's longtime ally after the controversial leader branded Barack Obama a "son of a whore".

Speaking to a raucous crowd at an upscale Hanoi hotel where he kicked off his two-day visit to Vietnam, the foul-mouthed leader said next month's military drills would be the last.

"I will serve notice to you now, that this will be the last military exercise, jointly Philippines-US, the last one," he said in a rambling speech to several hundred Vietnam-based Filipinos.

The Philippine-US Amphibious Landing Exercises (Phiblex) are set to take place from October 4 to 12 in the Philippines, which follow the larger annual Balikatan exercises in April involving more than 8,000 forces from both sides.

The allies have quarreled in recent weeks, with Duterte vowing to eject US special forces from the country's troubled south, just days after he insulted President Obama at a regional leaders summit in Laos.

The 71-year-old leader has also come under fire for his bloody war on crime that has claimed more than 3,700 lives since he took office in June, including by Obama who has said he must conduct his crime war "the right way" by protecting human rights.

Western governments and rights groups have raised concerns about a breakdown in the rule of law over Duterte's crackdown on crime, a criticism the leader laughed off on Wednesday.

"I am the favorite whipping boy now of the human rights (groups) all over the world," he told the crowd, which gave him a rock star welcome.

Defense ties between the United States and the Philippines date back to 1951, and annual joint military exercises have been a pillar of the alliance.

Duterte will meet with Vietnam's political top brass Thursday to discuss maritime freedom and boosting economic and defense ties. Both Manila and Hanoi are locked in separate disputes with powerhouse Beijing over territory in the South China Sea.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Philippines_Duterte_vows_to_end_joint_US_military_drills_999.html.

Rome's city council votes down 2024 Olympic bid

September 29, 2016

ROME (AP) — As far as city leaders are concerned, Rome's bid for the 2024 Olympics is finished. The city council voted in favor of scrapping the bid on Thursday, a week after Mayor Virginia Raggi rejected the candidacy, citing concerns over costs.

"It was irresponsible to say yes to the candidacy," Raggi wrote on Facebook. "We wanted to say no to more debts for Rome and for Italy." The anti-bid motion passed easily, as expected, by 30-12 since Raggi's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement holds a majority on the city council.

The 5-Star Movement holds 29 of the 48 council places, and all 29 voted in support of the mayor's rejection. There was also one supporting vote from an opposition party. Six council members were absent.

The rejection leaves only Los Angeles, Paris, and Budapest, in the running for the 2024 Games. The International Olympic Committee will decide on the host city in September 2017. However, Rome bid leaders and the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) are hanging on to hope that the bid can somehow be revived, perhaps if Raggi is ousted from office.

IOC President Thomas Bach will be in Rome next Tuesday for a sports and faith conference at the Vatican. "We'll decide what to do after meeting Bach on Tuesday," CONI president Giovanni Malago said. The IOC told Italian media that it was following the events in Rome and was in contact with the bid committee and CONI to "make sense of these political circumstances."

It's the second time in four years that a Rome Olympic bid has been rejected. In 2012, then-premier Mario Monti scrapped the city's bid for the 2020 Olympics because of financial concerns. Under previous mayor Ignazio Marino, Rome's 2024 bid was approved by the city assembly last year with 38 votes in favor and only six against. Italian Premier Matteo Renzi was a strong supporter of the bid.

"Today came the definitive 'No' on the Olympics," Renzi said. "It's legitimate but we've certainly made a bad impression internationally. "But what's shocking isn't the decision but rather it's saying that you can't have the Olympics because it's bad business. Thousands of jobs will be lost for giving up."

Raggi, a lawyer who was elected in June as Rome's first female mayor, cited worries over costs and budget overruns as reasons for rejecting the bid in a city that can barely collect its trash, and keep up other basic public services.

At the same session, another motion was passed by the city council asking the government to provide 4 billion euros ($4.5 billion) for refurbishing sports venues in the city and for general urban improvements.

"We're continuing to work for the city," Raggi wrote. The latest rejection is another signal that the IOC still has a lot of work to do to convince cities that hosting the games is a boon and not a burden. Earlier Thursday, a city government panel in Tokyo warned that the cost of the 2020 Olympics could exceed $30 billion, more than four times the initial estimates.

Voters in Hamburg rejected the German city's 2024 bid in a referendum, and Boston dropped out last year amid a lack of public and political support and was replaced as the U.S. candidate by Los Angeles.

Four cities withdrew during the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games, leaving only two candidates in the field. Beijing, hardly known as a winter sports destination, defeated Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Toddler rescued after spending 72 hours in Siberian woods

September 23, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian Emergencies Ministry says a three-year-old boy who spent 72 hours in a Siberian forest after getting lost has been rescued. The Emergencies Ministry said the boy from the village Khut in the Tuva region in southern Siberia went missing Sunday. A helicopter and about 100 rescuers participated in the search, about 200 kilometers (124.28 miles) north of the border with Mongolia.

The boy was found early Wednesday some 3 kilometers away from the village, when he answered his uncle, who was involved in the search and calling for him. The ministry said he was in satisfactory condition.

Russian news reports said the boy went into the woods, known as the taiga, to follow a puppy when his grandmother got distracted. He only had a chocolate bar with him.

Russia's Vladimir Putin again reshuffles his inner circle

September 23, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has reshuffled his inner-circle again, giving the parliament speaker's job to his chief domestic strategist, a man who oversaw a vote that further strengthened the dominance of the main Kremlin party.

Friday's move is the latest twist in a wider Kremlin shake-up that has seen many old-time Putin allies lose their positions to younger, lower-profile aides. Vyacheslav Volodin, whom Putin nominated as the new speaker of the State Duma, oversaw this month's parliamentary election in which the main party supporting Putin tightened its grip on the lower house. Volodin replaces Sergei Naryshkin, whom Putin on Thursday appointed as the new chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR.

While Volodin has largely stayed in the shadows, he is considered one of Russia's most influential officials, a puppet master who has directed the parliament's work and engineered elections. He was also widely seen as a driving force behind a string of draconian laws in response to massive anti-Putin protests in 2011-2012.

The 52-year-old has become known for his statement "there is no Russia without Putin." The reshuffling marks a clear step down for the 61-year-old Naryshkin. The SVR is considered far less influential than another KGB successor agency, the Federal Security Service, known under its Russian acronym FSB, which focuses on domestic security issues like fighting terrorism, catching foreign spies and uncovering economic crimes.

Under Putin, a 16-year KGB veteran who served as FSB director in the late 1990s before ascending to the presidency, the agency has become increasingly powerful. Russian media speculated that the FSB is currently pushing to swallow several other agencies, including the SVR and the nation's top investigative body, the Investigative Committee.

If such a move happens, it would resurrect the old structure of the KGB, which was split into separate agencies after the 1991 Soviet collapse as Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, sought to limit its clout.

Naryshkin reportedly has known the 63-year-old Putin since the late 1970s, when both were students in the KGB academy, but it's unclear if he wields sufficient influence to fight the FSB's onslaught and preserve the SVR's independence.

Many other long-time Putin confidants recently lost their jobs. Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin, anti-narcotics czar Viktor Ivanov and Kremlin security chief Yevgeny Murov, all men in their 60s and all long-time acquaintances of the president, have been dismissed. Andrei Belyaninov, who knew Putin since both were KGB officers in East Germany, lost his position as customs chief after investigators searched his home and founds hundreds of thousands of dollars stashed in shoe boxes.

Last month, Putin also fired his long-time chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, whom he first met in the 1970s when they were both young KGB officers. Many observers see the changes as a reflection of Putin's increasing weariness with the old guard and his desire to encircle himself with younger aides who fully owe their ascent to him.

"This marks Volodin's entrance into the federal political scene as a politician, nor just a bureaucrat, with far-reaching ambitions," Stanislav Belkovsky, a political consultant who once had links to the Kremlin, said Friday on Ekho Moskvy radio.

Volodin has no known links to the KGB or to any of its successor agencies. Trained as an engineer, he served as a regional lawmaker in his home Saratov region on the Volga River in southwest Russia before being elected to the federal parliament.

Volodin got the Kremlin job after his predecessor, Vladislav Surkov, was held responsible for failing to prevent massive protests in Moscow against Putin's rule that were fueled by evidence of vote-rigging in Russia's 2011 parliamentary election. The Kremlin responded with a slew of laws that introduced tough punishment for taking part in unsanctioned protests and new restrictions on non-government organizations.

This month's parliamentary election on Sept. 18 was generally seen as cleaner than the 2011 vote. Still, reports of alleged violations came from around the country on election day, including charges of ballot-box stuffing and "carousel voting," in which people are transported to several locations to cast multiple ballots.

Turnout was distinctly lower this time, less than 48 percent nationwide compared with 60 percent in 2011, reflecting broad apathy and dismay with the political process in Russia. The Sept. 18 vote gave United Russia, the main party supporting Putin, 343 seats in the 450-seat lower house, a gain of more than 100 seats that raises it far above the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution on its own.

Three other parties that had largely complied with the Kremlin's wishes saw their presence shrink: The Communists won 42 seats in the new Duma, a sharp drop from 92, the nationalist Liberal Democrats got 39 and the socialist Just Russia 23 seats.

While the three parties posture as the opposition, their fealty to the Kremlin was at full display Friday when Putin met with parliament leaders. They all enthusiastically supported Volodin's candidacy and were openly lobbying Putin to let them to keep the committees they led in the old parliament.

The Duma will vote to appoint Volodin the speaker when it meets next month. While the speaker's job is nominally considered the fourth most senior position in the Russian officialdom — following the posts of the president, the prime minister and the upper house speaker — its holders have wielded little influence compared to Kremlin and Cabinet officials.

In his previous position, Volodin was considered far more influential than Naryshkin. Some pundits saw the speaker's job as a demotion for him, while others speculated he would use it to further raise his clout.

"The question now is if the job cuts Volodin down to size or he adds political weight to the speaker's job," wrote Tatyana Stanovaya of the Center for Political Technologies, an independent think-tank.

Dmitry Gudkov, an opposition politician who served in the old Duma, argued that the new job would give Volodin higher visibility and could be a sign that he's being groomed to succeed Putin sometime down the road.

"Volodin is an ideal choice for the Kremlin," Gudkov said.

8 Russian firefighters die in Moscow fire

September 23, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Eight Russian firefighters died when the roof of a plastics warehouse in Moscow collapsed while they were trying to extinguish a massive blaze, the Emergencies Minister said. Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said in Friday's statement the firefighters were on the roof, working to contain the fire in the warehouse, when the collapse happened.

About 300 emergencies workers took part in combating the fire, which erupted Thursday and engulfed an area of up to 4,000 square meters (40,000 square feet). It took firefighters more than 14 hours to put it out.

The warehouse in eastern Moscow stored a wide range of plastic goods, including kitchenware and artificial flowers, and the blaze engulfed the area in acid fumes. Investigators were looking into possible causes of the fire.

Putin names Volodin as new speaker of Russian parliament

September 23, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin named his top political strategist to serve as the speaker of the newly elected parliament Friday after an election that saw the main pro-Kremlin party strengthen its grip on the lower house.

Putin nominated Vyacheslav Volodin, the Kremlin's deputy chief of staff who oversaw the vote, as the State Duma's speaker. Volodin replaces Sergei Naryshkin, whom Putin appointed the new chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service a day earlier.

Volodin has been widely seen as the main architect of the Kremlin's domestic policies over the past five years, including a slew of laws that introduced tough punishment for taking part in unsanctioned protests and new restrictions on non-government organizations.

He has become known for his statement "there is no Russia without Putin." The Sept. 18 vote gave United Russia, the main party supporting Putin, 343 seats in the 450-seat lower house, a gain of more than 100 seats that raises it far above the two-thirds majority required to amend the constitution on its own.

Three other parties that had largely complied with the Kremlin's wishes saw their presence shrink: The Communists won 42 seats in the new Duma, a sharp drop from 92, the nationalist Liberal Democrats got 39 and the socialist Just Russia 23 seats.

While the three parties posture as the opposition, their fealty to the Kremlin was at full display Friday when Putin met with parliament leaders. They all enthusiastically hailed Volodin's candidacy and were openly pleading with the president to allow them to keep the committees they led in the old parliament despite their smaller presence.

The Duma will vote to appoint Volodin the speaker when it meets next month. While Volodin has largely stayed in the shadows, he is considered one of Russia's most influential officials, a puppet master who has directed the parliament's work.

Volodin got the Kremlin job after his predecessor, Vladislav Surkov, was held responsible for failing to prevent massive protests in Moscow against Putin's rule that were fueled by evidence of vote-rigging in Russia's 2011 parliamentary election.

This month's parliamentary election was generally seen as cleaner than the 2011 vote. Still, allegations of violations came from around the country on election day, including charges of ballot-box stuffing and "carousel voting," in which people are transported to several locations to cast multiple ballots.

Turnout was distinctly lower this time, less than 48 percent nationwide compared with 60 percent in 2011, reflecting broad apathy and dismay with the political process in Russia. While the Duma speaker's job is nominally considered the fourth most senior position in the Russian officialdom — following the posts of the president, the prime minister and the upper house speaker — its holders have wielded little influence compared to Kremlin and Cabinet officials.

Volodin in his previous position was considered far more influential than Naryshkin, and his nomination was seen by some political pundits as a demotion. Others said, however, that he could use the speaker's job to further raise his clout.

Dmitry Gudkov, an opposition politician who served in the previous Duma, said that the new job would give Volodin higher visibility and could be a sign that he's being groomed to succeed Putin in the future.

Pro-Kremlin party wins big majority in Russian parliament

September 19, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin's power-base party took an overwhelming victory in national parliament elections, winning three-quarters of the seats, the head of the Central Elections Commission reported Monday.

With 93 percent of the ballots from Sunday's vote counted, the United Russia party was on track to get 343 of the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, CEC head Ella Pamfilova said. She said she did not expect the results to change significantly in the count of the remaining ballots.

It's an immense gain for the party that already held a majority in the previous parliament -- soaring by more than 100 seats. The party now has enough to amend the constitution on its own. The three other parties that had been in the previous parliament and that largely cooperated with United Russia will also be in the new Duma, though all in reduced numbers. The Communists will have 42 -- a sharp drop from 92 -- the nationalist Liberal Democrats 39 and A Just Russia 23.

Two other seats were won by candidates from small parties and one by an independent. In contrast to the two previous elections, only half the seats in this election were chosen by national party list; the others were contested by single-seat districts.

Turnout was distinctly lower than in the last Duma election in 2011 -- less than 48 percent nationwide compared with 60 percent. Complaints of violations came from around the country, including ballot-box stuffing and so-called "carousel voting" in which voters are transported to several locations to cast multiple ballots.

Pamfilova said the national Investigative Committee had launched a criminal probe of one voting district, where video from a closed-circuit camera appeared to show a poll worker carefully dropping multiple ballots into the box.

Pamfilova said other violations reports would be looked into and that results from three precincts could be annulled. Anger over widespread fraud in the 2011 election sparked large protests that unsettled authorities by their size and persistence.

Russia begins national parliament election

September 17, 2016

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's governing party and its three largely cooperative opponents are expected to retain their positions in the national parliament, but new procedures for choosing the seats could affect their proportions.

Voting for the State Duma began Sunday morning in the Far East, nine hours ahead of Moscow and won't conclude until 22 hours later when polls close in the Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad. There are 450 seats at stake in the Duma, but unlike the last two sessions, only half the seats are chosen by national party-list; the other 225 are contested in specific districts.

Nationwide polling in recent weeks have shown the pro-Kremlin United Russia with support of around 50 percent of likely voters, which would be enough to maintain its absolute majority.

Palestinians launch drive against Facebook 'censorship'

30 September 2016 Friday

Palestinian activists have recently launched a campaign to boycott Facebook after the popular social-media platform blocked several Palestinian accounts and deleted numerous posts -- at Israel’s request -- for alleged "incitement".

Earlier this week, campaigners -- using the hashtag #FBCensorsPalestine -- called on supporters to refrain from posting on Facebook between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. (Jerusalem time) on Sept. 25.

Hussam al-Zayegh, the campaign’s Gaza-based spokesman, told Anadolu Agency that the initiative had been launched in response to what he described as Facebook’s "pro-Israel bias".

According to al-Zayegh, the world’s most popular social-networking site is actively working to undermine Palestinian activists and journalists who rely on Facebook to help spread their message.

Earlier this month, Facebook signed an agreement with the Israeli authorities that will -- among other things -- allow the latter to monitor all Palestinian content posted on Facebook and delete whatever posts, pages or personal accounts that are deemed objectionable.

According to Israeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Facebook administrators have complied with some 95 percent of the Israeli authorities’ requests to date.

"We demand that the Facebook administration clarify the agreement signed with Israel, which we believe targets freedom of opinion and expression," al-Zayegh said.

The agreement, he went on to assert, directly contributes to the persecution of Palestinian activists -- both on the ground and in cyberspace.

Al-Zayegh and his fellow campaigners intend to push ahead with the initiative until all its demands have been been met.

"We will not stop our campaign until Facebook withdraws from the agreement and respects international laws and standards safeguarding the freedom of opinion and expression," he said.

Next Friday, according to al-Zayegh, members of the campaign plan to stage a demonstration outside Facebook’s New York headquarters to press for their demands.

Accounts blocked

Recently, the Facebook accounts of 12 administrators and editors at two leading Palestinian news agencies -- Shehab News Agency and the Al-Quds News Network -- were deleted without prior notice or warning.

Mohamed al-Zaneen, an editor at Shehab News Agency, told Anadolu Agency that he had not been able to accesses his account for more than five days.

"I believe this step was taken after the agreement was struck between the Facebook administration and Israel," al-Zaneen said, adding that his account had also been blocked during Israel’s 2014 war on the Gaza Strip.

According to officials at the two news agencies, dozens of letters were sent to the Facebook administration asking why the pages had been blocked.

Facebook later restored the blocked pages and apologized for what it said had been a "mistake".

Global audience

According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, over 120 Palestinians -- including 20 women -- have been detained by the Israeli authorities for alleged "incitement to violence" on Facebook.

Due to a lack of evidence, most of these were held under Israel’s policy of "administrative detention", which allows "suspects" to be held indefinitely without charge or trial.

Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP and leader of the Palestinian National Initiative Party, told Anadolu Agency that Palestinian activists -- through the use of social media -- had recently succeeded in bringing Palestinian suffering before a global audience and exposing the crimes of Israel’s decades-long occupation.

This was especially the case, Barghouti noted, during Israel’s devastating military onslaught against the Gaza Strip in 2014 and the subsequent third Palestinian "intifada" ("uprising").

"Palestinian activists have succeeded in winning a large part of public opinion over to the Palestinian cause," he said. "Israel now sees these social-media activists as a major threat to its international image."

Barghouhti went to assert that Israel’s policy of arresting Palestinians for alleged "incitement" over posts made on social media "will not deter young Palestinian activists from exposing the occupation’s ongoing crimes".

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/palestine/177954/palestinians-launch-drive-against-facebook-censorship.

Kim Jong Un promotes younger sister after congress

By Elizabeth Shim
May 10, 2016

SEOUL, May 10 (UPI) -- Kim Jong Un's younger sister has been appointed to the central committee of the Korean Workers' Party.

Kim Yo Jong, who is believed to be 28, already holds positions of power in the North Korean government, and is frequently seen by her brother's side during state trips around the country.

She is reportedly the deputy director of the Workers' Party and handles top priorities on behalf of North Korea's propaganda department.

Kim Yo Jong made her political debut in March 2014, when her name was mentioned following the election results of the Supreme People's Assembly, Yonhap reported.

Her rise to power is drawing comparisons to the rise then demise of her aunt Kim Kyong Hui, who went missing after her husband, Jang Sung Taek, was executed on charges of treason and corruption in late 2013.

As Kim Jong Il's sister, Kim Kyong Hui was a trusted confidante who was appointed a member of the party when she was in her early 40s, at a later stage in life than Kim Yo Jong.

Kim Kyong Hui's name has been missing from a list of North Korean Cabinet members since December.

Kim Yo Jong was seen Tuesday in Kim Il Sung Square, on stage with her brother to observe a military rally, according to South Korea press.

The younger Kim was seen collecting bouquets of flowers on behalf of her brother – a sign that could mean her role in the regime is changing. In previous appearances, Kim was seen walking a few steps behind her brother, or even at a farther distance.

Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Kim Yo Jong is likely to play a more important role in the years ahead.

Political changes are sweeping across the North Korean landscape after the Seventh Party Congress.

Another development that affects senior officials is a change in official titles, South Korean news service News 1 reported.

Pyongyang's state newspaper Rodong Sinmun announced that the title of "secretary" is to be abolished and to be replaced with a new title – vice chairman.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2016/05/10/Kim-Jong-Un-promotes-younger-sister-after-congress/8381462892814/.

Hong Kong pro-democracy candidates retain veto in key vote

September 05, 2016

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy candidates won enough seats in a pivotal legislative election to retain veto power over the southern Chinese government's proposals, setting the stage for a new round of political confrontations with Beijing, official results showed Monday.

The big winners included a group of young candidates who took part in massive 2014 pro-democracy street protests and are now seeking to change the way the city is governed by Beijing. Pro-democracy candidates needed to secure at least 24 of 70 seats in the Legislative Council in order to block government attempts to enact unpopular or controversial legislation, such as a Beijing-backed revamp of how the city's top leader is chosen that sparked the 2014 protests.

Official results for most constituencies showed that they won at least 27 seats. Full final results are still to be announced. Record turnout in Sunday's vote helped sweep the newcomers into office, most notably Nathan Law, a 23-year-old former student protest leader, who garnered the second-highest number of votes in his six-seat Hong Kong Island constituency.

Law's party, Demosisto, founded earlier this year with teen protest leader Joshua Wong, advocates a referendum on "self-determination" on the future status of Hong Kong, which is in the middle of a 50-year transition period to Chinese rule.

"It shows how Hong Kong people want to change," Law told reporters when asked about his victory. "People are voting for a new way and new future of our democratic movement." In another surprising result, Yau Wai-Ching, 25, and Sixtus "Baggio" Leung, 30, of Youngspiration also secured seats. Their group was formed during the 2014 protests and proposes a similar plan as Demosisto.

The newcomers pulled off their startling victories by riding a rising tide of anti-China sentiment as they challenged formidably resourced pro-Beijing rivals. They were part of a broader wave of radical activists who campaigned for Hong Kong's complete autonomy or even independence from China, highlighting fears that Beijing is violating its promise to let the city mostly run itself, as well as frustration over the failure of the 2014 protests to win genuine elections for Hong Kong's top leader.

That represents a break with the established mainstream "pan-democrat" parties, who have demanded voters be able to elect more lawmakers as well as the city's top leader, or chief executive — currently chosen by a panel of pro-Beijing elites — but never challenged the idea that Hong Kong is part of China.

Leaders in Beijing and Hong Kong will have to reconsider their hard-line approach toward rising pro-democracy opposition after it backfired, "because now with the entry of a new generation of young democrats into the legislature, the politics inside the legislature will be very fierce," said Sonny Lo, a political analyst at The Education University of Hong Kong.

About 2.2 million people, or 58 percent of registered voters, cast ballots for the Legislative Council, the highest turnout since the city's 1997 handover from Britain. Another rookie, 38-year-old land reform campaigner Eddie Chu, was the election's biggest surprise, winning 84,121 votes, the highest number of votes received by any of the more than 200 candidates competing for 35 seats in geographic constituencies.

"I hope to renew the democratic movement of Hong Kong," Chu said. He too wants to focus on promoting a self-determination movement. "That is my political goal in Hong Kong." Results for five more "super seats" chosen by voters citywide were still being counted.

Another 30 seats are taken by members representing business and trade groups such as accounting, finance, medicine and fisheries, most of which support Beijing because their members have close ties to China's Communist elite on the mainland.

New wave of anti-China activists set for Hong Kong vote win

September 04, 2016

HONG KONG (AP) — A new wave of anti-China activists appeared headed for victory in Hong Kong's most pivotal elections since the handover from Britain in 1997, which could set the stage for a fresh round of political confrontations over Beijing's control of the city.

While official results were yet to be released, preliminary tallies on Monday indicated that youthful candidates from groups that emerged in the wake of 2014 pro-democracy street protests are on track to win seats.

Counting in some areas was delayed because of the record turnout. About 2.2 million people, or 58 percent of registered voters, cast ballots for lawmakers in the Legislative Council, which was the highest since the handover.

The newcomers were riding a rising tide of anti-China sentiment as they challenged formidably resourced pro-Beijing rivals for seats. Some backed the previously unthinkable idea of independence for Hong Kong, which has added to divisions within the broader pro-democracy movement and overshadowed the election.

Last month, officials disqualified six pro-independence candidates in an attempt to tamp down the debate, though other candidates with similar views made the cut. Student Nathan Law, who helped lead the 2014 protests, looked to be one of the biggest winners. The 23-year-old's party, Demosisto, which he formed with teen protest leader Joshua Wong, advocates a referendum on "self-determination" of Hong Kong's future. He was expected to win a seat in the Hong Kong Island constituency after receiving the second-highest number of votes, with 90 percent of ballots counted.

In another surprising result, two candidates from the group Youngspiration, 25-year-old Yau Wai-ching and 30-year-old Sixtus "Baggio" Leung, look set for victory. The latter stepped in to run after a friend, Edward Leung of Hong Kong Indigenous, was disqualified for advocating independence.

Voters are choosing lawmakers to fill 35 seats in geographic constituencies. Another 30 seats are taken by members representing business and trade groups such as accounting, finance, medicine and fisheries. Five more "super seats" are chosen by voters citywide.

At stake is the power to keep the city's widely unpopular Beijing-backed leader, Leung Chun-ying, and his government in check. "Pan-democrat" lawmakers currently control 27 of 70 seats, compared with 43 held by lawmakers friendly to Beijing.

The democrats need to keep control of at least a third of the seats, which gives them veto power to block government attempts to enact unpopular legislation, including a possible renewed attempt to enact Beijing's controversial election revamp that triggered the 2014 street protests.

Barzani to Divide Mosul Post-ISIS into Three Provinces

Dalshad Abdullah

07 September 2016 Wednesday

Erbil-Kurdish politician Siru Qadir revealed on Tuesday that President of Kurdistan Regional Government Masoud Barzani has proposed a solution for Mosul’s post-ISIS stage.

Barzani’s solution, according to the Kurdish politician, lies in dividing the province into three new separate provinces and holding a referendum in which the citizens decide whether they want to join the region or not.

Qadir also said that during his last visit to Baghdad KRG’s Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani told Iraqi Prime Ministers and the other Iraqi parties that the solution for problems between Kurdistan and Iraq lies in dividing the region from Iraq.

Moreover, Qadir told Asharq Al-Awsat that a new stage will start after liberating Mosul from ISIS. “This stage,” according to Qadir, “is considered a dangerous one if there was no prior plan, and Masoud Barzani is stressing on the necessity of providing a plan for post-ISIS in Mosul since the region cannot return as it was and be threatened by those extremists.

Therefore, Peshmerga forces will not withdraw from the regions they liberated until these regions are put within an administrative framework and their fate is determined.”

Qadir added: “In the meantime, Mosul’s problem has become Iraq’s problem as the only problem remaining for Kurds is in Mosul.”

A Sunni-Shi’ite sectarian war is expected to be waged in Mosul too with the presence of Sunni forces, ISIS terrorist group and the arrival of Popular Mobilization militias to the province.

All these pave a way for religious and sectarian conflicts to occur if no prior plan was put to control it and prevent any sectarian bloodshed, Qadir said.

The Kurdish politician further explained that Barzani’s proposal indicates that Mosul should be divided into three separate provinces, each given to Shi’ite Muslims, Sunnis and Kurds.

This proposal is considered the best solution for Nineveh’s current problem, he said.

Source: Asharq al-Awsat.
Link: http://english.aawsat.com/2016/09/article55357921/barzani-divide-mosul-post-isis-three-provinces.

Egypt fourth highest illiteracy rate in Arab world

September 8, 2016

Egypt has the fourth highest rate of illiteracy in the Arab world with 14.5 million people aged 10 and over would couldn’t read or write in 2015, statistics released by UNESCO revealed yesterday...

Released to make World Literacy Day, the figured showed that of the 23.7 per cent of the population who were illiterate, 9.3 million were female.

Yemen has the highest illiteracy rate in the Arab world with 30 per cent of its population unable to read and write. Morocco came second with 28 per cent and Sudan third with 24 per cent.

Meanwhile, Palestine has the lowest illiteracy rate among Arab countries with only three per cent of its population affected.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20160908-egypt-fourth-highest-illiteracy-rate-in-arab-world/.

Dozens detained at teacher demo in southeast Turkey

2016-09-09

DIYARBAKIR - Turkish police on Friday fired tear gas and water cannon on hundreds of demonstrators in the Kurdish-majority southeast protesting against the suspension of over 10,000 teachers for suspected links to militants, an AFP journalist reported.

Around 200 protesters, including affected teachers, gathered in front of the education directorate in Diyarbakir, whistling and shouting slogans, in protest of the suspensions which targeted educators mainly from the region.

"We will win by resisting!" and "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism!" the group shouted.

The police called the demonstration "illegal" and urged protesters to disperse before using tear gas and water cannon when the group kept on their protest across the road.

At least 30 protesters were detained by police, the AFP journalist said.

Turkey on Thursday suspended 11,500 teachers suspected by the education ministry of having engaged in activities in support of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) listed as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

A Turkish official said the teachers were placed on paid leave until a formal investigation was concluded.

The suspension came just over a week before the new school year gets underway in Turkey.

The number of suspended teachers was expected to climb to 14,000 -- a figure first pronounced by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim during a key visit to Diyarbakir last weekend. There are 850,000 teachers in Turkey.

The Turkish military has waged a relentless offensive against the PKK in the southeast and in northern Iraq, after the rupture of a ceasefire last year.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since the PKK first took up arms in 1984 with the aim of carving out an independent state for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=78628.

Turkey eases EU fears on migrant deal

September 09, 2016

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's foreign minister has suggested that a landmark deal to stop migrants reaching the European Union can be salvaged despite disagreement on conditions for relaxing visa restrictions for Turkish citizens traveling to the bloc.

Easing concern across Europe, Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters during a joint news conference with top EU officials Friday that a "common understanding" had emerged and that a consensus could be reached. He said, however, that a "concrete road map" should be worked out to lift travel restrictions.

"I believe that with this understanding we will overcome the problem," Cavusoglu said after talks with EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, and EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn. Europe's migration crisis will be a central issue at next week's EU leaders' summit in Bratislava, Slovakia, as the member states remain rattled by Britain's referendum vote to leave the EU and recent gains for the nationalist vote in Germany.

In Athens, the leaders of France, Italy and five other EU Mediterranean countries gathered Friday to discuss immigration and the continent's debt crisis. "It's important to issue a message of cooperation at this important time, following the Brexit vote and with populists and extremists trying to block Europe," French President Francois Hollande said.

"In the name of Europe, its southern members are facing difficulties on the migration issue ... So they must be helped, reinforced, so that we can allow for asylum seekers, but so there can also be an efficient control of immigration."

More than a million refugees and migrants traveled from Turkey to Greece and on to other EU countries. But numbers have declined dramatically since Balkan nations fenced off their borders and the EU-Turkey deal took effect in March. Border closures have left some 60,000 migrants and refugees stranded in Greece, most in hastily built camps.

Turkey had threatened to scrap the deal — which also promises 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) to help support refugees in Turkey — if the EU failed to fulfill by October a promise to grant Turkish citizens the right to visa-free travel.

Plans to loosen visa rules came to a standstill after Turkey balked at the EU's demand that it relax its anti-terrorism laws, over concerns they could be used to target academics and journalists. With the EU-Turkey deal still largely holding, Athens is pressing EU members to abide by commitments under a relocation program which has covered less that 10 percent of the 33,000 placements promised to migrants in Greece so far.

Greece was also angered by suggestions it should return to EU immigration rules that existed before last year's crisis. A government spokesman on immigration said Athens rejected calls to reactivate the so-called Dublin Regulation, which requires migrants to apply for asylum in the first EU country they reach and would allow other EU members to send asylum-seekers back to Greece.

"A country such as Greece which receives a large number of refugees from Turkey, and also hosts a large number of refugees — practically without any outside help — cannot be asked to receive refugees from other European countries," Giorgos Kyritsis told The Associated Press. "That would be outrageous."

Malta's prime minister, speaking at the end of the Athens conference, also criticized EU migration policy. "The current system of tackling migration in Europe is simply not working," Joseph Muscat said. "The Dublin system is out of synch with reality, and here are six countries which are saying 'we need to fix that for Europe to remain and to be relevant.'"

Paphitis reported from Athens. Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Menelaos Hadjicostis in Istanbul, and Derek Gatopoulos in Athens contributed.

Turkey scraps winter time change

2016-09-08

ANKARA - Turkey will not turn its clocks back from this winter, staying on summer time all year round in a bid to better utilize daylight, according to a decree published in the official gazette on Thursday.

The decision will also apply on the Ankara-backed breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), meaning the divided Mediterranean island will have two different time zones in the winter months.

The clocks in Turkey went forward one hour from March 27 for summer time, in line with the rest of Europe.

But this setting will now remain in place throughout the year across the country, according to the decree adopted at the cabinet meeting the day earlier.

The clocks were to have gone back one hour on October 30 when Turkish summertime officially ends.

But now, there will be no winter adjustment and Turkey will stay all year round on summer time.

The decree, which immediately comes into force, said the decision was aimed at "making more use of daylight" during the winter time.

The decision means that Turkey will be three hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) all year long and two hours ahead of continental Europe in winter.

"I abolished the winter-summer time difference," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a speech to provincial governors.

"There will be no confusion now. The hours will be the same in winter and summer.

"You will change, not the hours. Time economy," he quipped to the governors.

Meanwhile the TRNC, which is recognized only by Ankara, followed Turkey's decision and will also stay on summer time all year round, according to a decision made by its cabinet on Thursday.

The decision means that when winter starts on October 30, the internationally-recognized Greek Republic of Cyprus will be one hour behind the Turkish breakaway north until summer time resumes.

The island, which joined the EU in 2004, has been divided since 1974 when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece.

The latest round of long-stalled UN-brokered peace talks were launched in May 2015, with both sides expressing hope an elusive Cyprus settlement can finally be reached in 2016.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=78598.

UN: Fighting displaces 100,000 in central Syria in 8 days

September 07, 2016

BEIRUT (AP) — Intense fighting between Syrian government troops and insurgents in Syria's central Hama province displaced some 100,000 people over eight days between late August and early September, the U.N. humanitarian agency said.

Earlier this month, insurgents pushed northward in Hama province, surprising government troops and dislodging them from areas they controlled around the provincial capital, also called Hama, including a military base and towns and villages near the highway to Damascus.

The offensive, led by an ultraconservative Islamic group, Jund al-Aqsa, and also involving several factions from the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, incurred an intense government bombing campaign that killed dozens of people. The fighting and the aerial bombardment sent tens of thousands of people fleeing for safety, creating the latest wave of displacement, part of a pattern that has left nearly half of the Syrian population displaced since the war began in 2011.

In a "flash update " on Tuesday, OCHA said figures from a camp coordination group show nearly half of the displaced from Hama arrived in the neighboring rebel-held Idlib governorate. Others fled toward government-controlled Hama city, where four mosques were converted into temporary shelters, OCHA said. Dozens of schools in rural areas of Hama province were also turned into shelters.

A shortage of shelter space means many displaced families are sleeping outdoors in parks in Idlib, the U.N. agency said. Most of those fleeing left towns and villages in government areas as the rebels advanced. They feared a violent government response to the insurgent offensive, according to Ahmad al-Ahmad, an activist from Hama. "Wherever the regime is driven out of an area, it ends up destroying it," he said in a text message to The Associated Press.

In at least one airstrike last week, government warplanes struck a van carrying displaced people fleeing Suran, a town north of Hama city, activists said. The government says it is targeting "terrorists."

OCHA said the United Nations has sent an "inter-agency convoy with life-saving supplies to Hama" and was evaluating the humanitarian situation. An estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of the civil war, now in its sixth year. Of those, 4.8 million are refugees with nearly 7 million displaced internally.

In London on Wednesday, Syrian opposition leaders unveiled a plan for a political transition designed to bring an end to the war. It called for the departure of President Bashar Assad after six months and for elections to be held after two years.

The High Negotiations Committee envisaged a three-phase plan, beginning with six months of negotiations with Assad's government to develop a signed agreement on the "basic principles" of the transition process.

This would be followed by the establishment of a transitional government body and the departure of Assad "and his clique," according to HNC chief Riad Hijab. The HNC called for U.N.-supervised elections to be held 18 months thereafter. Hijab conceded there were formidable obstacles hindering the implementation of this plan.

Keaten reported from Geneva.

Jarabulus reborn: 'It's fantastic knowing IS is no longer a threat'

Tuesday 6 September 2016

KARKAMIS, Turkey – Murad returned to his hometown of Jarabulus on 25 August just one day after it was liberated from the Islamic State (IS) group by a coalition of Turkish forces and Syrian rebel fighters.

The battle for Jarabulus was won easily after IS militants fled the area hours before Operation Euphrates Shield was even launched by Turkey. Since its beginning last month Turkish forces and Syrian rebels have cleared IS from more than 90km of the Turkish border.

In Jarabulus, Murad, a journalist, said normal life had resumed and he thanked Turkey for its first direct military intervention in the five-year Syrian war.

“Right now, everything is under control – at least here in the city,” he said. “I’m happy to say life has been steadily returning to these streets. A few shops have already been reopened – a sure sign of people starting to feel safe again.”

Murad fled to Turkey more than three years ago in July 2013 when IS first seized control of Jarabulus. Most of his family stayed behind and several of his relatives were killed in suicide bombing attacks carried out during IS’s brutal reign.

Before IS took over, Jarabulus had a population of around 30,000. Over the past three years that number has halved but many people are now returning.

Murad's family home was undamaged despite the fierce conflict that has raged in his town and across Syria since President Bashar al-Assad responded to peaceful protests with brute force in mid-2011.

And although the town has been scarred by the war, those now returning were unable to contain their joy at it being liberated. A rake-thin man crossing the Syria border back to Jarabulus praised the Turkish forces who freed his home town.

“It is a fantastic feeling, knowing that Daesh is no longer a threat,” he said. “We were all very glad to see the launching of the Turkish military operation.

“These soldiers here, they are our lads. We’re hoping nothing bad happens to them. Many of the houses in Jarabulus have been demolished – there’s graffiti on every step – but the town itself, well, it managed to survive.”

After joining street celebrations rejoicing the town’s liberation, the old man sat with friends and family in the shade to escape the afternoon heat. While drinking tea and eating home-grown grapes, the man lamented how his town had become embroiled in politics.

“All of us, we’re very simple folks,” he said. “We were never much interested in politics. But then the war came and it has a huge impact on us. We’re all really hoping we’re not about to see Daesh try to get revenge.”

The caution people feel amid the celebrations is reinforced by the fact war is still visible around Jarabulus. Thick black smoke still rises regularly above the olive groves on the outskirts of the town.

The regular thud of bombs and tank fire can be heard in the streets, reminding residents that they are not yet fully secure. A few kilometers away on the Turkish side of the border near the town of Karkamis, a military base is packed with tanks and checkpoints.

A local field hospital and two dozen ambulances are set up nearby and provide evidence of the dangers involved in Turkey’s military intervention in Syria. Wounded Turkish soldiers, Syrian rebels, and civilians have received treatment at the hospital.

Civilians who survived the IS occupation of Jarabulus have spoken about how their were starved over the past year, as supplies ran dry. They were banned by IS from farming their land as the militants planted landmines instead of crops.

A local police commander in the Karkamis said Turkish forces had largely moved on from Jarabulus and advanced 30km into Syrian territory.

Few Turkish soldiers have remained in Jarabulus, but those who have stayed have been busy clearing the town of the mines laid by IS militants before they fled to other towns under the group’s control.

For the Turkish troops who have pushed on past Jarabulus, an equal priority is ensuring Kurdish forces are not allowed to maintain a presence west of the Euphrates river.

Ankara has been clear that they view Kurdish militia forces in Syria on their border as a threat to their national security, given the proximity to Turkey’s Kurdish dominated and restful southeast.

Several high-ranking Turkish diplomats in Ankara said on condition of anonymity that the 90km area cleared along the Turkey-Syria border could become a buffer zone designed to hold back Kurdish forces as well as IS.

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on Monday that he had discussed the idea of a "safe zone" along the border of Syria - a plan he has raised several times in recent years.

But the Turkish intervention in Syria has not just allowed Ankara to satisfy its political goals, it has also opened up an easier passage for humanitarian aid to reach desperate refugees.

At the Onucipay crossing near the border town of Killis, hundreds of Turkish trucks have entered Syria carrying food and humanitarian provisions. At the refugee camp on the Syrian border, which currently holds 20,000 people, refugees with sunken and sun-burned faces said they would not be able to hold out much longer.

Sahi, from the border town of Azaz, said his hometown has been the scene of constant fighting for five years. Azaz is now under the control of Turkish-backed Syrian rebels, but its strategic importance lies in that it has been a key supply route to Aleppo – the partially rebel-held second city of Aleppo.

Before the war it only took 45 minutes to travel between Azaz and Aleppo. But with the Syrian army – backed by Russia and Iran – laying siege to the supply route, it has left some 300,000 civilians in rebel-held areas of Aleppo unable to receive food through the Azaz route.

Ahmet, a 50-year-old man from Syria's Idlib province, said he had been happy to see Turkey retake Jarabulus but he added that he does not have faith it will lead to a wider impact in the Syrian civil war.

“We were glad to see Turkey and the Free Syrian Army liberate Jarabulus,” he said while sipping tea at a shop close to the Syrian border. “It was an important message to send out... but I don’t know what to expect now.”

Two of Ahmet’s three sons fought for two years with the Free Syrian Army – a ragtag group of Syrian rebels who have received strong backing in their war against President Assad from Gulf States and the West.

“All the time my city is being bombed by the [Assad] regime and by Russia. No one is here to defend us,” he said. “We have been left to fend for ourselves. All of us that have stood up against Assad’s regime have been branded as Islamic extremists.”

Ahmet said that the fact Turkey seized Jarabulus so quickly, after more than three years of occupation by IS, was evidence more could have been done to stop the group’s rise in Syria.

“For years Daesh were allowed to do as they pleased,” he said. “They could have been easily destroyed a long time ago. Even Turkey hasn’t fought them as fiercely as it could have done.”

Source: Middle East Eye.
Link: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-syria-karkamis-jarabulus-new-frontline-1894295638.