More than 200 injured Aleppans treated in Turkey

24 December 2016 Saturday

Turkish authorities said Saturday that 220 seriously injured Aleppan civilians have been treated in Turkey following the evacuation of the war-battered Syrian city of Aleppo.

The injured civilians were taken from the opposition-held city of Idlib to waiting ambulances at the Turkish border crossing of Cilvegozu, the Turkish Prime Ministry Directorate General of Press and Information told Anadolu Agency.

The figure of 220 Aleppans includes 93 injured children.

Thirty-one have been discharged following treatment.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/182188/more-than-200-injured-aleppans-treated-in-turkey.

Turkey will never allow a new state in N.Syria: Erdogan

24 December 2016 Saturday

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey will never allow the formation of a new state in northern Syria.

"We will never allow the founding of this kind of state,” despite efforts to do so, Erdogan told Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK) in Istanbul.

Erdogan also reiterated Turkey’s wish to see a “terror-free safe zone” in northern Syria for the safety of its southeastern border provinces.

"We have been saying this from the beginning. If this [issue] isn’t dealt with, Gaziantep is always hanging by a thread, Kilis is always hanging by a thread, Sanliurfa is hanging by a thread," he added, mentioning three border provinces.

Later, at the opening of a governmental complex, Erdogan spoke on the Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces in northern Syria backed by the Turkish army.

"The Free Syrian Army is the epitome of moderate opposition in Syria,” he said. “It has nothing to do with [being a] terrorist organization, but it is precisely a resistance movement. They are trying to save their territory."

On the completion of the evacuation of civilians and opposition fighters from war-battered eastern Aleppo, Erdogan said: "We have saved our 45,000 brothers from Aleppo ... We can bring them to our territories if necessary."

Separately, meeting with women entrepreneurs in Istanbul, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim stressed the goals of Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria.

"Our aim in being there is ensuring the safety of life and property of our citizens who live along our southern borders," said Yildirim, adding that Turkey has long wanted to block the danger coming from northern Syria.

Separately, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli spoke on Turkey's current Al-Bab operation as part of Operation Euphrates Shield.

"Operation Euphrates Shield should definitely be crowned with victory," Bahceli said at MHP headquarters in Ankara.

"If we emerged empty-handed from Al-Bab, we would endanger Diyarbakir and Ankara. Al-Bab should collapse around the hellhounds, and they should all perish."

The Turkish army is supporting Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters’ efforts to liberate Al-Bab from ISIL, a strategic city for the terrorist group.

The Turkish army is currently active in northern Syria under Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in late August to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along Turkey’s border using FSA fighters backed by Turkish artillery and jets.

Since the launch of Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkish explosive ordnance disposal teams have neutralized 2,208 handmade explosives and 42 mines in areas rid of ISIL.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/headlines/182157/turkey-will-never-allow-a-new-state-in-nsyria-erdogan.

Is America's goal the division of Turkey?

December 20, 2016
Mohamed Zahed Gul

With the return of terrorist explosions to the streets of Turkey and the targeting of security officers and innocent civilians alike in Istanbul, there are suggestions that that someone is taking aim at the country’s security. The next target will be the Turkish economy via politic means. In short, the goal is clearly not just to kill security personnel and civilians, but the implementation of a plan targeting Turkey as a whole. The parties behind this plan make no distinction between the state and the government. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) may be in charge but it is not really accepted by democratic states, and it is, after all, the people who elected the parliament, government and prime minister.

Why is Turkey being targeted in this way? It has been facing many challenges over the course of the past three years or so, beginning with the environmental protests in Taksim Square, which were transformed into political protests that attempted to bring down the ruling AKP, unsuccessfully. Soon after, the AKP was targeted in both presidential and parliamentary elections in 2013, 2014 and 2015, in which the people stood by the party despite the best efforts of those who are against democracy in Turkey. The voters backed President Recep Tayyip Erdogan against many opposition parties in coalition with the Gülenist movement and in spite of all the US and European voices trying to discredit the AKP.

None of the failures to hijack the elections prevented Turkey’s enemies from trying to change the political course of the country through a military coup in July. The failure of the takeover attempt has not deterred them from trying to impose regime change. Now, though, the efforts are focused on trying to damage the economy. The US and Europe have scared off foreign investors making it difficult for Turkey to recover, even as an attack on the Turkish Lira saw its value plummet. Nevertheless, the attempts to bring the country down through an economic coup have also failed. Erdogan encouraged the people to buy more liras and gold and not to invest in other currencies. He pointed out that the targets are the Turkish people themselves and they responded in an uncompromising and admirable way.

Such a popular and government response shows that the majority of the people are aware that the battle is with Western states which would like Turkey to remain at the mercy of their decisions both economically and politically, rather than be valued military partners within NATO. This sort of situation was accepted by previous Turkish governments throughout the 20th century, when the country was in need of the West for economic, military and political support. Although its predecessors in government may have agreed for Turkey to be a tool in the hands of the West, the AKP does not share this political philosophy, hence the Western response to induce a power shift in Turkey. The evidence for this includes the numerous attempts to bring Erdogan down.

The main struggle now is for Turkey to retain its right to make its own independent political decisions. The fight is not Erdogan’s, despite the role that America is playing in Turkey, or whether the interference comes from political parties, the Gülen movement, Daesh or terrorists affiliated with the PKK, all of whom have some connection to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The cooperation between these groups helps America and European countries which have targeted Turkey without exposing themselves as blatant enemies of the state. Documents from Wikileaks, however, showed that in 2014 Hillary Clinton met with four former US ambassadors to Ankara and allegedly stated her concerns over Turkey’s slow but sure adoption of Islamist principles and the need for several steps to be taken in order to protect US national interests.

In another set of US deliberations, Clinton also said that the problem with Turkey is the way in which Erdogan is seen within the Turkey-US relationship, as well as the manner in which he himself views the same relationship.

Clinton allegedly stated that, “America needs Turkey more than Turkey needs America.” American analysts apparently believe that work must be done to foster sentiments that oppose those promoted by Erdogan. Among the steps suggested are internal operations such as the military coup, carried out by allies of the US within Turkey, including domestic organisations, even if this threatens the stability of Turkey and leads to its division.

Suspicions about Western sincerity when condemning the Istanbul bombings on 10 December, which killed 38 innocent civilians and wounded dozens of others, arose because the West condemned the attacks but not the organisations which carried them out. White House spokesperson Ned Price said that the US stands in complete solidarity with Turkey, its NATO ally, and condemns terrorist action that threatens the stability of Ankara or Washington. However, he did not condemn the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is believed to have carried out the attacks. In the past, Turkey has condemned those who have attacked the US and placed them on the terrorist watch list. Why has the US not done the same for Turkey? It is perhaps more pertinent is to ask why the US is still arming and funding these terrorist groups. If they claim to represent the Kurdish people in Turkey, they are also guilty of exploiting wars in the region.

An analysis of such aggression against Turkey, including the latest military coup attempt, could prove that the US is implementing its plan for the dissolution and division of the Republic of Turkey. The US is using these terrorist political organisations and the pro-coup groups to achieve its objective. Washington has done the same thing in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and other places, and believes that its plan for Turkey will also succeed. It has found allies in Turkish groups that have the same aims, but do they not see that they are merely playing the role of traitors and US stooges? Do their members and supporters know that they are acting on behalf of the enemies of Turkey? The US-led invasion in 2003 did not lead to peace, stability and freedom for Iraq, so why would America’s efforts give the Turks anything other than death and destruction?

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20161220-is-americas-goal-the-division-of-turkey/.

Turkey launches new highway tunnel across Bosporus

December 20, 2016

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish officials have inaugurated an undersea highway tunnel linking the European and Asian sides of Istanbul. The Eurasia Tunnel, crossing the Bosporus Strait, was launched Tuesday even as the country was stunned by the assassination of the Russian ambassador to Turkey a day before.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey's decision not to cancel the launch was its "response to terror." He says "we cannot allow terrorism to take control of our agenda." The 5.4-kilometer (3.4-mile) twin-deck tunnel is aimed at relieving congestion in the city. Officials say 120,000 vehicles a day are expected to use the tunnel.

Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was shot dead Monday in Ankara by a Turkish policeman who shouted slogans about the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo as he killed the envoy.

Car bomb kills 13 Turkish commandos, army says

December 17, 2016

ISTANBUL (AP) — Thirteen Turkish troops were killed and 48 others wounded in a car bomb attack in the central Anatolian province of Kayseri on Saturday morning, the Turkish military reported. In a statement, the Turkish armed forces said the car bomb went off at 8:45 a.m. and targeted on-leave military personnel from the Kayseri Commando Brigade.

The wounded were rushed to hospitals in the region. The army said civilians may have also been casualties of the "treacherous attack." State-run Anadolu Agency said the car bomb went off at an entrance gate of Erciyes University, hitting a public transportation bus that included on-leave soldiers among its passengers.

Speaking about the Kayseri explosion, Vice Prime Minister Veysi Kaynak said in remarks broadcast on NTV that "treacherous factions" had taken aim at commandos from the Kayseri Airforce Brigade, who had been "training exclusively for the safety of our people."

Turkey's prime ministry office imposed a temporary blackout on coverage of the explosion and urged media to refrain from publishing anything that may cause "fear in the public, panic and disorder and which may serve the aims of terrorist organizations."

Turkey is facing renewed conflict with Kurdish rebels in the southeast and has suffered a string of suicide and car bombing attacks this year. The blast comes a week after a car bomb struck riot police posted outside a soccer stadium in Istanbul following a match. That attack killed 44 people, mostly police officers, and wounded scores others. Kurdish militants claimed the Istanbul attack.

Turkey is a member of NATO and partner in the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group, which has been blamed for multiple attacks in Turkey.

Ayse Wieting, Bulut Emiroglu and Neyran Elden in Istanbul also contributed reporting.

Suicide bomber strikes Afghan Supreme Court, killing 19

February 07, 2017

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bomber struck an entrance to Afghanistan's Supreme Court on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people in the latest in a series of attacks on the country's judiciary. The attacker was on foot, and targeted a side door as court employees and other people were exiting the building in downtown Kabul, the Interior Ministry said. Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz said 41 people were wounded, including 10 in critical condition.

No one immediately claimed the attack, which bore the hallmarks of the Taliban. The insurgents have been at war with the U.S.-backed government for 15 years and have increasingly targeted the judiciary since the execution of six convicted insurgents last May.

Shortly after the executions, a suicide bomber targeted a minibus carrying court employees in Kabul during the morning rush hour, killing 11 people in an attack claimed by the Taliban, which called it an act of revenge.

In June, three Taliban fighters stormed a court building in the eastern Logar province, killing seven people, including a newly appointed chief prosecutor, before being shot dead by police. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned the Supreme Court attack, which he blamed on the "enemies of our people." The U.S. Embassy in Kabul called it "an attack on the very foundation of Afghan democracy and rule of law."

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, a roadside bomb killed a top district official in the western Farah province as he returned home from a mosque, local police spokesman Iqbal Baher said. The Taliban claimed the attack.

Taliban say they didn't plant bomb wounding UAE diplomats

January 11, 2017

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban say they did not plant the bomb in southern Afghanistan that wounded the United Arab Emirates' ambassador and other diplomats the day before. They issued a short statement on Wednesday, blaming an "internal local rivalry" for the attack at the Kandahar governor's guesthouse that killed five people and wounded 12.

The Taliban claimed attacks earlier on Tuesday in Kabul that killed at least 38 people and wounded dozens. The Taliban have denied some attacks in the past — attacks that diplomats and security forces later attributed to the group.

Tuesday's Kandahar assault wounded Gov. Homayun Azizia, as well as UAE Ambassador Juma Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi and what Emirati officials described as "a number of Emirati diplomats." Emirati officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Syria decries 'aggression' as US launches cruise missiles

April 07, 2017

BEIRUT (AP) — Syria decried a U.S. missile attack early Friday morning on a government-controlled air base where U.S. officials say the Syrian military launched a deadly chemical attack earlier this week, calling it an "aggression" that led to "losses." Rebels welcomed the U.S. attack.

About 60 U.S. Tomahawk missiles hit the Shayrat air base, southeast of Homs, a small installation with two runways, where aircraft often take off to bomb targets in northern and central Syria. The U.S. missiles hit at 3:45 a.m. Friday morning and targeted the base's airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, U.S. officials said.

They were fired from two warships in the Mediterranean Sea, in retaliation for Tuesday's deadly chemical attack that officials said used chlorine mixed with a nerve agent, possibly sarin. A military official quoted on Syrian TV said an air base in central Syria was hit early Friday, causing material damage. Another statement, also attributed to an unnamed official, referred to "losses." The officials did not elaborate.

Talal Barazi, the governor of Homs province, where the targeted air base is located, told The Associated Press by phone that most of the strikes appeared to target the province in central Syria. He also said the strikes were meant to "support the terrorists on the ground." He told Al Arabiya TV that a fire raged for two hours in the base, until it was put out.

A Syrian opposition group, the Syrian Coalition, welcomed the U.S. attack, saying it puts an end to an age of "impunity" and should be just the beginning. Major Jamil al-Saleh, a U.S-backed rebel commander whose Hama district in the country's center was struck by the suspected chemical weapons attack, said he hoped the U.S. attack on a government air base would be a "turning point" in the six-year war that has left more than 400,000 dead.

Israel's prime minister welcomed the U.S. attack. Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday in a statement that "In both word and action" President Donald Trump "sent a strong and clear message" that "the use and spread of chemical weapons will not be tolerated."

The bombing represents Trump's most dramatic military order since taking office. The Obama administration threatened attacking Assad's forces for previous chemical weapons attacks, but never followed through. Trump called on "all civilized nations" to join the U.S. in seeking an end to the carnage in Syria.

President Bashar Assad's government had been under mounting international pressure after the chemical attack in northern Syria, with even key ally Russia saying its support is not unconditional and the U.S. launching a barrage of cruise missiles at a government-controlled air base in Syria.

Turkey, meanwhile, said samples from victims of Tuesday's attack, which killed more than 80 people in the town of Khan Sheikhoun, indicate they were exposed to sarin, a highly toxic nerve agent. Syria rejected the accusations, and Moscow had warned against apportioning blame until an investigation has been carried out.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that "unconditional support is not possible in this current world." But he added that "it is not correct to say that Moscow can convince Mr. Assad to do whatever is wanted in Moscow. This is totally wrong."

Russia has provided military support for the Syrian government since September 2015, turning the balance of power in Assad's favor. Moscow has used its veto power at the Security Council on several occasions since the civil war began six years ago to prevent sanctions against Damascus.

Syria maintains it didn't use chemical weapons, blaming opposition fighters for stockpiling the chemicals. Russia's Defense Ministry said the toxic agents were released when a Syrian airstrike hit a rebel chemical weapons arsenal and munitions factory on the eastern outskirts of Khan Sheikhoun.

Trump had said the attack crossed "many, many lines," and put the blame squarely on Assad's forces. Speaking Thursday on Air Force One, Trump said the attack "shouldn't have happened, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen."

Earlier, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said he hopes Trump will take military action, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quoted him as saying. Erdogan said Turkey would be prepared to do "whatever falls on us" to support possible military action, the news agency reported.

U.S. officials had said they hoped for a vote late Thursday night on a U.N. Security Council resolution that would condemn the chemical attack, but with council members still negotiating the text into the evening, the British Mission's political coordinator Stephen Hickey tweeted the vote wouldn't take place until later.

At the United Nations, the U.S. had hoped for a vote Thursday evening on a Security Council resolution it drafted with Britain and France that would have condemned Syria's suspected use of chemical weapons — but it was canceled because of differences among the 15 members.

Russia strongly objected to provisions in that draft and circulated its own text which diplomats said wasn't acceptable to the three Western nations. The 10 elected council members then presented what they hoped would be a compromise text on Thursday that addressed a key Russian objection — spelling out Syrian government obligations to investigators.

Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said the canceled vote "opens a window of opportunity" to keep working to find a compromise. He said he was grateful for the draft submitted by the elected members "because it's a clear attempt to find a common denominator" but he said it has to carefully studied in Moscow.

Safronkov stressed that a resolution "should not, cannot and will not pre-judge the outcome from (an) investigation." The attack happened in Syria's Idlib province about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the Turkish border, and the Turkish government — a close ally of Syria's rebels — set up a decontamination center at a border crossing in Hatay province, where the victims were treated initially.

Turkish officials said nearly 60 victims of the attack were brought to Turkey for treatment and three of them died. Victims showed signs of nerve gas exposure, including suffocation, foaming at the mouth, convulsions, constricted pupils and involuntary defecation, the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders said. Paramedics used fire hoses to wash the chemicals from the bodies of victims.

Visuals from the scene were reminiscent of a 2013 nerve gas attack on the suburbs of Damascus that left hundreds dead. In Turkey, Anadolu and the private DHA news agencies on Thursday quoted Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag as saying "it was determined after the autopsy that a chemical weapon was used."

The Turkish Health Ministry said later that "according to the results of the first analysis, there were findings suggesting that the patients were exposed to chemical substance (sarin)."

Ian Phillips contributed from Moscow. Associated Press writers Albert Aji in Damascus and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

A father bids farewell to twin babies after Syria attack

April 06, 2017

BEIRUT (AP) — The father cradled his 9-month-old twins, Aya and Ahmed, each in an arm. He stroked their hair and choked back tears, mumbling, "Say goodbye, baby, say goodbye" to their lifeless bodies.

Abdel Hameed Alyousef lost his two children, his wife and other relatives in the suspected chemical attack Tuesday in the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun that killed at least 72 people. In footage shared with The Associated Press, Alyousef sits in the front seat of a van with the twin, his eyes red as he asks his cousin Alaa to video his farewell to them.

When the airstrike took place, "I was right beside them and I carried them outside the house with their mother,"Alyousef, a 29-year-old shopowner, told the AP. "They were conscious at first, but 10 minutes later we could smell the odor." The twins and his wife, Dalal Ahmed, fell sick.

He brought them to paramedics and, thinking they would be OK, went to look for the rest of his family. He found the bodies of two of his brothers, two nephews and a niece, as well as neighbors and friends. "I couldn't save anyone, they're all dead now," he said.

Only later was he told his children and wife had died. "Abdel Hameed is in very bad shape," his cousin Alaa said. He's being treated for exposure to the toxin. "But he's especially broken down over his massive loss."

Army regains territory lost to rebels in central Syria

2017-03-31

LONDON - Syria's army and allied fighters have regained most of the territory they lost during an assault launched by rebels and jihadists earlier this month in the country's center, a monitor said Friday.

"The regime has recaptured 75 percent of the territory it lost in the north of Hama province," said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor.

An array of factions, including an alliance headed by a former Al-Qaeda affiliate, launched an assault on government positions in Hama province on March 21, seizing several strategic areas.

But after a string of losses, the regime sent significant reinforcements to the region, the Observatory said, and has been able to reverse most of its losses, backed by heavy air strikes from ally Russia.

The factions involved in the assault still hold a handful of newly gained areas, including the town of Suran, which has changed hands several times since the Syrian war began in 2011.

Hama province is of strategic importance to President Bashar al-Assad, as it separates opposition forces in the northwestern province of Idlib from Damascus to the south and from the regime's coastal heartlands to the west.

The Observatory said the fighting had killed dozens on both sides, but was unable to give a precise toll.

Syria's opposition has accused the government of using "toxic substances" in its battle to repel the assault.

On Thursday, air strikes on several areas in the north of Hama province left around 50 people suffering respiratory problems, according to the Observatory, which could not confirm the cause of the symptoms.

The Syrian opposition National Coalition cited doctors in the area reporting "symptoms that included frothing at the mouth, pinpoint pupils, shortness of breath, burning eyes, and general weakness".

Syria's government agreed to turn over its chemical weapons in 2013 and joined the Chemical Weapons Convention.

But there have been repeated allegations of ongoing chemical weapons use, and a UN-led investigation has pointed the finger at the government for at least three attacks involving chlorine bombs in 2014 and 2015.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=82346.

Clashes in Damascus after surprise rebel assault

2017-03-19

DAMASCUS - Heavy clashes rocked eastern districts of the Syrian capital on Sunday as rebels and jihadists tried to fight their way into the city center in a surprise assault on government forces.

The attack on Damascus comes just days before a fresh round of UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva aiming to put an end to Syria's six-year war.

Rebels and government troops agreed to a nationwide cessation of hostilities in December, but fighting has continued across much of the country, including in the capital.

Steady shelling and sniper fire could be heard across Damascus on Sunday as rebel factions allied with former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front launched an attack on regime positions in the city's east.

The attack began early Sunday "with two car bombs and several suicide attackers" on the Jobar district, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

Rebels then advanced into the nearby Abbasid Square area, seizing several buildings and firing a barrage of rockets into multiple Damascus neighborhoods, Abdel Rahman said.

Government forces responded with nearly a dozen air strikes on Jobar, he added.

Syrian state television reported that the army was "thwarting an attack by terrorists" with artillery fire and had ordered residents to stay inside.

It aired footage from Abbasid Square, typically buzzing with activity but now empty except for the sound of shelling.

Correspondents in Damascus said army units had sealed off the routes into the square, where a thick column of smoke was rising into the cloudy sky.

Several schools announced they would close through Monday, and many civilians cowered inside in fear of stray bullets and shelling.

- 'From defensive to offensive' -

Control of Jobar -- which has been a battleground for more than two years -- is divided between rebels and allied jihadists and government forces.

According to the Observatory, the Islamist Faylaq al-Rahman rebel group and the Fateh al-Sham Front -- known as Al-Nusra Front before it broke ties with Al-Qaeda -- are present in Jobar.

Government forces have long sought to push the rebels out of the district because of its proximity to the city center in Damascus.

But with Sunday's attack, Abdel Rahman said, "rebels have shifted from a defensive position in Jobar into an offensive one".

"These are not intermittent clashes -- these are ongoing attempts to advance," he said.

The Observatory said rebels had launched the attack as a way to relieve allied fighters in the nearby districts of Barzeh, Tishreen and Qabun from government attacks.

"Nine regime forces and at least 12 Islamist rebels were killed" in those districts over the last 24 hours, the Observatory said.

More than 320,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict erupted six years ago with protests against Assad's rule.

After a government crackdown, the uprising turned into an all-out war that has drawn in world powers on nearly all sides.

On Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to destroy Syria's air defense systems after they fired ground-to-air missiles at Israeli warplanes on Friday.

Syria's army said it shot down an Israeli jet and hit another as they were carrying out early morning strikes near the famed desert city of Palmyra.

Israel denied any planes were hit and said it was targeting weapons bound for Lebanon's Hezbollah movement, which is backing Assad in Syria.

The United Nations has sponsored peace talks to end the conflict since 2012, to no avail.

Government representatives and opposition figures are set to meet for a fourth round of negotiations on March 23 in Switzerland.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=82139.

Spain's King Felipe VI meets with Japanese Emperor Akihito

April 05, 2017

TOKYO (AP) — Spanish King Felipe VI has met with Japanese Emperor Akihito in his first visit to Japan since ascending to the throne. King Felipe walked on a red carpet Wednesday during a welcome ceremony at the Imperial Palace. A group of Japanese children waved both countries' national flags.

The countries mark their 150th anniversary of bilateral ties next year. The king ascended to the throne in 2014. During his four-day visit, the king and his wife, Queen Letizia, will also meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They are scheduled to visit an earthquake disaster prevention center in Shizuoka, central Japan, before departing on Friday.

Venezuela opposition leader banned from running for office

April 08, 2017

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's government has barred opposition leader Henrique Capriles — twice a major presidential candidate — from running for office for 15 years, a surprise move sure to ratchet up tensions amid a growing street protest movement

Capriles read from excerpts of the comptroller general's order at a rally Friday night in which he urged supporters to take to the streets, beginning with a previously scheduled demonstration Saturday, to defend their political rights and demand the removal of President Nicolas Maduro.

"When the dictatorship squeals it's a sign we're advancing," he said in a speech surrounded by other leading opposition figures, many of whom themselves have been targeted. "The only one who is disqualified here is you, Nicolas Maduro."

The 44-year-old Capriles has been the most prominent leader of Venezuela's opposition over the past decade, twice coming close to winning the presidency despite institutional obstacles that tilted races in favor of the government. He's currently governor of Miranda state, which surrounds Caracas, and is one of the most recognizable leaders behind the protest movement that has been roiling the country this week.

Maduro didn't comment on the order in an appearance late Friday on state TV, but urged his supporters not to be distracted by tough language coming from "Capriloca," a play on the Spanish word for "crazy." Leaders in the ruling socialist party have accused Capriles in recent days of trying to provoke a bloodbath through his leadership of near-daily protests, many of which have ended in tear gas and rubber bullets

"The right wing's treason of our national interests is cause for indignation," said Maduro. The move against Capriles is part of a broader government crackdown that began with a decision last week by the Supreme Court to gut the opposition-controlled congress of its last vestiges of power. The move was later reversed amid widespread international condemnation, but with the unpopular Maduro under increasing pressure to call elections, the constant arrests at marches and threats against party leaders may be his best way to stunt the opposition's momentum, analysts said.

"They are trying to raise the costs of protest, plain and simple," said Michael McCarthy, a research fellow focused on Venezuela at American University. "But this move may well backfire, as Capriles is likely to harness this smear campaign to place himself front and center in the push to hold transition elections."

Authorities have been investigating Capriles since the beginning of the year for what they say are a half dozen administrative irregularities, including taking suspicious donations from abroad. Among Maduro's opponents, he's considered a moderate, having criticized a wave of protests in 2014 that led to scores of deaths. Those protests ended with the arrest of his main rival within the fractious opposition, Leopoldo Lopez, whose dogmatic politics appeals to hardliners but has often alienated poor voters who backed Hugo Chavez's revolution but are fed up with Maduro's inability to fix widespread shortages and triple-digit inflation.

Capriles is a scion of one of Venezuela's wealthiest families, but his sometimes vulgar talk and mannerisms echo the late Chavez's populist style and he has tried to reach out to Chavez supporters. He prides himself on staying close to home when others in the opposition have been quick to fly off to Washington and other capitals to seek help.

While those divisions over strategy and style haven't gone away, the opposition seems more united than it has for a long time. This week's protests appear to have claimed their first victim Thursday night. Nineteen-year-old law student Jairo Ortiz was shot dead by a police officer near his home in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Caracas.

The Interior Ministry said that transit police officer had been arrested but denied opposition claims that Ortiz was taking part in any demonstration.

Protests rattle Ecuador following election fraud claims

April 04, 2017

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Supporters of Ecuadorean opposition leader Guillermo Lasso gathered in the streets for a second night Monday to protest what they consider fraud at the ballot box that tilted a presidential runoff in favor of his leftist rival.

Sunday's razor-thin election win by ruling party candidate Lenin Moreno bucked the trend of right-wing electoral victories in South America following 15 years of leftist domination. Even as calls from Latin American governments congratulating Moreno poured in, Lasso, a conservative banker, vowed to keep up the fight against the installation of an "illegitimate" government.

"We're not afraid of the miserable cowards who are on the wrong side of history," he told a crowd of a few thousand supporters outside the National Electoral Council in Quito. By nightfall, many supporters went home but a few hundred die-hards, some with children in tow, remained in a peaceful vigil. A line of riot police looked on.

The scene was much calmer than the one on election night, when thousands of outraged Lasso supporters shouting "fraud" crashed through metal barricades to almost reach the entrance of the electoral council's headquarters in Quito. Scuffles also broke out in Guayaquil, where tear gas was fired to break up the crowd.

With more than 99 percent of polling places counted, Moreno had 51 percent of the vote while Lasso stood at just under 49 percent. Key to Lasso's challenge of the results in all of Ecuador's 24 provinces were three exit polls that showed him winning. One by pollster Cedatos, which accurately predicted the results of the first round, gave him a victory by six percentage points.

Part of the problem is the opposition's distrust of the National Electoral Council, which it says has become an appendage of the executive in the way the electoral board in Venezuela has all but lost independence under President Nicolas Maduro, a key ally of Correa.

"We're looking at an unprecedented situation: those behind the fraud are the judges themselves," Lasso told foreign reporters, adding that his campaign would seek a recount once the results are certified. "We expect they'll deny our requests but in doing so they'll be confirming the fraud."

Despite such heated rhetoric Lasso so far has failed to present any evidence of vote tampering except for a single voting act of 248 ballots from a rural area whose tally is says was reversed in favor of Moreno when official results were computed.

The Organization of American States said its mission of electoral observers that visited at random 480 voting centers nationwide found no discrepancies between the tallies and the official results and encouraged Lasso to issue complaints through institutional channels.

Correa accused Lasso supporters of trying to deny the results and provoke violence. On Monday, he sent a flurry of tweets saying the Lasso campaign had hired Cedatos. "By force they want to achieve what they can't at the ballot box," he said.

He also appeared alongside Moreno at changing of the guard ceremony at the presidential palace. Before a crowd of hundreds of supporters, the apparent President-elect sang "happy birthday" to Correa, who turns 54 later this week.

For weeks Ecuadoreans polarized by 10 years of Correa's iron-fisted rule had been bracing for a contested vote. With Ecuador's economy slated to shrink by 2.7 percent this year as oil prices remain low, analysts had been anticipating that Lasso would rally support from the 60 percent of voters who backed anti-Correa candidates in the first round and join the growing list of Latin American nations — Argentina, Brazil, Peru and Venezuela — shifting to the right in recent elections.

The majority of voters also said they were hungry for change amid ongoing corruption allegations related to bribes that Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht paid to officials in Correa's government and a $12 million contracting scandal at state-run PetroEcuador.

Yet in the final weeks of the race, Moreno inched ahead in polls amid an aggressive campaign led by Correa to cast Lasso as a wealthy, out-of-touch politician who profited from the country's 1999 banking crisis. Moreno, 64, also benefited from last-minute doubts that the pro-business Lasso if elected would gut social programs that have endeared poor voters to Correa's "Citizens' Revolution."

Outside the region, the election was being closely watched by supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living under asylum at Ecuador's embassy in London since 2012. Before the election, Lasso had said he would evict the Australian activist, who is wanted for extradition by Sweden, within 30 days of taking office. Moreno said he would allow him to stay.

On his Twitter account shortly after the results became known, Assange took a jab at Lasso's pledge. "I cordially invite Lasso to leave Ecuador within 30 days (with or without his tax haven millions)," he wrote.

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Caracas, Venezuela, contributed to this report.

Poland's opposition blasts govm't ahead of assessment vote

April 07, 2017

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's main opposition leader has accused the government of cutting the nation's ties with the Western world and leading it toward "dictatorship" and "bolshevism." Grzegorz Schetyna was speaking in parliament Friday in a debate ahead of a vote assessing the populist government that was requested by his pro-Western party, Civic Platform. The vote is planned for later Friday. It could potentially overturn the government but is expected to fail given the ruling party's majority in parliament.

The Law and Justice government is under strong criticism from European Union leaders who say it is undermining Poland's rule of law and democracy. Schetyna said it was taking the course of "dictatorial Russia."

The ruling party leader and mastermind of the government's policy, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, argued Poland needed deep change after Civic Platform rule.

Berlin to expand bike lines, approves self-driving car test

April 07, 2017

BERLIN (AP) — Officials and cycling campaigners in Berlin have agreed to budget about 50 million euros ($53 million) a year to expand bike use with the goal of reducing car traffic in the German capital.

Berlin daily B.Z. reported Friday that the money will be used to create protected bike lanes of the kind seen in Chicago and New York, build 100 kilometers (62 miles) of dedicate cycling highways and install 100,000 bike parking spaces.

The city was once considered a haven for cyclists but has fallen behind other European and North American cities in recent years. Seventeen cyclists were killed on Berlin's roads in 2016. Separately, authorities approved a test track for autonomous vehicles to drive along the Strasse des 17. Juni boulevard that stretches westward from the iconic Brandenburg Gate.

US strikes win global praise, but ratchet up Russia tension

April 08, 2017

PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The United States vowed Friday to keep the pressure on Syria after the intense nighttime wave of missile strikes from U.S. ships, despite the prospect of escalating Russian ill will that could further inflame one of the world's most vexing conflicts.

Standing firm, the Trump administration signaled new sanctions would soon follow the missile attack, and the Pentagon was even probing whether Russia itself was involved in the chemical weapons assault that compelled President Donald Trump to action. The attack against a Syrian air base was the first U.S. assault against the government of President Bashar Assad.

Much of the international community rallied behind Trump's decision to fire the cruise missiles in reaction to this week's chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of men, women and children in Syria. But a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the strikes dealt "a significant blow" to relations between Moscow and Washington.

At the United Nations, Russia's deputy ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, strongly criticized what he called the U.S. "flagrant violation of international law and an act of aggression" whose "consequences for regional and international security could be extremely serious." He called the Assad government a main force against terrorism and said it deserved the presumption of innocence in the chemical weapons attack.

U.S. officials blame Moscow for propping up Assad. "The world is waiting for the Russian government to act responsibly in Syria," Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said during an emergency Security Council session. "The world is waiting for Russia to reconsider its misplaced alliance with Bashar Assad."

Haley said the U.S. was prepared to take further action in Syria but hoped it wouldn't be necessary. In Florida with the president, meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: "We will be announcing additional sanctions on Syria as part of our ongoing effort to stop this type of activity and emphasize how significant we view this. We expect that those will continue to have an important effect on preventing people from doing business with them."

Thursday night's strikes — some 60 cruise missiles fired from two ships in the Mediterranean — were the culmination of a rapid, three-day transformation for Trump, who has long opposed deeper U.S. involvement in Syria's civil war. Advisers said he was outraged by heartbreaking images of young children who were among the dozens killed in the chemical attack and ordered his national security team to swiftly prepare military options.

The decision undercut another campaign promise for Trump: his pledge to try to warm relations with Moscow. After months of allegations of ties between his election campaign and the Kremlin — the subject of current congressional and FBI investigations — Trump has found himself clashing with Putin.

On Friday, senior U.S. military officials were looking more closely at possible Russian involvement in the poison attack. Officials said a drone belonging to either Russia or Syria was seen hovering over the site after the assault earlier this week. The drone returned late in the day as citizens were going to a nearby hospital for treatment. Shortly afterward, officials say the hospital was targeted.

The officials, who insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive matter, said they believe the hospital attack may have been an effort to cover up evidence of the earlier assault. White House officials caution that Trump is not preparing to plunge the U.S. deeper into Syria. Spokesman Sean Spicer said the missile attack sent a clear message to Assad, but he avoided explicitly calling for the Syrian to leave office.

"The president believes that the Syrian government, the Assad regime, should at the minimum agree to abide by the agreements they made to not use chemical weapons," Spicer said when asked if Assad should step down.

The impact of the strikes was also unclear. Despite intense international pressure, Assad has clung to power since a civil war broke out in his country six years ago, helped by financial and military support from both Russia and Iran. Russian military personnel and aircraft are embedded with Syria's, and Iranian troops and paramilitary forces are also on the ground helping Assad fight the array of opposition groups hoping to topple him.

Trump spent Friday in Florida, in private meetings with visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping. U.S. officials noted that the timing of the strike had the possible added benefit of signaling to China that Trump is willing to make good on his threat to act alone to stop North Korea's nuclear pursuits if Beijing doesn't exert more pressure on Pyongyang.

The missile strikes hit the government-controlled Shayrat air base in central Syria, where U.S. officials say the Syrian military planes that dropped the chemicals had taken off. The missiles targeted the base's airstrips, hangars, control tower and ammunition areas, officials said.

Trump's decision to strike Syria won widespread praise from other nations, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, which support the Syrian opposition. British Prime Minister Theresa May's office said the action was "an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the Syrian regime, and is intended to deter further attacks." France, Italy and Israel also welcomed the strikes.

Not everyone was cheering in Washington, where the president's decision to act without congressional authority angered a mix of libertarian Republicans, Democrats and the far right. "The Constitution is very clear that war originates in the legislature," said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a leader of the party's non-interventionist wing who challenged Trump for the GOP nomination. "You vote before you go to war, not after you go to war."

Still, most Republican leaders applauded the president, and some Democrats backed him, too. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said the strikes were "a limited but necessary response" and called on Trump to "develop a comprehensive strategy to end Syria's civil war."

AP writers Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Vivian Salama in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.

Trudeau to mark 100 years of Vimy battle that defined Canada

April 08, 2017

VIMY, France (AP) — An ocean away from home, spilling their blood on a remote ridge in the muddied battlefields of northern France a century ago, many would argue that Canadians earned nationhood. Vimy Ridge has become much more than speck on a French map, even much more than a famous World War I battle. In a fledgling nation looking for a sense of self, trying to set it apart from British rule, the battle provided everything it needed — the vision of an underdog beating the odds, a show of courage, resolve and unity.

"It made the Canadian Corps think it could do anything. It made the soldiers believe that they were really good soldiers, better than anybody else. They had done something that the British and French were not able to do," said Professor Jack Granatstein, a Canadian military historian.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans to visit the fertile countryside, where any hill with a view was fought over with a blind determination costing thousands of lives. British and French forces had tried for a long time but failed to take Vimy Ridge. The Canadians succeeded on April 9, 1917, battling through snow and sleet to push out the Germans who had long held the strategic post.

The Canadians came, succeeded, at the price of 3,600 dead and over 7,000 injured. In the grand scheme of the war, it amounted to little. "It did not win the war. It did not change the course of the war. It moved the Germans back several kilometers but that was it," Granatstein said.

For the nation though, it meant everything. "In one day — in fact in one morning — these civilian volunteers from a small country with no military tradition were expected to do what the British and French had failed to do in two years," Pierre Berton wrote in his popular 1985 book, "Vimy."

It would take more than a year to finally budge the front line and start pushing the Germans back. The Canadians, ever more emboldened after Vimy, played their part and even were among the signatories to the Versailles Treaty.

Among the string of monuments reaching from the North Sea to Switzerland, Vimy stands out as perhaps the finest. With its surging pale columns reaching skyward, it stirs the soul. Yet statues of the Weeping Woman and two mourners, and the list of 11,285 soldiers posted "missing, presumed dead" makes it a solemn pilgrimage site.

The Vimy memorial, a revered national symbol, is on the back of Canada's $20 bill to this day.

Rob Gillies wrote from Toronto. Dave Rising contributed from Berlin

South Africans hold nationwide protests against Zuma

April 07, 2017

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Thousands of South Africans gathered in major cities on Friday to demonstrate against President Jacob Zuma, whose dismissal of the finance minister fueled concerns over government corruption and a struggling economy.

Protesters began marches in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and other big metropolitan areas to push for the resignation of the scandal-tainted Zuma, who for now retains the support of a ruling party facing an internal revolt against the president.

"Fire Zuma," read some placards. A march organized by the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's biggest opposition party, was expected to pass near the headquarters of the ruling African National Congress in downtown Johannesburg. ANC members in military uniforms who oppose the protest were posted outside.

The government appealed for calm and said it respects the right of South Africans to protest peacefully, a legacy of the struggle against white minority rule that ended in 1994 with the country's first all-race vote and the election of Nelson Mandela as president.

Pravin Gordhan, who was fired as finance minister in a late-night Cabinet reshuffle a week ago, was widely respected for his anti-corruption stance. The Standard & Poor's agency lowered South Africa's foreign currency credit rating after the dismissal, citing political instability and threats to economic growth.

Gordhan was seen as a counter to the alleged influence of the Gupta family, Indian immigrant businessmen who have been accused of trying to influence some of Zuma's Cabinet picks. The Guptas deny any wrongdoing, and Zuma has said there was nothing improper in the way he chose ministers.

Zuma and the ruling party have been weakened by other scandals around the president. Zuma was forced to reimburse some state money after the Constitutional Court ruled against him last year in a dispute over millions of dollars spent on his private home.

Atmosphere around super-earth detected

Heidelberg, Germany (SPX)
Apr 07, 2017

Astronomers have detected an atmosphere around the super-Earth GJ 1132b. This marks the first detection of an atmosphere around a low-mass super-Earth, in terms of radius and mass the most Earth-like planet around which an atmosphere has yet been detected. Thus, this is a significant step on the path towards the detection of life on an exoplanet.

The team, which includes researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, used the 2.2-m ESO/MPG telescope in Chile to take images of the planet's host star, GJ 1132, and measured the slight decrease in brightness as the planet and its atmosphere absorbed some of the starlight while passing directly in front of their host star.

While it's not the detection of life on another planet, it's an important step in the right direction: the detection of an atmosphere around the super-Earth GJ 1132b marks the first time an atmosphere has been detected around a planet with a mass and radius close to Earth's mass and radius (1.6 Earth masses, 1.4 Earth radii).

Astronomers' current strategy for finding life on another planet is to detect the chemical composition of that planet's atmosphere, on the lookout for certain chemical imbalances that require the presence of living organisms as an explanation. In the case of our own Earth, the presence of large amounts of oxygen is such a trace.

We're still a long way from that detection though. Until the work described in this article, the (few!) observations of light from exoplanet atmospheres all involved planets much more massive than Earth: gas giants - relatives of our own solar system's Jupiter - and a large super-Earth with more than eight times the Earth's mass. With the present observation, we've taken the first tentative steps into analyzing the atmosphere of smaller, lower-mass planets that are much more Earth-like in size and mass.

The planet in question, GJ 1132b, orbits the red dwarf star GJ 1132 in the southern constellation Vela, at a distance of 39 light-years from us. Recently, the system has come under scrutiny by a team led by John Southworth (Keele University, UK).

The project was conceived, and the observations coordinated, by Luigi Mancini, formerly of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and now working at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Additional MPIA team members were Paul Molliere and Thomas Henning.

The team used the GROND imager at the 2.2-m ESO/MPG telescope of the European Southern Observatory in Chile to observe the planet simultaneously in seven different wavelength bands. GJ 1132b is a transiting planet: From the perspective of an observer on Earth, it passes directly in front of its star every 1.6 days, blocking some of the star's light.

The size of stars like GJ 1132 is well known from stellar models. From the fraction of starlight blocked by the planet, astronomers can deduce the planet's size - in this case around 1.4 times the size of the Earth. Crucially, the new observations showed the planet to be larger at one of the infrared wavelengths than at the others.

This suggests the presence of an atmosphere that is opaque to this specific infrared light (making the planet appear larger) but transparent at all the others.

Different possible versions of the atmosphere were then simulated by team members at the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy. According to those models, an atmosphere rich in water and methane would explain the observations very well.

The discovery comes with the usual exoplanet caveats: while somewhat larger than Earth, and with 1.6 times Earth's mass (as determined by earlier measurements), observations to date do not provide sufficient data to decide how similar or dissimilar GJ 1132b is to Earth. Possibilities include a "water world" with an atmosphere of hot steam.

The presence of the atmosphere is a reason for cautious optimism. M dwarfs are the most common types of star, and show high levels of activity; for some set-ups, this activity (in the shape of flares and particle streams) can be expected to blow away nearby planets' atmospheres.

GJ 1132b provides a hopeful counterexample of an atmosphere that has endured for billion of years (that is, long enough for us to detect it). Given the great number of M dwarf stars, such atmospheres could mean that the preconditions for life are quite common in the universe.

In any case, the new observations make GJ 1132b a high-priority target for further study by instruments such as the Hubble Space Telescope, ESO's Very Large Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope slated for launch in 2018.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Atmosphere_Around_Super_Earth_Detected_999.html.

Possible Venus twin discovered around dim star

Mountain View CA (SPX)
Apr 07, 2017

Astronomers using NASA's Kepler space telescope have found a planet 219 light-years away that seems to be a close relative to Venus. This newly discovered world is only slightly larger than Earth and orbits a low-temperature star called Kepler-1649 that's one-fifth the diameter of our Sun.

The planet tightly embraces its dim home star, encircling it every 9 days. The tight orbit causes the flux of sunlight reaching the planet to be 2.3 times as great as the solar flux on Earth. For comparison, the solar flux on Venus is 1.9 times the terrestrial value.

The discovery will provide insight into the nature of planets around M dwarf stars, by far the most common type in the universe. While such stars are redder and dimmer than the Sun, recent exoplanet discoveries have revealed instances in which Earth-sized worlds circle an M dwarf in orbits that would place them in their star's habitable zone. But such worlds might not inevitably resemble Earth, with its salubrious climate. They could just as well be analogs of Venus, with thick atmospheres and scalding temperatures.

According to SETI Institute scientist Isabel Angelo, the study of planets similar to the Venus analog Kepler-1649b is "becoming increasingly important in order to understand the habitable zone boundaries of M dwarfs.

"There are several factors, like star variability and tidal effects, that make these planets different from Earth-sized planets around Sun-like stars."

It's said that Venus is Earth's sister planet, but in many ways it's not a close sibling. Despite being the same size as Earth, and only 40 percent closer to the Sun, its atmosphere and surface temperature are wildly different from our own. If we wish to find life on other Earth-sized worlds, we should take a cue from "The Music Man" and get to know the territory.

Elisa Quintana, from the SETI Institute and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and a member of the Kepler 1649b discovery team, notes, "Many people are hung up on finding other Earths. But Venus analogs are just as important.

"Since new telescopes coming down the pike will allow us to probe atmospheres, focusing on both Earth and Venus analogs may help decipher why, in our solar system, one planet allows life to thrive, and one does not, despite having similar masses, comparable densities, etc."

Source: Space Daily.
Link: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Possible_Venus_Twin_Discovered_Around_Dim_Star_999.html.