Libyan monarchists to call on Prince Mohamed to return to Libya

Tunis, 25 October 2017:

A conference of Libyan monarchists due to take place in Gharyan next week is to call for the restoration of the Senussi monarchy as the only workable solution to the Libyan crisis and on Prince Mohamed El-Senussi, the son of the late Crown Prince Hassan Al-Rida, to return to the country to lead it .

As part of this, the National Conference for the Activation of the Constitution of Independence will also call for the restoration of the constitution as existed in 1969 before Qaddafi’s September coup and on the international community and specifically UNSMIL to take the monarchist option seriously. It will also call on Libyans to back it as well.

“We believe that the only solution [to Libya’s crisis] is to return to the constitution and the monarchy”, said Ashraf Boudaoura, chairman of the committee organizing the Gharyan conference on 31 October. Everything else, he told the Libya Herald, had failed or was destined to fail.

“It’s time to recognize reality and give the monarchy a chance.”

The constitution he and his colleagues want to return to is that of 1951, amended in 1963. “We have a constitution. We don’t need another,” he said.

There had been previous pro-Senussi meetings, Boudaoura explained, with groups in Beida, Tobruk, Tripoli and elsewhere. But this was the start of a national movement. Some 600 supporters were expected to attend from across the country, he added. These would include tribal as well as other community representatives.

Prince Mohamed and other members of the royal family had not been invited and so would not be in Gharyan next week, he added. Rather, the meeting would be a call on the prince to assume his responsibilities return to Libya and lead it forward.

Source: Libya Herald.
Link: https://www.libyaherald.com/2017/10/25/libyan-monarchists-to-call-on-prince-mohamed-to-return-to-libya/.

Kuwait emir reappoints PM

2017-11-01

DUBAI - Kuwait's emir reappointed his prime minister on Wednesday and asked him to form a cabinet, the official state news agency said on Wednesday, after the government stepped down earlier this week in an expected cabinet reshuffle.

The major oil producer has the oldest legislature among the Gulf Arab states and experiences frequent cabinet resignations amid tensions between the government and lawmakers.

Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak al-Sabah had tendered his resignation on Monday.

Pan-Arab television channel Al Arabiya had earlier reported the news.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85708.

Prominent billionaire among dozens arrested in Saudi purge

2017-11-05

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia has arrested dozens of senior figures including princes, ministers and a top business tycoon, in what authorities hailed Sunday as a "decisive" anti-corruption sweep as the kingdom's crown prince consolidates power.

Prominent billionaire Al-Waleed bin Talal was among the 11 princes arrested late Saturday, reports said, immediately after a new anti-corruption commission headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was established by royal decree.

Separately, the head of the Saudi National Guard, once a leading contender to the throne, as well as the navy chief and the economy minister were replaced in a series of high-profile sackings that sent shock waves through the kingdom.

The dramatic purge comes at a time of unprecedented social and economic transformation in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia, as Prince Mohammed steps up his reform drive for a post-oil era.

Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported that the princes, four current ministers and dozens of ex-ministers were arrested as the commission launched a probe into old cases such as floods that devastated the Red Sea city of Jeddah in 2009.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the commission's goal was to "preserve public money, punish corrupt people and those who exploit their positions".

Shares in Kingdom Holding, 95 percent of which is owned by Prince Al-Waleed, dived 9.9 percent as the Saudi stock exchange opened Sunday after reports of his arrest.

The prince's office was not reachable for comment.

"With this (crackdown), the kingdom heralds a new era and policy of transparency, clarity and accountability," Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan was quoted as saying by SPA.

"The decisive decisions will preserve the investment environment and boost trust in the rule of law."

The kingdom's top council of clerics also lauded the anti-corruption efforts as "important", essentially giving religious backing to the crackdown.

An aviation source said that security forces had grounded private jets at airports, possibly to prevent high-profile figures from leaving the country.

- 'Shock waves' -

"The breadth and scale of the arrests appears to be unprecedented in modern Saudi history," said Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow at the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

"The reported detention of Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, if true, would send shock waves through the domestic and international business community," Ulrichsen said.

The purge comes less than two weeks after Prince Mohammed welcomed thousands of global business leaders to Riyadh for an investment summit, showcasing his reform drive that has shaken up the kingdom.

It follows a wave of arrests of influential clerics and activists in September as the 32-year-old prince, often known as MBS, cements his grip on power.

Analysts said many of those detained were resistant to Prince Mohammed's aggressive foreign policy that includes the boycott of Gulf neighbor Qatar as well as some of his bold policy reforms, including privatizing state assets and cutting subsidies.

The latest purge saw Prince Miteb bin Abdullah sacked as the head of the National Guard, an elite internal security force. His removal consolidates the crown prince's control of the kingdom's security institutions.

To analysts, Prince Mohammed's meteoric rise has seemed almost Shakespearean in its aggression and calculation. In June, he edged out a 58-year-old cousin, Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, to become heir to the throne.

At the time, Saudi television channels showed the bearded Prince Mohammed kissing the hand of the older prince and kneeling before him in a show of reverence. Western media reports later said that the deposed prince had been placed under house arrest, a claim strongly denied by Saudi authorities.

Already viewed as the de facto ruler controlling all the major levers of government, from defense to the economy, the prince is widely seen to be stamping out traces of internal dissent before a formal transfer of power from his 81-year-old father King Salman.

At the same time, he has projected himself as a liberal reformer in the ultra-conservative kingdom with a series of bold moves including the decision allowing women to drive from next June.

Foreign diplomats predict that Prince Mohammed, set to be the first millennial to occupy the Saudi throne, could well be in control of Saudi Arabia for at least half a century.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85769.

Saudi Arabia sets up new authority for cyber security

2017-11-01

KHOBAR - Saudi Arabia has set up a new authority for cyber security and named its minister of state Musaed al-Aiban its chairman, strengthening security in the world’s largest oil exporter, a royal decree said.

The National Authority for Cyber Security will be made up of the head of state security, the head of intelligence, the deputy interior minister and assistant to the minister of defense, SPA said late on Tuesday.

The authority will be linked to the King and is created to "boost cyber security of the state, protect its vital interests, national security and sensitive infrastructure," it said.

It will also improve protection of networks, information technology systems and data.

Saudi Arabia has been target of frequent cyber attacks.

Earlier this year, it put out an alert about the Shamoon virus, which cripples computers by wiping their disks after the labor ministry had been attacked and a chemicals firm reported a network disruption.

The worst cyber attack to date was when Saudi Aramco, the world's largest oil company was hit by the Shamoon virus in 2012.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85703.

Bahraini jailed for 'insulting king' deported

2017-11-03

MANAMA - A Bahraini citizen convicted of "insulting the king" and stripped of his nationality has been deported to Iraq after serving a two-year jail sentence, Amnesty International said on Friday.

Ibrahim Karimi was released from the notorious Jaw prison on Monday and "deported to Iraq the next day", Amnesty said in a report.

He had served a sentence of two years and one month for allegedly "insulting the king" of Bahrain as well as Saudi Arabia and its ruler, and for possession of a stun gun.

Karimi was sentenced in 2016 but his citizenship had been revoked by the Bahraini authorities more than three years earlier.

Amnesty said Karimi had been found guilty of "publicly inciting hatred and contempt against the regime" and of "publicly insulting the king".

He was also convicted of "insulting Saudi Arabia and its king" in a tweet, following the deadly 2015 collapse of a massive construction crane at the Grand Mosque in Mecca that killed more than 100 people.

Karimi has denied ownership of the twitter account.

Amnesty has described Karimi as a "prisoner of conscience".

Authorities in Manama have stepped up prosecution of dissidents in recent months, granting military courts the right to try civilians for charges including terrorism as protests demanding an elected government in the Sunni-ruled monarchy near their seventh year.

Dozens of mostly Shiite protesters have been jailed and number of high-profile activists and clerics stripped of their citizenship since protests erupted in 2011.

Bahrain, a key ally of the United States and home to the US Fifth Fleet, accuses Shiite Iran of training "terrorist cells" that aim to overthrow the Bahraini government.

Iran denies the allegation.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=85757.

Spain issues arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader, aides

November 03, 2017

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish judge issued an international arrest warrant on Friday for former members of the Catalan Cabinet who were last seen in Brussels, including the ousted separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who said he was prepared to run for his old job even while battling extradition in Belgium.

The National Court judge filed the request with the Belgian prosecutor to detain Puigdemont and his four aides, and issued separate international search and arrest warrants to alert Interpol in case they flee Belgium.

Puigdemont's Belgian lawyer did not answer calls requesting comment, but has said that his client will fight extradition to Spain without seeking political asylum. Belgian federal prosecutors said they had received the arrest warrant and could question Puigdemont in coming days.

"We will study it, and put it in the hands of an investigating judge," spokesman Eric Van Der Sijpt told The Associated Press. "We are not in any hurry." Puigdemont and the four others are being sought for five different crimes, including rebellion, sedition and embezzlement in a Spanish investigation into their roles in pushing for secession for Catalonia.

The officials flew to Brussels after Spanish authorities removed Puigdemont and his Cabinet from office on Saturday for declaring independence for Catalonia. The Spanish government has also called an early regional election for Dec. 21.

Puigdemont told Belgian state broadcaster that he was in Belgium "ready to be a candidate" in the early polls and because he had lost faith in the Spanish justice system. "We can run a campaign anywhere because we're in a globalized world," he told RTBF, adding that he was not in Belgium to "Belgianize Catalan politics."

"I did not flee, but it's impossible to properly prepare" a legal defense while in Spain, he told the broadcaster. If Belgium acts on the international warrant issued by Spain and arrests him, Puigdemont would have to be brought before an investigating judge within 24 hours. His extradition procedure would take 15 days, Belgian legal experts say. But should Puigdemont appeal, that process could take a further 45 days, meaning that he would probably not leave Belgium before early January, well after the elections.

In her decision on Friday, Judge Carmen Lamela said that Puigdemont "apparently is in Belgium" and accused him of "leading the mobilization of the pro-independence sectors of the population to act in support of the illegal referendum and thus the secession process outside the legal channels to reform the constitution."

Spain says the only legal way to achieve secession is by reforming Spain's 1978 Constitution with an ample majority in the national parliament. The constitution says the country is "indivisible" and doesn't allow regional votes on sovereignty.

The arrest warrant came a day after the same judge jailed nine former members of Puigdemont's separatist government. All members of the ousted Cabinet were ordered to appear at Spain's National Court on Thursday to answer questions in a rebellion investigation. Five of them, including Puigdemont, didn't show up.

Spanish prosecutors want to charge members of the dismissed regional government —as well as six additional members of the regional parliament— for promoting official steps to declaring Catalonia's independence.

Meanwhile, a panel of National Court judges on Friday rejected an appeal seeking the release of two separatist activists who were jailed last month in a separate sedition investigation. A National Court spokesman said the president of the Assemblea Nacional Catalana, Jordi Sanchez, and Omnium Cultural leader Jordi Cuixart will remain in a Madrid jail while the investigation continues. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity in line with court policy.

Sanchez and Cuixart are being investigated for allegedly orchestrating protests that hindered a judicial investigation to halt preparations for a banned independence referendum held on Oct. 1. Under Spain's legal system, investigating judges can have suspects detained while a comprehensive probe, sometimes taking months, determines if they should be charged.

Spanish government spokesman Inigo Mendez de Vigo deflected questions by the media regarding the jailing of the Catalan officials. The separation of powers meant that the government's focus was on preparing for the early election it called for Catalonia, Mendez de Vigo said.

"What the government guarantees is that there will be elections where the parties that want to run can present their programs, and we hope that the election can end this period of uncertainty and the deterioration of harmonious coexistence in Catalonia," he said.

One of the nine jailed Catalan officials, ex-regional minister for business Santi Vila, posted bail of 50,000 euros ($58,000) and was released from custody on Friday. His passport was confiscated and Vila needs to show up in court regularly as the rebellion, sedition and embezzlement probe continues.

The other eight were held without having bail set. "I ask for all political parties across Spain, appealing to their democratic values, to put an end to this terrible situation that has put politicians in prison," Vila said as he left the Estremera prison near Madrid.

Vila resigned in protest a day before Catalonia's parliament voted in favor of the independence declaration. He has said he wants to lead the center-right separatist Democratic Party of Catalonia in the upcoming election on a moderate platform.

Puigdemont and his Cabinet were removed by Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who used extraordinary constitutional authority authorized by the Spanish Senate to depose the separatists, dissolve the regional legislature and call the early regional election.

Spain's Supreme Court is also investigating six members of Catalonia's parliament. The court postponed a hearing Thursday until next week to allow more time for them to prepare their defenses in the case.

In all, Spanish prosecutors are investigating 20 regional politicians for rebellion and other crimes that would be punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

Cook reported from Brussels. Associated Press writer Joseph Wilson in Barcelona contributed to this report.

Spain judge jails Catalan ministers, mulls leader's arrest

November 03, 2017

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish judge jailed nine former members of Catalonia's separatist government Thursday and was deliberating a possible international arrest warrant for the region's ousted president, who remained in Belgium while the others appeared in a Madrid court for questioning about their efforts to break away from Spain.

Former President Carles Puigdemont and his 13-member Cabinet are being investigated for rebellion, sedition and embezzlement stemming from their pursuit of Catalan independence. The Spanish government removed them from office on Oct. 27 and they were summoned to appear in Spain's National Court on Thursday.

After the nine Catalan Cabinet members who showed up were questioned, a judge sent eight of them to jail without bail. One was ordered held in lieu of 50,000 euros ($58,300) in bail. The seven men and two women were taken from the court in police vans hours later and assigned to prisons in the Madrid area.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Catalan towns to condemn the pre-charge detentions, which fellow separatist politicians and elected officials criticized as an attack on ideas. "We won't give up, we won't fail, we will fight till the end," Marta Rovira, an increasingly prominent politician in Catalonia's republican-left ERC party, said.

"We have all the right in the world to live in a country with more justice, dignity and freedom," she told reporters as tear welled in her eyes. The Spanish government said it does not comment on judges' decisions in deference to the separation of powers.

Investigative magistrate Carmen Lamela ordered the officials into custody at the request of prosecutors, who also asked Thursday for an international warrant seeking Puigdemont's arrest. Under Spain's legal system, investigating judges can have suspects detained while a comprehensive probe, sometimes taking months, determines if they should be charged.

Puigdemont surfaced in Belgium on Tuesday with some of his ex-ministers, saying they were seeking "freedom and safety" there. He and four of the officials remained in Brussels on Thursday. Asked whether Puigdemont would turn himself in if the arrest warrant is granted, his lawyer in Belgium, Paul Bekaert, told The Associated Press: "Certainly. Or the police will come get him." Bekaert said Puigdemont intends to cooperate with Belgian police.

Also Thursday, six Catalan lawmakers appeared for a parallel session in the Spanish Supreme Court. They were given a week to prepare their defenses and instructed to return for questioning on Nov. 9. In all, Spanish prosecutors are investigating 20 regional politicians for rebellion and other crimes that would be punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

In a written ruling, the National Court judge said the eight jailed without bail had planned and executed a roadmap since 2015 to create an independent Catalan republic. The ruling said the activities of those under investigation were "meditated and perfectly prepared and organized, repeatedly disobeying systematically over two years Constitutional Court resolutions in favor of the independence."

The judge said the eight were being jailed without the possibility of bail because of the risk of them fleeing prosecution or hiding or destroying evidence. Lawyers for the jailed officials said they planned to appeal Lamela's order. Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, who represents Puigdemont and four more of the ousted Cabinet members, said the judge's decision to send them to jail "lacked justification" and was "disproportionate."

The Catalan officials' supporters and party aides in Madrid were seen crying outside the courthouse when the judge's decision was announced. They shouted "Freedom! Freedom!" and sang the Catalan official anthem, "Els Segadors," which translates to "The Reapers" in English.

Spain took the unprecedented step of triggering constitutional powers allowing it to take over running Catalonia following a declaration of independence by the regional parliament on Oct. 27. Madrid dismissed the Catalan Cabinet, dissolved the parliament and called a new regional election for Dec. 21.

Junqueras, in a tweet sent shortly after the judge's decision, called on Catalans to cast ballots to defeat unionists. "Do every day everything that is in your hands in order for good to defeat evil in the ballots of Dec. 21," the tweet posted through Junqueras' account said. "Standing up, with determination and onward to victory."

Puigdemont, also in a tweet, wrote that "the legitimate government of Catalonia has been jailed for its ideas." Javier Melero, a lawyer representing some of the separatist lawmakers investigated in the Supreme Court, criticized Puigdemont and the four ministers who skipped court. He said their actions would be damaging for his clients, three lawmakers who are members of Puigdemont's PDeCAT party.

"Not being at the service of the judiciary when you are summoned is always damaging for the rest of those being investigated," Melero said. About two dozen politicians and elected officials from Catalan separatist parties gathered at the gates of the Supreme Court in a show of support for the lawmakers under investigation.

"If the question is if in Spain you can trust the judicial system, my answer is no," said Artur Mas, a former president of the Catalan government. "From the personal point of view and also for my personal experience, I don't think that there are all the guarantees to have a fair trial."

Mas was banned by a Barcelona court from holding public office for two years after he ignored a Constitutional Court ruling and went ahead with a mock vote on Catalonia's independence in 2014. Across the street, half a dozen protesters with Spanish flags were stopped by police. They shouted at the Catalan politicians, "cowards" and "to jail, to jail."

The protracted political crisis over Catalonia, Spain's worst in decades, could have an impact on the country's economic growth, Spain's central bank warned in a report published Thursday.

Sylvain Plazy in Belgium, Paolo Santalucia in Madrid, and Elena Becatoros in Barcelona, contributed to this report.

Spain seeks rebellion charges against fired Catalan leaders

October 30, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain's state prosecutor said Monday that he would seek charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement against members of Catalonia's ousted secessionist government, pushing the crisis over the region's independence declaration into an uncertain new phase.

Chief prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza said he would ask judges for preventive measures against the politicians and the governing body of the Catalan parliament that allowed a vote to declare independence last week. He didn't specify if those would include their immediate arrest and detention before trial.

The rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges carry maximum sentences of 30, 15 and six years in prison, respectively. It wasn't immediately clear when judges would rule on the prosecutors' request.

Maza didn't name any of those facing charges, but they include regional leader Carles Puigdemont, his No. 2 Oriol Junqueras and Catalan parliamentary speaker Carme Forcadell. The announcement came as Catalonia's civil servants returned to work for the first time since Spain dismissed the separatist regional government and imposed direct control.

In addition to the sedition charges, Spain's government has said the fired leaders could be charged with usurping others' functions if they attempt to carry on working. Puigdemont traveled to Brussels, according to a Spanish government an official who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to be named in media reports. The trip came after Belgian Asylum State Secretary Theo Francken said over the weekend that it would be "not unrealistic" for Puigdemont to request asylum.

The uncertainty over Puigdemont's whereabouts and his plans continued the game of political cat-and-mouse with which the Catalan leader has tormented the central government. Also Monday, Puigdemont's party indicated it is ready to fight in the Dec. 21 early regional election called by the national government, scotching fears the pro-independence parties might boycott the ballot to deny it legitimacy. The center-right PDeCAT party vowed to defeat pro-union political forces in Catalonia.

As dozens of journalists, curious onlookers and bemused tourists gathered in the square outside the Gothic government palace in central Barcelona, residents expressed confusion about who was actually in charge of Catalonia.

"I don't know — the Catalan government says they are in charge, but the Spanish government says they are," said Cristina Guillen, an employee in a nearby bag shop. "So I have no idea, really. "What I really think is that nobody is in charge right now," she said.

At least one portrait of Puigdemont was still hanging on a wall inside the Catalan government's Generalitat building. At least one member of the ousted government defied his dismissal by showing up at work and posting a photo on Twitter from his formal office.

"In the office, exercising the responsibilities entrusted to us by the people of Catalonia," said Josep Rull, who until last week was the region's top official in charge of territorial affairs. Two police officers entered and left the building, followed minutes later by Rull, who told reporters and supporters that he would continue carrying out his agenda.

But there were no official events listed on the regional government's public agenda that is published online daily. Meanwhile, the two separatist parties in the former Catalan governing coalition held separate meetings to decide their next move.

Spanish authorities say deposed officials will be allowed to take their personal belongings from official buildings, but are barred from performing any official duties. Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said Monday that the government was giving the separatist politicians "a few hours" of time because the goal was "to recover normality in a discreet way and under the principle of minimal intervention" from central authorities.

Catalonia's regional parliament proclaimed independence from Spain in a secret ballot Friday. The Spanish government dissolved the legislature, fired the government and regional police chief and called a new election for Dec. 21.

Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said Sunday that Puigdemont would be eligible to run in the election, provided he is not imprisoned. "I don't know what kind of judicial activity will happen between now and Dec. 21. If he is not put in jail at that time I think he is not ineligible," Dastis told The Associated Press, speaking before prosecutors announced they were seeking charges.

The vote to secede came after an Oct. 1 referendum in favor of independence that was deemed illegal by Spain's constitutional court. Puigdemont has vowed peaceful and "democratic opposition" to his Cabinet's dismissal, but he hasn't clarified if that means accepting an early regional election as a way out of the deadlock.

Separatist parties and grassroots groups have spoken of waging a campaign of disobedience to hamper the efforts by central authorities to run the region. A key factor will be how Catalonia's estimated 200,000 public workers react to their bosses' dismissal, and whether any stay away from work in protest.

Secession moves by this wealthy northeastern region of 7.5 million have tipped Spain into its deepest crisis in decades. On Sunday, hundreds of thousands took part in an anti-independence demonstration in Barcelona, calling for Catalonia to remain in Spain and backing Rajoy's use of unprecedented constitutional powers to wrest control from the pro-independence regional administration.

Spanish financial markets rose Monday after a poll suggested more Catalans oppose the declaration of independence than support it. The Ibex 35 stock index was up 1.4 percent at 10,338 points, about as much as it had fallen on Friday. Spanish government bonds were also higher.

Jill Lawless in Barcelona, and Carlo Piovano in London, contributed to this story.

Spanish PM to unveil measures to fight Catalan separatists

October 20, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain's prime minister says his government will unveil specific measures Saturday to halt Catalonia's independence bid but refused to confirm if that included plans to hold a regional election in January.

The opposition Socialists are supporting the conservative government's effort to rein in the country's deepest political crisis in decades. The Socialists' main negotiator, Carmen Calvo, said earlier Friday that an early election in the prosperous northeastern region of Catalonia had been agreed upon as part of the deal.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, commenting on the unprecedented constitutional step his government is taking to assume control of Catalonia, said on the sidelines of a European Union summit in Brussels that "the goal is double: the return to legality and the recovery of institutional normalcy."

The move is likely to further inflame tensions between Spain and Catalonia's pro-independence activists. Catalonia's government says it has the mandate to secede from Spain after it held a disputed referendum on Oct. 1. It certainly does not want a new regional election.

The central government will hold a special Cabinet session on Saturday to begin activating Article 155 of Spain's 1978 Constitution, which lets central authorities take over all or some of the powers of any of the country's 17 autonomous regions.

The measure, which has never been used since democracy was restored after Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship, needs to be approved by the Senate. Rajoy's conservative Popular Party has an absolute majority in the Senate, so it should pass easily as early as Oct. 27.

Spain's government has also agreed on the move with the center-right, pro-business Citizens party, Rajoy told reporters in Brussels. King Felipe VI, meanwhile, threw his weight behind efforts to block Catalan independence, saying at a public event Friday night that Catalonia "is and will be an essential part" of Spain.

"Spain will deal with this unacceptable attempt at secession by using the Constitution," Felipe said in a speech in Oviedo, in northern Spain's Asturias region. Although not officially on the agenda of a European Union summit Friday, the Catalan crisis was the main topic in Brussels corridors. Rajoy has insisted the political deadlock is a domestic Spanish affair but acknowledged that it was a cause of concern for his fellow EU leaders.

He accused the Catalan separatist authorities of acting against the rule of law and democracy and said: "This is something that goes directly against the basic principles of the European Union." European leaders have supported Rajoy in Spain's escalating conflict with the separatists.

"We believe that people should be abiding by the rule of law and uphold the Spanish constitution," British Prime Minister Theresa May said. Offering his "full, entire support," French President Emmanuel Macron blamed extremist forces for "feeding" on separatism as a kind of division within Europe and a "factor of destabilization."

Meanwhile, some bank customers in Catalonia withdrew symbolic amounts of money to protest financial institutions that have moved their official headquarters from Catalonia to other locations in Spain amid the political crisis.

The pro-independence umbrella group Cry for Democracy called on consumers to put pressure on banks that made the decision. By Friday morning, dozens of people were lining up at a CaixaBank branch in downtown Barcelona, most of them withdrawing 150 or 160 euros from ATMs — the closest amounts to Article 155 of the constitution.

CaixaBank and Banco Sabadell, the largest Catalan lenders, are among nearly 1,000 financial institutions and businesses that have moved their official registration out of Catalonia in the past few weeks.

"These banks are traitors," said Oriol Mauri, a 35-year-old owner of a children's game business in Barcelona. "They need to see that it's lots of us who are angry." Mauri, who withdrew 150 euros, said he wasn't worried about businesses fleeing Catalonia.

"I'm not afraid of economic repercussions," Mauri said. "Our power as consumers is perhaps the only way to influence and have our voice heard in Europe." Ana Coll, a 55-year-old pharmacist who withdrew 160 euros, said peaceful street protests haven't been enough to influence the decision-makers in Spain and Europe.

"We need to step up our actions and do something that really hurts, and that is targeting the money," she said. But not everybody saw the measure as productive. "This is like shooting yourself in the foot. It's not going to solve anything" said 42-year-old consulting firm worker Oscar Garcia, who compared the action to "the tantrum of a kid who doesn't get what he wants."

40 die in fires in Portugal, Spain; Rain helps firefighters

October 17, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Rain and lower temperatures are helping emergency teams in Portugal and Spain fight the forest fires that killed at least 40 people over the weekend. Civil Protection authorities say wildfires in Portugal were under control by Tuesday morning, after at least 36 people died and dozens were injured. Portugal, which still has seven people missing in the blazes, began three days of national mourning on Tuesday.

In northwest Spain, where four people have died in the fires, regional authorities in Galicia say 27 forest fires are still out of control Tuesday, seven of them close to inhabited areas. Investigations are still underway to find the cause for the late-season wave of hundreds of forest fires, which officials in both countries are blaming mostly on arsonists.

Catalan politicians to be quizzed in Spain rebellion case

November 02, 2017

MADRID (AP) — Ousted Catalan government members and lawmakers began arriving at two Spanish courts in Madrid on Thursday to face possible charges of rebellion for having declared the region's independence.

Twenty regional politicians, including sacked regional government president Carles Puigdemont, were called to appear after the chief prosecutor demanded they be charged with rebellion, sedition and embezzlement following the Catalan parliament's declaration of secession Oct. 27.

Spain took the unprecedented step of seizing control of Catalonia following the declaration and later sacked the cabinet, dissolved the regional Parliament and called fresh regional elections for Dec. 21.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium with some of his ex-Cabinet members, will remain in Belgium and not appear, according to his lawyer, which could trigger a warrant for his arrest and an extradition petition.

The group summoned includes Puigdemont's 13-member former Cabinet and six parliamentary board members. Puigdemont's No. 2, Oriol Junqueras, was the first to arrive at the National Court. He went in accompanied by lawyers, passing by dozens of journalists, declining to answer questions.

The crimes being probed are punishable by up to 30 years in prison under Spanish law. Puigdemont said he and six ex-ministers went to Brussels some days ago for "freedom and safety." Two of the ex-ministers returned to Spain and were scheduled to be among an estimated 15 lawmakers expected to appear. Four ex-ministers remained in Brussels with Puigdemont.

Besides the ex-Cabinet members, six regional parliament members are to appear before the Supreme Court in a parallel probe. They include former Catalan parliament speaker Carme Forcadell, one of the leading figures of the pro-independence movement in Catalonia for many years, who arrived at the court shortly after 9 a.m. (0800 GMT).

About two dozen politicians and elected officials from Catalan separatist parties gathered at the gates of the Supreme Court in a show of support for them. Assumpcio Lailla, a former lawmaker with Catalonia's Democrats party, said she had traveled to Madrid joining around 100 other politicians and elected officials to show support to those investigated in the rebellion probe.

"This is an unjust situation in which they are being investigated for facilitating democracy," she said. "I don't understand how Europe can look away from democracy." The supporters greeted some of the lawmakers that are being questioned Tuesday at the Supreme Court cheering and shouting: "Freedom, Freedom" and "we are not afraid."

Across the street, half a dozen protesters with Spanish flags were stopped by police. They shouted at the Catalan politicians, "cowards" and "to jail, to jail."

This story has been corrected to show that the first name of the ex-lawmaker from the Democrats party is Assumpcio, not Assumptio.

Catalan ex-leader to speak in Brussels as asylum rumors grow

October 31, 2017

BRUSSELS (AP) — Catalonia's ousted regional president will give a news conference in Brussels on Tuesday, European officials said, as speculation mounted that he might seek political asylum in Belgium and try to avoid possible prosecution in Spain for declaring Catalan independence.

Carles Puigdemont arrived in Brussels on Monday, the same day that Spanish prosecutors announced they were seeking rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges against him and other Catalan officials.

Puigdemont is due to speak shortly at the Brussels Press Club, which is right next to the European Union's headquarters. He walked into the building past a few protesters with Spanish national flags and pro-unity signs, including ones that that said "Rule of Law" and "Not in my Name. Long live Spain."

Over the weekend, a Belgian government official said that it wouldn't be "unrealistic" for Puigdemont to request asylum. Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis said that the central government in Madrid would be surprised if Puigdemont sought asylum in Belgium and were granted protection there.

Dastis told Spain's Cadena SER radio that there is a level of "reciprocal trust" about the rule of law among members of the European Union. "It would be surprising that he could receive the right to asylum under the current circumstances," Dastis said, adding that the acceptance of an asylum petition "would not be a situation of normality" in relations between the two countries.

Belgium allows asylum requests by citizens of other European Union nations, and in the past, some Basque separatists weren't extradited to Spain while they sought asylum, causing years of friction. Spain took control over prosperous northeastern Catalonia this weekend after Puigdemont led the regional parliament to proclaim a new republic on Friday. The Spanish government immediately sacked him and his Cabinet, dissolved the regional parliament and called a new Catalan election for Dec. 21.

Meanwhile, Spain's Supreme Court said Tuesday it will investigate six ex-members of the governing body of the now-dissolved Catalan parliament for possible charges of rebellion, sedition and embezzlement following the parliament's declaration of independence last week. The six include ex-speaker of the parliament Carme Forcadell, one of the leading activists of Catalonia's pro-independence movement for many years.

The ruling Tuesday came a day after Spain's chief prosecutor Jose Manuel Maza announced he was seeking charges. Rebellion, sedition and embezzlement charges carry maximum sentences of 30, 15 and six years in prison, respectively. Maza is also seeking similar charges against ousted regional leader Carles Puigdemont, and his No. 2, Oriol Junqueras.

One of the main separatist civil society groups of Catalonia, the National Catalan Assembly, said Tuesday it accepted the regional election, despite the fact it was called under the Spanish government's intervention.

The group, whose leader is in jail on provisional sedition charges, is not a political party but it has been the driving civic force behind the independence movement in recent years. It said grassroots organizations need to prepare a "joint strategy" ahead of the elections with the goal of "obtaining an uncontested victory that will ratify the Republic."

Meanwhile, some of the official websites of the Catalan government tied to the previous administration were down Tuesday, in a further sign of the takeover by central authorities.

Aritz Parra reported from Barcelona, Spain.

Barcelona braces for march to reject Catalan independence

October 29, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Catalonia's main city Barcelona is bracing for a new day of protests over an independence declaration that led to the regional government's dismissal by Spain. Societat Civil Catalan has called for those who oppose Catalan independence to march at noon Sunday (1100 GMT; 7 a.m. EDT).

Organizers say the march's goal is to defend Spain's unity and reject "an unprecedented attack in the history of democracy." Their slogan will be "We are all Catalonia. Common sense for coexistence!" Members of the central government and main pro-union parties are expected to join.

Three weeks ago, the same group organized a mass rally that brought hundreds of thousands onto Barcelona's streets. No pro-independence marches were expected Sunday. Catalonia's ousted leader has called for Catalans to engage in peaceful opposition.

Ousted Catalan leader vows peaceful resistance to Spain

October 28, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Catalonia's ousted leader called for peaceful opposition to Spain's decision to take direct control of the region, saying Saturday that he and other regional officials fired by the central government will keep "working to build a free country."

Carles Puigdemont's comments, made in a recorded televised address that was broadcast as he sat in a cafe in his hometown of Girona, were a veiled refusal to accept his Cabinet's dismissal as ordered by central authorities.

They came a day after one of the most tumultuous days in Spain's recent history, when Catalan lawmakers in Barcelona passed a declaration of independence Friday for the prosperous northeastern region, and the national parliament in Madrid approved unprecedented constitutional measures to halt the secessionist drive.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also dissolved the regional parliament and called a new regional election to be held on Dec. 21. In his televised statement, Puigdemont said only the regional parliament can elect or dismiss the Catalan government, vowing to "continue working to build a free country."

"The best way we have to defend the achievements to date is the democratic opposition to the application of Article 155," Puigdemont said in reference to the constitutional clause that gave Madrid direct control of affairs in Catalonia.

Despite his defiant tone and the use of the official Catalan government emblem, the Catalan and European Union flags but no sign of the Spanish one, some political commentators saw his mention of "democratic opposition" as laying the groundwork for political campaigning for the regional election in less than two months.

"Our will is to continue working to fulfill the democratic mandates and at the same time seek the maximum stability and tranquility," Puigdemont said. Separatists argue that a controversial victory in a banned Oct. 1 referendum legitimizes them to split from Spain.

Andrew Dowling, a specialist in Catalan history at Cardiff University in Wales, said the statement was "vague and imprecise, certainly not like the president of a new country." "They have led 2 million Catalans to believe in independence, so it's a big problem to tell them now that it's actually difficult to build a state when Spain has the upper hand of the law on its side," Dowling said. "They are trapped by their own rhetoric."

After Spain's central authorities made the takeover official early Saturday, Puigdemont and the 12 members who until Saturday made up the Catalan Cabinet are no longer paid. Spain's government has said they could be charged with usurping others' functions if they refuse to obey, which could throw the region into further turmoil by prolonging a monthlong standoff.

In comments that were met late Friday with jeers and whistles of disapproval by secession supporters in Barcelona, Rajoy said the declaration of independence "not only goes against the law but is a criminal act."

Spanish prosecutors say top Catalan officials could face rebellion charges as soon as Monday. Refusing to comment on Puigdemont's televised address, Rajoy's office said on Saturday that his actions will be a judicial affair from now on and that the Dec. 21 election would be the way "to return dignity to the Catalan institutions."

It's not clear at all whether a new election would solve Spain's problems with separatists in Catalonia. Polls suggest pro-independence parties would likely maintain their slim advantage in parliamentary seats but wouldn't get more than 50 percent of the vote.

Beyond any possible resistance from top Catalan officials, it's unclear how Rajoy's government in Madrid will be able to exert its control at lower levels of Catalonia's vast regional administration. Catalonia had secured the ability to govern itself in many areas, including education, health and policing, since democracy returned to Spain following the death of dictator Gen. Francisco Franco in 1975.

Some among Catalonia's roughly 200,000 civil servants have said they will refuse to obey orders from Madrid. They risk being punished or even fired under the special powers granted to central authorities by the nation's Senate on Friday.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria will be Rajoy's point person in running Catalonia until the new regional election. She will coordinate other ministries that take over functions of Catalonia's regional departments, including finances and security, and appoint officials to implement orders from Madrid.

In one of the first moves, Spain's Interior Ministry published an order to demote Josep Lluis Trapero from his position as head of the regional Mossos d'Esquadra police in Catalonia. He was allowed to remain as commissar, but he later released a statement saying he was resigning from the force.

Trapero became a divisive figure as the public face of the police response in mid-August to deadly extremists' attacks in and near Barcelona. He was praised for effectiveness but also criticized for coordination problems with other national police forces.

Spain's National Court is also investigating him as part of a sedition probe related to the banned Oct. 1 independence referendum, when the regional police were seen as acting passively — not aggressively — to halt the vote deemed illegal by a top Spanish court.

Trapero's boss, regional police director Pere Soler, said in a statement that he accepted his firing by central authorities in Madrid.

Showdown between Spain and Catalonia headed to crunch

October 26, 2017

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The standoff between Spain and Catalonia over the wealthy region's bid to secede went down to the wire Thursday, as the Spanish government prepared to strip away Catalan regional powers after its separatist leader scrapped hopes of early elections that might have ended the country's worst political crisis in decades.

After weeks of mounting antagonism, Catalan officials had initially indicated regional President Carles Puigdemont was preparing to announce a snap election for December — a vote that had been the Spanish government's idea as a way of ending the deadlock.

But as news of Puigdemont's plan spread, angry student demonstrators waving separatist flags and calling him a traitor marched to the gates of the government palace in Barcelona. Even some of Puigdemont's political allies called him a coward for not unilaterally declaring independence in the face of Spain's resistance.

Then, in a hastily called address, Puigdemont said he had decided not to call a vote because the Spanish government did not provide enough assurance that it would suspend what he termed its "abusive" measures to assume control of Catalonia.

"There is no guarantee that would justify the holding of elections," he said. The crunch will come Friday when the Spanish Senate in Madrid gives the go ahead to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy's plan to use Article 155 of the country's constitution to remove or limit self-rule in Catalonia.

It would be an unprecedented intervention by the central government in the affairs of one of the country's 17 autonomous regions and would likely fan the flames of Catalan revolt. "The application of Article 155 represents an aggression ... without precedent," Lluis Corominas, spokesman for Puigdemont's Democratic Party of Catalonia, told Catalan lawmakers. "Tomorrow what we will propose is that our answer to Article 155 is going forward with the mandate of the people of Catalonia."

He was referring to the sentiment among the Catalan pro-independence coalition that it has a mandate to secede unilaterally since declaring a landslide victory in a banned independence referendum earlier this month.

Separatist lawmakers were set to negotiate how to make their declaration of independence during a meeting of the regional parliament on Friday, an official with the ruling coalition who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, told The Associated Press.

The ruling coalition has a reputation, however, for squabbling over how to proceed on the contentious issue. At the same time, not all Catalans are keen on breaking away from Spain, with polls showing they are roughly evenly split. And while those who voted in the Oct. 1 independence referendum were overwhelmingly in favor, less than half of eligible voters went to the polls in a vote that had been outlawed by Spain's Constitutional Court and was marred by police violence trying to stop it.

In the weeks since the Oct. 1 vote, more than 1,500 businesses have moved their official headquarters out of Catalonia to ensure they could continue operating under European Union laws if Catalonia secedes.

During Thursday's protest in Barcelona, not all the demonstrators were in favor of independence. Martina Gallego, 17, said that while she didn't want Catalonia to secede, she also objected strongly to how the Spanish government is treating the region.

"They are taking all our rights of autonomy away," she said. "I'm not in favor of independence, but I don't think this is right." Watching the protest unfold from afar, 31 year-old Barcelona resident Emilio Verdies, lamented what he called too much complaint and too little dialogue.

"Both governments, from Catalonia and Spain, should meet and try to fix the current situation," he said, adding that talks should center on Catalans' "being able to decide our future." Catalonia's independence bid has led to Spain's deepest political crisis in the four decades since the country restored democratic rule after Gen. Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

And it was far from clear whether an early election would resolve Spain's problems with the prosperous region of 7.5 million people. Polls show pro-independence parties would likely maintain their slim advantage in parliamentary seats but would not get more than 50 percent of the vote.

Deep distrust, after weeks of combative speeches, is keeping the sides apart. Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria, addressing the Senate commission studying the government's petition to take direct control of Catalonia, said the government had a duty to restore legality in Catalonia after its leadership disobeyed the constitution, which says Spain is "indissoluble."

"We are meeting our legal, democratic and political obligations," Saenz de Santamaria said. The day was fraught with tension and unanticipated twists. Ines Arrimadas, the leader of the pro-union Citizens party, told Puigdemont he had missed a chance to restore calm and had deepened uncertainty with his change of heart about an early election.

"This is Kafkaesque, this is utterly ridiculous," she said in the Catalan parliament. "No president has put Catalonia in as much danger as you."

Associated Press reporters Elena Becatoros and Nadine Achoui-Lesage in Barcelona, Ciaran Giles in Madrid and Barry Hatton in Lisbon contributed to this report.

France's New Caledonia Agrees With Paris on 2018 Independence Referendum

03.11.2017

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe that Paris and New Caledonia overseas territory have reached agreement on the independence referendum in 2018.

The referendum will take place in line with the Noumea Agreement signed in 1998, which implies gradual transfer of administrative powers to colonies in South Pacific over a time frame of 20 years; and independence referendums between 2014 and 2018.

The exact date for the New Caledonia plebiscite has not been set yet, but it should take place no later than November 2018.

This comes amid heightened tensions in the European Union between Spain and its autonomous region of Catalonia, which declared independence following a referendum on October 1. Over 90 percent of those who took part in the vote supported the idea of a Sovereign Catalonia, causing controversy across Europe.

Source: Sputnik International.
Link: https://sputniknews.com/europe/201711031058786319-france-new-caledonia-political-agreement/.

UK defense secretary resigns amid allegations about behavior

November 01, 2017

LONDON (AP) — Britain's defense minister resigned Wednesday after allegations emerged about inappropriate sexual behavior — the latest twist in a growing scandal over harassment and abuse in the country's corridors of power.

Michael Fallon said in a resignation letter to Prime Minister Theresa May that his "previous conduct ... may have fallen below the high standards that we require of the Armed Forces." Fallon, 65, was first elected to Parliament in 1983 and has been defense secretary since 2014.

A newspaper reported last weekend that Fallon had repeatedly touched a journalist's knee at a function in 2002. The journalist in question said she had shrugged off the incident, but reports suggested that other allegations about Fallon might soon emerge.

Accepting his resignation, May said she appreciated "the characteristically serious manner in which you have considered your position." The scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has emboldened people in many industries to speak up about sexual harassment or attacks at the hands of powerful individuals who control their future job prospects.

In Britain, it has produced soul-searching about the growing number of reports of sexual harassment and abuse in politics. May has called a meeting of party leaders to discuss how to deal with the topic, amid a growing roster of allegations about inappropriate behavior by politicians and parliamentary staff.

May has also ordered an investigation into claims another senior minister made inappropriate advances to a Conservative activist. Writer and academic Kate Maltby says Cabinet minister Damian Green "fleetingly" touched her knee in 2015 and later sent her a "suggestive" text message after she was pictured wearing a corset in a newspaper.

Maltby wrote in the Times of London newspaper that Green "offered me career advice and in the same breath made it clear he was sexually interested." "It was not acceptable to me at the time and it should not be acceptable behavior in Westminster in the future," Maltby wrote.

Green, Britain's de facto deputy prime minister, denied making sexual advances and called the allegations "a complete shock" and "deeply hurtful." May's office said the prime minister had asked the head of the civil service to "establish the facts and report back as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, an opposition Labor Party activist said the party discouraged her from reporting that she was raped at a Labor conference in 2011 when she was 19. Bex Bailey said a party official told her "that if I did, it might damage me."

The party said it was investigating the report. Labor lawmaker Lisa Nandy said Wednesday that she had raised concerns three years ago that party whips kept claims of sexual abuse as ammunition to control lawmakers, rather than dealing with the allegations.

May said the whips should make it clear that allegations of crimes should be reported to police. She has asked other party leaders to meet her next week to discuss setting up an independent grievance procedure for people working in Parliament.

"We have a duty to ensure that everyone coming here to contribute to public life is treated with respect," she told lawmakers during her weekly session in the House of Commons.

With tensions high, Trump, Abe strengthen bond on the links

November 05, 2017

TOKYO (AP) — With a round of golf, a custom cap and a hamburger of American beef, President Donald Trump's first trip to Asia began with a taste of home. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed Trump to Japan Sunday with an effusive display of friendship that, in the days ahead, will give way to high-stakes diplomacy. The two leaders, who have struck up an unlikely but easy rapport, shared a casual lunch and played nine holes at the Kasumigaseki Country Club, joined by professional golfer Hideki Matsuyama.

The low-key agenda was a prelude to the formal talks, a press conference and state dinner planned in Tokyo Monday. Abe will be looking for a united front against North Korea and reassurances that the U.S. will stand by its treaty obligations to defend Japan if attacked.

Eager to forge a bond with Tokyo's crucial ally, Abe was one of the first world leaders to court President-elect Trump. He was the first to call Trump after the election, and rushed to New York days later to meet the president-elect and present him with a pricey, gold Honma golf driver. The two men also met on the sidelines of an international summit in Italy this spring and Trump hosted Abe in Florida. White House officials said Trump has spoken with Abe by phone more than any world leader, aside from British Prime Minister Theresa May.

That bond was clear on Sunday. "The relationship is really extraordinary. We like each other and our countries like each other," Trump said Sunday night before dinner with Abe, who for this meal did show Trump traditional cuisine with a teppanyaki dinner. "And I don't think we've ever been closer to Japan than we are right now."

Trump and Abe also exchanged glowing tweets about their golf. Trump dubbed Abe and Matsuyama "wonderful people," while Abe called it a "round of golf with a marvelous friend." Abe told reporters after the golf session that the two could talk frankly in a relaxed atmosphere while out on the course. He said they were able to "carry out in depth discussion, at times touching on various difficult issues." A senior White House official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said the pair had discussed trade and North Korea — but didn't keep score.

From the time Marine One landed on the Kasumigaseki Country Club's driving range, Abe rolled out little touches to make Trump feel welcome. He presented a hat that had a version of Trump's campaign theme, this time reading "Donald and Shinzo: Make Alliance Even Greater." The two passed up the region's famed Kobe beef in favor of the American version, which is favored by Trump, a famed picky eater.

When Trump hosted Abe in Palm Beach earlier this year, they played at one of Trump's Florida golf courses. For that outing, Trump brought along pro golfer Ernie Els, so this time Abe matched him by bringing along Matsuyama, whom Trump described on the plane ride to Asia as "probably the greatest player in the history of Japan." Abe was behind the wheel of a golf cart as the two men were spotted moving from hole to hole, Trump in the passenger seat smiling and waving at those they passed.

"From the point of view of Abe administration, the personal chemistry that exists between the two leaders is seen as an asset," said Mireya Sollis, chair in Japan Studies for the Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies. She said that the Japanese believe it is already "seeing it pay off," including when Trump agreed to meet with the families of Japanese citizens kidnapped by the North Korean regime, an important issue for Tokyo.

Ever since Saudi Arabia delivered a lavish welcome on Trump's first international trip, leaders have tried to outdo themselves to impress the president, who has proven susceptible to flattery. Before the game, Trump delivered a speech in which he hailed Japan as a "crucial ally" and warned adversaries not to test America's resolve.

"Japan is a treasured partner and crucial ally of the United States and today we thank them for welcoming us and for decades of wonderful friendship between our two nations," Trump told American and Japanese service members at Yokota Air Base on the outskirts of Tokyo.

Though Trump did not mention North Korea by name during the speech, the spectre of its weapons program will loom large throughout Trump's five-nation Asia trip. The president warned of the consequences of crossing what he called the "most fearsome fighting force in the history of our world."

"Together with our allies, America's warriors are prepared to defend our nation using the full range of our unmatched capabilities. No one — no dictator, no regime and no nation — should underestimate, ever, American resolve," he told the troops.

And while there is worry in the region about Trump's unpredictable response to the threat posed by Kim Jong Un, Trump made clear he did not intend to tone down his bellicose rhetoric — including dubbing Kim Jong Un as "Little Rocket Man" — even while in an Asian capital within reach of the North Korea dictator's missiles.

"There's been 25 years of total weakness, so we are taking a very much different approach," he said, speaking to reporters on Air Force One. Trump will also meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an upcoming summit in Vietnam.

The easy rapport with Japan could be strained if Trump takes an aggressive approach on trade or the two men disagree on how best to approach the threat looming in Pyongyang. During his campaign, Trump suggested Japan should acquire its own nuclear weapons to defend itself, hinted the U.S. might not come to the nation's defense, and accused Japan of "killing us" on trade. He has dropped that antagonist language almost entirely since the election, but tensions remain.

Scott Seaman, a director for Asia of the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultant organization, noted: "everything is fine with Trump until you tell him no. So far, Abe hasn't told him no."

Colvin reported from Tokyo. Associated Press writers Ken Moritsugu, James Armstrong and Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report.

Russia struggles with legacy of 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

November 04, 2017

MOSCOW (AP) — They played key roles in Russia's 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which triggered a civil war that killed millions, devastated the country and redrew its borders. A century later, their descendants say these historic wounds have not healed.

As Russia approaches the centennial of the uprising, it has struggled to come to terms with the legacy of those who remade the nation. The Kremlin is avoiding any official commemoration of the anniversary on Tuesday, tip-toeing around the event that remains polarizing for many.

Alexis Rodzianko, whose great-grandfather was speaker of the pre-revolutionary Russian parliament and pushed Czar Nicholas II to abdicate but later regretted it, sees the revolution as a calamity that threw the country backward.

"Any evolutionary development would have been better than what happened," Rodzianko, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, told The Associated Press. "The main lesson I certainly would hope is that Russia never tries that again."

Rodzianko said the revolution and the civil war, combined with the devastation of World War II and the overall legacy of the Soviet system, eroded Russia's potential and left its economy a fraction of what it could have been.

A similar view is held by Vyacheslav Nikonov, a Kremlin-connected lawmaker whose grandfather, Vyacheslav Molotov, played an important role in staging the Bolshevik power grab and served as a member of the Communist leadership for four decades.

Nikonov describes the 1917 revolution as "one of the greatest tragedies of Russian history." The anniversary is a tricky moment for President Vladimir Putin. While he has been critical of revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin, Putin can't denounce the event that gave birth to the Soviet Union and is still revered by many of his supporters. But the KGB veteran disdains any popular uprisings, and he certainly wouldn't praise the revolution, which destroyed the Russian empire.

Rodzianko believes the befuddled attitude to the anniversary reflects a national trauma that still hurts. "It's a sign that people aren't quite over it. For Russia, it's a wound that is far from healed," he said, adding that his great-grandfather, Mikhail Rodzianko, quickly regretted pushing the czar to abdicate.

The government's low-key treatment of the centennial reflects deep divisions in Russia over the revolution, said Nikonov. A nationwide poll last month by the research company VTsIOM showed opinions over the revolution split almost evenly.

During Soviet times, Nov. 7 was known as Revolution Day and featured grand military parades in Red Square. After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia stopped commemorating it, although the Communists still marked it.

"There is no way you can celebrate the revolution so that the majority of the public would support that," Nikonov said. "I think the best way for the government in that situation is just keep a low profile."

Vyacheslav Molotov remained a steadfast believer in the Communist cause until his 1986 death in Moscow at age 96. Nikonov, his grandson, believes the revolution denied Russia a victory in World War I.

"At the beginning of the year (1917), Russia was one of the great powers with perfect chances of winning the war in a matter of months," he said. "By the end of the year, Russia wasn't a power. It was incapable of anything."

Putin has famously described the Soviet collapse as the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century," but he also has deplored the revolution — the ambivalence rooted in his desire to tap the achievements of both the czarist and the Soviet empires as part of restoring Russia's international clout.

"He will not celebrate this event," said Andrei Kolesnikov, an analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center. "For him, Lenin disrupted a great empire." Putin has used the symbols of various Russian eras to burnish national glory, restoring the Soviet-style national anthem while keeping the imperial tricolor flag and double-headed eagle coat-of-arms. He has ignored demands to remove Lenin's embalmed body from its Red Square mausoleum for burial. But he also has encouraged the steady growth of power of the Russian Orthodox Church and conservative elements.

Dima Litvinov, great-grandson of Molotov's predecessor as Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov, said his ancestor "would be horrified by the extreme nationalism and religious intolerance that is going up in Russia."

"I think he would want to challenge and oppose all of these things," he said. Dima Litvinov says Russia still faces some of the same problems that led to the 1917 revolution. "Russia, in a way, hasn't moved on," he said. "People feel detached from the ability to affect their fate and the government, the authorities like it that way."

Associated Press writers David Keyton in Stockholm and Kate de Pury in Moscow contributed.

Russia hackers pursued Putin foes, not just US Democrats

November 02, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — It wasn't just Hillary Clinton's emails they went after. The hackers who disrupted the U.S. presidential election last year had ambitions that stretched across the globe, targeting the emails of Ukrainian officers, Russian opposition figures, U.S. defense contractors and thousands of others of interest to the Kremlin, according to a previously unpublished digital hit list obtained by The Associated Press.

The list provides the most detailed forensic evidence yet of the close alignment between the hackers and the Russian government, exposing an operation that went back years and tried to break into the inboxes of 4,700 Gmail users — from the pope's representative in Kiev to the punk band Pussy Riot in Moscow. The targets were spread among 116 countries.

"It's a wish list of who you'd want to target to further Russian interests," said Keir Giles, director of the Conflict Studies Research Center in Cambridge, England, and one of five outside experts who reviewed the AP's findings. He said the data was "a master list of individuals whom Russia would like to spy on, embarrass, discredit or silence."

The AP findings draw on a database of 19,000 malicious links collected by cybersecurity firm Secureworks, dozens of rogue emails, and interviews with more than 100 hacking targets. Secureworks stumbled upon the data after a hacking group known as Fancy Bear accidentally exposed part of its phishing operation to the internet. The list revealed a direct line between the hackers and the leaks that rocked the presidential contest in its final stages, most notably the private emails of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.

The issue of who hacked the Democrats is back in the national spotlight following the revelation Monday that a Donald Trump campaign official, George Papadopoulos, was briefed early last year that the Russians had "dirt" on Clinton, including "thousands of emails."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the notion that Russia interfered "unfounded." But the list examined by AP provides powerful evidence that the Kremlin did just that. "This is the Kremlin and the general staff," said Andras Racz, a specialist in Russian security policy at Pazmany Peter Catholic University in Hungary, as he examined the data.

"I have no doubts."

THE NEW EVIDENCE

Secureworks' list covers the period between March 2015 and May 2016. Most of the identified targets were in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia and Syria.

In the United States, which was Russia's Cold War rival, Fancy Bear tried to pry open at least 573 inboxes belonging to those in the top echelons of the country's diplomatic and security services: then-Secretary of State John Kerry, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, then-NATO Supreme Commander, U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, and one of his predecessors, U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark.

The list skewed toward workers for defense contractors such as Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin or senior intelligence figures, prominent Russia watchers and — especially — Democrats. More than 130 party workers, campaign staffers and supporters of the party were targeted, including Podesta and other members of Clinton's inner circle.

The AP also found a handful of Republican targets.

Podesta, Powell, Breedlove and more than a dozen Democratic targets besides Podesta would soon find their private correspondence dumped to the web. The AP has determined that all had been targeted by Fancy Bear, most of them three to seven months before the leaks.

"They got two years of email," Powell recently told AP. He said that while he couldn't know for sure who was responsible, "I always suspected some Russian connection."

In Ukraine, which is fighting a grinding war against Russia-backed separatists, Fancy Bear attempted to break into at least 545 accounts, including those of President Petro Poroshenko and his son Alexei, half a dozen current and former ministers such as Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and as many as two dozen current and former lawmakers.

The list includes Serhiy Leshchenko, an opposition parliamentarian who helped uncover the off-the-books payments allegedly made to Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort — whose indictment was unsealed Monday in Washington.

In Russia, Fancy Bear focused on government opponents and dozens of journalists. Among the targets were oil tycoon-turned-Kremlin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who spent a decade in prison and now lives in exile, and Pussy Riot's Maria Alekhina. Along with them were 100 more civil society figures, including anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny and his lieutenants.

"Everything on this list fits," said Vasily Gatov, a Russian media analyst who was himself among the targets. He said Russian authorities would have been particularly interested in Navalny, one of the few opposition leaders with a national following.

Many of the targets have little in common except that they would have been crossing the Kremlin's radar: an environmental activist in the remote Russian port city of Murmansk; a small political magazine in Armenia; the Vatican's representative in Kiev; an adult education organization in Kazakhstan.

"It's simply hard to see how any other country would be particularly interested in their activities," said Michael Kofman, an expert on Russian military affairs at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington. He was also on the list.

"If you're not Russia," he said, "hacking these people is a colossal waste of time."

WORKING 9 TO 6 MOSCOW TIME

Allegations that Fancy Bear works for Russia aren't new. But raw data has been hard to come by.

Researchers have been documenting the group's activities for more than a decade and many have accused it of being an extension of Russia's intelligence services. The "Fancy Bear" nickname is a none-too-subtle reference to Russia's national symbol.

In the wake of the 2016 election, U.S. intelligence agencies publicly endorsed the consensus view, saying what American spooks had long alleged privately: Fancy Bear is a creature of the Kremlin.

But the U.S. intelligence community provided little proof, and even media-friendly cybersecurity companies typically publish only summaries of their data.

That makes the Secureworks' database a key piece of public evidence — all the more remarkable because it's the result of a careless mistake.

Secureworks effectively stumbled across it when a researcher began working backward from a server tied to one of Fancy Bear's signature pieces of malicious software.

He found a hyperactive Bitly account that Fancy Bear (which Secureworks calls "Iron Twilight") was using to sneak thousands of malicious links past Google's spam filter. Because Fancy Bear forgot to set the account to private, Secureworks spent the next few months hovering over the group's shoulder, quietly copying down the details of the thousands of emails it was targeting.

The AP obtained the data recently, boiling it down to 4,700 individual email addresses, and then connecting roughly half to account holders. The AP validated the list by running it against a sample of phishing emails obtained from people targeted and comparing it to similar rosters gathered independently by other cybersecurity companies, such as Tokyo-based Trend Micro and the Slovakian firm ESET .

The Secureworks data allowed reporters to determine that more than 95 percent of the malicious links were generated during Moscow office hours — between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday.

The AP's findings also track with a report that first brought Fancy Bear to the attention of American voters. In 2016, a cybersecurity company known as CrowdStrike said the Democratic National Committee had been compromised by Russian hackers, including Fancy Bear.

Secureworks' roster shows Fancy Bear making aggressive attempts to hack into DNC technical staffers' emails in early April 2016 — exactly when CrowdStrike says the hackers broke in.

And the raw data enabled the AP to speak directly to the people who were targeted, many of whom pointed the finger at the Kremlin.

"We have no doubts about who is behind these attacks," said Artem Torchinskiy, a project coordinator with Navalny's Anti-Corruption Fund who was targeted three times in 2015. "I am sure these are hackers controlled by Russian secret services."

THE MYTH OF THE 400-POUND MAN

Even if only a small fraction of the 4,700 Gmail accounts targeted by Fancy Bear were hacked successfully, the data drawn from them could run into terabytes — easily rivaling the biggest known leaks in journalistic history.

For the hackers to have made sense of that mountain of messages — in English, Ukrainian, Russian, Georgian, Arabic and many other languages — they would have needed a substantial team of analysts and translators. Merely identifying and sorting the targets took six AP reporters eight weeks of work.

The AP's effort offers "a little feel for how much labor went into this," said Thomas Rid, a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies.

In response to the AP's investigation, the DNC issued a statement saying the evidence that Russia had interfered in the election was "irrefutable."

Rid said the investigation should put to rest any theories like the one then-candidate Donald Trump floated last year that the hacks could be the work of "someone sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds."

"The notion that it's just a lone hacker somewhere is utterly absurd," Rid said.

Donn reported from Plymouth, Massachusetts. Myers reported from Chicago. Chad Day, Desmond Butler and Ted Bridis in Washington, Frank Bajak in Houston, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Maggie Michael in Cairo and Erika Kinetz in Shanghai contributed to this report. Novaya Gazeta reporters Nikolay Voroshilov, Yana Surinskaya and Roman Anin in Moscow also contributed.

Russia blamed for attack on Chechen pair who fought with Ukrainians

Tuesday 31 October 2017

Ukrainian officials said they believed either Russian secret services or pro-Kremlin Chechen assassins were behind an attack on a Chechen man accused of plotting to kill Vladimir Putin.

The Chechen man, Adam Osmayev, who leads a battalion of Chechens fighting alongside Ukrainian forces in the east of the country, was wounded in the attack, near Kiev, on Monday, and his wife, Amina Okuyeva, who also fought in the battalion, was killed.

Osmayev and Okuyeva were returning by car to their house outside Kiev, when unknown assailants opened fire on their car, apparently from a Kalashnikov rifle. Okuyeva was killed by two bullets to the head, while Osmayev was wounded but survived.

“I drove as far as I could until the car stopped, the engine was also hit. I tried to give her first aid, but she was shot in the head,” Osmayev told Ukrainian television from his hospital bed.

Oleksandr Turchynov, head of Ukraine’s security council, wrote on Facebook: “Russia, which continues its aggression in eastern Ukraine, has carried out terror right in the heart of the country.”

The attack on Monday was the second attempt to kill the couple this year. In June, a Chechen hitman posing as a journalist from French newspaper Le Monde attempted to open fire on Osmayev but was shot and wounded by Okuyeva.

Osmayev, the son of a successful Chechen businessman, was educated at a boarding school in the Cotswolds, in England, and studied economics at the University of Buckingham. He was arrested in Odessa, Ukraine, in 2012, on charges of planning the assassination of Vladimir Putin. He denied the charges, claiming he was set up, and he was released from prison in the aftermath of the Maidan revolution in 2014.

When the conflict with pro-Russia separatists broke out in east Ukraine, Okuyeva and Osmayev joined a pro-Ukraine battalion mainly made up of Chechens. The battalion’s commander, Isa Munayev, was killed in February 2015, and Osmayev took over as commander.

Okuyeva was a public face of the battalion, often posing in stylized photographs with a sniper rifle. She was an uncompromising critic of Russia and the regime of Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya. Many of Kadyrov’s critics have been killed, in Moscow as well as further afield.

A group of Chechen fighters who fought alongside pro-Russian forces in east Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 said they had gone there with the express purpose of killing Munayev, whom they deemed a traitor. Osmayev and Okuyeva, as the highest-profile Chechens backing Ukraine after Munayev’s death, knew that they were also targets.

Okuyeva was the latest high-profile target killed in the Ukrainian capital, which has been rocked by contract killings on numerous occasions in the past 18 months.

Last summer, the investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet was killed in central Kiev by a bomb placed in his car. Ihor Mosiychuk, a nationalist MP, was wounded by a bomb that killed his bodyguard last week.

In March a Russian MP, Denis Voronenkov, who had fled to Ukraine and denounced the Kremlin was shot dead in broad daylight in central Kiev. Voronenkov had asked Ukrainian authorities for armed protection in the run-up to the hit, saying he had received threats.

In all these cases Ukrainian authorities have been quick to blame Russia, though in the case of Sheremet investigative journalists alleged that Ukrainian security agents could have been monitoring the scene before the hit.

A Ukrainian official, Anton Gerashchenko, said on Tuesday that Okuyeva’s funeral would take place according to Islamic traditions. “Amina was close to death many times, and asked her family to avoid a big, public, funeral,” he wrote on Facebook.

Source: The Guardian.
Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/31/russia-blamed-for-attack-on-chechen-couple-who-fought-with-ukrainian-forces.