UAE purchases world's largest rocket launcher from Turkey

August 27, 2018

Turkey’s weapons manufacturer and defense contractor, Roketsan, has developed the world’s most potent artillery, dubbed “Jobaria” at the request of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), local Turkish media reported yesterday.

Jobaria is a multiple cradle launcher that was first introduced at the International Defense Exhibition, which was held in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi in 2013. It consists of four rocket launchers attached to the trailer carrying 60 rockets, 122 millimeters each.

The Turkish artillery was listed as the world’s largest rocket launcher regarding the number of nozzles by the Guinness World Records for 2018.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180827-uae-purchases-worlds-largest-rocket-launcher-from-turkey/.

Franco's family to take charge of Spanish dictator's remains

August 25, 2018

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The family of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco will take charge of his remains after Spain's government has them exhumed from a mausoleum, his relatives said Saturday.

"Of course we will take charge of the remains of my grandfather," Franco's grandson, Francis Franco, told Spanish newspaper La Razon in an interview published Saturday. "We won't leave them in the hands of the government."

While criticizing the decision to exhume his grandfather, he says the family doesn't plan to fight the legal changes that Spain's center-left government approved Friday to have Franco's body dug up and removed from a mausoleum the general built to honor the nation's civil war dead.

"Spending money against the government is a waste of time," he said. Franco led a right-wing uprising that ignited Spain's bloody 1936-1939 civil war and deposed Spain's democratic government. He died in 1975 and was buried in the Valley of the Fallen, a mausoleum he ordered built 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Madrid. Some 34,000 people from both sides of the fighting are buried at the site, most of them never identified.

His grandson says the family will decide in the next 15 days where the remains will reside next. In addition to exhuming Franco, the government also plans to unearth and identify the 114,000-or-so victims of the civil war and the four decades of dictatorship that followed under Franco.

Spain's center-right parties have criticized the plan by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government, saying it will stir up the political strife that tormented Spain in the last century. Supporters of the decision see it as a necessary step for the country to finally acknowledge and heal the scars left by Franco's uprising and his authoritarian regime.

Spain sets in motion plan to dig up former dictator Franco

August 24, 2018

MADRID (AP) — Spain's center-left government approved legal amendments Friday to make sure that the remains of former dictator Gen. Francisco Franco will be dug up and removed from a controversial national mausoleum honoring the nation's civil war dead.

The minority Socialist government is certain that parliament will endorse the amendments, probably in a debate next month, deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo told reporters. The amendments to Spain's Historical Memory Law of 2007 grant the government the power to exhume Franco's body. That change aims to thwart legal efforts by Franco's descendants and supporters to block the exhumation in the courts.

Removing Franco's remains from the Valley of the Fallen, a mausoleum he ordered built 50 kilometers (30 miles) northwest of Madrid, would be a momentous event in Spain, which still bears social and political scars from the country's 1936-39 civil war.

The vast Valley of the Fallen complex is most conspicuous public legacy of Franco's rule, built by the dictator as a tribute to those killed in the war in which he deposed Spain's democratic government.

Some 34,000 people from both sides of the fighting are buried at the site, most of them never identified. "Having Franco's tomb (at the complex) shows a lack of respect ... for the victims buried there," Calvo said. She noted that a visiting U.N. delegation said four years ago that "democracy is incompatible with a tomb that honors the memory of Franco."

In addition to exhuming Franco, the government also plans to unearth and identify the 114,000-or-so victims of the civil war and the four decades of dictatorship that followed under Franco, who died in 1975.

Spain's Memory Law, which outlawed public events supporting the Franco regime, fell short of addressing the broad demands of civil war survivors and victims' relatives for exhumations and reparations.

Franco's descendants will be consulted and will have 15 days to say where they would like the remains to go after exhumation. If they do not reply, the government will choose a "dignified place," Calvo said.

Francisco Martinez-Bordiu, a grandson of Franco, described the government's exhumation plans as "barbaric," telling Antena 3 on Friday that descendants would assess their legal options for halting it.

An exhumation of Franco's embalmed body — possibly as early as October — would cement the government's reformist, liberal credentials after taking power last June. Removing Franco from the mausoleum, which is owned and operated by the cultural heritage agency, a public-funded body, has long been discussed in Spain. Calvo said the government is fast-tracking the exhumation because it wants to "end a state of affairs which cannot go on any longer."

At next Friday's Cabinet meeting, the procedures for the exhumation will be set out, she said. The Valley of the Fallen complex includes a mausoleum and basilica in a neoclassic style and is a popular pilgrimage site for people nostalgic for the dictatorship. It has a 150-meter (500-foot)-tall cross that can be seen from far and wide.

Franco is in a tomb in the basilica's central nave beneath a massive tombstone.

Hatton reported from Lisbon.

After Rio museum fire, questions about cause, what survived

September 04, 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Forensic investigators and researchers awaited access Tuesday to the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro, gutted in a fire, to find out how the blaze began and what remains of the 20 million artifacts that made the museum one of the most important in Latin America.

After a fire tore through the museum Sunday, engineers were doing tests on the structure to make sure it wouldn't collapse. Authorities had expressed concern Monday that internal walls and parts of the roof were weak.

The museum held Latin America's largest collection of historical and scientific artifacts, and officials suggested that the damage could be catastrophic, with one official telling a Brazilian news outlet that as much as 90 percent may have been destroyed.

The cause of the fire was not known. Federal police will investigate since the museum was part of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. But protesters, commentators and museum directors themselves said years of government neglect had left the museum so underfunded that its staff had turn to crowdfunding sites to open exhibitions. In another example of struggling public services, firefighters initially struggled to contain it because the hydrants closest to the museum did not work. Instead, trucks had to gather water from a nearby lake.

Roberto Leher, rector of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, said it was well known that the building was vulnerable to fire and in need of extensive repairs. In fact, the institution had recently secured approval for nearly $5 million for a planned renovation, including an upgrade of the fire-prevention system, but the money had not yet been disbursed.

On Monday, officials promised $2.4 million to shore up the building and promised to rebuild the museum. "Those saying that the museum will be rebuilt are not telling the truth," said Luiz Philippe de Orleans e Braganca, an heir to Brazil's last emperor. "The building could be rebuilt, but the collection will never again be rebuilt. Two hundred years, workers, researchers, professors that dedicated in body and soul (to the museum) ... the work of their life burned due to the negligence of the Brazilian state."

The museum, whose main building was once home to the royal family, had extensive paleontological, anthropological and biological specimens. It also contained a skull called Luzia that was among the oldest fossils ever found in the Americas. It held an Egyptian mummy and the largest meteorite ever discovered in Brazil — one of the few objects that officials could confirm had survived. Some parts of the collection were held at others sites and thus spared.

Luiz Fernando Dias Duarte, the museum's deputy director, said that anything held in the main building was likely destroyed, and Cristiana Serejo, a vice-director of the museum, told the G1 news portal that maybe around 10 percent of the collection had survived.

For many in Brazil, the state of the 200-year-old natural history museum quickly became a metaphor for what they see as the gutting of Brazilian culture and life during years of corruption, economic collapse and poor governance.

Brazil has struggled to emerge from a two-year recession and seen its political and corporate elite jailed in Latin America's largest corruption investigation. The country has been riven with deep political divisions following the impeachment and removal of former President Dilma Rousseff.

DiLorenzo reported from Sao Paulo.

Brazil leftist party insists on banned candidate da Silva

September 02, 2018

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's main leftist party said Saturday it's sticking with former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as its presidential candidate even though the electoral court has thrown him off the ballot for an election just five weeks away.

Da Silva's vice presidential running mate, former Sao Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad told reporters the Workers Party will continue pushing to somehow get da Silva, 72, who easily leads in the polls, back on the ballot.

"The people are sovereign regarding the party's candidate. And that candidate is Lula," Haddad said. That strategy would keep da Silva in the spotlight until the absolute last minute, perhaps rallying support from backers that could then be transferred to a stand-in, likely Haddad, who is much less popular or charismatic.

The electoral court voted 6-1 early Saturday to reject da Silva's candidacy because of a corruption conviction that has been upheld on appeal. Da Silva and the party are appealing both the conviction and the electoral court ruling.

The ruling had been widely expected and there were no immediate street protests of the sort that occurred when the former president was initially arrested. Da Silva, who was wildly popular when he left office on Jan. 1, 2011, is now a sharply polarizing figure. Many Brazilians still revere him for pulling millions from poverty during his eight years in power.

But he and the Workers' Party have lost much of that appeal over the last several years due to a stumbling economy under his hand-picked successor Dilma Rousseff and a sprawling corruption probe that has ensnared many top businessmen and politicians, including da Silva.

That division was clear in the reaction to the electoral court ruling. "We have a big debt with Lula," said Thiago Renato, a 39-year-old IT specialist in the northeastern city of Recife. "We trust him here. I will vote for whoever he endorses because then I will know who will have the biggest impact for the poor," he added. "I know Haddad, but I don't know him well. If he is the candidate, he will have my vote."

At a Sao Paulo coffee shop, Alexandre Fonseca- 21 year old medical student, called the court decision an "unfortunate and fully expected ruling," one unlikely to be overturned on appeal. "The party must unite behind Haddad or whoever will replace Lula, to win the elections and give continuity to his legacy," he said.

But Virginia Toledo, a 37-year-old housewife in Sao Paulo, said da Silva's ouster means "we have another reason to celebrate." "First he was jailed and now his chances of returning to power have been eliminated," she said, while buying ice cream for her 10-year-old daughter

"We have to pray that Haddad or whoever the Workers' Party chooses as its candidate for president does not win the election," she added The former president is serving a 12-year-sentence for corruption and money laundering after being convicted of trading favors with construction company Grupo OAS in exchange for the promise of a beach house apartment.

As part of the ruling, Justice Luis Roberto Barroso said the Workers' Party should replace da Silva within 10 days, and that he should not appear as a presidential candidate in free airtime that is given to political parties on nationwide TV and radio.

However the party used the first day of free campaign TV airtime on Saturday to denounce the electoral court ruling in a spot that featured filed footage of da Silva. Left-leaning candidate Ciro Gomes of the Democratic Labor Party said the electoral court's ruling was "not a good thing for Brazil."

"No matter how much Lula is detested in some sectors and no matter how he is idolized in others, to prohibit the country's biggest popular leader from taking part in the electoral process is traumatic."

Lula da Silva barred from running for Brazil's presidency

September 01, 2018

SAO PAULO (AP) — Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been barred from Brazil's October presidential election by the country's electoral court despite easily leading in the polls — a ruling that adds uncertainty to the race to lead Latin America's largest nation, leaving no clear favorites.

In a session that stretched into the early hours of Saturday, the justices voted 6-1 against the once hugely popular president, who is imprisoned on a corruption conviction he claims is a sham. Da Silva's left-leaning Workers' Party issued a statement vowing to appeal, but there appeared to be scant chance it would succeed. That would seem to leave the party's fortunes in the hands of its current vice presidential candidate Fernando Haddad, a former Sao Paulo mayor who so far has polled in single digits and would have to count on the borrowed charisma of da Silva to succeed.

Supreme Court Justice Luis Roberto Barroso cast the first vote against da Silva, saying the ruling was "very simple" because the law forbids candidates whose conviction has been upheld on appeal. "There is no margin here for the electoral court to make any other evaluation but the one showing there is a conviction, and that conviction matters in the candidate's eligibility," Barroso said.

Justice Edson Fachin disagreed, citing a recent call by a U.N. human rights committee calling for da Silva to be allowed to run while he further appeals his conviction. Even as the justices were debating, the Workers' Party put out ads on social media channels featuring da Silva, holding fast to a strategy to keep the former president front and center as long as possible.

The former firebrand union leader led Brazil during a booming period from 2003 and 2010, promoting social policies that pulled millions from poverty. U.S. President Barack Obama once called him the "most popular politician on earth."

But da Silva and party have lost much of that appeal over the last several years due to a stumbling economy under his hand-picked successor Dilma Rousseff and a sprawling corruption probe that has ensnared many top businessmen and politicians, including da Silva.

The 72-year-old ex-president is serving a 12-year-sentence for corruption and money laundering after being convicted of trading favors with construction company Grupo OAS in exchange for the promise of a beach house apartment.

Justice Barroso said the Workers' Party should replace da Silva within 10 days, and that he should not appear as a presidential candidate in free airtime that is given to political parties on nationwide TV and radio starting on Saturday.

In a statement late Friday, the Workers' Party said it would appeal the electoral court ruling, just as da Silva is fighting to overturn his corruption conviction. With da Silva out of the race, Haddad was expected to take his place on the Workers' Party ticket. Polls show tepid support for his bid, but the party hopes da Silva's popularity could boost the former mayor's hopes.

On Saturday, Haddad was scheduled to visit Garanhuns, a city in Brazil's impoverished Northeast where da Silva was born.

Ukraine rebels say bodyguard died with leader in bombing

September 01, 2018

MOSCOW (AP) — The health minister of Ukraine's separatist Donetsk region says a cafe bombing that killed the separatists' leader also killed a bodyguard and wounded 12 others. Alexander Zakharchenko's death on Friday is re-escalating tensions in the conflict between Russia-backed separatists and Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine. Separatists claimed that Ukraine was preparing new offensives.

Zakharchenko was prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic. His death was reported soon after the cafe explosion, but the extent of the casualties was not revealed until DPT health minister Alexander Oprishchenko reported them on Saturday.

The fighting in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014, but mostly has waned in recent years.