Clashes in northern Lebanon kill 5, wound others

October 25, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanese troops battled Islamic militants in the northern city of Tripoli for a second day Saturday, with five people killed and more than a dozen wounded in the clashes, the Lebanese army and state media said.

An army statement said troops surrounded the gunmen in Tripoli's old market, exchanging fire and wounding several of them. It said it also had detained some of the fighters and seized weapons and ammunition, although some gunmen were able to flee the area.

The fighting came two days after troops killed three militants and detained a local leader in a raid in the northern Dinniyeh region. One of the three killed was Abdul-Qadir Akkoumi, a Lebanese soldier who announced in a video released earlier this month that he had defected and joined the Islamic State group, the army said.

"It was a very fierce night," said a Tripoli resident who asked that his name not be published because of security concerns. Speaking by telephone, the man said the city's streets were mostly empty Saturday and people avoided going near the historic market where the fighting was concentrated.

The army said later Saturday, that gunmen fired a rocket propelled grenade at an army vehicle in the nearby town of Minye, killing an officer and wounding two others. Troops also clashed with gunmen in the nearby town of Mhamra, where two soldiers were killed and several others wounded, the army statement said.

The state-run National News Agency said two civilians were killed and five civilians wounded. It was not immediately clear if there were casualties among the gunmen. Sunni militants inspired by al-Qaida and the Islamic State extremist group have killed and wounded several soldiers in a string of attacks in recent months.

The deadliest was in August, when jihadi fighters from Syria briefly overran the Lebanese border town of Arsal, capturing some 20 policemen and soldiers and killing several others. That attack was the most serious spillover of the civil war in neighboring Syria since the uprising there began in March 2011.

Lebanon is bitterly divided over the war, with Sunnis supporting the Syrian rebels and Shiites siding with President Bashar Assad's government. The Shiite movement Hezbollah has sent fighters to support Assad's troops. Sunni militants in Lebanon have responded with attacks on Shiites as well as security forces, who they believe are secretly dominated by Hezbollah.

Lebanon says it won't accept more Syrian refugees

October 23, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — Lebanon announced on Thursday it will not accept any more refugees from neighboring war-torn Syria, except in what authorities deem to be "exceptional" cases — a move that could prevent tens of thousands of Syrians from escaping the civil war.

Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said Lebanon can simply not handle any more refugees. The tiny Mediterranean country has 1.1 million officially registered Syrian refugees, although the number is believed to be far higher. They make up almost a quarter of the country's population of 5 million.

The refugees have stretched the country's already fragile infrastructure and compete with Lebanon's poorest for low-paid jobs, causing tensions. Tens of thousands of Syrian children are out of school because there is nowhere to place them.

The Syrian refugees already in Lebanon would be encouraged to leave, said Jreij. The government would "encourage the displaced Syrians ... to return to their countries, or go to other countries, by all means," he said.

Ninette Kelley, the U.N. refugee agency's representative in Lebanon, said the country had begun restricting the entry of Syrians since August. As a result, she said the UNHCR was receiving 75 percent to 90 percent less people seeking refugee status.

There are over 3 million Syrian refugees from the war, mostly in neighboring countries. Another 6 million have been displaced within Syria, making it one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. European countries and the U.S. have been extremely reluctant to accept Syrian refugees, leaving the burden to countries neighboring Syria — Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, which are ill-equipped to deal with the floods of people.

Anti-Islamists take most seats in Tunisia poll

October 30, 2014

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — A liberal party with ties to the deposed regime took the most seats in Tunisia's parliamentary elections, leaving the once dominant Islamists running a close second, the election commission announced in the early hours of the morning Thursday.

The Nida Tunis (Tunis Calls) Party, running on an explicitly anti-Islamist platform, won 85 of the 217 seats in parliament, giving it the right to name a prime minister and lead a coalition government.

The moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, which had previously dominated the parliament, won 69 seats, or nearly 32 percent, of the new parliament, representing a loss of some 23 seats. Since overthrowing its dictator in 2011 and kicking off the Arab Spring pro-democracy wave, Tunisia has been buffeted by economic turmoil and terrorist attacks.

Analysts have described Sunday's election as a referendum on the Islamist-led coalition's stormy two years in office and punished them for a poor economic performance and unfulfilled expectations of the revolution.

Nida Tunis is led by Beji Caid Essebsi, an 87-year-old veteran politician who previously served as foreign minister in the 1980s and parliament speaker in the early 1990s under later deposed President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The party, which includes businessmen, trade unionists and politicians from the old regime, has all but ruled out forming a coalition with the Islamists, describing it as "against their nature," and will turn to a collection of smaller parties to garner the necessary 109-seat majority.

Running a distant third was the Free Patriotic Union of Slim Rihai, a millionaire football club owner and political neophyte, with 16 seats. In fourth place came the left-wing coalition of parties known as the Popular Front, which had two of its members assassinated by extremists in 2013.

The liberal Afek Tounes came in fifth place with eight seats. The remaining 24 seats were split among another dozen small parties. Election Commission head Chafik Sarsar said Nida Tunis lost one seat in the southern city of Kasserine following reports of widespread election violations by its partisans in that city.

Alone among countries that experienced the Arab Spring, Tunisia's transition to democracy has remained on track, while Libya and Syria have descended into civil war and Egypt's military overthrew the elected president.

Despite three years of political wrangling, economic turmoil and a rising number of terrorist attacks, Tunisian politicians from different parties managed to work together to pass a new constitution and hold elections for a permanent government.

Presidential elections featuring dozens of candidates are set for Nov. 23.

Secular party looks to win Tunisia elections

October 27, 2014

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia's main secular opposition party was claiming victory on Monday over once-dominant Islamists in the country's historic parliamentary elections.

Partial results from the official election commission are expected to be released throughout the day Monday, but the Nida Tunis (Tunis Calls) party cited exit polls to say it has won more seats than any other party in the 217-member parliament.

"According to the information we have, we should have around 80 seats," said Aida Klibi, a party spokeswoman. The election, in which 60 percent of Tunisia's 5.2 million registered voters participated, will produce the nation's first five-year parliament following the country's 2011 Arab Spring revolt and has already been widely praised around the world.

"This milestone in Tunisia's transition to democracy exemplifies why Tunisia remains a beacon of hope, not only to the Tunisian people, but to the region and the world," said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, following up President Barack Obama's praise from the day before.

The peaceful and orderly manner in which the elections unfolded on Sunday was also lauded by the European Union and France. If the exit polls, which give Nida Tunis 37 percent of the seats and just 26 percent to the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party are confirmed by the vote count, it would be a dramatic reversal for the Islamists, which had ruled the country for two stormy years in a coalition with two other liberal parties.

Ennahda acknowledged that Nida Tunis "probably" won more seats than any other party. "We have a picture forming and we are not as optimistic as last night," said Yusra Ghannouchi, a spokeswoman for the party.

Created as an explicit counterbalance to the Islamists after their 2011 election victory, Nida Tunis includes businessmen, trade unionists and many politicians from the deposed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's government.

They seek to evoke the heritage of Tunisia's first post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba, with his focus on education and modernization, while playing down the one-party state that Tunisia had been for half a century.

Since many of its members served in pre-revolution governments, the party claims to have the necessary experience to solve Tunisia's economic problems and bring stability. During the two years the Ennahda-led government held power, the country was battered by rising inflation, a weak economy and the growing power of radical Islamists that mounted attacks on politicians and soldiers.

The party was criticized for not managing the economy well and being too soft on radicals. While the Islamist-led government eventually stepped down at the end of 2013 in favor of a technocratic Cabinet, it did oversee the passing of a new constitution described as the most progressive in the region.

Associated Press writer Bouazza ben Bouazza contributed to this report.

Ukraine rebels to hold election, despite criticism

November 01, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — Rebel-held territories in eastern Ukraine prepared Saturday to elect legislators and executives in a vote that has been roundly condemned by the international community but backed by Russia.

Work at some polling stations in the largest separatist-controlled city of Donetsk was disrupted by a sudden intensification of hostilities. Artillery and small weapons fire could be heard in northern districts of the city near the airport, which has been the focus of heavy fighting for weeks.

Separatist authorities argue that Sunday's votes in the Donetsk Peoples Republic and Luhansk Peoples Republic will lend legitimacy to their aspirations for self-determination. "We have put too much at stake on the altar of the victory and through this election we are legitimizing our government and thereby separating from Ukraine even further," said rebel election chief Roman Lyagin.

Western governments and the United Nations say the vote violates the terms of a cease-fire agreement signed by Russia, Ukraine and rebel leaders in September, which envisioned local elections being held under Ukrainian laws.

The White House has denounced the planned elections as being contrary to Ukraine's constitution. In a statement, National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said Friday that the U.S. is warning Russia not to use the results of the voting as a pretext to make military moves into Ukraine.

The EU and the United Nations have also criticized the vote, but the Russian Foreign Ministry has argued that the Minsk agreement foresaw local elections in the rebel-held territories between Oct. 19 and Nov. 3.

"There is a chance to use the Nov. 2 vote to bring the situation into the constructive course instead of thoughtless and groundless inciting of confrontation," the ministry said in a statement this week.

The vote has appeared under-resourced, campaigning has been negligible, and there are fears that unrest may break out on the day. It is unclear how many people will be able to vote as rebel officials say they have no access to central Ukrainian electoral rolls. Polling station workers on Friday made final preparations by sticking rebel government labels over voting urns bearing the Ukrainian national emblem.

No established international monitoring group is overseeing the vote, although a motley group of European far-right and communist political activists has traveled to the region, offering to act as observers.

Attitudes toward the election in Donetsk are a mix of fatalism, despair and enthusiasm. Tatyana Chaban, chairwoman of an election commission in Donetsk, said she has helped organize Ukrainian votes for the past decade.

"If someone had told me a year ago that I would be working in an independent state, I would never have believed it," Chaban said. "But since I decided to stay in Donetsk ... I accepted this government and will now live under its laws."

Donetsk retiree Vera Dvornikova, who has been living in a basement for three months and has been without heat or electricity for the past month, said she saw no point in voting. "They want election. What elections, when there are no people left here?" Dvornikova said. "I will not go to vote until they pay me my pension."

Alexei Mitsuk, a 53-year-old doctor, said he would vote to help build the future of the Donetsk People's Republic. "We will elect our future," he said. Three candidates are running to lead the rebel government in Donetsk, but only current leader Alexander Zakharchenko has any kind of public profile, making him the likely victor.

The candidates are not campaigning against each other, and one has admitted that he has no chance of winning and that he supports Zakharchenko. In an apparent effort to boost turnout, voting will be open to people as young as 16, a decision Lyagin said was inspired by similar rules in the recent Scotrsh independence referendum.

While September's cease-fire deal helped reduce hostilities in eastern Ukraine, fighting has continued around Donetsk and a few other areas. Intense artillery and light-weapons fire could be heard for more than an hour Saturday morning in northern Donetsk.

Despite the unrest, shoppers still turned out at a market by the city railway station. Yelena, who asked for her surname not to be published for fear of reprisals, said she would vote despite the fighting, but she is disappointed that the rebel leaders have failed to restore basic amenities.

"If only someone would help to turn on the gas and electricity, at least for the election," Yelena said.

Despite spat with Russia Poles honor Soviet troops

November 01, 2014

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The diplomatic spat with Russia over Ukraine has not prevented Poles from placing hundreds of candles on the graves of Red Army soldiers killed in January 1945 while driving Nazi German troops from the city.

Nov. 1 is All Saints' day in Poland and people visit family graves and unattended graves with flowers, candles and prayers. Even though the Red Army troops brought decades of communism, city authorities care for their cemetery and Warsaw residents light candles for them.

Hundreds of red and white lights were burning there on Saturday, showing that the current tensions with Moscow haven't affected Warsaw residents' compassion for the soldiers. A father brought many candles saying he was teaching his two small children history.

Police, youths clash at protests in French cities

November 01, 2014

PARIS (AP) — Projectile-throwing youths clashed with police in two French cities on the sidelines of demonstrations Saturday honoring a protester who was killed during a similar confrontation over a dam project last week.

Riot police bearing shields fired tear-gas canisters in western Nantes to disperse masked protesters — some of whom lit fires, chucked back the canisters, and tore down street signs to use as projectiles. Similar unrest broke out in southwestern Toulouse, where authorities said some rioters among mostly peaceful protesters smashed bank windows and tore up public property.

The demonstrations testified to growing tensions between angry youths and police on the margins of mostly peaceful rallies by environmental activists in recent months. A long-running standoff has involved foes of an airport project in Nantes and more recently, green groups have protested against the Sivens dam project in southwestern France.

Saturday's rallies were called to honor Remi Fraisse, a 21-year-old protester who died last week in clashes between police and demonstrators near the southwestern town of Lisle-sur-Tarn, not far from where the dam is to go up. Such rallies — first primarily about environmental causes — have for some morphed into protests about alleged police brutality.

Hundreds of riot police and officers were mobilized in the two cities. The local government office said at least two protesters were injured Saturday in Nantes, as were two police officers — one burned by acid that was allegedly thrown by a rioter. At least 16 people were arrested there.

In Toulouse, one police officer was slightly injured and eight demonstrators were detained, the local government office said in a statement. Authorities denounced the violence Saturday and called for a return to calm.

French President Francois Hollande has called for an investigation into what caused Fraisse's death, and an autopsy found that a large wound on his back was caused by some kind of explosion.