Thousands gather in Kenya for opposition 'swearing in' event

January 30, 2018

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya's government cut transmission of three TV channels airing live broadcasts of the "inaguration" of opposition leader Raila Odinga as alternative president Tuesday in front of thousands, after months of deadly election turmoil.

The attorney general has warned that such a protest act challenging the official president amounts to treason. The Kenya Editor's Guild said in a statement Monday that President Uhuru Kenyatta "expressly threatened to shut down and revoke the licenses of any media house" that aired live broadcasts of the opposition's event.

A huge crowd of Odinga's supporters gathered Tuesday at Nairobi's main park to attend the event. Police were withdrawn without explanation at Uhuru Park. A heavy police presence remains in the capital city's slums, which are opposition strongholds.

Former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, who is Odinga's deputy, said his police security had been withdrawn ahead of the protest event. The U.S. has advised Odinga against the so-called inauguration, as Kenya, East Africa's economic hub, tries to move beyond months of deadly election turmoil. Police had vowed to block opposition supporters from attending the event leading to fears of more civilian deaths. Dozens of Kenyans have died in anti-government protests in recent months.

Rights advocates accuse Kenyatta of veering toward dictatorship and accuse his administration of continuously violating Kenya's constitutionally guaranteed freedoms including those of assembly and expression.

Odinga claims he won the presidential election despite the electoral commission's official declaration that Kenyatta was the victor. The Supreme Court nullified Kenyatta's August win after Odinga challenged it, claiming that hackers infiltrated the electoral commission's computer system and changed results in favor of Kenyatta.

In the ruling, the first time a court had overturned a presidential election in Africa, the court cited irregularities and illegalities. It also said it ruled against Kenyatta because the commission refused to open its computer system for court scrutiny to dispel Odinga's claims.

The court ruled the results from the August election were "null and void" and ordered a fresh vote in October which Kenyatta won after Odinga boycotted, citing a lack of electoral reforms. On Friday, Kenya's opposition released what it called "authentic" election results showing Odinga won the August vote, but it refused to say how it obtained the information from the electoral commission's computer servers.

Kenya's electoral commission has called those results "fake." Between the two elections the government-funded Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has said at least 92 people were killed and dozens of others were sexually assaulted. Most were opposition supporters who went on the streets to protest Kenyatta's re-election.

Workers try to shore up tilted buildings after Taiwan quake

February 08, 2018

HUALIEN, Taiwan (AP) — Workers placed steel beams to stabilize a dangerously tilted building while rescuers on the other side try to pull survivors from their residences Thursday morning, more than a day after a deadly quake shook Taiwan's east coast.

The Yunmen Tsuiti building was one of several damaged by late Tuesday's magnitude-6.4 quake. At least four midsized buildings in worst-hit Hualien county leaned at sharp angles, their lowest floors crushed into mangled heaps of concrete, glass, iron and other debris. Firefighters climbed ladders hoisted against windows to reach residents inside apartments.

The National Fire Agency reported Thursday that death toll had risen to 10 people. More than 260 people were injured and 58 were unaccounted for. At least three of the dead were tourists from the mainland, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said nine Japanese were among the injured. Six mainland Chinese were also injured, the Chinese Communist Party-run People's Daily reported. President Tsai Ing-wen reassured the public every effort would be made to rescue survivors. On her Facebook page, Tsai said she "ordered search and rescue workers not to give up on any opportunity to save people, while keeping their own safety in mind."

At the Yunmen Tsuiti building, clothes and other personal items were visible on the balconies as the rescue work continued. The shifting of the buildings was likely caused by soil liquefaction, when the ground loses its solidity under stress such as the shaking of an earthquake.

The quake also buckled roads and disrupted electricity and water supplies to thousands of households. Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his country was dispatching a rescue team to help in the search effort.

Taiwan has frequent earthquakes due to its position along the "Ring of Fire," the seismic faults encircling the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur. A quake two years ago collapsed an apartment complex in southern Taiwan, killing 115 people. Five people involved in the construction of the complex were found guilty of negligence and given prison sentences.

A magnitude-7.6 quake in central Taiwan killed more than 2,300 people in 1999.

China solar supplier grows in India to avoid trade controls

February 06, 2018

BEIJING (AP) — One of China's biggest makers of solar panels said Tuesday it will invest $309 million to expand manufacturing in India in a move to guard against what it complained is a rising threat of import controls in the United States and other markets.

Longi Solar Technology Ltd.'s announcement follows the Trump administration's Jan. 24 decision to impose an extra 30 percent duty on imported solar modules. An Indian regulator says it is considering a "safeguard tariff" of 70 percent on solar panels from China and Malaysia.

Chinese manufacturers dominate global solar panel production. Their explosive growth has helped to propel adoption of renewable energy by driving down costs. But the United States, Europe, India and others complain unfairly low-priced exports hurt their manufacturers and threaten thousands of jobs.

The United States, Europe and other non-Chinese markets account for only 10 percent of Longi's sales, according to its strategy director, Max Xia. But he said Longi wants to promote global sales of its latest technology this year.

"We think sooner or later anti-dumping and trade protection will be happening in several countries," said Xia at a news conference. "This is why we choose to do the investment in Malaysia and also in India, because we don't know when and where it will happen, this kind of anti-dumping. So we prepare to counter it."

Xia's comment represented an unusually explicit statement by the Chinese industry that it is moving production to avoid trade controls. Other Chinese producers have set up factories in India and Southeast Asia but usually say they are getting closer to customers or taking advantage of local talent and supply chains.

That migration has complicated efforts by the United States, the European Union and other governments to control imports from China. Some Chinese solar manufacturers responded to earlier U.S. and European trade measures by supplying those markets from factories outside China, avoiding higher tariffs and quotas on Chinese-made products.

Longi already has a solar module factory in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The latest investment will double production there, the company said. Xia repeated warnings by Chinese manufacturers that import controls are hampering efforts to encourage adoption of renewable energy.

"That possibly could start a 'green energy trade war,'" he said. "That is, with the whole world concerned about climate change, what people who want to solve energy problems and realize green development aren't willing to see."

Longi, headquartered in the western city of Xi'an, ranked No. 7 among global solar panel producers by 2017 output, according to PV Tech, an industry journal. The South Korean-German supplier Hanhwa-Q Cells was the only non-Chinese competitor in the Top 10.

India is regarded by the solar industry as one of the most promising markets but low-cost Chinese imports have undercut the New Delhi government's ambitions to develop its own solar technology suppliers. Government data show imports, mostly from China, account for 90 percent of last year's sales, up from 86 percent in 2014.

India's Finance Ministry said Jan. 5 it was considering adding a temporary 70 percent "safeguard tariff" on solar equipment from China and Malaysia to prevent "further serious injury" to the Indian industry. The ministry said Chinese exporters shifted their focus to India in early 2017 after the United States and Europe stepped up import controls.

UN court lays down Costa Rica, Nicaragua maritime borders

February 03, 2018

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Court of Justice laid down definitive maritime boundaries Friday between Costa Rica and Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and a small land boundary in a remote, disputed wetland.

As part of the complex ruling, the United Nations' highest judicial organ ruled that a Nicaraguan military base on part of the disputed coastline close to the mouth of the San Juan River is on Costa Rican territory and must be removed.

Ruling in two cases filed by Costa Rica, the 16-judge U.N. panel took into account the two countries' coastlines and some islands in drawing what it called "equitable" maritime borders that carved up the continental shelf underneath the Caribbean and Pacific.

Such rulings can affect issues including fishing rights and exploration for resources like oil. Earlier, the court ordered Nicaragua to compensate Costa Rica for damage Nicaragua caused with unlawful construction work near the mouth of the San Juan River, the court's first foray into assessing costs for environmental damage.

The order by the United Nations' principal judicial organ followed a December 2015 ruling that Nicaragua violated Costa Rica's sovereignty by establishing a military camp and digging channels near the river, part of a long-running border dispute in the remote region on the shores of the Caribbean Sea.

In total, Nicaragua was ordered to pay just over $378,890 for environmental damage and other costs incurred by Costa Rica— a small fraction of the $6.7 million sought by San Jose. That "represents a great defeat for Costa Rica and its ambitions, and a vindication of Nicaragua's position," President Daniel Ortega's government said in a statement.

Nicaraguan vice president, government spokeswoman and first lady Rosario Murillo said the findings "leave us with ample natural patrimony both in the Caribbean and in the Pacific." Costa Rican Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez said the court did not take into account environmental recovery projected over 50 years in areas where trees more than two centuries old were logged, but added that his country would abide by the ruling.

"This should be one of the last chapters of that painful page of our bilateral history," Gonzalez said in a statement. Decisions by the court based in The Hague, Netherlands, are final and legally binding.

Associated Press writers Javier Cordoba in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Luis Manuel Galeano in Managua, Nicaragua, contributed to this report.

Israel bans call to prayer at Ibrahimi Mosque 49 times

February 1, 2018

Israeli occupation authorities banned the call to prayer at the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron 49 times in January.

Minister of Waqf and Religious Affairs Yousif Ideis said: “The occupation continues to violate the sanctity and religious rituals of Muslims in Palestine without fear of deterrence or condemnation.”

In a statement released today, he added: “The occupation prevented the raising of the adhan [call to prayer] in the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron 49 times over the past month … launching 2018 with a number of violations of the Ibrahimi and Al-Aqsa Mosques, whose sanctity is violated every day by extremist settlers who call for its demolition.”

He called on the international community and its concerned institutions to take action to ensure the protection of the religious, historical and cultural heritage of the Ibrahimi Mosque.

Occupation forces prevent the adhan at the Ibrahimi Mosque on the grounds that it causes an “inconvenience to settlers”. Muslim worshipers are also subject intrusive searches at the electronic gates and military barriers leading up to the mosque and the old town of Hebron.

The holy site was split into a synagogue – known to Jews as the Cave of Patriarchs – and a mosque after US-born Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Palestinians inside the mosque in 1994.

Muslims have since been prevented from praying in the mosque during Jewish holidays.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180201-israel-bans-call-to-prayer-at-ibrahimi-mosque-49-times/.

Israel warns Slovenia against recognizing State of Palestine

February 1, 2018

Israel warned Slovenian against recognizing the State of Palestine as planned, Quds Press reported yesterday.

According to the Israeli TV Channel 10, the Israeli Ambassador to Slovenia Eyal Sila spoke to the Speaker of the Slovenian Parliament Milan Brglez and the chair of the Foreign Policy Committee Jozef Horvat in Ljubljana to warn them against the move.

According to the TV channel, Sila told the Slovenian authorities that recognizing Palestine would have “negative consequences” on Israeli-Slovenian relations.

Slovenia’s Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday postponed a vote on a draft resolution which would be a first step towards recognition of the State of Palestine.

Sweden is currently the only country in Europe which recognizes the State of Palestine.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180201-israel-warns-slovenia-against-recognising-state-of-palestine/.

Lieberman threatens ground invasion in Lebanon

February 1, 2018

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened to carry out ground invasion in Lebanon and push Beirut residents to live in shelters, Arab48 reported yesterday.

During a speech at the Israeli Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Lieberman said: “Maneuvering is not a goal in itself. The goal is to end the war.”

“No one is looking for adventures, but if we have no choice the goal is to end [the fighting] as quickly and as unequivocally as possible,” he added. “Regrettably, what we have in all the conflicts in the Middle East is that without soldiers on the ground it does not come to an end.”

“Such operations demand great effort and unfortunately casualties too. All options are open and I and not enslaved to any viewpoint,” he added. “We must prepare for maneuvering on the ground too, even if we do not use it.”

“We will do so with full strength. We must not take one step forward and one step backward. We will move forward as fast as possible,” said Lieberman.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180201-lieberman-threatens-ground-invasion-in-lebanon/.