Russia keeps bombing despite Syria truce; Assad vows to fight on Major powers agreed on Friday to a pause in combat in Syria, but Russia pressed on with bombing in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, who vowed to fight until he regained full control of the country.
Although billed as a potential breakthrough, the « cessation of hostilities » agreement does not take effect for a week, at a time when Assad’s government is poised to win its biggest victory of the war with the backing of Russian air power.
If implemented, the deal hammered out during five hours of late night talks in Munich would allow humanitarian aid to reach besieged towns. It was described by the countries that took part as a rare diplomatic success in a conflict that has fractured the Middle East, killed at least 250,000 people, made 11 million homeless and sent hundreds of thousands fleeing into Europe.But several Western countries said there was no hope for progress without a halt to the Russian bombing, which has decisively turned the balance of power in favour of Assad.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that if the peace plan fails, more foreign troops could enter the conflict. »If the Assad regime does not live up to its responsibilities and if the Iranians and the Russians do not hold Assad to the promises that they have made … then the international community obviously is not going to sit there like fools and watch this. There will be an increase of activity to put greater pressure on them, » Kerry, who was in Munich, told Dubai-based Orient TV.
« There is a possibility there will be additional ground troops. » U.S. President Barack Obama has ruled out sending U.S.ground troops to Syria, but Saudi Arabia this month offered ground forces to fight Islamic State.
A White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, called the agreement « an important step, » but added, « In the coming days, we will be looking for actions, not words, to demonstrate that all parties are prepared to honor their commitments. » The complex, multi-sided civil war in Syria, raging since 2011, has drawn in most regional and global powers, producing the world’s worst humanitarian emergency and attracting jihadist recruits from around the world.
Rebels said the town of Tal Rifaat in northern Aleppo province was the target of intensive bombing by Russian planes on Friday morning. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring body, said warplanes believed to be Russian also attacked towns in northern Homs.
The news agency AFP quoted Assad as saying he would continue to fight terrorism while talks took place. He said he could retake the entire country, although this could take a long time.
Another week of fighting would give Syria’s government and its Russian, Lebanese and Iranian allies time to press on with the encirclement of Aleppo, Syria’s biggest city before the war, which they are now on the verge of capturing.
They are also close to sealing the Turkish border, a lifeline of rebel territory for years.Those two victories would reverse years of insurgent gains, effectively ending the rebels’ hopes of dislodging Assad through force, the cause they have fought for since 2011 with the encouragement of Arab states, Turkey and the West.
The cessation of hostilities agreement falls short of a formal ceasefire, since it was not signed by the main warring parties, the opposition and government forces.Two Syrian rebel commanders told Reuters they had been sent « excellent quantities » of ground-to-ground Grad missiles with a range of 20 km (12 miles) by foreign backers in recent days to help confront the Russian-backed offensive.
Foreign opponents of Assad including Saudi Arabia and Turkey have been supplying vetted rebel groups with weapons via a Turkey-based operations centre. Some of the vetted groups have received military training overseen by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Russia suggested it might not stop its air strikes, even when the cessation of hostilities takes effect in a week.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would not stop bombing fighters from Islamic State and a rebel group called the Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, neither of which were covered by the cessation deal. « Our airspace forces will continue working against these organisations, » he said.
Moscow has always said that those two jihadist groups are the principal targets of its air campaign. Western countries say Russia, in fact, has been attacking mostly other insurgent groups. Turkey’s foreign minister said on Friday Russia was targeting schools and hospitals in Syria.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow must halt strikes on insurgents other than Islamic State for any peace deal to work. »Russia has mainly targeted opposition groups and not ISIL (Islamic State). Air strikes of Russian planes against different opposition groups in Syria have actually undermined the efforts to reach a negotiated, peaceful solution, » Stoltenberg said.
Britain and France said a peace deal could be reached only if Russia stops bombing insurgents other than Islamic State.The United States has been leading its own air campaign against Islamic State fighters since 2014. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Friday he expected Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to send commandos to help recapture Islamic State’s eastern Syrian stronghold, Raqqa.
Assad said he believed Saudi Arabia and Turkey were planning to invade his country. Russia has said Saudi ground troops would make the war last forever.Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said in an interview published on Saturday that Russia’s military interventions will not help Assad stay in power. « There will be no Bashar al-Assad in the future, » al-Jubeir told a German newspaper.
Assad vows to retake all of Syria, keep ‘fighting terrorism’ President Bashar al-Assad has vowed to recapture the whole of Syria and keep « fighting terrorism » while also negotiating an end to the war, as international pressure mounts for a ceasefire.
His defiant stance, in an exclusive interview with AFP released Friday, doused hopes of an imminent halt to hostilities that world powers are pushing to take effect within a week.Assad said the main aim of a Russian-backed regime offensive in Aleppo province that has prompted tens of thousands of people to flee was to cut the rebels’ supply route from Turkey.
He said his government’s eventual goal was to retake all of the country, large swathes of which are controlled by rebel forces or the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
« It makes no sense for us to say that we will give up any part, » he said in the interview conducted on Thursday in Damascus, before a plan for a nationwide « cessation of hostilities » in Syria was announced.
Assad said it would be possible to « put an end to this problem in less than a year » if opposition supply routes from Turkey, Jordan and Iraq were severed.But if not, he said, « the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price ».
Assad said he saw a risk that Turkey and Saudi Arabia, key backers of the opposition, would intervene militarily in Syria.
World powers on Friday announced an ambitious plan to stop fighting in Syria within a week, but doubts have emerged over its viability, especially because it did not include IS or Al-Qaeda’s local branch.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said there were « no illusions » about the difficulty of implementing a nationwide « cessation of hostilities » as he announced the deal in Munich alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The US State Department also hit back at Assad’s claim he wants to retake the whole country, with spokesman Mark Toner calling him « deluded if he thinks that there’s a military solution to the conflict ».Moscow says its more than four-month-old bombing campaign in Syria targets IS and other « terrorists », but critics accuse Russia of focusing on mainstream rebels.
Lavrov underlined that « terrorist organisations » such as IS and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front « do not fall under the truce, and we and the US-led coalition will keep fighting these structures ».He also talked about « direct contacts between the Russian and US military » on the ground, where they back opposing sides, although the Pentagon said there were no plans for increased military cooperation.
The 17-nation International Syria Support Group also agreed that « sustained delivery » of humanitarian aid would begin « immediately ».
Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill on Friday called for aid to be delivered to « the afflicted populations and to the many refugees seeking safety in neighbouring lands » after they met in Havana.
But after Assad’s forces this month nearly encircled Aleppo, Syria’s second city, several nations put the onus on Moscow to implement the deal. »Through its military action on the side of Assad’s regime, Russia had recently seriously compromised the political process. Now there is a chance to save this process, » German foreign ministry spokeswoman Christiane Wirtz said. »What is important now is embracing this opportunity, stopping the air strikes, ceasing targeting civilians and providing humanitarian access, » added Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Twitter.
He later said that Russian bombing killed 16 civilians in Syria early Friday « despite the agreement we made last night ».
However, analysts remained sceptical about the chances of ending a war that has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced more than half the population. »There are huge question marks, » said Julien Barnes-Dacey of the European Council on Foreign Relations.
The failure to include Al-Nusra was particularly important, he said, since the group is active in Aleppo and surrounding regions, and many of the more « moderate » rebels have links with it. »This effectively gives the green light for the Syrian government and its allies to carry on military action while paying lip service to the agreement, » said Barnes-Dacey.
Other analysts said it was significant that Washington and Moscow had been able to strike a deal at all.The US and Russia have « taken ownership of this now. This is important, » said Michael Williams, a former UN diplomat in Lebanon and now at London’s Chatham House think tank.
« It will put quite a bit of pressure on Assad and his regime. It’s very hard for them now to walk away. »Peace talks collapsed earlier this month over the offensive on Aleppo, which has forced at least 50,000 people to flee and killed an estimated 500 people since it began on February 1.
A key Syrian opposition body, the High Negotiations Committee, said Friday it was up to rebels on the ground whether to implement the deal.Assad supporter Iran said it would work with rival Saudi Arabia to fight IS in Syria.Kerry said talks between the opposition and the regime would resume as soon as possible, but warned that « what we have here are words on paper — what we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground ».
Syria cessation of hostilities an ‘important step’-White House The White House said on Friday an agreement for a break in hostilities in the Syrian conflict is significant, but there is still more to be done in the peace talks. »This was an important step, but the work is far from over, » White House spokesman Eric Schultz told reporters in a briefing.
« In the coming days we will be looking for actions, not words, to demonstrate that all parties are prepared to honor their commitments, » he said.Major powers agreed on Friday to begin a cessation of hostilities in Syria in a week, but Russia pressed on with bombing in support of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, who vowed to fight until he regained full control of the country.
Schultz said Russia had contributed to the humanitarian crisis in Syria in some instances by targeting areas where there was little presence by the militant group Islamic State. »It is time for them to stop using the cover of going after ISIL to become more involved in the sectarian civil war, » he said, using an acronym for Islamic State.
No Bashar al-Assad in the future », says Saudi foreign min -report Bashar al-Assad will not be ruling Syria in the future and Russia’s military interventions will not help him stay in power, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told a German newspaper in an interview published on Saturday.
« There will be no Bashar al-Assad in the future, » al-Jubeir told newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. »It might take three months, it might take six months or three years – but he will no longer carry responsibility for Syria. Period. » Saying that the Syrian people’s determination to topple al-Assad was unbroken despite heavy Russian air strikes and persecution within the country, al-Jubeir criticised Russia’s involvement in the five-year-long war.He said that Assad’s previous calls for help to his own military, Iran, Hezbollah and Shiite militia forces from Iraq and Pakistan were all in vain.
« Now he called the Russians, but they won’t be able to help him either, » al-Jubeir said.Russia entered the war on Sept. 30 2015 in support of the Syrian president. At least 250,000 people have been killed, 11 million made homeless and hundreds of thousands have fled to Europe since the conflict began in 2011.
Moscow has said its air strikes are against the extremist militant groups Islamic State and the Nusra Front, but other countries and rebel groups say the attacks target civilians.Asked about a more direct military involvement with ‘boots on the ground’, al-Jubeir said such discussions were currently underway among the member states of a U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State.
« If the coalition should decide to deploy special forces in the fight against IS in Syria, Saudi-Arabia will be ready to participate, » he said, using the initials IS to refer to Islamic State.At a peace and security conference currently underway in Munich, major powers said a peace deal could only be reached if Moscow stops bombing insurgents other than Islamic State.But Russia pressed on with its air strikes in support of al-Assad, who vowed to fight until he regained full control of the country.
Islamic State can only be defeated if Assad goes – Saudi minister Islamic State militants will only be defeated if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is removed from power and this goal will ultimately be achieved, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia said on Friday.
Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Adel al-Jubeir called Assad the « single most effective magnet for extremists and terrorists in the region » and said his removal was crucial for restoring stability. »That’s our objective and we will achieve it, » he said. « Unless and until there is a change in Syria, Daesh will not be defeated in Syria, period, » he added, using the Arab name for Islamic State.
Syria rebels say get more missiles from Assad’s enemies Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foreign enemies have sent rebels new supplies of ground-to-ground missiles to confront a Russian-backed offensive by the government near Aleppo, stepping up support in response to the attack, two rebel commanders said.The commanders told Reuters the missiles with a range of 20 km (12 miles) had been provided in « excellent quantities » in response to the attack that has cut rebel supply lines from the Turkish border to opposition-held parts of the city of Aleppo.
Facing one of the biggest defeats of the five-year-long war, rebels have been complaining that foreign states such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey have let them down by not providing them with more powerful weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles. »It is excellent additional fire power for us, » said one of the commanders, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. The second rebel commander said the missiles were being used to hit army positions beyond the front line. « They give the factions longer reach, » he said.
Assad’s enemies have been supplying vetted rebel groups with weapons via a Turkey-based operations centre. Some of the vetted groups have received military training overseen by the U.S.Central Intelligence Agency. The Syrian government says it aims to seal the border to cut rebel supply routes from Turkey.While the Grad missiles fall short of the rebels’ demands for anti-aircraft systems, one of the commanders said they had « a significant impact on the army’s rear positions ».
Assad ‘deluded’ if he thinks there is a military solution in Syria -U.S. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is « deluded » if he thinks there is a military solution to the war in Syria, a U.S. State Department spokesman said on Friday.
Assad said in an interview with the news agency AFP published on Friday that he would keep « fighting terrorism » while peace talks took place and would retake the whole country.Commenting on the interview, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said at a news briefing: « He’s deluded if he thinks that there is a military solution to the conflict in Syria. »
Turkish minister says Russia targeting schools, hospitals in Syria Turkey’s foreign minister said on Friday that Russia was targeting schools and hospitals as part of its bombing campaign in Syria.Speaking at a security conference in Munich, Mevlut Cavusoglu put the blame squarely on Moscow for the wave of tens of thousands of people who have arrived at the Turkish border over the past week.
« Convoys can go very soon » if Syria’s warring parties give nod -Egeland Major and regional powers have pledged to help speed aid deliveries to besieged towns in Syria, but it is a very difficult and complicated process, the chairman of the working group said after its first meeting on Friday.
The group, which includes Syria’s allies Russia and Iran, had given « excellent feedback » and would meet again on Wednesday, Jan Egeland told reporters after a 3 hour meeting. »I sense now that all of the ISSG (International Syria Support Group) members want to get aid to the besieged areas and also the hard-to-reach areas, » he said. « Convoys can go very soon if and when we have the permission and the greenlight from the parties. »
Outlook for Syria peace talks still « cloudy » – U.N.The United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura is very keen to hold a new round of peace talks after big powers agreed on a « cessation of hostilities », a U.N. spokesman said on Friday, but plans to reconvene the negotiations were still « cloudy ».De Mistura abruptly suspended a first round of talks on Feb.3, saying there was more work to be done by the big powers sponsoring the talks between the Syrian sides, but he hoped to bring them back to the table in Geneva by Feb. 25.
The big powers, led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, struck a deal in Munich early on Friday to start to bring an end to hostilities in a week and to provide rapid humanitarian access to a handful of besieged Syrian towns as a first step.Diplomats from the countries sponsoring the Syria talks held a first weekly humanitarian meeting in Geneva on Friday and demanded besieged areas are opened up to aid within days.
« We have already submitted requests for access to the parties surrounding besieged areas, » said Jan Egeland, who chaired the meeting. « We expect to get such access without delay. Finally, the civilians who have been deprived of their basic right of humanitarian access for so long, will have hope. » Egeland earlier said he hoped the Munich agreement could be « the breakthrough we have been waiting for », but it needed all countries to use their influence with the warring sides.
De Mistura will brief the U.N. Security Council on Feb. 17, U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said. But it was unclear whether the Munich deal was enough for him to reconvene the peace talks. »You’re asking for certainty in a very cloudy situation Politics is the art of the possible, » Fawzi told a U.N.
briefing.Aid agency chiefs said the humanitarian deal covered only the tip of the iceberg, with U.N. figures showing 486,700 people under siege among 4.6 million who are hard to reach with aid, plus 5 million refugees and millions more homeless within Syria.
« In the short-term, ceasefire or not, we need unconditional, rapid and regular access to all affected areas across the country to help millions of people, » said Robert Mardini, regional head of operations at the International Committee of the Red Cross.David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee, said the agreement needed detail and urgency. »You don’t wait a week for an emergency operation and the people of Syria should not have to wait a week for relief from bombings, » Miliband, a former British foreign secretary, said in a statement.
Biden, Jordan’s king discuss Syria conflict in call -White House U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Jordan’s King Abdullah spoke on Friday about the talks on the Syrian conflict and the fight against Islamic State militants, the White House said. King Abdullah is slated to visit the White House on Feb. 24.
China rules out joining anti-terrorism coalitions, says helping Iraq China won’t take part in any coalition fighting « terrorist groups » in the Middle East, but will do its fair share in its own way and is already helping Iraq, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Friday.China wants to develop deeper defence and anti-terrorism ties with the Arab world, including joint exercises, intelligence sharing and training, the government said in a policy document released last month.
While relying on the region for oil supplies, China has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council – the United States, Britain, France and Russia.After a meeting of major powers in Munich aimed at breaking the deadlock on Syria, Wang Yi told Reuters in an interview that Beijing would not take part in international coalitions fighting against militants in the region.
« There is a tradition in China’s foreign policy. We do not join in state groups that have a military nature and this also applies to international counter-terrorism cooperation, » he said speaking through an interpreter. »It doesn’t mean that China will not play its role in fighting terrorism. It has been, but in its own ways. » In December, China passed a counter-terrorism law which allows its military to venture overseas on counter-terrorism operations, though experts have said China faces big practical and diplomatic problems if it ever wants to do this.
Iraqi says moving troops, preparing offensive to retake Mosul Iraq’s military said on Friday it was mobilising troops to prepare for an offensive the government has pledged to launch this year to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State.
Hundreds of forces from the army’s 15th division reached Makhmour base, 70 km (45 miles) south of Mosul, and more forces, including Sunni Muslim tribal fighters, were expected to arrive in coming days, said Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the joint operations command.
Defence Minister Khaled al-Obaidi told Reuters last month that Iraq would launch the Mosul operation in the first half of the year and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi has said 2016 would see the « final victory » against the militants.Some U.S. officials have endorsed that assessment, but a top U.S. intelligence officer told Congress this week any operation to retake Mosul would be long and complex and unlikely to finish this year.
With more than a million people still living there, Mosul is the largest city controlled by Islamic State, which declared a ‘caliphate’ in swathes of territory it seized in Iraq and neighbouring Syria in 2014.Retaking it would be a huge boost for Iraqi forces who, backed by air strikes from a U.S.-led coalition, reclaimed the western city of Ramadi from Islamic State in late December.Mosul, however, is a far larger city with a populace made up of many sects. And even in Ramadi, Iraqi forces are still working to secure that city and its environs.
Iraqi PM says has won back half of IS-held territories Iraqi forces have won back half of the territory previously under the control of Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told a security conference in Germany on Friday.
« The area we have liberated so far is more than half of what was occupied by Daesh before, » he said, using the Arab term for the militant group. »We intend this year to make it the final year and the last year for the existence of Daesh in Iraq. »
Three Iraqi presidential guards kidnapped near northern town -sources Three members of Iraq’s presidential guard were kidnapped on Friday near a checkpoint run by Shi’ite militiamen close to the northern district of Tuz Khurmatu, police and a local official said.
Four other people, including a government employee, were killed in separate incidents, the police said, in and around the district – about 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad – where violence has flared in recent months.Kurdish and Shi’ite Turkmen paramilitary forces have been uncomfortable allies against Islamic State since driving the ultra-hardline Sunni militants out of towns and villages in the area in 2014 with the support of U.S.-led airstrikes.
The tensions risk further fragmenting Iraq as it struggles to contain Islamic State, the biggest security threat since a U.S.-led invasion toppled autocrat Saddam Hussein in 2003.Efforts to push back the insurgents have been complicated by sectarian and ethnic rivalries, including a contest for territory which the Shi’ite-led government in Baghdad claims, but the Kurds want as part of their autonomous region in the north of the country.The presidential guards were travelling in a private vehicle towards Baghdad when they were taken by unknown gunmen around midday, said Mahdi Taqi, a member of the provincial council in Salahuddin where the district is located. Police from Tuz Khurmatu confirmed the details.
Iran says ready to put rivalries aside with Saudi Arabia Iran and Saudi Arabia must overcome strained relations and work for stability in Syria and the Middle East, Iran’s foreign minister said on Friday, a day after Syrian peace talks brought the rivals to the same table for the first time in months.Speaking at the Munich Security Conference hours after his Saudi counterpart addressed the event, Mohammed Javad Zarif said he wanted to stop the bickering and had a simple message: « We need to work together. » « Iran and Saudi Arabia cannot exclude each other from the region, » he said, referring to Riyadh as « our Saudi brothers ».
« We are prepared to work with Saudi Arabia … I believe Iran and Saudi Arabia can have shared interests in Syria. » Arch-rivals for regional hegemony, the two oil producers are on opposite sides in Syria’s war and increasingly bad-tempered exchanges between the conservative Sunni-ruled kingdom and the revolutionary Shi’ite theocracy bode ill for the region.
Ties have worsened since the kingdom’s execution in January of prominent Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr prompted attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia subsequently cut all ties with Iran.Zarif said he took inspiration from Iran’s historic nuclear deal with world powers last July, saying that agreement and the lifting of sanctions that have followed showed how deep-seated problems can be resolved through diplomacy.
« We have a common opportunity, common challenges, common threats, » Zarif said, adding that it was time to « set aside the past and have a new narrative, a new paradigm for the future. » Iran and Saudi Arabia were at the same table during six hours of talks in Munich among world and regional powers on Thursday to discuss Syria’s civil war, agreeing a « cessation of hostilities » to take effect in a week’s time.
There was no consensus on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Iran and Russia are backing in a military assault to take back territory from rebels seeking to oust him.Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, who spoke in Munich before Zarif, made no references to Iran and underscored the differences over Assad’s future, telling EU ministers and diplomats that the Syrian leader would be removed. « That’s our objective and we will achieve it, » he said.
Israel says has mended fences with EU in Netanyahu-Mogherini call Israel said on Friday it had resolved its differences with the European Union after weeks of diplomatic tension following an EU decision not to allow goods produced in settlements in the occupied West Bank to be labelled « Made in Israel ».
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Israel’s foreign ministry said.The two « agreed that relations between the two sides should be conducted in an atmosphere of confidence and mutual respect, » it said.Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that Israel would no longer insist on the exclusion of EU bodies from peace talks with the Palestinians over a two-state solution to the Middle East peace process.
Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in April 2014 and there have been no signs of them resuming.While the United States has traditionally played the lead role in peace efforts in the region, the EU is Israel’s largest trading partner and is the biggest donor to the Palestinians, and is looking to play a larger role in peace negotiations « The conversation resolved the tensions and we are, Israel and the EU, back to good and close relations, » Nahshon said in a text message to the media.In November, the EU said that goods produced in settlements could not labelled « Made in Israel » and should be marked as coming from settlements, which the EU considers illegal under international law.
Thousands of Egyptian doctors protest over alleged police brutality Thousands of Egyptian doctors demonstrated in Cairo on Friday in a rare protest at what rights groups call police impunity after two doctors were alleged to have been assaulted in a hospital in the city last month.The Egyptian Medical Syndicate held an emergency meeting on Friday and called for the prosecution of police officers involved in the alleged assault in Matariya, a district of northern Cairo. The syndicate says the officers have not been held accountable.
Protests involving thousands of people on the streets of Cairo have become rare since a strict law was passed allowing for jail sentences of up to seven years for those participating in demonstrations without prior police approval.The syndicate said on Friday that if the officers involved are not brought to trial they will continue to protest.
« The general assembly of the syndicate decided to escalate the situation and is organising a protest across all hospitals on February 20, » Dr. Rashwan Shaaban, assistant secretary-general of the syndicate, told Reuters. »It’s a way to escalate the situation should none of the police officers that assaulted the Matariya doctors be referred to the prosecutor, » she said.Shaaban said the meeting on Friday was called to address « daily assaults on medical staff » that are being ignored by the authorities.Human rights groups say that police brutality is widespread in Egypt and that there is a culture of impunity. Trials are rare and when they do occur, sentences are usually appealed and subsequently reduced.
Student tortured and killed in Egypt given funeral at home in Italy An Italian student who was tortured and found dead in Egypt last week was given a funeral in his hometown on Friday and Italy’s prime minister once again insisted that those responsible be caught and punished.
Crowds of mourners attended the funeral in Fiumicello, northern Italy, for Giulio Regeni, 28, whose body was found half-naked by a road in Cairo.The service was held in a municipal gym after Regeni’s family declined a state funeral, Italian media said. Italy has sent investigators to work with Egyptian authorities in an effort to establish what happened to Regeni.His doctoral work at the University of Cambridge into independent Egyptian unions and his articles criticising the government have prompted speculation he was killed by Egyptian security services.
Egypt has vehemently rejected the suggestion.Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Friday he had asked for Italian agents to be part of the investigation to make sure the people responsible were punished.
« We have told the Egyptians that friendship is a precious thing and is only possible if there is truth, » Renzi said in a radio interview on state broadcaster RAI.Rights groups say Egyptians are often detained by police on little evidence and beaten or coerced. Scores have disappeared since 2013. Egypt denies allegations of police brutality.
South Sudan rebel leader wants soldiers out in further hurdle to peace deal South Sudan rebel leader Riek Machar said on Friday he wanted soldiers cleared out of the capital before he returns to take up the post of vice president under a peace deal, in another hurdle to efforts to end more than a year of fighting.President Salva Kiir gave Machar his old job back as deputy leader late on Thursday, raising hopes of a breakthrough after months of troubled negotiations and failed ceasefires.
But Machar told Reuters on Friday he would only come back if the government went through with what he said was a promise to demilitarise the capital Juba. He said he had not spoken to Kiir since August.
« If this is done within a week’s time, it would accelerate my going back to Juba, » Machar said by phone from Cairo. « If it takes two weeks, then I will wait for two weeks. » Kiir sacked Machar as vice president in 2013, exacerbating a political feud that erupted into fighting between soldiers loyal to both men in Juba.Machar and his supporters left the city and took to the bush as violence spread across the oil-producing country, killing thousands, forcing more than 2.3 million to flee and reopening ethnic rifts between Kiir’s Dinka group and Machar’s Nuer.
The two sides signed a peace deal in August, under international pressure and the threat of sanctions, but the ceasefire has been regularly broken.There was no immediate reaction to Machar’s demilitarisation demand, though Kiir had earlier urged Machar to return quickly.
« I now call upon Dr Riek Machar … to report to Juba immediately so that together we form the Transitional government of National Unity within seven days from today, » the president said in a statement through his spokesman, Ateny Wek Ateny.South Sudan split away from Sudan in 2011 under a peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.Regional and western powers who backed the peace process were dismayed when unrest continued along the Sudans’ joint border, then fighting broke out inside South Sudan between Kiir and Machar’s factions.
The United Nations and rights groups have said both sides are guilty of atrocities and accused them of dragging their feet while millions of their people face daily violence and starvation caused by food shortages.Machar said on Friday he was optimistic that he would be able to rebuild trust with Kiir even though the two rivals have not spoken since August.
Florida man pleads guilty over threats to bomb two mosques A Florida man pleaded guilty on Friday to a federal hate crime for threatening to bomb two mosques and shoot their congregants shortly after November’s deadly attacks in Paris.
Martin Alan Schnitzler, 43, of Seminole, pleaded guilty to one count of obstructing persons in the free exercise of religious beliefs, U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley of the Middle District of Florida said.Schnitzler entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Julie Sneed in Tampa.
The defendant faces up to 20 years in prison, but is likely to get much less under recommended federal guidelines. He remains free pending sentencing, which has not been scheduled.Schnitzler admitted to having left profanity-laced voice messages with the Islamic Society of St. Petersburg and the Islamic Society of Pinellas County on Nov. 13, 2015, and in which he threatened congregants.
Both messages referred to the Paris attacks, which had occurred the same day and killed 130 people. Schnitzler admitted that his threats were prompted by the attacks.In one message, he threatened to « personally have a militia » show up at one of mosques, and « firebomb you, shoot whoever is there on sight in the head. » Bryant Camareno, a lawyer for Schnitzler, in a phone interview said his client expressed remorse at his plea hearing, and was « upset at the emotional harm » he caused congregants.
Heralding Schengen suspension, EU gives Greece three months to fix borders The European Union took a step on Friday towards suspending its cherished free-travel Schengen zone for two years by setting a deadline for Greece to stem the chaotic influx of migrants into the bloc.
EU ministers give Greece three months to fulfil 50 recommendations to put its house in order – a target that officials and diplomats acknowledged few expect Athens to meet.If it fails, the members of the zone will be able to trigger a hitherto unused mechanism to impose longer-term checks on internal frontiers for up to four periods of six months on the grounds that security on a part of the zone’s external frontier has broken down.
« The point is not locking Greece out of Schengen. The point is, if the external border is not being controlled, it allows member states to keep the controls that are in place on their own internal borders, » said an EU official. »If you don’t do this you are in a lawless zone and controls could last forever, » the official added.Greece said it had done what it could to control the influx of refugees from Syria and other migrants: « The massive mixed migration flow is of a nature that would put the external border control of any member state under severe pressure, » it said.Greece, the main gateway to Europe for more than a million refugees and migrants last year, has been overwhelmed by the influx and other EU states have increasingly criticised Athens for not managing the flows properly.
East European states to help stop migrants from leaving Greece Eastern European leaders are set to offer manpower and other aid to help Macedonia seal its Greek border, sources close to the discussions told Reuters, in a move that could strand migrants in Greece in the coming months.
The leaders of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — known as the Visegrad Group within the European Union — could announce the move when they meet their Macedonian counterpart at a summit in Prague on Monday, diplomats said.As the European Union gave notice to Athens on Friday that its failure to control hundreds of thousands of refugees landing via Turkey over the past year will see a long-term suspension of some passport-free travel in Europe, EU officials said they expected more border tightening by Greece’s Balkan neighbours.
« Some form of heavy control is in the making, » said one. Visegrad EU states have led criticism of efforts, notably by Germany, to absorb asylum-seekers who have trekked north out of Greece through Macedonia and Serbia, neither of which are in the EU. Outspoken, right-wing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged Macedonia and Bulgaria last month to follow his example and fence off their borders against refugees and other migrants.And while Orban’s action was condemned by many European leaders and human rights groups, the idea of preventing people entering impoverished Macedonia and instead holding them in EU-member Greece until they can either be offered asylum elsewhere — or deported — has gained ground among policy-makers as they try to prevent new chaos when arrivals rise with better weather.
Cameron defends Britain’s desire for sovereignty before EU summit Prime Minister David Cameron defended Britain’s desire to protect its sovereignty on Friday, appealing for understanding from the European Union in his talks for better membership terms that could be decided next week.At a dinner in German city of Hamburg with Chancellor Angela Merkel ana business leaders, Cameron said he knew some may see Britain as « argumentative and rather strong-minded » by trying to renegotiate its terms with the 28-member bloc.
But he underlined that he believed the reforms he was pursuing would help Germany and the rest of the EU, while he made « no apology » for Britain’s need to protect its sovereignty – a possible signal to his more eurosceptic allies at home that he may yet find a way of securing the supremacy of parliament. »We have the character of an island nation – independent, forthright, passionate in defence of our sovereignty – and of institutions that have served us well for many hundreds of years, » he told dozens of guests in the banquet room of Hamburg city hall.
« But we are also an open nation … And I never want us to pull up the drawbridge and retreat from the world. » Cameron reiterated that he wanted Britain to stay in a reformed European Union and was fighting hard to address the concerns of the British people before a summit on Feb. 18-19 where he hopes to clinch a deal with his EU peers.British and EU negotiators say much of the reform package has been agreed, but Cameron will have to settle tricky final issues, such as on migration where the British leader hopes to be able to curb benefits for EU workers.
After short, tense meeting, Spain’s Socialist head rejects backing Rajoy The head of Spain’s Socialist party ruled out on Friday supporting acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for a second term, support that could have ended the country’s political stalemate.
Pedro Sanchez, the leader of the Socialists, had met Rajoy for talks to form a government, after elections in December left Rajoy’s centre-right People’s Party (PP) without a parliamentary majority as newcomer parties grabbed votes from the mainstream.After a half-hour meeting between both leaders, television coverage of which showed Rajoy apparently refusing to shake Sanchez’s hand and both avoiding eye contact, Sanchez said he had rejected the proposal of a coalition between the PP and the Socialists.
« The Socialists believe that the PP is a very important party in Spanish politics, » Sanchez told a news conference. »But it’s a party that needs to regenerate and clean itself up, and this will only happen if it is not in government, » he said, referring to numerous corruption scandals that have tarnished Rajoy’s party.With Sanchez, who came second in the elections, yet to make progress in gathering support, the prospect of fresh elections is mounting. That is something he is eager to avoid – recent surveys show the anti-austerity party Podemos overtaking the Socialists if another ballot were held.Sanchez said on Friday he hoped to reach an agreement over a coalition by the end of the month and would seek a confidence vote in parliament at the beginning of March.
After 1,000-year split, pope and Russian patriarch embrace in Cuba Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill embraced and kissed on Friday in a historic meeting, uniting to issue a global appeal for the protection of Christians under assault in the Middle East.
Nearly 1,000 years after the Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split apart, the meeting at an airport terminal in Cuba was the first ever between a Roman Catholic pope and a Russian Orthodox patriarch. »In many countries of the Middle East and North Africa whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are being completely exterminated, » they said in a joint declaration in apparent reference to violence by militant groups such as Islamic State.
« Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed. » They also said large-scale humanitarian aid was required to tend to refugees fleeing Syria and Iraq, lamenting the « massive exodus of Christians. » Cuban President Raul Castro stood to the side during the ceremony, enjoying another moment in the international limelight after receiving Francis last year and restoring diplomatic relations with the United States recently, meeting President Barack Obama in Panama in April.
Cuba is also sponsoring peace talks between the Colombian government and leftist rebels seeking to end a 50-year war.
« If it continues this way, Cuba will be the capital of unity, » Francis said. »Now what’s left is Colombia, » Castro told reporters after the pope boarded his plane for Mexico.
Dissidents in Cuba’s one-party political system have remarked on the government’s willingness to promote dialogue for foreigners while dismissing political opponents as mercenaries doing the bidding of the United States.The two religious leaders, guests of a Communist government, came together only a week after the encounter was announced.
Such a meeting had eluded their predecessor, but Francis had issued a standing invitation to meet anytime, anywhere.
The moment came while Kirill was visiting the Caribbean island and Francis added a brief stop on his way from Rome to a long-scheduled visit to Mexico. »Finally, » Francis said as he and Kirill entered through doors on opposite sides of a room at Havana airport. « We are brothers. » Francis, dressed in white with a skullcap, and Kirill, wearing a tall, domed hat that dangled a white stole over black robes, joined arms and kissed on both cheeks.
« It is very clear that this is the will of God, » Francis said.Their meeting carried political overtones, coming at a time of Russian disagreements with the West over Syria and Ukraine.The Russian Orthodox Church is closely aligned with the Kremlin, which is in turn an ally of Cuba.
The Argentine pontiff helped the rapprochement between the United States and Cuba after more than five decades of estrangement.The pope, leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, is seeking to repair a much longer rupture. Eastern Orthodoxy split with Rome in 1054.The declaration called for Europe to remain faithful to its Christian roots and restated several traditional Christian teachings such as opposition to abortion and marriage being reserved for a man and a woman.The Russian Orthodox Church takes a stronger stand on these issues in public than Pope Francis, who supports these teachings but often speaks of other issues such as poverty and protecting the environment, which were also mentioned in the text.
Bank of England sets out stall for Islamic deposits in first for Western central bank The Bank of England on Friday became the first major Western central bank to set out its stall for sharia-compliant deposit facilities as Britain seeks to pitch London as the preeminent global centre for Islamic finance.
Born in its modern form in the 1970s, Islamic finance – which obeys religious principles such as bans on interest payments – has rapidly expanded over the past decade and there are now more than $2 trillion in Islamic financial assets.Joining other central banks in the Middle East and Asia, the Bank of England is trying to allow Britain’s five Islamic banks to access an equivalent to its deposit facility, which normally pays interest, something barred under sharia rules.
Britain became the first Western country to issue Islamic bonds in 2014 and the BoE last year became the second Western regulator to join the Islamic Financial Services Board, one of the main standard-setting bodies for Islamic finance.
The BoE will seek views from Islamic banks and others on four potential models, two involving deposit facilities and two involving liquidity insurance.Stakeholders have until April 29 to give their views, after which the BoE will decide if there is a way forward. »Its primary focus at this stage is to assess the feasibility of establishing Shari’ah compliant deposit facilities, » the BoE said in a statement.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Shares gain on reduced global economy fears; oil rallies U.S. and European shares rebounded from recent weakness on Friday, with reassuring U.S.retail sales data boosting sentiment, while U.S. crude prices rallied from more than 12-year lows.Banking shares in the United States and Europe spiked, with the S&P financial index last up 2.9 percent and the STOXX 600 Europe Banks index gaining 4.7 percent.
The benchmark U.S. S&P 500 gained over 1 percent after five days of losses that had dropped it to its lowest level in two years on Thursday. In Europe, gains of about 10 percent in shares of Deutsche Bank and its rival Commerzbank helped European stocks rebound.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was on track to notch its biggest daily gain in three weeks after hitting a two-and-a-half-year low on Thursday.The S&P financial index has fallen 16 percent this year, and the European bank index over 25 percent, as worries over the impact of central banks’ negative interest rate policies on banks’ profitability intensified in recent days.
Commerce Department data showing U.S. retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline, building materials and food services increased 0.6 percent in January also boosted optimism. »The market has gone from very little chance of recession to pricing in an overwhelming chance of recession despite the data not supporting that, » said Michael Jones, chief investment officer of RiverFront Investment Group in Richmond, Virginia.
« The more numbers you get like retail sales … the more this market can whipsaw people by heading right back up. » Despite the rise in European stocks, an overnight drop in Asia shares limited gains in MSCI’s all-country world equity index. The index rose 1.32 points, or 0.37 percent, to 354.67. On Thursday it had closed more than 20 percent below its all-time high, confirming a bear market in global equity prices.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 246.95 points, or 1.58 percent, to 15,907.13, the S&P 500 gained 29.53 points, or 1.61 percent, to 1,858.61 and the Nasdaq Composite added 62.06 points, or 1.45 percent, to 4,328.89.Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index added 2.8 percent, at 1,229.55.
Gains of more than 2 percent in the S&P energy index were also a boost. Crude oil jumped on prospects for a coordinated production cut sparked by comments from the energy minister of OPEC member United Arab Emirates.U.S. crude prices were last up $2.82 at $29.03 per barrel after hitting $26.05 a barrel on Thursday, lowest in more than 12 years. Brent crude was last up $2.27 at $32.33 a barrel.Safe-haven 10-year U.S. Treasury notes were last down 22/32 in price to yield 1.72 percent after hitting 1.53 percent on Thursday, which marked their lowest yield since Aug.
Consumer companies’ outperformance no longer guaranteed by cheap oil Consumer companies are offering investors a small degree of relief from the turmoil in banking and resources in a results season dominated by fears about slowing economic growth.
But those companies say lower oil prices no longer translate into a traditional boost for spending on their products because households are using the money saved at the gas pump and on energy bills to stash cash, pay off debt or on other items.
This means those companies may not be as much of a safe haven investment as they used to be in times of low commodities prices or economic stress.Since 2008, food and beverage stocks have offered a 142 percent total shareholder return, nearly double that of the market overall, according to Thomson Reuters global equity indices. Since the start of the year, they have lost 3.4 percent, versus 12 percent for the global index.
« In the context of a market that’s in meltdown, the performance consumer goods has been delivering is pretty good, » said Jefferies analyst Martin Deboo.
Consumer stalwarts PepsiCo, Unilever and French cosmetics firm L’Oreal all reported better-than-expected revenue in contrast to dismal results from banks including Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank and oil, gas and mining firms. Tobacco company Philip Morris International gave a strong outlook and liquor giant Diageo reported improvements.There have also been good results from General Motors , Adidas and Norwegian Air, and analysts are on the lookout for similar trends next week in reports from Nestle, Michelin, Puma and Royal Caribbean Cruises.
Consumer confidence has risen in the United States and Europe, nearing 2007 levels, and car sales, which analysts call a good proxy for discretionary spending, are showing promise of staying healthy in 2016.But companies need to work harder to win over consumers, according to PepsiCo Chief Executive Indra Nooyi.
« In the past, we used to say when gas prices came down there used to be a perceptible increase in convenience store traffic, » Nooyi told analysts this week. « Yes, we did see an increase in convenience store traffic (of about 6 percent), but I think that game has played out. Now it’s going to be how much innovation you put on the shelves and how you execute. » L’Oreal Chief Executive Jean-Paul Agon said he was surprised by the lack of any fuel-related benefit.
« When I ran L’Oreal US ten years ago, every 10 cent, or 20 cents less in the price of the gas translated immediately into more consumption, » Agon said. « We started the year, last year, with the idea that the reduction in the price of gas would probably mean an acceleration of the consumption … and honestly, we did not see it at all. » « We did not see it in America, we did not see it in Western Europe. So we don’t have some precise explanation about it.
Maybe some people are doing more savings or spending money on other categories. » With global oil consumption around 95 million barrels per day, the drop in prices from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to around $30 now has resulted in savings of about $8 billion per day for oil importers, said Laith Khalef, senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers. »That’s a pretty big stimulus to those oil consumers, but we haven’t really seen it yet, » Khalef said. « That’s a theme that perhaps is not being played out in the market.
Tunisian film « Hedi » brings Arabic-language sex scenes to Berlin « Inhebbek Hedi », the story of a love triangle that includes sex scenes unusual for an Arabic-language film, became the first Tunisian film shown in international competition in two decades when it screened on Friday at the Berlin film festival.
Director Mohamed Ben Attia said he was proud his work had been chosen for the honour of competing for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear. »I’d be very happy if there were more Arab films, but actually I don’t really care – I want good films to be shown here, » Attia said at a post-screening news conference.
Set just after the Tunisians ousted the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, the film centres on the character of Hedi, played by Majd Mastoura, who works in a dead-end job as a new-car salesman.He is sent to work in new territory at the seaside resort of Mahdia days before his wedding, after an engagement closely managed by his overbearing mother, played by Sabah Bouzouita.
Business is slow, leaving him at loose ends at the resort.He strikes up a relationship that turns into a romance with Rim, a tourist-guide-cum dancer, played by Rym Ben Messaoud.The sex scenes that ensue would not have caused much problem in decency-code American films of the 1940s and 50s. But they might raise eyebrows in the Arab world.
« Tunisian cinema is known for its daring, » Dora Bouchoucha Fourati, the film’s producer, said.The film makes only occasional references to the events of 2011 and its aftermath. Attia said that was done deliberately, to better portray how everyday life had changed — and not changed — in years after the uprising. »The thing which i found so interesting right after the Arab Spring happened was just that sort of discovery — who are we? » he said. »We are people who are the cousins, the neighbours, dealing with religion, and this is the slow way in which emancipation is happening, also for Hedi in the film. »
Clooney says refugee crisis is huge, U.S. Muslim ban won’t happen George Clooney said on Friday the refugee crisis is bigger than the headline-grabbing exodus from Syria and Iraq, and he believes Americans « will do the right thing » by rejecting Donald Trump and calls to ban Muslims entering the United States.
Clooney spoke to Reuters on the same day he and his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney, met German Chancellor Angela Merkel behind closed doors at the chancellery to discuss the refugee issue.The Clooneys were in the German capital for the international premiere of « Hail, Caesar! », in which Clooney has a starring role and which opened the Berlin International Film Festival on Thursday.
« For me the refugee crisis is not just the Syrian refugees, » Clooney told Reuters. »You know there’s still IDPs (internally displaced people) and refugees in South Sudan, in Darfur, that’s still millions of people and they are still dying. »So it’s really all over the world – 60 million displaced people right now in the world – it’s just a terrible, terrible time for it, » he added.
Clooney, who was challenged at a press conference on Thursday by questioners who urged him to use his public prominence to do more to help end the refugee crisis, said he is not afraid to speak out on controversial subjects. »I can talk about Darfur or I can talk about other things without having to worry about the political implications, » he said.
Asked about Trump, who has called for banning Muslims and building a border wall to block illegal Mexican immigrants, Clooney said he thought Americans would eventually do the right thing. »I always have to caution people when they watch American politics. We go a little crazy during the political season and it’s a very long season, » Clooney said, adding: « I think it was Winston Churchill said, ‘You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they have exhausted every other possibility’. So you know it’s all going to be fine it’s just going to take us a minute. » Josh Brolin, Clooney’s co-star in « Hail, Caesar! », said he thought that while Trump’s ideas may appeal to people who want a quick fix, he did not think they were realistic. »There is something about the American psyche that defined us as anybody can do anything – isn’t that the whole American definition, is anybody can become anything? « That’s what we prided ourselves on but at the same time – ‘anybody can do anything’ – that’s also, you look at it, and it’s like this is a scary prospect. »
(World news summary compiled by Maghreb news staff)