win bombings claimed by Islamic State kill dozens in Syria’s Homs Twin car bomb blasts killed at least 57 people in Syria’s Homs on Sunday, a monitoring group said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State. At least 100 others were injured in the attack in the central Zahra district of the western city, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Footage from pro-Damascus television channels showed charred corpses buried by rubble, damage to shop fronts and debris littering a wide area. Plumes of smoke rose from burning cars and wounded people walked around dazed.State television said at least 32 people had been killed.Islamic State claimed responsibility for the two car bombs through Amaq, a news agency that supports the militant group.
A bomb attack claimed by Islamic State last month in Homs killed at least 24 people as government forces took back some Islamic State-held villages in Aleppo province in the north.Sunday’s attacks also came a day after government advances against Islamic State.
A bomb attack killed 32 people in Homs in December after a ceasefire deal paved the way for the government to take over the last rebel-controlled area of the city, which was a centre of the 2011 uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.
Violence rages on unabated across the country as world powers and the United Nations push to end the five-year-old conflict, meeting in Geneva to try to broker a ceasefire.
Peace talks were suspended almost immediately earlier this month as Syrian government forces and their allies, backed by Russian air strikes, intensified assaults against insurgents in Aleppo province.The latest fighting in the north of the country has displaced tens of thousands of people, many of whom headed for the Turkish border. The exodus added to more than 11 million already displaced by the conflict, which has claimed 250,000 lives.
Violence rages in Syria as Kerry and Lavrov reach provisional deal on ceasefire U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday he and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria and the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.
Meanwhile, violence continued to rage in Syria. Multiple bomb blasts in a southern district of Damascus killed at least 87 people on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, and twin car bombs killed at least 59 people in Homs, the monitoring group said.
Russian air strikes launched in September against rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad have exacerbated suffering and destruction in Syria, where a five-year-old civil war has killed more than a quarter of a million people. Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire on condition « terrorists » did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing the insurgents stopped supporting them.
The Syrian opposition had earlier said it had agreed to the « possibility » of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus’s allies, including Russia, would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide. « We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days, » Kerry told a news conference in Amman with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh. « The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed. In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been, » said Kerry, who was also to meet King Abdullah.
He declined to go into detail about the unresolved issues, saying the two sides were « filling out the details » of the agreement. And he indicated issues remained to be resolved and he did not expect any immediate change on the ground. He repeated the U.S. position that Assad had to step down. »With Assad there, this war cannot and will not end, » he said.
Assad’s fate has been one of the main points of difference between Washington and Russia, the Syrian leader’s main international backer. Russia recently has begun to say Syrians should decide on whether Assad should stay or not, but it continues to support Damascus with air strikes. Kerry said he had spoken to Lavrov on several occasions, including earlier on Sunday, and that he anticipated U.S.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would talk in the coming days to complete the provisional agreement in principle.The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Lavrov and Kerry had spoken by phone on Sunday about conditions for a ceasefire. It said the discussions were on conditions that would exclude operations against organisations « recognised as terrorist by U.N. Security Council ».
Those groups include Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.Despite the provisional agreement, Kerry did not see an imminent change in fighting on the ground.
« I do not believe that in the next few days, during which time we try to bring this into effect, there is somehow going to be a tipping point with respect to what is happening on the ground … The opposition has made clear their determination to fight back, » he said.
The car bombs and suicide attacks on Sunday in the Sayeda Zeinab district of Damascus, where Syria’s holiest Shi’ite shrine is located, were claimed by Islamic State.Suicide attacks last month in the same district, also claimed by Islamic State, killed 60 people.
The car bombings on Sunday in Homs, in which at least 100 were also wounded, were among the deadliest in the city in five years of fighting, the Syrian Observatory said.
Kerry said any deal would take a few days to come together, while the two sides consulted with other countries and the Syrian opposition. Russia had to speak to the Syrian government and Iran, and the United States had to speak to the Syrian opposition and its partners, Kerry said.Russia’s RIA news agency said on Sunday that Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had arrived in Tehran, quoting a source in the Russian Embassy in Iran. It did not give a reason for the visit.
Saudi prince says offer of troops reflects unease over Syria
A prominent Saudi prince said Sunday that the kingdom’s offer to send troops to Syria to fight extremist groups reflects growing unease over the ability of U.S.-led airstrikes alone to defeat the Islamic State group and end the Syrian civil war. Prince Turki al-Faisal, speaking at a luncheon in Abu Dhabi attended by a handful of journalists, said the kingdom does not expect the U.S.-led coalition battling the IS group, of which Saudi Arabia is a member, will succeed unless there is a ground intervention.
Saudi Arabia has made clear that its willingness to send special forces to Syria is contingent on the U.S. leading the ground effort.
« The world community has the capability, economic, political, military and otherwise, to put a stop to the killing, » he said. I think it is high time that people said enough is enough, but simply saying it is not going to do it. There has to be concrete action on the ground to put a stop to the killing. »
He added that he has not seen any indication from Saudi leaders that if Saudi troops were deployed to Syria, they would also fight Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces. Riyadh is one of the main supporters of Syrian rebels battling to overthrow Assad. Its regional rival Iran is one of Assad’s main backers.
The prince, who does not hold an official seat in government, is an influential and outspoken member of the Saudi royal family. He headed Saudi Arabia’s General Intelligence Directorate for more than two decades until Sept. 1, 2001, and held ambassador posts to the U.S., the U.K. and Ireland.
Speaking earlier at a press conference, he said Muslim countries need to take the lead in fighting terrorism. The kingdom is currently hosting an 18-day military exercise with 20 members of a recently announced Islamic counterterrorism alliance, which includes Pakistan, Sudan, Jordan and neighboring Gulf states.
Defense ministers from the coalition of Muslim-majority countries are scheduled to hold their first meeting in Saudi Arabia sometime in March, and the Saudi leadership is working on making its capital a logistical hub for the 34-nation alliance. The prince said that because the majority of victims of terrorist acts are Muslims, « it is our responsibility as Muslim countries to play the primary role in fighting this disease that has impacted us all. »
Notably absent from the coalition are Iran, Syria and Iraq, all of which are battling the Islamic State group. Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran are fiercely divided on a host of issues and support opposite sides in the wars in Yemen and Syria.
Relations worsened after the execution of a popular Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia last month, which triggered protests in Iran and the ransacking of the Saudi Embassy and another diplomatic mission there. The two countries then severed diplomatic and trade ties. As Iran readies for parliamentary elections on Feb. 26, the prince said he has little hope that those elected will help bridge the political divide.
He said the vote is likely to make the relationship « even worse » because some liberal and reformist candidates were barred from running by the country’s Guardian Council, which vets candidates. « You are going to get a very conservative (parliament) as is the present one, and so we’re going to have more of the same, » he said.
Missing radioactive material found dumped in south Iraq Radioactive material that went missing in Iraq has been found dumped near a petrol station in the southern town of Zubair, officials said on Sunday, ending speculation it could be acquired by Islamic State and used as a weapon. The officials told Reuters the material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, was undamaged and there were no concerns about radiation.Reuters reported last week that Iraq had been searching for the material since it was stolen in November from a storage facility belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford near the southern city of Basra.
It was not immediately clear how the device, owned by Swiss inspections group SGS, ended up in Zubair, around 15 km (9 miles) southwest of Basra. « A passer-by found the radioactive device dumped in Zubair and immediately informed security forces which went with a special radiation prevention team and retrieved the device, » the chief of the security panel within Basra provincial council, Jabbar al-Saidi, told Reuters.
« After initial checking I can confirm the device is intact 100 percent and there is absolutely no concern of radiation. » A security official close to the investigation said it had been established soon after the material was stolen that it was being kept in Zubair and controls had been tightened to prevent it being taken out of the town.
« After failing to take it out of the town, the perpetrators decided to dump it, » the security official said. « I assure you it is only a matter of time before we arrest those who stole the radioactive device. » The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials.
The material is classed as a Category 2 radioactive source by the IAEA, meaning that if not managed properly it could cause permanent injury to a person in close proximity to it for minutes or hours, and could be fatal to someone exposed for a period of hours to days. SGS and Weatherford have both denied responsibility for the disappearance of the material last year.
10 years on, Iraq scarred from attack on Shiite shrine
Ten years after Sunni extremists blew up a revered Shiite shrine, igniting the worst sectarian violence Iraq had ever seen, the country remains deeply divided, with the Islamic State group facing off against increasingly powerful Shiite militias.
The rebuilt golden dome of the al-Askari shrine rises above the low, brown skyline of Samarra, but down below a maze of blast walls and checkpoints manned by Shiite militiamen separate pilgrims from the city’s mostly Sunni residents. The IS group’s lightning advance across northern and western Iraq in 2014 stalled just outside Samarra, though the front lines are now some 30 kilometers (20 miles) away.
Many believe IS would have never emerged if al-Qaida in Iraq — a precursor of the extremist group — had not blown up the shrine in the early hours of Feb. 22, 2006, shattering its golden dome and setting off a two-year wave of reprisal attacks. Shiite lawmaker Muwaffak al-Rubaie, who was then Iraq’s national security adviser, remembers the call he got from a local security official that morning. « He said today is the day of judgment, » al-Rubaie recalled. « He was absolutely right. »
In the days that followed, hundreds of Sunni mosques were attacked and thousands of civilians were killed. As Sunni extremists carried out near-daily suicide bombings, Shiite militiamen raided Sunni neighborhoods, abducting young men, torturing and killing them, and dumping the bodies in the streets. In 2006 alone, the United Nations estimated that more than 34,000 civilians had been killed across Iraq. The following year, the government withheld casualty figures from the U.N., fearing they would be used to paint a « grim » picture of the country and undermine security efforts.
Baghdad’s once-mixed neighborhoods were carved into Sunni and Shiite enclaves that soon came to be surrounded by high concrete walls and concertina wire. In a country where mixed marriages were once common, merely having a Sunni or Shiite first name was enough to be disappeared at one of innumerable flying checkpoints. Iraqi security forces backed by a surge of tens of thousands of U.S. troops were eventually able to halt the bloodletting by 2008, but the country has never been the same.
« The wounds that were created then have healed, but with permanent scars, » al-Rubaie said. The lingering animosity can be seen in the shadow of the rebuilt shrine, where Sunni residents who once prided themselves on being its guardians now live under a permanent security lockdown. Streets that once thronged with pilgrims are empty, and shops that catered to them are shuttered.
Saad Eskander, an Iraqi historian and former director of the National Archives, said that as the only Shiite shrine located in a Sunni-majority city, the site was a symbol of coexistence for centuries. A Shiite Muslim, he remembers praying there alongside Sunnis as a child.
But he says that in the aftermath of the 2006 attack, politicians exploited popular anger for their own ends. Years of sectarian politics paved the way for the emergence of IS, and led many Sunnis in Iraq to initially welcome the extremists as liberators.
« Daesh is a result of those sad events, » he said, using an Arabic acronym for the group. « Before 2006, the divisions in Iraq were between the political representatives of the two communities, » Eskander said. « Now the divisions are between the two communities themselves. »
Thousands of pilgrims still visit the shrine every day, but they are channeled through a labyrinth of walls that separate them from Sunni neighborhoods. Sunni residents must pass through checkpoints manned by Shiite militiamen, who took over security after Iraq’s army and police crumbled in the face of the IS advance. Aruba, a 30-year-old Sunni woman who works in a pharmacy, said her parents used to regularly visit the nearby shrine before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and recalls going there herself as recently as 2005. But she doesn’t know of a single Sunni resident who has been since 2006.
« They don’t respect that this is where I come from, » Aruba said of the forces guarding the shrine. « They search me in my own home. » She asked that her last name not be published out of concern for her safety.
« This place belongs to us, » said Abdul Rahman Salah, a customer at the pharmacy. « The shrine’s Imam was our grandfather. » The shrine is the final resting place of the 10th and 11th imams, religious figures from the 9th century who most Shiites believe inherited the mantle of leadership from the Prophet Mohammed. The adjacent mosque is built on the site where the 12th imam, who most Shiites believe will return as a messiah-like figure, disappeared more than 1,000 years ago. Millions of pilgrims visit every year.
Salah said that before 2006, Samarra residents looked after the shrine and handled security, even worshipping alongside the mostly Shiite visitors. But after the February attack, the militias moved into the area and brought Shiites from neighboring villages to maintain the grounds. In the following years, while money poured in to rebuild the shrine, the local economy withered as pilgrims no longer ventured out into the city.
« I don’t even want to look at that site anymore, » Aruba said. She said she views it as a symbol of the Shiite-led government’s neglect of Sunni communities. Naji Sayad, a member of the so-called Peace Brigades, the Shiite militia that guards the site, acknowledges that the city seethes with resentment. « Honestly, they don’t want us here, they say take your shrine and just leave, » he said. « The people of Samarra, they used to survive on the people who visited the shrine… But because they attacked it in 2006, this doesn’t belong to them anymore. »
Army claims advances in Libyan cities of Benghazi and Ajdabiya Military forces loyal to Libya’s eastern government said on Sunday they had pushed back Islamist fighters in several areas of Benghazi, seizing the strategic port of Marisa.The Libyan National Army said it had also taken control of the town of Ajdabiya, about 150 km (90 miles) south of Benghazi, another city where it has been battling Islamist groups.
Libya has been riven by conflict since the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, as armed factions supporting rival governments in Tripoli and the east have fought for power and a share of the country’s oil wealth.Islamist fighters have used the resulting security vacuum to expand their presence, and militants loyal to Islamic State have gained control of the city of Sirte, to the west of Ajdabiya.
Benghazi, Libya’s second-largest city, has seen some of the worst fighting, with violence escalating when military commander Khalifa Haftar launched a campaign in 2014 against Islamists and other armed groups.Munthir al-Khartoush, a spokesman for the army’s Battalion 309, said that besides Marisa port, the army had taken control of the nearby neighbourhood of Al-Halis and had advanced in the district of Boatni, which also saw heavy fighting on Saturday.
At least three soldiers and 15 Islamist fighters were killed in Sunday’s clashes, the military said.Marisa would be a significant gain for the army. The groups it has been fighting have been receiving deliveries of weapons through the port.
« We have completely cut off the supplies coming to the front line for the Islamist groups in the west of Benghazi by capturing Marisa Port, » Khartoush said.Later, military sources said the army had also captured Al-Hawari hospital in northern Benghazi. Health care has been badly affected by the violence, and a medical source said that if the hospital could be protected from further fighting it would make a major difference to medical services in the city.
In Ajdabiya, military spokesman Akram Bouhaliqa said the army had forced Islamist fighters from the area around Galouz Street and the industrial zone, the last positions they held.A resident also confirmed to Reuters that the army was in control of the city.
Three soldiers were killed in Sunday’s clashes, Bouhaliqa said. A hospital source in Ajdabiya said 65 people had been killed and 140 wounded in fighting there over the past two months.The violence comes as a unity government nominated under a United Nations-backed plan is trying to win approval from Libya’s internationally recognised parliament in the east .It also comes two days after a U.S. air strike targeting a suspected Islamic State training camp in the western city of Sabratha killed nearly 50 people, including two Serbian embassy staff abducted in Libya in November.
Egyptian rights group asks court to halt official move to shut it down An Egyptian organisation that documents rights abuses and treats torture victims said on Sunday it had filed an urgent application to a court in the hope of halting plans by authorities to shut it down on Monday.
The director of the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture told a news conference that a health ministry decision to shut it down was part of the toughest crackdown on dissent in Egypt’s modern history. « This is a political decision, » said Aida Seif el-Dawla.
« And it’s coming from the cabinet that represents all the actors that are keen on the survival of this regime, despite the oppression and the torture that the Egyptian people are living through on a daily basis. » Sources in the Health Ministry, which issues licenses for the Nadeem Center, have said it committed unspecified violations.
Staff of the organisation said on Sunday its complaint to the administrative court argued that it should have been informed of any violations of regulations and given time to rectify them. The centre would continue to operate, said staff member Suzan Fayad, despite the closure order, which the authorities plan to implement on Monday.
Human rights groups accuse President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government of widespread abuses, allegations it denies.As armed forces chief, Sisi toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.Security forces killed hundreds of Mursi supporters in the streets and arrested thousands of others.
Secular activists were later rounded up. Non-governmental organisations have also been closed under what government critics say is a rollback of political freedoms won in the 2011 uprising that ended 30 years of rule under President Hosni Mubarak.Egyptian authorities deny allegations by human rights groups and activists that security forces round up people and detain them in secret detention centres where they are tortured.
Egypt’s human rights record has come under fresh scrutiny since Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, 28, was found dead on the outskirts of Cairo this month. His body showed signs of torture.The government has denied media reports that he was arrested by security forces before his death.
Egypt puts on trial policeman who shot driver dead in the street Egypt’s prosecutor referred a policeman who shot dead a driver in a busy street to trial for murder, state news agency MENA reported on Sunday, in the latest case to highlight public concerns about police brutality.
Sergeant Mostafa Abdel Karim is accused of shooting a driver in the head after a dispute over his fare on Thursday night and was forced to flee a mob of local people who attempted to catch and kill him. Hundreds of protesters immediately gathered in front of the Cairo security directorate.Abdel Karim confessed to using his interior ministry-issued gun to shoot the driver following an argument, killing him instantly, the prosecutor’s office said.
Other evidence included the testimony of several witnesses and an autopsy report showing that the bullet in the victim’s head came from a standard issue police weapon. The incident came amid mounting public anger over alleged police brutality. Last week, thousands of doctors held a rare protest against police they say beat two doctors at a Cairo hospital for refusing to falsify medical records.
Earlier this month, the body of a missing Italian graduate student was found on the outskirts of Cairo showing signs of torture, including electrocution. Activists said the injuries bore the hallmarks of the Egyptian security services. The Interior Ministry has denied allegations of involvement in the death. Anger over perceived police excesses helped fuel the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule and began on a Police Day holiday.President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told the interior minister on Friday, a day after the incident, to crack down on police abuses and to submit proposals to parliament to achieve this goal.
Egyptian columnist delivers stinging criticism of Sisi A prominent columnist on Sunday delivered the harshest attack to date against Egypt’s president in the local media, saying that Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi presided over a « theocracy » that is no different from the Islamist-led government he overthrew in 2013.
In a front-page column in the al-Maqal daily, Ibrahim Eissa expressed outrage over a two-year prison sentence issued Saturday against author Ahmed Naji for publishing a sexually explicit excerpt of his novel that prosecutors said violated « public modesty. »
The sentence has angered Egyptian authors and artists, who say it’s a blatant encroachment on the freedom of expression and artistic creativity enshrined in Egypt’s new constitution. A statement signed by 13 rights groups and published Sunday called for Naji’s immediate release. El-Sissi maintains that Egypt’s judiciary is independent, an assertion disputed by rights activists, who say it is beholden to the executive branch.
As military chief, el-Sissi led the 2013 overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi, an Islamist who was Egypt’s first freely elected president but proved deeply divisive. El-Sissi was elected the following year, and has enjoyed fawning coverage by state and private media, most of which is owned by influential businessmen. But the unusually strong criticism by Eissa, a dean of the Egyptian media who supported the 2013 overthrow and has personally interviewed el-Sissi, indicates growing discontent.
« Say what you will, Mr. President, and speak at your conferences … as you wish, but the reality of your state is different, » he wrote. « Your state violates the constitution, harasses thinkers and creators and jails writers and authors.
« Your state is a theocracy, Mr. President, while you are talking all the time of a modern, civilian state, » he wrote. « Your state and its agencies, just like those of your predecessor, hate intellectuals, thought and creativity and only like hypocrites, flatterers and composers of poems of support and flattery. »
The growing criticism comes as the Egyptian government has struggled to deliver on promises to stabilize the economy after the years of unrest that followed the 2011 uprising, which ended President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly three-decade reign.
The bombing of a Russian passenger jet last year dealt a major blow to the already suffering tourism industry, the local currency is weakening and foreign reserves are drying up.An Islamic insurgency based in the Sinai Peninsula, which grew increasingly assertive after Morsi’s ouster, has been able to carry out attacks across the country, adding to the sense of crisis.
El-Sissi has meanwhile overseen the harshest crackdown in decades, jailing thousands of Islamists and hundreds of secular activists. All unauthorized protests have been banned, and activists say the police have reverted to the brutality of the Mubarak years.
El-Sissi has said his ouster of Morsi saved Egypt from a theocracy and restored civilian, democratic rule. But Eissa called that claim into question. »Where is this civilian state? Where do you see it? » he wrote, addressing el-Sissi. « This is a state that witnesses more legal prosecution of writers than what we have seen during the Brotherhood’s one-year rule. »
Kerry meets with Abbas, urges calm, decrease in violence U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged calm in talks on Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on tensions between Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank and Jerusalem, and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to a two-state solution to the conflict.
« The Secretary continued to urge for calm and a decrease in violence, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, » State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement after the meeting during a visit to Jordan by the top U.S. diplomat.
The talks included discussions of tensions at a Jerusalem holy site – known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, where al-Aqsa mosque stands, and to Jews as the Temple Mount.Palestinian allegations that Israel is trying to alter the religious status quo at the site have helped fuel months of heightened violence.
Since October, Israeli security forces have killed at least 168 Palestinians, 111 of whom Israel says were assailants, while most others were fatally shot during violent anti-Israeli protests. Stabbings, shootings and car rammings by Palestinians have killed 28 Israelis and a U.S. citizen.
Kerry stressed the U.S. commitment to seeking a sustainable two-state solution and working with all parties to that end. He reiterated the U.S. policy on the illegitimacy of Israeli settlements. Palestinian leaders say many Palestinian attackers have acted out of desperation in the absence of movement toward creation of an independent state. Israel says they are being incited to violence by their leaders and on social media.
Netanyahu defends top general in excessive force debate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s military chief on Sunday after the general was criticised for saying he would not want soldiers confronting a wave of Palestinian stabbings to « empty a magazine » into a girl wielding scissors.
One member of Netanyahu’s right-wing cabinet said Lieutenant-General Gadi Eisenkot’s remarks last week could be misinterpreted by Israel’s international critics as confirming allegations, which it denies, that disproportionate force has been used against assailants, many of them youths.
Another cabinet minister, posting on Facebook, said soldiers might now hesitate to shoot attackers, putting themselves and others at risk. Netanyahu called the internal political debate « hollow » and said Israel’s top general was merely « stating the obvious » about rules of military engagement, under which soldiers can open fire only when lives are in danger.
« Everything said after (Eisenkot’s statement) stems from ignorance or an attempt at political bashing, » Netanyahu told his cabinet in public remarks. Video of alleged attackers being hit by multiple gunshots, sometimes after falling to the ground, has stirred controversy.
Israel says such force is sometimes necessary in fluid situations where soldiers’ and civilians’ lives are in danger. In the latest example on Friday, Al Jazeera television aired footage showing two or three Israeli paramilitary police repeatedly shooting a Palestinian lying on the ground after, according to Israeli authorities, he stabbed two officers outside the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City.
« It’s impossible to judge the situation the combatants are in, » Israeli Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan told Channel 10 television on Saturday. « There have been incidents in which (security forces) opened fire, the terrorist was not killed, and he managed to stab again. Addressing high school students on Wednesday, Eisenkot got into political hot water when he spoke of the rules of engagement. »There were places where a 13-year-old girl was holding scissors or a knife and there was an obstacle between her and the soldiers, » he said.
« I wouldn’t want a soldier to open fire and empty a magazine into a girl like that, even if she is doing something very serious, but I would want him to use the necessary force to carry out the mission. » Last November in Jerusalem, two Palestinian girls stabbed an elderly man with scissors before a policeman shot and killed one of them and wounded the other. Closed circuit video showed the officer firing several times at one of the girls as she was lying motionless on the ground. Since October, stabbings, shootings and car rammings by Palestinians have killed 28 Israelis and a U.S. citizen.
Israeli security forces have killed at least 168 Palestinians, 111 of whom Israel says were assailants, while most others were shot dead during violent anti-Israeli protests. On Sunday, a Palestinian tried to stab a soldier near the town of Jenin in the occupied West Bank and Israeli forces shot him dead, the military said. Palestinian medical officials said the alleged assailant was aged 16. Palestinian leaders say many Palestinian attackers have acted out of desperation in the absence of movement towards creation of an independent state. Israel says they are being incited to violence by their leaders and on social media.Last month, Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom called for an investigation into whether Israel was carrying out extrajudicial killings. Israel described her comments as ludicrous.
Lebanese justice minister resigns, blames Hezbollah over deadlock, court case Lebanese Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi resigned on Sunday, blaming political rivals Hezbollah for the country’s political deadlock and protesting over the release on bail of a former minister sentenced for smuggling explosives from Syria. Lebanon’s political crisis has left it without a president for 21 months with rival factions unable to agree on a candidate, and has paralysed state institutions, preventing the government from taking even basic decisions.
The release on bail of ex-information minister Michel Samaha last month after serving eight months of a 4 1/2 year jail sentence for smuggling explosives from neighbouring Syria and planning attacks drew anger and condemnation from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents in Lebanon. In a new sign of regional tension spilling over into Lebanon, Saudi Arabia on Thursday suspended a military aid package to the Lebanese security forces in what an official said was a response to Beirut’s failure to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Rifi said Hezbollah was to blame for the political paralysis, the Samaha case and the Saudi episode. « Continuing (to be part of) this government has become an agreement to this deviation, or at least is a failure to confront it, » Rifi said in a statement.
« So I present to you and to Prime Minister Tammam Salam my resignation, » he said.The cabinet was to hold an emergency session on Monday, the National News Agency said.
Rifi described the Samaha case as a « national crime which Hezbollah is responsible for, » calling for the case to be referred to international courts.
The case captivated a Lebanese public accustomed to seeing political violence go unpunished. It was another example of how turmoil in Syria is rippling through a country where Damascus has played a major role for decades and whose future will be shaped by the outcome of the civil war next door. Hezbollah is an ally of Assad and of Iran, and its fighters have provided crucial support for Damascus’s efforts to turn battles in western Syria in its favour.Saudi Arabia backs insurgents fighting against Assad.
U.S. businessman detained in Iran denied access to lawyer An Iranian-American businessman detained in Iran since October has been denied access to his lawyer by authorities, his attorney and family said in an interview and on social media over the last two days. Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen, was detained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in October while visiting family, according to a source familiar with the matter who declined to be identified. Iranian authorities have not announced any charges against him.
Five other American citizens were released from Iranian prisons more than a month ago as part of an historic prisoner swap with the United States. After their release, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that he had commitments from Iran that Namazi’s case would be resolved soon.
Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabaei said in a phone interview on Friday that he is representing Namazi and that Iran’s judiciary chief has not yet allowed him to meet with his client. Such permission is required by Iranian law if an individual is accused of national security-related crimes, he said, adding that he has not been officially informed of Namazi’s charges.
« Not me, nor any other lawyer has received such permission from the head of judiciary so far, » Tabatabaei said. « His mother has met him a few times, but his father has not been allowed to see him. » Tabatabaei said he and Namazi’s mother met this month with a prosecutor who promised to allow more meetings between her and her son.
In a post on Facebook on Saturday, Namazi’s mother, Effie Namazi, said she had not been able to see her son for some time, and did not know his condition. But she said she had received news through his cellmate’s family that Namazi had begun a hunger strike.
« This step by Siamak has greatly increased the worries of his family, because it will certainly hurt his health, » Effie Namazi wrote. « As a mother I ask officials to at least allow for me and his father to meet with Siamak as soon as possible and jointly convince him to quit his hunger strike. » Tabatabaei identified Namazi’s cellmate as Isa Saharkhiz, a prominent Iranian journalist who is also Tabatabaei’s client. Hunger strikes have been one way for imprisoned Iranians without other recourse to pressure authorities. Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh ended a nearly 50-day hunger strike in 2012 after Iranian officials lifted a travel ban on her daughter.
Namazi was most recently working for Crescent Petroleum, an oil and gas company in the United Arab Emirates. Previously, he headed a consulting firm in Iran. Born in Iran, he was educated in the United States and was named a « Young Global Leader » by the World Economic Forum in 2007. An official at Iran’s Interests Section in Washington, D.C.declined to comment on the case. The U.S. State Department said it could not comment on Namazi’s case because of privacy concerns.Namazi’s arrest has sent a chilling message to expatriates who hope to participate in Iran’s economic opening following the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions.
Tabatabaei is a prominent lawyer who has represented other detained dual nationals, including former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati, one of the five Americans released from Iranian prison last month.Ahmad Kiarostami, a friend of Namazi, said he worried that the hunger strike indicated Namazi had been driven to extreme measures by his detention.
Mauritania vows no abuse by soldiers in C. African Republic
Mauritania’s defense minister vowed on Sunday that his country’s peacekeepers will never be implicated in the type of sex abuse allegations that have rocked Central African Republic’s U.N. mission in recent months. Diallo Mamadou Bathia made his remarks during a ceremony Sunday before the deployment of 225 Mauritanian soldiers to Central African Republic, where thousands have been killed in sectarian fighting since 2013. Mauritania already sent 225 soldiers to the country two weeks ago and 300 more are scheduled to deploy next month, bringing the country’s contribution to the mission to 750 troops.
Since allegations first became public last April, peacekeepers with the U.N. mission have been repeatedly accused of rape and other forms of sexual abuse. In January, the U.N. said there likely were 22 confirmed allegations, and still more allegations have been reported this month. The U.N. has been unable to explain why the allegations in Central African Republic have been so widespread.
The U.N. has started repatriations over the abuse claims. Last week, a spokesman said the repatriation of a Congolese battalion in Bambari, where a number of cases have been reported, would start on Feb. 25, and that Mauritanians would serve as replacements.
At Sunday’s deployment ceremony, Bathia promised that Mauritanian troops would be positive ambassadors for the country and would not violate any laws. »Our military will never resort to these reprehensible practices because they are contrary to our values and traditions, » he said.
Tunisia extends state of emergency for another month Tunisia’s president has extended for a month the state of emergency that has been in place since an Islamic State-linked suicide bombing in the country’s capital in November left 12 people dead.
The decision to prolong the state of emergency was made Sunday by President Beji Caid Essebsi, a government spokesman told the state news agency TAP. The move gives the government emergency powers to forbid strikes and gathering that could cause disturbances, as well as powers over the media.The decision comes two days after a U.S. strike on an Islamic State training camp in neighboring Libya that killed a senior extremist leader who is believe to be a Tunisian.
What to do if US begins capturing more suspected terrorists? President Barack Obama has refused to send any suspected terrorists captured overseas to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. But if the U.S. starts seizing more militants in expanded military operations, where will they go, who will hold them and where will they be tried?
Those are questions that worry legal experts, lawmakers and others as U.S. special operations forces deploy in larger numbers to Iraq, Syria and, maybe soon, Libya, with the Islamic State group and affiliated organizations in their sights.
Throughout Obama’s presidency, suspects have been killed in drone strikes or raids, or captured and interrogated, sometimes aboard Navy ships. After that, they are either prosecuted in U.S. courts and military commissions or handed over to other nations. This policy has been enough, experts say — at least for now.
« If you’re going to be doing counterterrorism operations that bring in detainees, you have to think through what you are going to do with them, » said Phillip Carter, former deputy assistant defense secretary for detainee policy. « If the U.S. is going to conduct large-scale combat operations or large-scale special ops and bring in more detainees, it needs a different solution. »
Rebecca Ingber, an associate law professor at Boston University who follows the issue, warns that if the U.S. engaged in a full ground war in Syria, « chances are there would need to be detention facilities of some kind in the vicinity. »
Obama has not sent a single suspected terrorist to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where many have been detained for years without being charged or tried — something the president says is a « recruitment tool » for militant extremists.
He is to report to Congress this month on how he wants to close Guantanamo and possibly transfer some of the remaining detainees to the United States. That report also is supposed to address the question of future detainees.
Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte believes that the absence of a long-term detention and interrogation facility for foreign terrorist suspects represents a « major shortcoming in U.S. national security policy. » Republican candidates who want to succeed Obama are telling voters that they would keep Guantanamo open.
« Law enforcement is about gathering evidence to take someone to trial, and convict them, » said Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. « Anti-terrorism is about finding out information to prevent a future attack so the same tactics do not apply. … But, here’s the bigger problem with all this: We’re not interrogating anybody right now. »
That’s not true, said Frazier Thompson, director of the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Group. The tight-lipped team of interrogators from the FBI, Defense Department, the CIA and other intelligence agencies gleans intelligence from top suspected terrorists in the U.S. and overseas. « We were created to interrogate high-value terrorists and we are interrogating high-value terrorists, » Thompson said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Since it was established in 2009, that team has been deployed 34 times, Thompson said, adding that other government agencies conduct independent interrogations as well. « We are designed to deploy on the highest-value terrorist. We are not going out to interrogate everybody, » he said.
Thompson would not disclose details of the cases his team has worked or speculate on whether he expects more interrogation requests as the battle against IS heats up.
« If there is a surge, I’m ready to go. If there’s not, I’m still ready to go, » Thompson said. The U.S. has deployed about 200 new special operations forces to Iraq, and they are preparing to work with the Iraqis to begin going after IS fighters and commanders, « killing or capturing them wherever we find them, along with other key targets, » Defense Secretary Ash Carter said.
Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter IS, told Congress this month that in the final six months of 2015, 90 senior to midlevel leaders were killed, including the IS leader’s key deputies: Haji Mutazz, the top leader in Iraq, and Abu Sayyaf, the IS oil minister and financier.
Sayyaf was killed in a raid to rescue American hostage Kayla Mueller; his wife, known as Umm Sayyaf, was captured. Her case illustrates how the Obama administration is prosecuting some terrorist suspects in federal courts or military commissions or leaving them in the custody of other nations.
Umm Sayyaf, a 25-year-old Iraqi, is being held in Iraq and facing prosecution by authorities there. She also was charged Feb. 9 in U.S. federal court with holding Mueller and contributing to her death in February 2015.
Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent who investigated and supervised international terrorism cases, including the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa and the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen the 1990s, said sending suspected terrorists through the American criminal justice system works. He said the courts are more effective than military commissions used at Guantanamo that have been slow in trying detainees who violate the laws of war.
« The current practice of investigating and prosecuting terror suspects has proved incredibly effective, » Soufan said, noting that since the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, only seven people have been tried and convicted under military commissions. « During that same time period, hundreds of terrorists have been convicted in federal courts and almost all are still in jail. » But it’s hard to evaluate the effectiveness of the system. The Justice Department declined to provide the number of foreign terrorist suspects who have been prosecuted or the number handed over to other countries, or their status. Lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, have asked the Defense Department for the numbers.
Reports on how other countries handle the suspects are classified. Raha Wala, senior counsel at Human Rights First, also is concerned about detention operations abroad. « The government needs to be more transparent to the American people — and to the world — about who it is transferring overseas, and what procedures are in place to make sure we are not transferring individuals into situations where human rights will be abused, » he said.
Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton are cementing their status as presidential front-runners with strong performances among demographic groups at the core of their two parties, developments that put tremendous pressure on their top rivals as the nominating contests head into March. Trump built a varied coalition in his South Carolina primary victory Saturday, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks. But it was the bombastic billionaire’s surprisingly strong performance among self-described evangelicals in South Carolina that helped him notch another double-digit victory and sweep all 50 delegates at stake.
It was a grave blow to Ted Cruz, who invested heavily in his pursuit of religious conservatives here only to apparently finish a narrow third behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and it raises questions about whether Cruz can catch Trump in the March 1 glut of primaries in southern states that the Texas senator has for months identified as his best path to the nomination.
For Democrats, Clinton’s Nevada caucus victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders affirmed her strength among black voters. Like white evangelicals for Republicans, minority voters will play key roles in upcoming Democratic primaries, starting with the South Carolina primary on Feb. 27.
Among South Carolina Republicans who voted on Saturday, more than 7 out 10 described themselves as born-again Christians, and those voters were slightly more likely to say they voted for Trump (33 percent) than Cruz (27 percent).
Cruz spent weeks hammering Trump for his past support for same-sex marriage and abortion rights. He chided Trump for his history of public vulgarity, casting it as unworthy of the White House. After Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died on Feb. 20, Cruz warned voters not to trust Trump to nominate jurists who represented their values.
Cruz counted hundreds of South Carolina pastors among his endorsements, and he campaigned with cable television’s « Duck Dynasty » patriarch Phil Robertson, a cult hero to conservative Christians for his unvarnished critiques of modern, secular society. The candidate also has taken to comparing his campaign to a spiritual « revival » and asking his supporters to pray that God « awaken the body of Christ » in America.
Trump’s ability to withstand that approach may be found in what else drives white evangelicals. Four out of 10 were angry at government, and nearly half of that group opted for Trump. Cruz also lagged well behind Trump among evangelicals who cared most about the economy.
Those outcomes reflect Trump’s overall strength through the first three nominating contests: He draws significant support from nearly every demographic and ideological slice of the Republican Party.
Trump led among those with household incomes up to $100,000 — and nearly tied with Rubio among voters who earn more. Trump led among voters who live in rural areas, small towns and suburbs. Rubio was tops among residents of South Carolina’s largest cities, but that was just 23 percent of the electorate. Voters with less than a college education sided with Trump, and he managed a near draw with Rubio among those who have degrees. Only among voters with postgraduate education — just a fifth of the electorate — did Rubio register a lead.
Trump’s support among self-described conservatives and moderates was nearly identical: 32 percent and 34 percent. He got the votes of almost half of those who support deporting residents in the U.S. illegally and managed to attract about a fifth of those who say immigrants should get a path to legal status. Slightly more than half of the electorate said they feel « betrayed » by Republican politicians. Slightly less than half said they don’t. Trump claimed a third of each group.
Rubio crushed Trump 47 percent to 21 percent among voters whose top priority is having a nominee who « can win in November. » Worrisome for the Florida senator, though: That group was just 15 percent of the electorate.
Perhaps most encouraging for Rubio and Cruz is that among the latest-deciding voters — about 4 out of 10 said they decided within days of the primary — less than a fifth opted for Trump.
Among Nevada Democrats, meanwhile, Clinton ratcheted up the pressure on Sanders by claiming 56 percent support from nonwhite caucus-goers. Among African-Americans, her support was about 76 percent. Black voters made up just 13 percent of caucus attendees, but they are likely to be a majority of the South Carolina primary electorate on Saturday. A similar distribution in South Carolina would almost certainly give her a commanding win heading into March 1 primaries with similar Democratic electorates in southern states.Sanders drew a majority among voters who cared most about income inequality — the theme of his campaign — but Clinton appeared to dent Sanders’ core message by winning majorities among voters who care most about health care and the economy; she also led Sanders 54 percent to 43 percent among Nevada Democrats from union households.
Donald Trump takes control of Republican race
Donald Trump is looking ever more in control of the race for the Republican presidential nomination after a resounding victory in the South Carolina primary, leaving Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz playing tug-of-war over who’s the strongest anti-Trump candidate.
In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton blunted concerns about her viability with a clear victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday’s Nevada caucuses, the first state to test the Democrats’ appeal among a racially diverse group of voters. Trump’s victory in South Carolina on Saturday was vindication for political mavericks whose hunger for an outsider has defined this year’s campaign. But those fortunes didn’t extend to Sanders this weekend. After winning the second contest in New Hampshire, the self-described democratic socialist came up in short in Nevada, where Clinton collected the majority of delegates and told gleeful supporters that « this one is for you. »
For Republican Jeb Bush, it was the end of the line for a political dynasty as he failed to follow his father and brother into the White House. With donors ready to bolt, the former Florida governor, who had entered the race as the front-runner last year and outspent his rivals, dropped out of the race after failing to break into the top three in the first three nominating contests.
The Republican candidates were fanning out Sunday to Nevada, Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia and beyond as the race spreads out and speeds up after the kickoff trio of contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Nevada’s Republican caucuses are Tuesday, and then a dozen states vote in the March 1 Super Tuesday bonanza.
Trump opted against his trademark braggadocio in assessing the state of the race on Sunday.Asked on CBS if the race was his to lose, the billionaire businessman said, « I don’t want to say it’s mine. Certainly I’m leading, there’s no question about that, but we’ve got a long way to go. »
Trump acknowledged that he probably needs to act more presidential. The real estate mogul told « Fox News Sunday, » »I think I’ll be very presidential at the appropriate time. Right now, I’m fighting for my life. »
Nearly half of Republican voters in South Carolina said Trump is the candidate they trust most to handle the economy, more than double the proportion who said so of any other candidate, according to exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research.
Rubio, who placed second in South Carolina based on complete but unofficial returns, argued that his policy specifics trump Trump’s big talk. « If you’re running for president of the United States, you can’t just tell people you’re going to make America great again, » the Florida senator said on CBS’ « Face the Nation. » Cruz, who was edged out by Rubio in the South Carolina vote, stressed his conservative credentials and said he was the lone « strong conservative in this race who can win. We see conservatives continuing to unite behind our campaign, » the Texas senator told NBC’s « Meet the Press. »
The Democrats next compete Saturday in South Carolina with Clinton expected to win by a large margin. A large majority of black voters supported Clinton in Nevada, according to entrance polls, an outcome that bodes well for her in South Carolina and on Super Tuesday a few days later when primaries are held in several southern states where African-Americans make up a large segment of the Democratic electorate. Clinton celebrated her Nevada triumph but acknowledged she has work to do in persuading voters that she has their best interests at heart.
Infant refugee at centre of Australian hospital protest gets reprieve Australia said on Sunday a baby girl facing repatriation to an offshore immigration detention camp would go to an onshore facility instead, easing tension that peaked in a blockade outside a hospital where she is a patient.
Doctors at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane had refused to release the one-year-old girl after completion of her treatment for serious burns, adding to pressure on the government over its tough asylum seeker policy. The number of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia is small in comparison with those arriving in Europe, but border security is a hot-button political issue in Australia, which is scheduled to hold a national election later in the year. Federal Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the infant, known only as Baby Asha, would shortly be released into community detention, which allows free movement, in Brisbane.
However, Dutton stressed that the family could still be returned to a camp on the tiny South Pacific island of Nauru, about 3,000 km (1,800 miles) northeast of Australia, if they were not deemed to be genuine refugees.Asha was flown last month from the Nauru centre, which houses more than 500 people, to Brisbane for hospital treatment.
The facility has been widely criticised for harsh conditions and reports of systemic child abuse. »The advice I’ve received is that the doctors from the hospital have said they would be happy for the baby to go out into community detention, » Dutton told reporters.
« But at some point, if people have (asylum claim) matters finalised in Australia, then they will be returning to Nauru – that’s exactly the same treatment that we’ve applied equally. » The High Court this month rejected a legal test case that challenged Australia’s right to deport 267 refugee children and their families who had been brought to Australia from Nauru for medical treatment.Hundreds of Australians held an overnight vigil at the hospital, blocking exits and stopping cars in a bid to halt Asha’s removal.
The protest drew wide attention and support in Australia, with the Twitter hashtag #BabyAsha trending worldwide. »Together we did it! » tweeted Kon Karapanagiotidis, chief executive of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, after Dutton’s announcement.
Australia maintains a policy of sending asylum seekers who attempt to reach the country by boat to camps on Nauru or on Manus island in Papua New Guinea. They are not offered resettlement in Australia.The government says the policies are necessary to stop the drowning of asylum seekers as people smugglers use unseaworthy vessels to ship them from Indonesia to Australia.
Fire damages future refugee home in eastern Germany Onlookers celebrated as a suspected arson fire damaged a former hotel being converted into a refugee home in eastern Germany, police said Sunday, raising new concerns about violence toward migrants in a nation that registered more than a million asylum-seekers last year
The blaze in the roof of the building in Bautzen, in the eastern state of Saxony, broke out overnight. Police said no one was injured but a group of people gathered outside, some « commenting with derogatory remarks or unashamed joy » at the fire.
While most Germans have been welcoming toward refugees, a vocal minority has staged protests in front of refugee homes, especially in the east. Germany last year saw a surge in violence against such lodgings.
Police ordered three people to leave the fire scene because they were hampering firefighters’ work and then temporarily detained two of them, whom they described as intoxicated 20-year-old locals, after they ignored the order.
Investigators found traces of a fire accelerant at the scene and believe the fire was caused by arson, police said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the building can be restored. Saxony is home to the anti-Islam and anti-immigration group PEGIDA, and incidents there have caused concern before. In August, a mob in Heidenau, outside Dresden, hurled bottles and fireworks at police protecting a shelter being set up for refugees.
The Bautzen fire came after a mob in the small town of Clausnitz, also in Saxony, on Thursday screamed « We are the people! » and « Go home! » as they blocked a bus carrying asylum-seekers outside a new refugee home. Police drew criticism in that case for roughly hauling some migrants off the bus into the building — which they insist was necessary to prevent the situation from escalating — and for saying that some of the migrants had made provocative gestures.
Saxony Governor Stanislaw Tillich called the two incidents « appalling and shocking » and described the perpetrators as « criminals. » « This is abhorrent and disgusting, » Tillich told the Funke newspaper group. He pledged that authorities will investigate and « bring everyone responsible to account. »
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said that everyone in Germany is entitled to express their concerns « but there is a threshold of decency and law that must not be crossed — and this threshold was clearly crossed in the incidents in Saxony, » the news agency dpa reported.
« It is completely unacceptable for people who are seeking protection from persecution here to be greeted with hatred and agitation, » de Maiziere added. Later Sunday, the minister defended police actions in Clausnitz, saying they were right to get all the migrants off the bus quickly and into the building. If the bus had been backed away from the refugee home, « these bawling people would have had their way, » de Maiziere said on ARD television.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares brace for industry data, pound slips Asian share markets got off to a cautious start on Monday as investors await a rush of February industry surveys to take the pulse of the global economy, while sterling suffered on concerns the UK might yet vote to leave the European Union.
A busy week for data culminates with a Group of 20 meeting that offer leaders a chance to soothe market concerns with talk of coordination, even if it produces nothing concrete.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, having rebounded more than 4 percent last week.
Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.4 percent, hampered by the strength of the yen. South Korea lost 0.3 percent, while E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 dipped 0.2 percent.Oil markets were calmer with Brent crude off 3 cents at $32.98 and U.S. crude down 4 cents to $29.60 a barrel.
While Wall Street ended Friday with a whimper, the major indexes still boasted their best weekly performances this year, with the Nasdaq tallying its strongest week since July. »Equity markets successfully stress-tested and bounced from key technical support last week, » wrote analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
« While we cannot definitively say the cycle/2016 lows are in place yet, the technical evidence continues to suggest a more durable bottom may be forming. » The early price activity was in sterling which beat a hasty retreat as worries that Britain may quit the European Union flared up after London Mayor Boris Johnson threw his weight behind the exit campaign.
The pound fell around 1 percent on the greenback, euro and yen. It slid as far as $1.4235 and 160.07 yen , from around $1.4405 and 162.10 late on Friday. The euro popped back above 78.00 pence and last stood at 77.91.
Sterling has just about completely reversed gains made on Friday after EU leaders agreed unanimously on a package of measures aimed at keeping Britain in the 28-nation bloc to avoid a potentially disastrous divorce.
The other major currencies were steadier. The dollar was a touch softer at 112.51 yen, as was the euro at 124.97 . Against the greenback, the common currency was also slightly weaker at $1.1122.Dollar bulls shrugged off data last Friday that showed underlying U.S. consumer price inflation accelerated in January by the most in nearly 4-1/2 years.
The figures should support the view that the Fed could gradually raise interest rates this year as forecast, but markets remained highly sceptical given the backdrop of slowing global growth and market turbulence.Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 rich nations gather in Shanghai this week to discuss those global headwinds.
There has been some chatter about a possible grand currency agreement that would allow for a depreciation in the U.S.dollar, which might relieve pressure on commodity prices and on emerging markets.
However, most analysts consider it very unlikely given so many of the G20 central banks are actively easing policy and need their own currencies to stay competitive.Surveys on manufacturing and consumer sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic this week will offer clues about how much the strain of weak trade, investment and wage growth are spilling into advanced economies
Wall St Week Ahead-Focus sharpens on Fed after hot inflation data With next week’s calendar full of economic data releases and speeches by economic policymakers, investors have been poised to watch the Federal Reserve for clues about the U.S. central bank’s next move, but an unexpectedly hot reading on inflation on Friday will further sharpen that focus. After coming into 2016 with an expectation of three or four interest rate hikes through the year, market participants recently were viewing the Fed as likely raising interest rates once, if at all, in light of weak inflation and global volatility.
But Friday’s data showed the core consumer price index (CPI), a measure of underlying U.S. inflation, rose in January by the most in nearly 4-1/2 years to a 2.2 percent annualized rate. It drew particular attention as the number was above the Fed’s 2.0 percent target, though it is not the central bank’s benchmark inflation measure.
The uptick in price pressures has already shifted the market’s expectations on the Fed’s next move. »The inflation numbers definitely caught the markets off guard, » said Joseph Lavorgna, senior economist at Deutsche Bank in New York.
« Last week at this time the market was pricing a 25 percent chance of a rate hike by year-end and now it’s over 40 percent and that’s largely because of today’s stronger than expected CPI. » The dollar rose alongside Treasury yields shortly after the data, as markets saw the higher inflation as nudging the Fed towards tightening policy. The euro hit its lowest since Feb. 3.
Equity markets have also closely followed expectations on Fed policy. Lower rates tend to support stocks in general, with high-paying dividend names like utilities gaining investors’ favor. In an environment of rising rates, banks tend to take the lead.
The expectation of higher interest rates has been cited as one of the reasons for stocks having fallen as much as 11 percent this year. The S&P 500 is down 6 percent so far in 2016, and on track for its third positive week of the year. The inflation numbers add to recent economic data, including a stronger job market and consumer spending, that will force the Fed to seriously reconsider more rate hikes, said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.
« I think what’s happening is that people are starting to put tightening back on the table, » Paulsen said. Personal consumption expenditures, the Fed’s favorite measure of price inflation, is out next Friday and could confirm or outweigh the trend in the CPI reading. Among other market-moving numbers next week are purchasing managers indexes (PMIs) for the manufacturing and services sectors and two gauges of consumer confidence.Investors and the Fed could address a decline in earnings, now seen as down 3.7 percent for the S&P 500 in the fourth quarter of last year, and lower outlooks for 2016 as other reasons to keep rates lower for longer.
The incoming data gives more weight to next week’s scheduled speeches from many Fed officials, including Vice Chair Stanley Fischer on Tuesday and Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart on Thursday as markets look for a change in tone. Two Fed surveys of business conditions, Richmond and Kansas City, are also out next week. »I don’t think the Fed can help stocks, they can only hurt them, » said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at Phoenix Financial Services in New York
China weapons exports surge over past five years -report China has almost doubled its weapons exports in the past five years, a military think tank said on Monday, as the world’s third-largest weapons exporter pours capital into developing an advanced arms manufacturing industry.
In 2011 to 2015, China’s arms imports fell 25 percent compared with the previous five year period, signaling a growing confidence in the country’s homegrown weaponry despite key areas of weakness, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on global arms transfers. Chinese exports of major arms, which excludes most light weaponry, grew by 88 percent in 2011-2015 compared to the earlier five-year timeframe, SIPRI said.
The country still accounted for only 5.9 percent of global arms exports from 2011-2015, well beind the United States and Russia, by far the world’s two largest arms exporters.
« The Chinese until ten years ago were only able to offer low tech equipment. That has changed, » said Siemon Wezeman, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme. « The equipment that they produce is much more highly advanced than ten years ago, and attracts interest from some of the bigger markets. » China has invested billions developing its homegrown weapons industry to support its growing maritime ambitions in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, and also with an eye toward foreign markets for its comparatively low cost technology. Its total military budget in 2015 was 886.9 billion yuan ($141.45 billion), up 10 percent from a year earlier.
The U.S. and Russia saw weapons exports grow by 27 percent and 28 percent respectively, while exports of major arms by France and Germany, the fourth and fifth largest weapons exporters, fell over the same period.Most of China’s arms sales went to countries in Asia and Oceania, the report found, with Pakistan accounting for 35 percent, followed by Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Pakistan is a key Chinese ally, and close military ties between the two countries has sometimes stoked tensions with neighbouring India, which is seeking to boost its own homegrown weapons industry. China still needs to import weapons including large transport aircraft, helicopters as well as engines for aircraft, vehicles and ships, according to the report.China, the world’s second largest economy, signed deals in 2015 to buy air defence systems and two dozen combat jets from Russia, its largest arms supplier.
San Bernardino victims to oppose Apple on iPhone encryption Some victims of the San Bernardino attack will file a legal brief in support of the U.S. government’s attempt to force Apple Inc to unlock the encrypted iPhone belonging to one of the shooters, a lawyer representing the victims said on Sunday.
Stephen Larson, a former federal judge who is now in private practice, told Reuters that the victims he represents have an interest in the information which goes beyond the Justice Department’s criminal investigation. »They were targeted by terrorists, and they need to know why, how this could happen, » Larson said.
Larson said he was contacted a week ago by the Justice Department and local prosecutors about representing the victims, prior to the dispute becoming public. He said he will file an amicus brief in court by early March.A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the matter on Sunday.Larson declined to say how many victims he represents.
Fourteen people died and 22 others were wounded in the shooting attack by a married couple who were inspired by Islamic State militants and died in a gun battle with police.Entry into the fray by victims gives the federal government a powerful ally in its fight against Apple, which has cast itself as trying to protect public privacy from overreach by the federal government.
An Apple spokesman declined to comment. In a letter to customers last week, Tim Cook, the company’s chief executive, said: « We mourn the loss of life and want justice for all those whose lives were affected, » saying that the company has « worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime. » The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking the tech company’s help to access shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone by disabling some of its passcode protections. The company so far has pushed back, arguing that such a move would set a dangerous precedent and threaten customer security.
The clash between Apple and the Justice Department has driven straight to the heart of a long-running debate over how much law enforcement and intelligence officials should be able to monitor digital communications.The Justice Department won an order in a Riverside, California federal court on Tuesday against Apple, without the company present in court. Apple is scheduled to file its first legal arguments on Friday, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Pym, who served as a federal prosecutor before being appointed to the bench, has set a hearing on the issue for next month.
Larson once presided over cases in Riverside, and Pym argued cases in Larson’s courtroom several times as a prosecutor while Larson was a judge, he said. Larson returned to private practice in 2009, saying at the time that a judge’s salary was not enough to provide for his seven children.He said he is representing the San Bernardino victims for free.
Many U.S. Catholics unfazed by pope’s clash with Trump U.S. Catholics voiced support for Pope Francis on Sunday after he criticized Donald Trump’s immigration stance as « not Christian, » but many interviewed by Reuters said the controversy would not necessarily sour them on the Republican presidential contender. The pontiff injected himself into the U.S. campaign during a conversation with reporters on his flight home from Mexico on Thursday. In his comments, Francis disparaged Trump’s vow to build a wall along the southern U.S. border to keep out illegal immigrants.
A sampling of opinion from people before and after Sunday Mass suggested that many Catholics saw the pope’s comments as well-intentioned and grounded in a moral worldview. Many said Francis, who has become a champion of inclusion in his three-year tenure as head of the Roman Catholic Church, was right to insist on the humane treatment of all immigrants.
Even so, most of those interviewed in Boston and New York would not rule out voting for Trump based on what Francis said. About 21 percent of the U.S. population identifies as Catholic.
« I agree with the pope as far as being a true Christian, you accept everybody, » said Paul Nappi, 65, outside Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Brooklyn, New York. « I happen to like Trump but I don’t know if he’s literally about building walls or that’s just a figure of speech. » Many churchgoers said the media unfairly whipped up the controversy to goad the pope and Trump into a fight days before Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary. Trump’s victory there made the billionaire real estate mogul the clear front-runner for his party’s nomination for the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.
« It’s very treacherous for the media to ask those questions to the pope because they were questions inspired by the media itself, » said Catalina Carmona, 31, a lawyer visiting New York from Colombia. « He was put in a difficult situation and he said what a leader in his position would be able to say. » Francis never directly criticized Trump or mentioned him by name when he told reporters: « A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. » Carol Menkiti, 76, of Somerville, Massachusetts, said of the pope’s remarks: « I felt he was using an analogy that’s often used. I love the pope. » « I don’t think he comments on politics, but he talks about the human condition, » she said after attending Mass at St.Paul’s Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A spokesman for Francis sought on Friday to tone down the controversy, insisting the pontiff was not making a personal attack on Trump or any statement about the U.S. election. After initially saying it was « disgraceful » for the pope to judge another’s faith in God, the blunt-spoken Trump said Francis was « a nice man » who was probably misinterpreted by the media.
But from the pulpit of St. Paul’s, the Rev. James Flavin did not shy away from the issue. In his Sunday sermon, he linked the pope’s remarks about « walls » to many of the social justice themes he has sounded since his papacy began in March 2013. « The pope denounced a world divided by walls, » Flavin said.
« He’s challenging us to change the world through our imitation of Christ. » How much the pope’s views will influence U.S. Catholics in the voting booth is an open question, but parishioners suggested a muted impact at best.
While most of those interviewed said they respected the pope’s moral authority, Joe Ruggiero, 70, thought Francis sometimes « gets a little carried away » with what he characterized as a « basically socialist » point of view. « Catholics believe the pope is infallible in issues of faith, not issues of politics, » Ruggiero said outside the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston.
Nappi said the pope’s influence over Catholics would not necessarily be the sole determining factor in how Catholics vote. »I think anytime the pope says something, of course it’ll have an affect on Catholic voters, » he said. « Me personally, I like to weigh all the issues before I make a definitive opinion one way or another. »
(World news summary compiled by Maghreb news staff)