The United States and Russia announced plans for a « cessation of hostilities » in Syria that would take effect on Saturday but exclude groups such as Islamic State and al Qaeda’s Nusra Front, a loophole Syrian rebels immediately highlighted as a problem.Monday’s agreement, described by a U.N. spokesman as « a first step towards a more durable ceasefire, » is the fruit of intensive diplomacy between Washington and Moscow, which back opposing sides in the 5-year-old civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people.
Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin discussed the accord by phone, and the Kremlin leader said it could « radically transform the crisis situation in Syria. » The White House said it could help advance talks on bringing about political change in Syria.To succeed, the deal will require both countries to persuade their allies on the ground to comply. Fighting and air strikes continued on Monday, according to a British-based monitoring group.
The plan allows the Syrian army and allied forces, as well as Syrian opposition fighters, to respond with « proportionate use of force » in self-defense. It leaves a significant loophole by allowing further attacks, including air strikes, against Islamic State, Nusra and other militant groups.Bashar al-Zoubi, head of the political office of the Yarmouk Army, part of the rebel Free Syrian Army, said that would provide cover for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian allies to keep attacking opposition-held territory where rebel and militant factions are tightly packed.
« Russia and the regime will target the areas of the revolutionaries on the pretext of the Nusra Front’s presence, and you know how mixed those areas are, and if this happens, the truce will collapse, » he said. Since intervening with air strikes in support of Assad in September, Russia has helped pave the way for significant advances by government forces in a conflict that has drawn in a host of world and regional powers.
The Syrian army is backed by Moscow, Iran and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Ranged against them are rebels supported by the United States, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.A U.S.-Russian statement said the two countries and others would work together to delineate the territory held by Islamic State, Nusra Front and the other militant groups excluded from the truce.
But rebel officials said it was impossible to pinpoint positions held by Nusra. « For us, al-Nusra is a problematic point, because al-Nusra is not only present in Idlib, but also in Aleppo, in Damascus and in the south. The critical issue here is that civilians or the Free Syrian Army could be targeted under the pretext of targeting al-Nusra, » said a senior opposition figure, Khaled Khoja.
He said the cessation would be for an initial two weeks and « could be extended indefinitely if the parties commit to it. » Assad said on Saturday he was ready for a ceasefire, on condition that opposition forces he describes as terrorists did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage, and that countries backing insurgents halted support for them.In a sign of confidence, reflecting his growing momentum on the battlefield, Assad on Monday called a parliamentary election for April 13. The timing was not a surprise as elections are held every four years and the last one was in 2012.
A U.N. Security Council resolution in December called for elections within 18 months under a new constitution, and administered by the United Nations. The U.S.-Russian plan got a cautious and hedged response from Riad Hijab, chief coordinator of the main Western-backed Syrian opposition, who said he did not expect the governments of Syria, Iran or Russia to comply with it.
Hijab said the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, of which he is president, would accept a truce if Syria and its backers halted all sieges, permitted aid deliveries, released all detainees and ended bombardments and attacks on civilians.
« The HNC is committed to the success of the international efforts dedicated to ending Syrian bloodshed … but we are also capable of addressing the regime in a language it understands, » he said, saying a formal HNC response would come later.U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon welcomed the U.S.-Russian announcement, which followed a failed attempt by his Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, last month to restart peace talks in Geneva.De Mistura told Reuters the cessation accord could allow a resumption of negotiations. « We can now relaunch very soon the political process which is needed to end this conflict, » he said.U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson said he was « not pessimistic. » Under the terms of the cessation, parties would indicate their agreement to the United States and Russia by noon on Friday Damascus time (1000 GMT), and the truce would take effect at midnight, the two countries said.
Syrian government and allied forces will cease attacks against armed opposition forces, and vice versa, with any weapons including rockets, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles.The agreement does not spell out in detail how the truce will be monitored, let alone enforced. While the United States and Russia will establish a communication « hotline » and encourage others to share information about violations, they have yet to make explicit how they plan to do so.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry cited « significant challenges ahead. » He urged all sides to accept the deal, which he said could cut violence and help get aid to besieged areas. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, in a speech aboard a U.S. Navy ship visiting Israel, said: « It is difficult to see a stable ceasefire in actuality, with all players agreeing to it. » NO LET-UP The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, said fighting and air strikes continued unabated across Syria on Monday.
Islamic State attacked the Syrian government’s main supply route from Damascus to the northern city of Aleppo, a day after the group targeted Damascus and Homs in some of the bloodiest car bomb attacks of the war.
A rebel fighting government forces and Kurdish militia in the Aleppo area said there was no sign of a let-up. « The battles are in full force, » he told Reuters.Fred Hof, a former State Department Syria specialist now at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, said the proposed timetable gave Russia, Iran and Syria five more days to complete the encirclement of rebels in Aleppo. « Indeed, success of this initiative – including widespread humanitarian relief for Syrian civilians – requires good faith and decency by three parties who have shown little or none during the duration of this crisis, » Hof said. « Let’s hope they change their spots. »
Syria ceasefire would start Saturday under U.S., Russia plan The United States and Russia announced plans for a cessation of hostilities in Syria would take effect on Saturday but exclude militants from the Islamic State, Nusra Front and others the United Nations deems as terrorist groups.Parties would indicate their agreement to the United States and Russia by noon on Friday Damascus time (1000 GMT), and the truce would go into effect at midnight, the two countries said in a joint statement issued by the U.S. State Department.
Under the terms of the deal, Syrian government and allied forces will cease attacks against armed opposition forces, and vice versa, with any weapons including rockets, mortars, anti-tank guided missiles.However, the U.S.-Russian plan leaves a loophole by allowing continued attacks, including air strikes, against Islamic State, Nusra and other militants. Because of the mingling of forces, this could result in continued attacks against armed opposition members who are parties to the cessation of hostilities.
« Military actions, including air strikes, of the Armed Forces of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Russian Armed Forces, and the U.S.-led Counter ISIL Coalition will continue against ISIL, ‘Jabhat al-Nusra’ (Nusra Front) and other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council, » the joint statement said.It added that Russia, the United States and others would work together to delineate the territory held by Islamic State, Nusra Front and other groups deemed terrorists by the U.N.Security Council which are excluded from the truce.
Putin calls US-Russia agreement on Syria a real step to stop bloodshed The agreements between Russia and the U.S. on a ceasefire in Syria are a real step towards halting the bloodshed and can be an example of action against terrorism, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. »I’m convinced that the joint actions agreed with the American side are able to radically transform the crisis situation in Syria, » Putin said in a special address broadcast on television and posted on the Kremlin’s website.Putin’s comments came after the United States and Russia announced plans for a cessation of hostilities in Syria, excluding Islamic State and Nusra Front militants, that would take effect starting on Saturday.
In his statement, Putin said that he had just discussed the plan with U.S. President Barack Obama by telephone. He said Russia had initiated the phone call « but both sides, undoubtedly, have an interest in it ».Putin said that Russian and U.S. negotiators had held several rounds of closed consultations, which had achieved « an important, definite result ».He said it was important that Russia and the U.S. « are able to launch an effective mechanism for realisation and monitoring of the ceasefire regime. »
Turkey welcomes Syria ceasefire plan brokered by US, RussiaTurkey welcomes a ceasefire plan for Syria worked out by the United States and Russia and hopes that Moscow will now cease air strikes that have killed civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. « We view it as possible that a ceasefire will be reached. We hope it will not be like previous ceasefires and will have the capacity to be implemented, » he told reporters at a press conference after a cabinet meeting. »We hope that Russia, in its fight against Islamic State, will not fly its jets and kill innocent people » while the combatants negotiate over an end to the five-year conflict, Kurtulmus also said in comments broadcast live by CNN Turk.
.Syria’s Assad calls parliamentary election for April 13 – statement Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called a parliamentary election for April 13, according to a statement issued by the presidency on Monday. Syria’s last parliamentary election was in 2012 and they are held every four years.
Syria gov’t, IS commit crimes against humanity -U.N.-backed inquiry War crimes in Syria’s five-year-old conflict are widespread and Syrian government forces and Islamic State militants continue to commit crimes against humanity in the face of inaction by the international community, a U.N.-backed panel said on Monday. « Flagrant violations of human rights and international humanitarian law continue unabated, aggravated by blatant impunity, » the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in its latest report.
« The stipulations of relevant Security Council resolutions … remain largely unheeded and unimplemented, » it said. « Crimes against humanity continue to be committed by government forces and by ISIS (Islamic State). War crimes are rampant. » The U.N. inquiry, composed of independent experts, has long denounced the use of starvation by both sides in the Syrian conflict as a weapon of war, and has a confidential list of suspected war criminals and military units from all sides which is kept in a U.N. safe in Geneva.
The report said that Russian-Syrian aerial bombardments had caused the displacement of tens of thousands of men, women and children.
The commission’s chairman, Paulo Pinheiro, told reporters at U.N. headquarters that none of the warring parties respects international humanitarian law. He added that the commission continues to be barred from Syria.Speaking at the same news conference, commission member Vitit Muntharborn said they were also investigating allegations of chemical weapons use by different parties to the conflict, including alleged chlorine and mustard gas attacks. « The fractured Syrian State is on the brink of collapse, » the commission said in its 31-page report. « Indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks on the civilian population must be brought to an end. » « Government forces, anti-government armed groups and terrorist organizations employ sieges and consequent starvation, denial of humanitarian access and other forms of deprivation as instruments of war to force surrender or to extract political concessions, » it said.
« Civilians, who bear the brunt, serve as little more than pawns. Their suffering has been compounded by an absence of civilian protection, » it added.The commission urged the 15-nation Security Council to refer the conflict in Syria to the International Criminal Court in The Hague or an ad hoc war crimes tribunal to ensure justice. Russia and China previously blocked a Western attempt to refer the conflict to the ICC.
Syria is not an ICC member so the only way the court could take it up is with a Security Council referral.
It said that all parties should distinguish between military and civilian targets, halt indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, end sieges and guarantee unhindered access to humanitarian aid.A draft U.S.-Russian plan calls for a cessation of hostilities in Syria to begin on Feb. 27 but to exclude Islamic State and al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front militants, two Western diplomatic sources said on Monday
Islamic State attacks government supply line into Aleppo Islamic State attacked the Syrian government’s main supply route from Damascus to the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday, a day after the group targeted Damascus and Homs in some of the bloodiest car bomb attacks of the war. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting and air strikes continue unabated across the country, a day after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on terms of a cessation of hostilities that would not include Islamic State.
Islamic State said it had taken control of a number of villages along an important road which connects government-held areas of Aleppo with the cities further south. A Syrian military source confirmed the attack but said it was repelled.
« They tried to attack this road, they were repelled and suffered big losses, » the source said. « After their great losses, they are seeking any propaganda operation. » The Syrian government has been making steady gains against Islamic State to the east of Aleppo, while also mounting major offensives against insurgents to the north and south of the city. Islamic State is also under pressure from the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces alliance in the northeast.The Observatory’s director, Rami Abdulrahman, said government forces had reclaimed one of four positions seized by Islamic State on the road, which it has cut in previous attacks. »The regime has recovered one of four positions that IS took on the road, » Abdulrahman said.
Italy agrees to let anti-Islamic State drones depart from Sicily Italy has agreed to let armed drones take off from its soil to defend U.S.-led forces against Islamic State in North Africa, an Italian defence ministry official said on Monday.The agreement covers only defensive missions and not offensive action, such as the attack on a suspected militant training camp in Sabratha, Libya, that killed dozens last week . Italy will decide whether to authorise drone departures from the Sigonella air base in Sicily case by case, and only if each mission’s aim is to protect personnel on the ground. No request has been made yet to use the drones and they have not been armed, said the official, who asked not to be named.
U.S. officials have been trying to persuade Italy to let them conduct such operations from the Sigonella air base for more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reported. (http://on.wsj.com/1oY6AYO) Islamic State is exploiting the chaos in Libya, where two rival governments have been contending for power since Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, to establish bases and conduct raids both in Libya and in neighbouring Tunisia.
The U.S. attack last week on one such base, in Sabratha, near the Tunisian border, targeted Noureddine Chouchane, a Tunisian militant linked to two raids in Tunisia that killed dozens, mostly tourists. The aircraft that carried out that attack took off from a base in Britain.Neither Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s office nor U.S. defence officials immediately responded to requests for comment.
Italy has repeatedly said it would not take part in military strikes in Libya without the express request of a recognised government.U.S. officials are pushing for drones destined for offensive operations like the Sabratha strike to take off from Sicily, but Italian officials have balked at that step, fearing domestic opposition, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Kerry phones Serbian PM over diplomats killed in Libya strikeUS Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday offered his condolences to Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic over the two kidnapped Serbian diplomats believed to have been killed in a US air strike in Libya, Belgrade said.Last week the US targeted a jihadist training camp near the Libyan coastal city of Sabratha, killing dozens of people including an Islamic State group operative the US said was behind the mass murder of tourists on a Tunisian beach.
However, Belgrade said the strike’s victims also included two officials from Serbia’s embassy in Libya, Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic, who had been taken hostage in the area in November.The Pentagon said Saturday it had « no information » indicating that the attack had led to the deaths of two Serbians and that the circumstances of their deaths « remained unclear. »
In a telephone conversation on Monday Kerry « expressed condolences to Vucic and the families over the death of Sladjana Stankovic and Jovica Stepic, » the Serbian government said in a statement.Kerry « told the prime minister that he would inform the Serbian government… about all the details of an investigation conducted by the US and its services, about the murder of Serbian diplomats, » it said.
Vucic on the weekend said that the pair « would have been released, had they not been killed ».
US officials said the raid likely killed Noureddine Chouchane, also known as « Sabir, » who along with other jihadists had been planning attacks against American and other Western interests.Chouchane is suspected of being behind both the beach attack in July 2015 near the Tunisian city of Sousse that killed 38 tourists, including 30 Britons, and an attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis that killed 21 tourists and a policeman in March 2015. Both attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group.Sabratha, which lies 70 kilometres (42 miles) west of Tripoli, is considered a stronghold of extremism in lawless Libya, where militants are trained in jihadist camps before launching deadly attacks in other countries.
The country spiralled into chaos after longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi was ousted and killed in October 2011, with two governments vying for power and armed groups battling to control vast energy resources.Belgrade maintains an embassy in Tripoli, and Serbian citizens — mostly doctors, other medical staff and construction workers — have been working in Libya for decades due to close bilateral relations during Kadhafi’s regime.
EU agency says bad weather deters migrant arrivals in January Bad weather cut the number of refugees and migrants arriving in Greece, the main gateway to Europe, by 40 percent last month from December, the European Union’s border agency Frontex said on Monday. But the number was still nearly 40-times higher than a year before, Frontex said, as officials in Brussels and EU capitals look for any signs a deal the bloc sealed with Turkey in November to stem the flow is yielding results.
Frontex said Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis accounted for the most of the 68,000 people that reached Greece last month, while some 5,600 – mostly Nigerians – arrived via Italy, attributing the drop of those arriving, mostly by boat, to the weather. Germany is pushing the deal with Turkey in the hope it will help save Europe’s free-travel Schengen zone from an increasing number of EU members – Austria being the latest example – who are choosing to tighten border controls on their own.
« The numbers of migrants entering the Schengen area in January and February are way too high. The goal continues to be to stem the flow, » one EU official said ahead of a meeting in Brussels about the crisis on Thursday between the bloc’s justice and home affairs ministers.Turkey’s interior minister will join the EU officials over lunch on Thursday, the official said.
« The weather played a substantial role in the fluctuation of daily numbers of people arriving… What the ministers will share with their Turkish colleague is that the numbers are too high. We want to discuss with Turkey what they are doing, what can they do and how can we help them do it. » More than a million people reached Europe last year, mainly via Greece after arriving across the Mediterranean from Turkey.
The vast majority trekked northwest to Germany in the 28-nation bloc’s worst migration crisis in decades and one that opened deep rifts between EU states.The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR says more than 101,000 people reached Europe so far this year, mostly via Greece, with some 6,500 reaching the continent in Italy. The UNHCR says 406 people died or went missing attempting the voyage this year so far.
The ministers will also discuss developments on the main migration route through the western Balkans after Austria – the last stop before Germany – said it would cap the number of people it processes every day.EU officials fear this could trigger a domino effect of border restrictions by other countries, leading to a disorderly collapse of the Schengen zone, with migrants stuck in various points along the way.The EU justice and home affairs meeting comes ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s leaders on migration due March 17-18.With a warmer spring weather just around the corner, many feel this would be the last chance to put various elements of the EU’s troubled response strategy to the migration crisis to work, or face a repeat of the chaos of last year.
Italy wants EU bonds to fund refugee response A common European Union policy to manage external borders and cope with the refugee crisis should be funded with common resources, including through the issuance of EU bonds, Italy said on Monday. In a report prepared by its finance ministry, Italy also urged changes to euro zone fiscal rules in the light of weak growth and inflation.The country’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, is locked in a dispute with the European Commission over his 2016 budget and has demanded flexibility to allow him to cut taxes and spend more, but he is unlikely to obtain what he has asked for within existing rules.
« In the presence of protracted modest growth rates and exceptionally low inflation even the extraordinary measures put in place by the European Central Bank are proving insufficient, » said the paper published on the government’s website.
« A framework designed for normal conditions of growth and inflation has proved incapable of tackling effectively the impact of very low nominal growth on potential growth and on debt dynamics, » it said.Italian gross domestic product grew less than expected in the third and fourth quarters of 2015, leaving prospects for this year looking much weaker than the government’s official forecast of 1.6 percent growth.
Darfur refugees look to Europe for salvation Haroun Idris wants nothing more than to trade his life in a Darfur refugee camp for one in Europe. Like many young victims of Sudan’s forgotten conflict, he has lost hope of ever returning home. « My only dream, the one thing I live for, is to escape this camp and immigrate to Europe to start a new life after years of misery, » said Idris, 27, who has been living in refugee camps for eight years.
The Darfur conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced 2.6 million, the United Nations estimates, since mostly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-dominated government in 2003. Darfuris are a constant presence in the ranks of the more than 1 million refugees and migrants who spilled into Europe last year, mostly to escape war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa.
While violence in the western Sudanese region has ebbed over the past decade, the insurgency continues. The Khartoum government has escalated attacks on rebel groups in the past year, pushing a new wave of migrants to desolate camps in the relative calm of North Darfur.Most young men in the camps are unemployed and too poor to go to university. They sit during the day playing cards in the narrow streets, where dust stirred up by horse-drawn carts fills the stifling air. They say the war and the long years spent in the camps have robbed them of their traditional farming and herding livelihoods, and given them little option but to leave. « I have been at the refugee camp for seven years after my village was burned and many of my family killed, » said Adam Hamed, 31, sitting on a decrepit chair under a roof made of dry grass in Zamzam camp.
« We have no work and live off aid. We used to work as farmers or shepherds in my village, like the rest of Darfur’s youth, but now we don’t own any farmlands or animals. » The camp of 215,000 people is composed of thousands of small straw and mud houses that cling to each other, ringed by dirt roads. An overwhelming smell pervades the air; there are no proper sewage facilities and no electricity. Flies cover every exposed surface, and residents buy water from primitive manual pumps on the streets.
Many of the camp’s youth have fled to neighbouring countries seeking jobs in gold mining so they can make enough money to pay off human traffickers and get to Europe via Libya, which shares a large desert border with Darfur.
Last year a Sudanese man from Darfur crossed the 31-mile (50 km) Channel Tunnel from France to Britain on foot, dodging high-speed trains in the dark, in an extreme example of the desperate measures some are prepared to take. »Dozens of my friends from the camp worked for long whiles mining gold and then made enough money to cross the Mediterranean from Libya to Europe, » said Sulieman Hussein, 22, with anger in his voice.
« That is also what I plan to do. Life is good in Europe, whereas here we are not even human. » Elders at the camps say the sense of injustice and loss of hope has led to drug abuse or violence. »Some have turned to crime and armed gangs, others have joined militias… There is nothing we can do for them because we have nothing to offer them, » said Ishak Adam, 53, sitting in a house built from mud, grass and empty bottles. « The years of their youth fly by while they do nothing; they cannot work or get married and they live like prisoners in these camps. » Each day some young men go to Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur, to look for jobs as day labourers, wash dishes or polish shoes. But there are many jobless migrants and few jobs. »Drug use is rampant in the camp but it is hard to even find enough money to buy drugs. As you can see, I am unemployed and have had nothing to do for over 10 years in this camp, » said Abdallah Ibrahim, 31, at the Abu Shok camp south of Al-Fashir.
Even in the camps, many migrants still don’t feel safe, especially at night. Several residents of Zamzam said there were militias and armed gangs just to the north, and migrants were sometimes attacked and robbed. »The women cannot gather firewood from outside the camp to use for fuel because they could get raped by militiamen, » said Sulieman Ibrahim, 39. « We are in a constant state of fear. »
Syrians at mercy of greedy smugglers after Turkey’s border closure After a harrowing 15-hour journey by minibus, dodging gunfire and explosions, a group of Syrian refugees reached a village near Turkey, desperate to cross the recently shut border into safety. »The people smugglers are there and they’re shouting ‘Turkey! Who wants to go to Turkey?' » Fatima al-Ahmed recalled, after reaching the town of Kilis on the Turkish side of the frontier.
« They are mean, violent, and only think about money. They push us like beasts, hitting the women who don’t walk fast enough, even when they are carrying babies. »It’s terrible, it’s the law of the jungle. »
The 27-year-old woman told AFP about her clandestine escape from Aleppo to Kilis in southern Turkey a week ago — a journey that in peacetime would have taken little more than 90 minutes. Turkey’s decision to close its border with Syria has become a boon for smugglers who are charging refugees to secretly cross over.
Like the traffickers who make thousands of dollars off each boat-load of migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Italy or the Aegean to Greece, smugglers at the Turkish border take advantage of Syrians who refuse to wait in overcrowded tent camps for Ankara to possibly open up the crossing.Fatima, sitting at a table outside a cafe in Kilis, said she crossed the border with her two-year-old son in her arms through an opening cut in the barbed wire fence.
She had decided to flee her home in the rebel-held neighbourhood of Sakhur in eastern Aleppo, when her husband was killed a month ago in the bombing while he was out looking for food.The smugglers organised them « in groups of eight, with our neighbours, » she said, speaking in a soft voice. »They helped me pay, I didn’t have enough money. Before, everything was organised in Aleppo, we used smugglers we trusted.
« But now since the Russian bombing, there are too many people, » she said referring to the Russian aerial bombing campaign launched in September last year in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Like others in Kilis, Fatima told how the Syrian smugglers were in constant contact, by cellphone and walkie-talkie, with the Turkish smugglers who would take charge of the refugees once they were over the border.
« They made us wait, sitting on the ground under some trees, until it was time — the time when the Turkish soldiers who they paid are on guard and look away while we pass, » she said of the clandestine journey that cost around 300 euros ($330).
That sum was too high for the family of Ahmad, a scrawny 14-year-old, who looks even younger than his age.He was among the last to survive in the ruins of Marjeh, his battered Aleppo neighbourhood. When a barrel bomb dropped from a helicopter killed two of his brothers and wounded their father, the family piled into a truck and took off for the border.
« We couldn’t pay the smugglers, so we hid. We crawled up to the barbed wire fence and slipped underneath it, » said the teenager with a mischievous look, who has never been to school. « We were lucky, the Turkish police found us but since we were with a lot of children, they didn’t send us back. They even called for a bus. »
At Kilis, the flow of refugees has begun to slow down, a sign that the closing orders given to the Turkish guards are being adhered to more.The price of the secret passage has risen to as high as $1,000.And no matter the price, a planned escape sometimes just doesn’t work.Yazan Ahmad, 35, has been waiting for his parents who fled the Syrian town of Tal Rifaat, which was seized last week by Kurdish militia.
Yemeni president appoints general to senior army post, state media report Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi on Monday appointed a former senior figure in the country’s army as deputy supreme commander of the armed forces, state media reported.General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar was a politically powerful army general who split violently with former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 during the Arab Spring protests that eventually ousted Saleh.
Since then, Yemen has descended into a civil war that pits a Gulf Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and Yemeni forces loyal to Hadi against the Houthi militia, backed by Iran, and forces allied to Saleh.In an army shakeup in 2013, Hadi appointed Ahmar, a Sunni Islamist-leaning general and commander of the First Armoured Division, as a presidential adviser for military affairs. Forces loyal to Ahmar tried to stop the Houthi from taking Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014. They failed, and Ahmar later fled to Saudi Arabia.It was not immediately clear how Mohsen’s appointment would affect the balance of fighting on the ground.
Lebanon seeks to fix ties with Saudi Arabia The Lebanese government said on Monday it was necessary to fix ties with Saudi Arabia after Riyadh last week suspended a $3 billion aid package to the Lebanese army, and tasked Prime Minister Tammam Salam with making contacts to that end.
Saudi Arabia suspended the aid in response to Beirut’s failure to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.The Lebanese national unity government groups both allies and enemies of Saudi Arabia, including the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah.
Salam, speaking in a televised news conference, said the cabinet statement had been passed unanimously. In response to a question on the attacks last month, he said « we strongly condemn » the attack on the Saudi embassy. « The cabinet deems it necessary to fix relations between Lebanon and its brothers, and to remove any flaws that may have emerged in recent times, » the statement said.It said Salam’s contacts should « pave the way for a Gulf tour … with this aim ».
The statement said Lebanon would not forget Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship of the peace agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, its role in rebuilding the country, and its support for Lebanon’s « financial, economic, military and security institutions ». »Likewise it will not forget that the kingdom, and the rest of the Gulf Arab states … embraced and continue to (embrace) hundreds of thousands of Lebanese of all sects », the statement said. The Gulf is a crucial source of employment for Lebanese.
Lebanon’s Hariri urges Saudi king not to abandon country Lebanese Sunni politician Saad al-Hariri on Monday urged Saudi Arabia not to abandon Lebanon after it halted aid to the army, reflecting concerns that Riyadh is reducing support for a country that has been an arena for its struggle with Iran. Hariri’s direct appeal to King Salman reflects worries among Saudi Arabia’s allies in Lebanon that a major shift is under way in its policy towards the country. Riyadh’s backing has been crucial to the decade-long struggle waged by Hariri and his allies against the Iranian-backed Shi’ite group Hezbollah.
The crisis came to a head last week when Saudi Arabia decided to suspend its aid to the army in response to the Lebanese government’s failure to sign up to statements condemning attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Reflecting deep differences among rival Lebanese politicians, a government statement issued after a meeting of the national unity cabinet on Monday also fell short of condemning them. Instead, it was left to Prime Minister Tammam Salam to condemn them himself after reading the declaration.
Hariri, who heads the Saudi-backed March 14 alliance, said Lebanon would « not be a protectorate for Iranian policies in the region ». »We are here to confirm in the loudest voice that nobody will be able to cancel Lebanon’s Arabness, » he said, making only his third visit to the country since the Hezbollah-dominated March 8 alliance toppled his government in 2011.
He urged King Salman and other Gulf Arab leaders « not to abandon Lebanon and to continue to support and embrace it ».
Hezbollah, a political party with a powerful militia, has grown in strength over the last decade. Its fighters are playing a crucial role fighting on President Bashar al-Assad’s side in the war in neighbouring Syria, one of the major arenas of Saudi-Iranian rivalry in the region.
Many Lebanese are worried about how Saudi policy will affect the hundreds of thousands of Lebanese employed in Saudi Arabia and Gulf Arab states allied to it. The money they send home is crucial to the Lebanese economy.
Saudi Arabia pledged the aid for the Lebanese army in 2013 in what then-Lebanese President Michel Suleiman called the largest grant ever to the country’s armed forces. The army, carefully balanced to reflect Lebanon’s sectarian make-up, is widely seen as the backbone of the weak Lebanese state. Saudi anger at the Lebanese government appeared to come to a head last month when the government, represented by Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, refused to vote on a joint Arab statement condemning the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran by crowds protesting at the kingdom’s execution of a prominent Shi’ite Muslim cleric.
Bassil, a political ally of Hezbollah, cited the statement’s criticism of Hezbollah as the reason for not backing it. He stressed the need for national unity in Lebanon.The government statement issued on Monday said it was necessary to « fix relations between Lebanon and its brothers, and to remove any flaws that may have emerged in recent times ».
It said Prime Minister Salam should make contacts with Gulf states that would « pave the way for a Gulf tour … with this aim ».The statement said Lebanon would not forget Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship of the peace agreement that ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war, its role in rebuilding the country, and its support for Lebanon’s « financial, economic, military and security institutions ».
Iranian media outlets add to bounty for killing Britain’s Rushdie Iranian state-run media outlets have added $600,000 to a bounty for the killing of British author Salman Rushdie imposed in 1989 over the publishing of his book « The Satanic Verses ».
The leader of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, that called on Muslims to the kill the author after his book was condemned as blasphemous, forcing him into years of hiding.
Iranian hardliners say Khomeini’s decree is irrevocable and eternal after his death. A wealthy Iranian religious organisation offered $2.7 million reward to anyone carrying out the fatwa and in 2012 it increased the amount to $3.3 million.The semi-official Fars news agency published a list of 40 news outlets adding to the pot. Fars itself earmarked $30,000.
« These media outlets have set the $600,000 bounty on the 27th anniversary of the historical fatwa to show it is still alive, » Mansour Amiri, organiser of a digital technology exhibition at which the money was announced this month, told Reuters.
Amiri is the head of the Seraj Cyberspace Organisation, which is affiliated to the Basij volunteer militia, allied to the elite Revolutionary Guards established to defend the values of the revolution.The head of the militia visited the exhibition, Farsi said.
Rushdie’s agent said he had no comment. Iran’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available to comment In 1998, Iran’s pro-reform government of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa, saying the threat against Rushdie was over after he had lived in hiding for nine years. The book’s Japanese translator was stabbed to death in 1991 and other people involved in publishing it were attacked.But Khomeini’s successor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 that the fatwa was still valid and three hardline clerics called on followers to kill Rushdie.
With the landmark nuclear deal with world powers sealed last year, followed by lifting of international sanctions, pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani is trying to end Iran’s isolation with the West.However, despite the government’s willingness for wider engagement, hardline allies of Khamenei fear that opening up to the West will eventually weaken their influence and the legitimacy of the Islamic Revolution.The deal has intensified Iran’s political infighting ahead of two crucial elections on Friday.A hardline watchdog body, the Guardian Council, has disqualified thousands of Rouhani allies, barring them from entering the race for parliament and Assembly of Experts, which has power to appoint the supreme leader.
Iranian film-maker loses appeal amid pre-vote crackdown An Iranian film-maker convicted of insulting the Islamic Republic has lost his appeal and now faces jail and lashing, a source said on Monday, as an apparent crackdown on artists and writers intensified ahead of elections this week.Keywan Karimi, 30, was found guilty last year of « insulting the sacred and spreading propaganda » in a documentary about political graffiti in Tehran called « Writing On The City ».
An appeals court this week confirmed Karimi’s six-year sentence, suspending five of them, and condemned him to 223 lashes and a fine for « shaking hands with women and drinking alcoholic drinks, » a source close to the issue said.Court verdicts in such cases are not routinely made public and judiciary officials avoid commenting on them in the media.Karimi is one of dozens of artists, journalists and business people, including Iranians holding joint U.S. or British citizenship, arrested in the run-up to Friday’s election of parliamentarians and of the clerics who will choose the next supreme leader.
Those are the first national elections since the government of President Hassan Rouhani signed a deal with world powers last July to limit Iran’s nuclear activities in return for an easing of economic sanctions.The potential opening up to the West has alarmed hardline allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and the arrests appear to be part of a crackdown on what some officials have called Western « infiltration ».The same source, who asked not to be identified, said verdicts has been issued this week to at least 12 film-makers, photographers and writers. He said they were under pressure not to talk to the media and make this public.An Iranian-British former BBC journalist, Bahman Daroshafaei, was detained in January and is being held in Tehran’s Evin prison.
The family of Siamak Namazi, a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen detained since October, said on Saturday they had heard he had begun a hunger strike.Amnesty International said the charges against Karimi « stem from the peaceful exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and association and privacy ».
Iran eyes Brazil deal for taxis, 50 Embraer jets -source Iran is interested in buying 50 airliners from Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA, a presidential aide in Brazil with knowledge of the negotiations said on Monday, as the end of international sanctions against the Middle East country triggers a flurry of trade deals. Negotiations for the jets, along with a potential package of taxis, buses and trucks made by Brazil’s ailing auto industry, began in October when Brazilian Trade Minister Armando Monteiro led a delegation to Tehran. Monteiro told Reuters last month that Brazil will accept payment from Iran in euros and other currencies to sidestep lingering sanctions forbidding Iran from using the U.S.
financial system.Iran signed a deal for 118 Airbus jets in January and this month it struck a deal for up to 40 turboprop planes from Franco-Italian producer ATR. Boeing Co also said last week it had gotten U.S. clearance to enter talks with airlines in Iran.
Embraer confirmed to Reuters that it had begun talks with Iranian airlines. »The market has a lot of potential, as we have said, due to the need to reform the old fleet of aircraft and satisfy growth, » the company said in a statement.An Iran trade deal could also be a shot in the arm for struggling automakers in Brazil, where car sales dropped by more than a quarter last year and demand for heavy trucks was nearly halved due to a severe economic downturn.The oil-rich country could order up to 100,000 natural gas-powered taxis made in Brazil, along with buses and trucks for its aging fleet, the presidential aide said, revising upward an initial estimate of 60,000 taxis.Brazil was until recently one of the world’s five biggest auto markets and a major base of operations for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Volkswagen AG, General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co.
As pound plunges, UK’s Cameron defends EU deal to avert ‘Brexit’The pound posted its biggest one-day loss in almost six years on Monday on concerns of a possible British exit from the EU, adding to the pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron as he mounted a defence of his deal to keep the country in the bloc.The fall in the currency, as well as in government bond prices, was triggered by London Mayor Boris Johnson – a senior figure in Cameron’s Conservative Party – throwing his support behind the exit campaign.
Johnson, one of the country’s most popular politicians, gave the « Brexit » camp a much-needed figurehead when he announced his support on Sunday, just days after Cameron struck his deal in Brussels to hand Britain what he called a « special status ».
Cameron, addressing parliament to champion the deal as a good basis for Britain to stay in the EU, faced criticism from lawmakers in his divided party and exchanged barbs with Johnson, whose announcement had bitterly disappointed him.The stakes are high in the June 23 referendum. A vote to leave would not only transform Britain’s future in world affairs but also shake the EU, which has struggled to maintain unity over migration and financial crises, by ripping away its second-largest economy and one of its main military powers.
Cameron called on politicians to campaign on what is best for Britain – in a veiled jab at Johnson, whose stance may be designed to attract widespread eurosceptic support among Conservatives in a bid to succeed Cameron, who has said he will step down before the next election in 2020.
« I am not standing for re-election, I have no other agenda than what is best for our country, » Cameron told a packed parliament. « I am standing here telling you what I think, my responsibility as prime minister is to speak plainly about what I believe is right for our country and that is why I will do every day for the next four months. » He added: « We are a great country and, whatever choice we make, we will still be great, but I believe the choice is between being an even greater Britain inside a reformed EU or a great leap into the unknown. » Both sides in the debate argue Britain would be financially better off if their cause succeeds.
Johnson, London mayor since 2008, defended his stance by saying those who argued Britain would not thrive outside the 28-member bloc were the same people who wanted the country to make the « catastrophic mistake » of joining the euro single currency. « There are people who don’t think that Britain could stand on her very own two feet and all the rest of it. I have to say I think that is profoundly wrong, » the 51-year-old told the London Assembly, the elected body which holds the mayor to account.Showing how sensitive markets have become to the uncertainty over a possible Brexit, sterling fell as much as 2.3 percent on the day to hit a seven-year low of $1.4057 in early U.S. trading – following Johnson’s Sunday announcement – before recovering by about 1 cent to around $1.4165 by 1800 GMT.
Pentagon to submit plan to Congress for closing Guantanamo prison The Pentagon is expected to submit to Congress on Tuesday President Barack Obama’s long-awaited plan for closing the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, setting up a battle with lawmakers who oppose his efforts. Obama, whose pledge to shut the facility at the U.S. naval base in Cuba dates back to the start of his presidency in 2009, is seeking to make good on his promise before he leaves office next January.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the administration intended to meet Tuesday’s deadline to present its detailed proposal for closing the facility. There are still 91 prisoners detained there. »We understand the deadline is tomorrow and it’s our intent to meet it, » Davis told reporters. U.S. officials have said the plan would call for sending to their homelands or third countries detainees who have been cleared for transfer, now numbering 35, and bringing remaining prisoners, possibly several dozen, to U.S. soil to be held in maximum-security prisons. Congress has banned such transfers to the United States since 2011.
Another option that will be cited in the administration’s blueprint will be the possibility of sending some prisoners overseas for prosecution and trial, one U.S. official said.The closure plan could also serve as a template for how to deal with future terrorism suspects captured in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
However, the document will not name the alternative U.S.prisons under consideration for housing detainees, U.S.officials said. The administration wants to avoid fueling any political outcry over specific sites during a U.S. presidential election year.
Still, Pentagon officials have already surveyed a federal prison in Florence, Colorado, a military jail at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Navy brig at Charleston, South Carolina.An effort will also be made to speed up parole-style reviews to determine whether more prisoners can be added to the group cleared for release, officials said.
The plan will include costs for upgrading U.S. facilities and housing the inmates there, according to a source familiar with the matter. The White House last year rejected one Pentagon proposal as too expensive, sending it back for revisions.Republicans and some Democrats in Congress largely oppose proposals to move any of the prisoners to the United States.
Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said on Monday the Obama administration refused to « level with the American people regarding the terrorist activities and affiliations of the detainees who remain at Guantanamo. » White House spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated Obama’s view of Guantanamo as a terrorist « recruiting tool » and urged lawmakers to look at the plan « with an open mind, » although he expressed doubt about whether they would do so.
Spanish political parties step up talks in race to form government Spain’s left-wing political parties intensified negotiations on Monday to end weeks of wrangling after an inconclusive election, though leaders had yet to make any breakthrough on forming a coalition to avoid another ballot. Spain’s Socialist Party, runner-up in the election, is racing to try and strike a deal with rival parties. Leader Pedro Sanchez faces a confidence vote in parliament on March 3 on his plan for a government.
The Dec. 20 poll left Spanish political parties far short of a majority in the 350-seat lower house. The centre-right People’s Party (PP) won the most votes but said it lacked support to try and form a government first.The first four-way meeting on Monday between the Socialists’ negotiating team, anti-austerity Podemos and two smaller leftist forces, raised expectations that talks were finally progressing.
« We agree on priorities, it’s been a good start, we’re yet to make it concrete, » senior Podemos member Inigo Errejon told a news conference, after nearly five hours. Talks are set to resume on Tuesday evening.
Socialist officials noted that the four leftist parties did not have enough seats between them to clinch a majority in parliament. « We’ve agreed on the agenda » for negotiations, Socialist parliamentary spokesman Antonio Hernando said. « We did not get into the big themes. » Socialist Sanchez also met separately with his counterpart from centrist party Ciudadanos on Monday afternoon, exploring alternatives to a leftist pact. Podemos and Ciudadanos, two new forces that previously had no seats in the national parliament, grabbed millions of votes from the PP and the Socialists after a deep economic crisis.
To reach a potential leftist pact, the Socialists and Podemos must overcome differences over issues such as an independence referendum in the Catalonia region.Any alliance between the Socialists and Ciudadanos would still need the unlikely backing of Podemos or the PP to work, if they manage to reach an agreement. »We’re as close to a deal with the Socialists as we are to getting up from the table, » Ciudadanos leader Albert Rivera told Cadena Ser radio earlier on Monday.Fresh elections could take place in late June if Sanchez fails in his bid to form a government and rivals including the PP struggle to present a viable alternative.
A Sigma Dos opinion poll published on Sunday in El Mundo newspaper showed the PP, battered in recent weeks by news of corruption scandals, would lose four seats in the parliament compared to the December ballot. Podemos would lose nine. Ciudadanos would gain the most.New elections would do little to resolve the deadlock.Another Sigma Dos poll on Monday showed 48 percent of the PP’s voters did not back their party’s Mariano Rajoy, currently the acting Prime Minister, to run again as leader in a repeat election.
Rajoy insisted in a television interview that he would stand again, reiterating his preference for a « grand coalition » between the Socialists, the PP and Ciudadanos. »If Mr Sanchez doesn’t manage to get elected (in the confidence vote), or he’ll have to say he can get on with the PP, or there will be fresh elections, » Rajoy told 13TV.
China signals no S.China Sea backdown as foreign minister goes to U.S. China’s South China Sea military deployments are no different from U.S. deployments on Hawaii, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday, striking a combative tone ahead of a visit by Foreign Minister Wang Yi to the United States this week.
The United States last week accused China of raising tensions in the South China Sea by its apparent deployment of surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island, a move China has neither confirmed nor denied.Asked whether the South China Sea, and the missiles, would come up when Wang is in the United States to meet Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington should not use the issue of military facilities on the islands as a « pretext to make a fuss ».
« The U.S. is not involved in the South China Sea dispute, and this is not and should not become a problem between China and the United States, » Hua told a daily news briefing.U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States would « press China to deescalate and stop its militarization » in the South China Sea.
Toner said China’s « militarization activity » only escalated tensions, and added: « There needs to be a diplomatic mechanism in place that allows these territorial claims to be settled in a peaceful way. » Wang is due to meet Kerry on Tuesday. Their talks will also include the international response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, cyber security and climate change, Toner told a regular news briefing.China hopes the U.S. abides by its promises not to take sides in the dispute and stop « hyping up » the issue and tensions, especially over China’s « limited » military positions there, she said.
« China’s deploying necessary, limited defensive facilities on its own territory is not substantively different from the United States defending Hawaii, » Hua added.U.S. ships and aircraft carrying out frequent, close-in patrols and surveillance in recent years is what has increased regional tensions, she said.
« It’s this that is the biggest cause of the militarization of the South China Sea. We hope that the United States does not confuse right and wrong on this issue or practice double standards. » On Monday, a senior U.S. naval officer was reported as saying Australia and other countries should follow the U.S. lead and conduct « freedom-of-navigation » naval operations within 12 nautical miles (18 km) of contested islands in the South China Sea.China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares gain on commodity recovery hopes Asian shares rose to a seven-week high on Tuesday as investors took heart from signs of life in battered energy and commodity markets while European currencies are hampered by worries Britain could exit the European Union.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 percent, hitting its highest level since early January. Japan’s Nikkei went up 0.8 percent, led by steelmakers and other commodity-related shares.Wall Street saw S&P 500 Index gaining 1.45 percent to 1,945.50 overnight, edging near this month’s high of 1947.20, led by a 2.2 percent increase for the energy sector. The volatility index, which measures implied volatility of stock options and is often seen as investors’ fear gauge, fell below 20 percent, hitting the lowest closing level since early January.
Spurring a more positive mood across continents were hopes that the worst may be finally over for battered commodity markets.Oil markets jumped as much as 7 percent on Monday as speculation about falling U.S. shale output fed the notion that crude prices may be bottoming after their 20-month collapse.
Short-covering in oil started since last week after Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC members Qatar and Venezuela agreed with non-OPEC member Russia to freeze output at January’s highs.
« The oil market seems to have become firmer recently. While the it remains questionable the latest measure by the top producers will have a real impact, the market seems to like the fact that they are starting to take action, » said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
U.S. crude futures traded at $33.31 a barrel in early Asian trade on Tuesday.The international benchmark Brent finished up $1.68, or 5 percent, at $34.69 on Monday.Other commodities are also recovering from multi-year lows.Copper rose 1.6 percent on Monday to $4,694 per tonne, edging near its one month high of $4,720 touched in early February.
The spot iron ore for immediate delivery to China’s Tianjin port <.IO62-CNI=SI> jumped seven percent on Monday to hit its highest level since late October. That helped commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian dollar, which hit a seven-week high of $0.7248 on Monday. It last stood at $0.7230.On the other hand, the British pound licked wounds a day after falling nearly 2 percent, its biggest one-day drop in almost six years, on worries Britain may leave the European Union.
The pound hit a seven-year low of $1.4057 on Monday, after London Mayor Boris Johnson, one of the country’s most popular ruling party politicians, announced his support for Britain to leave the EU in a June referendum.
The British unit last stood at $1.4150.The euro also fell to $1.10035 on Monday, its lowest in almost three weeks, as « Brexit » could hardly be a good news for the European project either.The common currency stood at $1.1027 in early Asian trade. « Fears of Brexit have relegated the GBP to the bottom of the leader board, » said Rodrigo Catril, FX strategist at National Australia Bank. »The euro was also an underperformer against the USD, suggesting the market is expressing some concerns for the euro if the UK chooses to leave the European Union. » The dollar also maintained a small gain against the yen to trade at 112.96 yen, compared to around 112.55 yen at the start of week.The dollar’s index against a basket of six major currencies hit a three-week high of 97.60 on Monday and last stood at 97.368.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Oil jump fuels stock rally; EU shake-up fears rock currencies Global stocks rallied on Monday, backed by a rise in oil and commodity prices, while the British pound suffered its biggest one-day loss in nearly six years against the dollar on fears Britain would leave the European Union.Sterling tumbled to a near seven-year low during the session after popular London Mayor Boris Johnson said he would campaign to leave the EU ahead of a June 23 referendum. The euro fell 0.9 percent.
Battered oil prices jumped as speculation about falling U.S.shale output helped feed the notion that crude prices may be bottoming after their 20-month collapse.Benchmark Brent settled up 5.1 percent to $34.69 a barrel, while U.S. crude settled up 6.2 percent at $31.48 a barrel.Stocks, whose performance has been tightly linked to oil prices, posted solid gains across major markets.
« It still seems like oil, for whatever reason, continues to be what everything is trading off of, » said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management Corp in Chicago. « That’s the signal that the world is OK, that oil prices are going up. » The Dow Jones industrial average rose 228.67 points, or 1.39 percent, to 16,620.66, the S&P 500 gained 27.72 points, or 1.45 percent, to 1,945.5 and the Nasdaq Composite added 66.18 points, or 1.47 percent, to 4,570.61.
All 10 major S&P sectors were higher, led by a 2.2 percent increase for the energy sector.The gains built on last week’s strong performance after a poor overall start for U.S. equities in 2016.
« The fact that we held it on Friday and then went through a weekend and sustained and advanced it even more, I think is building optimism and maybe we’ve turned a corner, » said Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 share index rose 1.7 percent. Mining stocks were among the best performers, with Anglo American rising 10.8 percent, as the price of copper reached a two-week high.Helped by mining shares, Britain’s FTSE 100 index rose 1.5 percent, despite concerns over a possible EU exit.
Stocks shrugged off a survey showing private sector business activity in the euro zone increased at its weakest pace in more than a year in February.MSCI’s index of world shares rose 1.3 percent.
Worries about a possible British exit from the EU sent the euro to a near three-week low. Sterling fell 1.8 percent against the greenback and dropped as low as $1.4057. »A Brexit would be bad for sterling, but it would also be bad for the euro, » said Neil Jones, Mizuho’s head of hedge fund sales in London.The dollar was up 0.8 percent against a basket of six currencies.
Crude prices down as doubts over production freeze lingerOil prices dipped in Asia Tuesday after mounting a strong rally the day before as traders remain doubtful that talks on an output freeze among key crude producers will lead to an agreement.US crude rose back above $30 a barrel and European benchmark Brent climbed well over $34 on Monday on hopes that the discussions would lead to concrete action to stabilise the battered market.But at around 0300 GMT on Tuesday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in April, a new contract, was down 41 cents, or 1.23 percent, at $32.98. Brent for April dropped 43 cents, or 1.24 percent, to $34.26 a barrel.
« Yesterday’s increase could have come mainly from OPEC trying to rally the market into thinking that there will be action to come between OPEC and non-OPEC producers, » Phillip Futures analyst Daniel Ang told AFP, referring to the discussions on a possible production freeze. »But without any concrete action, I continue to believe that prices shouldn’t be going upwards and this is reflected in the price drops. »
Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, began a week-long visit to the Gulf on Monday stumping for relief from falling prices.His trip started in Saudi Arabia, where he was to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz and senior Saudi officials. Saudi Arabia is the biggest producer in the 13-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Economy and yen defuse « explosive » Chinese shopping in Japan Chinese tourists spent less in Tokyo shops during the Lunar New Year holidays compared with a year earlier, retailers said, as a stronger yen and slower economic growth at home discouraged the kind of « explosive buying » that became a buzzword in 2015. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings said its stores served around 50 percent more international duty-free shoppers during February 7-13 compared with the same holiday week last year due to a spike in customers from mainland China, but each spent 15 percent less than a year ago.In 2015, visitors from mainland China doubled to five million from 2014, helping Japan’s overall tourist numbers reach nearly 20 million – a target the government had hoped to achieve by 2020.
Shopping by Chinese tourists at department stores and electronics shops in 2015 created a buzzword, « bakugai », or explosive buying, and came as a boon for Japanese retailers smarting from decades of sluggish demand from domestic consumers. But China’s economic growth fell in 2015 to a 25-year low and stock markets slumped in the middle of the year, raising uncertainty about the outlook for the economy – impacting Chinese buying abroad this year.
Retailers in Sydney and Hong Kong have also seen Chinese tourists turn more budget conscious. »Last year, they’d come in around five or 10 buses, park right nearby, and shop in groups. But that’s been rare this year, » said Katsuhito Takahashi, assistant manager at electronics store Yodobashi Camera in Shinjuku, a large shopping, entertainment and business area of Tokyo.
He said the store’s sales during the Lunar New year holidays fell around 25 percent from a year earlier, although Chinese customer numbers were more or less unchanged.J.Front Retailing, which operates Daimaru department stores, said Chinese customers increased from a year earlier but sales per customer fell by a double-digit percentage.
« We did see customers trying and buying cosmetics, and purchasing children’s clothing and other necessities for the family, » but sales of jewellery and watches declined by double digits, a J.Front spokeswoman said. Mizuho Research Institute chief economist Hajime Takata said the « bakugai » trend may be waning as China’s economic slowdown, the stock market fall and yen strength in January impacted buying.
« These factors may be leading to less spending per person, » he said.In addition to shopping, Chinese tourists may be increasingly interested in experiences such as visiting museums or exploring Japan’s countryside, he said.
Yang Jiao, a 28-year old from Dalian in northeast China who was shopping in Shinjuku, agreed, saying she looked forward to buying cosmetics, but shopping wasn’t her main purpose. »The quality of Chinese products meets our everyday needs, » she said. « As a young person, I think travelling is for gaining experience and knowledge, not merely for shopping. »
U.S. government, Apple take encryption case to court of public opinion Apple Inc on Monday urged the creation of a government panel on encryption, the latest salvo in a standoff over a locked iPhone linked to the San Bernardino shooting that has escalated into a public relations battle between the revered technology company and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook also sent a letter to employees Monday morning, making clear the company’s hardline stance refusing to make software to unlock the phone addresses broader issues, not just a single device linked to a grisly attack.
« This case is about much more than a single phone or a single investigation, » Cook said in the email to employees, seen by Reuters. « At stake is the data security of hundreds of millions of law-abiding people, and setting a dangerous precedent that threatens everyone’s civil liberties. » But FBI Director James Comey, in an article published late Sunday on the national security legal blog Lawfare, asserted the case was not about setting a new legal precedent but rather about « victims and justice. » « Fourteen people were slaughtered and many more had their lives and bodies ruined, » Comey wrote. « We owe them a thorough and professional investigation under law. That’s what this is. » A federal judge last week ordered Apple to create new software and take others steps to retrieve data from the locked phone, used by Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the San Bernardino shooters, who was killed in a gun battle with police.
The company is fighting the order, arguing that creating such a key will jeopardize the security of all iPhones. The company’s formal legal arguments are expected Friday.The Justice Department’s manoeuvres over the past week have prompted Apple supporters to suggest the case is as much about putting political pressure on Apple and influencing the broader policy debate on encryption as it is about getting data from Farook’s phone.
U.N. agency bans lithium-ion batteries on passenger aircraft The U.N. aviation agency on Monday prohibited shipments of lithium-ion batteries as cargo on passenger aircraft, following concerns by pilots and plane makers that they are a fire risk.Lithium metal batteries, which are used in watches, have already been banned on passenger planes globally. Lithium metal batteries, used in watches, are not rechargable while lithium-ion batteries, used in cell phones and laptops, can be recharged.
The International Civil Aviation Organization’s 36-state governing council said the prohibition would be in effect as of April 1, and would be maintained until a new fire-resistant packaging standard is designed to transport the batteries.
Lithium-ion batteries can still be transported on cargo planes.The new packaging standard is expected by 2018, ICAO Council President Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu said in a statement.The ban would be mandatory for ICAO member states.Pilots and aircraft manufacturers are concerned that existing standards are not strong enough to contain lithium battery fires.
A 2015 working paper by an organization representing plane makers like Boeing Co found current firefighting systems on airliners could not « suppress or extinguish a fire involving significant quantities of lithium batteries. » But one dangerous goods expert familiar with ICAO’s thinking questioned whether a ban on lithium-ion batteries would really make passenger planes safer. He said instances of such battery fires usually involved deliberate mislabeling by shippers. »When the industry banned the shipment of lithium-metal batteries, we saw instances of them being passed off as lithium ion batteries, » said the expert, who was not authorized to speak publicly. « Those people who are not complying now won’t comply with a prohibition. » (
Could an African become the new U.N. climate chief? The next head of the U.N. process to tackle climate change should come from one of the world’s poorest countries, which led an ambitious drive to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius in the new Paris deal, a leading expert has proposed.
With Christiana Figueres stepping down as executive secretary of the U.N. climate change convention in July, « it’s time for the least developed countries to have a chance at that particular slot », said Saleemul Huq, director of the Dhaka-based International Centre for Climate Change and Development.He suggested Pa Ousman Jarju, Gambia’s environment minister, or Youba Sokono, a Malian scientist and former coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre, as possible candidates.
Turning the new agreement to curb climate change, negotiated at a December summit in France, into genuine action will be a tough and risky process, experts told a discussion in London on Monday.It is also potentially complicated by the resignations this year of some key figures, including Figueres, Hela Cheikhrouhou of the fledgling Green Climate Fund, and Laurent Fabius, France’s former foreign minister who shepherded the Paris agreement to completion, they added.But developing nations – some of whom have become role models in cutting their planet-warming emissions and adapting to climate impacts – could play a growing role, said Huq and Achala Abeysinghe, a legal adviser on climate issues for the least developed countries and a governance expert with the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development.Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the new deal is whether a « bottom-up » plan – built around each country’s pledges to reduce their emissions and help poorer countries adjust to climate shifts – will add up to enough emissions cuts, Abeysinghe said.
« Will countries actually race to the top, or will they race to the bottom? » she asked. « If they race to the bottom, we are in big trouble. » And finding a way of pushing countries to ever-more ambitious commitments without making penalties for failure so tough politicians refuse to ratify the climate agreement will be a difficult balancing act, she said.
« If you go too punitive, there’s a risk countries will put forward the lowest common denominator because they don’t want to be sanctioned, » she said.For the new climate deal to come into effect in 2020, as planned, 55 countries representing 55 percent of global emissions must first ratify it. If that happens early, the deal could be legally put in place prior to 2020, Abeysinghe said.At the Paris summit, the least developed countries teamed up with the African group of nations and small island states to win agreement on a long-term « aspirational » goal of holding climate change to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, below the 2 degree limit previously sought.
Mysterious high-pitched tone keeps Oregon residents up at night An unexplained high-pitched tone has kept residents of a Portland suburb awake at night for at least a week, confounding the best efforts of police and firefighters to pinpoint its source, officials in the community said on Monday. Adding to the mystery is the fact that the noise, a steady, whistle-like note resembling a flute, has only been reported after dark in Forest Grove, a rustic community of 22,500 located about 25 miles (40 km) west of Oregon’s largest city.
Former residents say they remember a similar sound echoing through the night air several decades ago, according to reports filed with Forest Grove Fire and Rescue, an agency spokeswoman said.The tone is unusual for its combination of high pitch and ambiguous point of origin, said audio engineer Tobin Cooley, president of the company Listen Acoustics, who agreed to informally assess the phenomenon for Reuters on Monday.
« Higher frequencies like this tone are very directional sounds, versus low-frequency sounds which can seem to come from anywhere or everywhere at once, » Cooley said, cautioning that he had listened to poor-quality recordings but not made a thorough investigation. »What surprises me is that neighbors have not been able to locate where this is coming from, » he said.
Cooley speculated that the sound could be coming from a release of compressed air or natural gas, but officials with the local gas company said they had ruled out any of the utility’s equipment or pipelines as a source.
« We sent a tech out, and he spent the whole day investigating, » said Melissa Moore, spokeswoman for Northwest Natural Gas. She added that a gas leak would also produce an odor, which has not been reported.Although the Forest Grove fire department is collecting information about the sound, firefighters do not know what to do about it, a spokeswoman for the agency said. « We aren’t waiting for it to make a noise. We are going about our duties, » she said.
Football: Prince Ali bruising battle for FIFA summitThe brother of a king and an army major general, Prince Ali bin al Hussein has taken on the toughest of campaigns trying to reach the summit of world football.The 40-year-old Jordanian royal won praise for his lone challenge to Sepp Blatter in FIFA’s presidential election last year. It has not helped win votes for the governing body’s decision day on Friday.
Prince Ali, a frustrated Arsenal fan, has travelled the globe seeking backing for his calls for greater transparency by the tainted organisation.Last year, the prince secured 73 protest votes against Blatter and then gallantly withdrew without forcing a second round. Much of that support is now believed to have gone to establishment favourites Gianni Infantino of Europe and Asia’s Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa.
Like many of his country’s royals, the brother of King Abdullah II went to the Sandhurst military academy in Britain. He was a member of Jordan’s special forces, specialising in parachute jumps.The family has a sporting pedigree. His sister, Princess Haya, served two terms as head of the International Equestrian Federation and their half-brother, Prince Faisal, is a member of the International Olympic Committee.
The prince is the son of the late King Hussein and his third wife, Queen Alia, who died in a helicopter accident when he was just two.
He championed the cause of allowing women to play football in a hijab.
The rough and tumble of football politics have left Prince Ali bruised, however.
The prince was an Asian member on the FIFA executive from 2011 until 2015 and the day he first challenged Blatter.
He lost his seat to Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman.The prince has condemned the « backroom deals » that he says are one of the biggest causes of FIFA’s long-standing troubles and also spoken out for greater transparency in football’s dealings.
He has promised to substantially increase the share of revenues given back to the 209 member associations — increasing annual grants from $250,000 (227,000 euros) to $1 million — if he is successful.The prince has also been one of the most vocal advocates of releasing the Garcia report into the 2010 FIFA votes that gave the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar respectively. »We must overcome deep-seated corruption and political deal-making, » he said in announcing his new bid last September. »I do not believe that FIFA can give this sport back to the people of the world without new leadership, untainted by the practices of the past. »The campaign aainst Sheikh Salman, former FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne of France, South African businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale, and UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino has been a hard grind however.Iraq is the only country to have publicly declared support for him this time, though the prince’s team say there are other « private » offers.’
(World news compiled by Maghreb news staff)