Pointing to a possible escalation in the war if there is no progress, the Russian defence ministry said rebels had used an anti-aircraft missile to shoot down a Syrian warplane on Saturday.
Rebels said it was shot down with anti-aircraft guns, rather than a missile, a weapon fighters have sought but Western countries want to keep out of their hands because of the potential threat to civil aviation if Islamist militants acquire them.
Reflecting the Damascus government’s confidence, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem warned the opposition on Saturday it was deluded if it believed it would be able to take power at the negotiating table, and ruled out any talks on the presidency.The opposition are holding out little hope that Geneva will bring them nearer to their goal of toppling Assad. Announcing its decision to attend the Geneva talks, the main opposition umbrella group said the government was preparing for more war.
Rebels say they are ready to fight on despite their recent defeats. They hope foreign backers – notably Saudi Arabia – will send them more powerful weapons including anti-aircraft missiles if the political process collapses. »I expect that if in this round the regime is stubborn, and doesn’t offer anything real, it will be the end of the talks and we will go back to the military solution, » said Bashar al-Zoubi, a prominent rebel.
The talks aim to build on a « cessation of hostilities » agreement brokered by the United States and Russia that has brought about a considerable reduction in fighting since it came into effect on Feb. 27.
It marks the most serious effort yet towards de-escalating the conflict, surprising many and allowing for aid deliveries to besieged areas, though the opposition says the deliveries to rebel-held territory fall well short of needs.
The sides have, however, accused each other of violations, and Saturday was one of the most violent days since it came into force, with rebels and government forces clashing in Hama province and insurgents shooting down the warplane.
The Russian defence ministry said a portable air-defence system had been used to bring down the Syrian MiG-21. »Russia wants to accuse the friends of the Syrian people of supplying it with missiles, and this did not happen, » said Mohamad Alloush, head of the politburo of the Jaish al-Islam group and HNC chief negotiator.He said all groups were requesting the means to defend civilians from warplanes and barrel bombs – oil drums filled with explosives that the opposition says the army uses to cause indiscriminate damage in rebel areas.
The main opposition alliance, known as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), comes to the talks with the balance of forces stacked against it after Russia’s intervention and an increase in military support to Assad from Iran, his other main ally.The HNC has also voiced concerns about what it sees as a softening of the U.S. stance on Syria, saying Washington has given ground to Moscow. HNC official George Sabra, speaking in Geneva, called the American position « ambiguous, even for its allies ».
The HNC says the talks must focus on setting up a transitional governing body with full executive powers, and that Assad must leave power at the start of the transition.
But Foreign Minister Moualem on Saturday set out a very different vision, indicating that the most the government would offer was a national unity government with opposition participation, and a new or amended constitution.He also said the government delegation would resist any attempt to put the question of presidential elections on the agenda, and criticised U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura for last week outlining an agenda that includes elections.
De Mistura is due meet the sides separately on Monday before briefing the Security Council.Syria’s U.N. ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, head of the government delegation, said the talks needed to work on preparatory issues first and it was premature to talk about a transitional period.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Moualem’s comments aimed to disrupt the political process.Kerry also said the Syrian government and its backers were mistaken if they thought they could continue to test the boundaries of the fragile truce. Accusing Damascus of carrying out the most violations, Kerry said Russian President Vladimir Putin needed to look at how Assad was acting.
« President Assad is singing on a completely different song sheet and sent his foreign minister out yesterday to try to act as a spoiler and take off the table what President Putin and the Iranians have agreed to, » Kerry said.Attempts to get the diplomatic process moving have already faced big obstacles, including a row over who should be invited to negotiate with the Syrian government. The HNC groups political and armed opponents of Assad.Russia reiterated its view that the Kurdish PYD party, which wields wide influence in northern Syria, should be at the talks.The PYD has been excluded in line with the wishes of Turkey, which views it as an extension of the PKK group that is waging an insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow had evidence that Turkish armed forces were on Syrian territory, calling Turkey’s actions « creeping expansion ». There was no immediate Turkish response, but Ankara has in the past repeatedly denied that it was planning an incursion.Though not invited, PYD leader Saleh Muslim told Reuters he hoped the talks would not fail, adding: « If they do, the results will be disastrous for everyone. »
US, France say Syrian government trying to spoil peace talksThe United States and France accused the Syrian government of trying to disrupt a new round of peace talks set to begin on Monday and said Russia and Iran would need to show the Syrian government was « living up to » what had been agreed.Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Saturday that his government would not discuss presidential elections at peace talks in Geneva this week or hold talks with any party wishing to discuss the question of the presidency. »It’s a provocation … a bad sign and doesn’t correspond to the spirit of the ceasefire, » French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told a news conference with his British, German, Italian, U.S. and EU counterparts.
Calling Moualem’s comments a clear attempt to « disrupt the process », U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the Syrian government and its backers were mistaken if they thought they could continue to test the boundaries of a fragile truce.Accusing Syria of carrying out the most violations of the truce, Kerry said Russian President Vladimir Putin needed to look at how Assad was acting.
« So President Putin, who is invested in supporting Assad, with an enormous commitment – and it has made a difference obviously on the battlefield – should be somewhat concerned about the fact that President Assad sent his foreign minister out yesterday to try and act as a spoiler, to take off the table something that President Putin and Iran had committed to, » Kerry said. « This is a moment of truth, a moment where all of us have to be responsible. » He was referring to agreements over the last few months between the International Syrian Support Group – a mix of international and regional powers – who have pushed for a peace roadmap.
Monday’s talks will coincide with next week’s fifth anniversary of a war that has killed more than 250,000 people, created the world’s worst refugee crisis, and allowed for the expansion of the Islamic State militant group.They are part of the first diplomatic push since the Russian air force intervened in September to support Assad, tilting the war the Syrian government’s way and helping Damascus reclaim significant territory in the west.
« It’s important now for those who support President Assad to make sure that he is living up to this agreement, » Kerry said.
« And therefore, as a result that they are living up to this agreement too. » Moualem said on Saturday the government delegation would be willing to discuss U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura’s agenda, but as far as the government was concerned, « political transition » meant a transition from the existing constitution to a new one, and from the existing government to a new one with participation from the other side. »There is an urgency to put in place a real political transition. That will be at the heart of negotiations, » Ayrault said, adding that a return to the previous status quo was not possible. « Things must change, » he said.
Russia has evidence Turkish troops in Syria, Lavrov saysRussia has evidence that Turkish troops are on Syrian territory, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on Sunday, accusing Turkey of a « creeping expansion » on its border with Syria.The comments by Lavrov are the latest confrontation between Moscow and Ankara, after Turkish jets shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November.
« Turkey has started to declare it has a sovereign right to create some safety zones on Syrian territory, » Lavrov told Russian television channel Ren-TV. « According to our data, they have already ‘dug themselves in’ several hundred metres from the border in Syria. … It’s a sort of creeping expansion. » Lavrov also said that Russia would insist the United Nations invites Kurds to peace talks on the Syrian conflict despite Turkey’s opposition.Russia and Turkey are on opposing sides of the five-year-old conflict in Syria. Relations between the two countries nosedived after the downing of the Russian plane, which President Vladimir Putin called a « stab in the back ».Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has not apologised over the incident, saying the Russian jet crossed into Turkish airspace and ignored repeated warnings. Russia denies the warplane violated Turkey’s airspace.
Lavrov added to Ren-TV that Russia was willing to coordinate its actions in Syria with the United States so that the city of Raqqa could be taken back. »At some stage the Americans suggested carrying out a ‘division of labour’: Russia’s air force should concentrate on freeing Palmyra and the U.S. coalition with Russian support should concentrate on freeing Raqqa. »
Russia says cessation of hostilities in Syria violated 29 times in past 24 hrsRussia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday a cessation of hostilities in Syria had been violated 29 times in the past 24 hours.The ministry said in a statement the violations took place in the provinces of Latakia (18 times), Damascus (5), Aleppo (3), Idlib (2) and Hama (1 time).It added that a portable air-defence system was used to bring down a Syrian MiG-21 warplane over Hama province on Saturday.
Syrian rebels deny missile was used to shoot down warplane Syrian rebels on Sunday denied a Russian Defence Ministry report that an anti-aircraft missile had been used to shoot down a Syrian warplane in Hama province on Saturday.Officials in three rebel groups contacted by Reuters reiterated previous statements that it had been shot down with anti-aircraft guns.Fares al-Bayoush, head of a Free Syrian Army rebel group operating in the Hama area, said the Russian statement might be aimed at « accusing some states of supplying the opposition with anti-aircraft missiles ».
U.S., allies launch 18 air strikes against Islamic State in Syria, Iraq -statement The United States and its allies carried out more than a dozen air strikes on Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, the Command Joint Task Force said in a statement.Coalition forces conducted six strikes in Syria, four of which struck three separate Islamic State tactical units and destroyed the group’s anti-air artillery piece, three vehicles, a mortar and fighting positions, the Task Force said on Sunday.In Iraq, 12 strikes were carried out in coordination with the Iraqi government, destroying among others an Islamic State rocket position, supply cache, a large tactical unit and a bridge used by the group, the Task Force added.Syria war begins sixth year as US, Russia pull the stringsThe United States and Russia are pulling the strings in Syria’s five-year war, experts say, pressuring opposing sides and leveraging rival regional powers to reach a settlement.As the conflict enters its sixth year, the embattled regime and fractured opposition are in Geneva for indirect peace talks hosted by United Nations peace envoy Staffan de Mistura.But the real solution, experts say, is in Russian and American hands. »The two great powers talk among themselves by phone or in meetings around the world. Then they inform their Syrian allies and de Mistura what they’ve decided, » says veteran opposition figure Haytham Manaa.
« Then, Russia and the US give the regional powers the red lines they’re not supposed to cross. The US bans the Turks from a ground incursion in Syria and asks the Saudis to stop sending arms. Russia does the same thing with Iran, » Manaa tells AFP.Syria’s conflict began on March 15, 2011 with a peaceful protest movement calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.But the uprising turned violent after the government launched a brutal crackdown on dissent, and its key players became the various armed forces — regime, opposition, jihadist, Kurdish — and their respective backers.
Russia and the United States have exerted their influence over opposing sides of the complex war to broker a landmark truce that has been holding since February 27. »The US and Russia have taken command of, and have a monopoly over, the Syrian issue, » says Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington.Bassel Salloukh, political science professor at the Lebanese American University of Beirut, agrees.
« Indeed, what started as a non-violent movement demanding reforms metamorphosed into an overlapping domestic, regional, and international struggle over Syria, » Salloukh says.He expects that « the strategic interests of Russia and the US will determine the shape of the settlement in Syria rather than the aspirations of its peoples. »Both the US and Russia were hesitant to become involved in a conflict as complex and unpredictable as Syria.
« The notion that we could have… changed the equation on the ground there was never true, » US President Barack Obama has told The Atlantic magazine reporter Jeffrey Goldberg.When the United States did finally get militarily involved in Syria in September 2014, it was as part of a bombing campaign against the Islamic State group.One year later, Russia launched its own air war backing Assad after a devastating string of losses for the regime in the spring and summer of 2015.Moscow’s intervention was a major turning point for pro-Assad forces, shoring up their positions in the south, centre, and north.
« Moscow long believed that the regime would pull through on its own. It’s Tehran, the regime’s other ally, that sounded the alarm, » a foreign diplomat in Damascus tells AFP. »Iranian officials went to Moscow to tell the Russians that if they didn’t intervene immediately, the regime would collapse, » the diplomat says.
Second car bomb in a month kills 34 in Turkish capital, Ankara A car bomb tore through a crowded transport hub in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Sunday, killing at least 34 people and wounding 125 in the second such attack in the administrative heart of the city in under a month.The blast, which could be heard several kilometres away, sent burning debris showering down over an area a few hundred metres (yards) from the Justice and Interior Ministries, a top courthouse, and the former office of the prime minister.
« These attacks, which threaten our country’s integrity and our nation’s unity and solidarity, do not weaken our resolve in fighting terrorism but bolster our determination, » President Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement.
Two senior security officials told Reuters the first findings suggested that the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy, or an affiliated group, was responsible.There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Interior Minister Efkan Ala said the name of the group behind the attack would likely be announced on Monday after initial investigations were completed.
« Tonight, civilian citizens waiting at a bus stop were targeted in a terrorist attack with a bomb-laden car, » Ala told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the head of the intelligence agency and security chiefs. »Significant findings have been made, but the organisation behind this will be announced once the investigation has been finalised, » he said.NATO member Turkey faces multiple security threats. As part of a U.S.-led coalition, it is fighting Islamic State in neighbouring Syria and Iraq. It is also battling PKK militants in its southeast, where a 2-1/2-year ceasefire collapsed last July, triggering the worst violence since the 1990s.
The bombing came two days after the U.S. Embassy issued a warning that there was information regarding a potential attack on government buildings in the Bahcelievler area of Ankara, just a few km (miles) away from the blast site.
The United States condemned the attack, saying in a White House National Security Council statement: « This horrific act is only the most recent of many terrorist attacks perpetrated against the Turkish people. The United States stands together with Turkey, a NATO ally and valued partner, as we confront the scourge of terrorism. » Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu said 30 of those killed had died at the scene, while the four others died in hospital.At least one or two of the dead were attackers, he said, and 19 of the 125 wounded were in critical condition.One of the security officials said the car used in the attack was a BMW driven from Viransehir, a town in the largely Kurdish southeast, and that the PKK and the affiliated Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) appeared to be responsible.
TAK claimed responsibility for the previous car bombing, just a few blocks away, on Feb. 17. That attack targeted a military bus as it waited at traffic lights, and killed 29 people, most of them soldiers, near the military headquarters, parliament and other key government institutions.A police source said there appeared to have been two attackers, one a man and the other a woman, whose severed hand was found 300 metres from the blast site.
The explosives were the same kind as those used on Feb. 17 and the bomb had been reinforced with pellets and nails to cause maximum damage, the source told Reuters.The pro-Kurdish opposition HDP, parliament’s third largest party, which Erdogan accuses of being an extension of the PKK, condemned what it described as a « savage attack ».State broadcaster TRT said the car had exploded at a major transport hub, hitting a bus carrying some 20 people near the central Guven Park and Kizilay Square at 6:43 p.m. (1643 GMT).
An Ankara court ordered a ban on access to Facebook, Twitter and other sites in Turkey after images from the bombing were shared on social media, broadcasters CNN Turk and NTV reported.World leaders joined in condemning the bombing. British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was « appalled, » while French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described it as a « cowardly attack ». Russian President Vladimir Putin described it as « inhuman, » his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies. »There can be no justification for such heinous acts of violence. All NATO allies stand in solidarity with Turkey, resolute in our determination to fight terrorism in all its forms, » NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the country’s ambassador to Turkey, James Larsen, was in a car at an intersection 20 metres from where the bomb was detonated. »It really does bring it home to us that a terrorist attack can take place at any time, anywhere, » Bishop told Nine Network television while on a diplomatic trip to Fiji. « We utterly condemn these barbaric attacks on civilian populations. » « It was an appalling thing for him to witness, being so close, but he’s fine, » she added of the ambassador.Turkey sees the unrest in its largely Kurdish southeast as deeply linked to events in northern Syria, where the Kurdish YPG militia has been seizing territory as it fights both Islamic State and rebels battling President Bashar al-Assad.Ankara fears those gains will stoke separatist ambitions among its own Kurds and has long argued that the YPG and PKK have close ideological and operational ties.
In its armed campaign in Turkey, the PKK has historically struck directly at the security forces and says that it does not target civilians. A direct claim of responsibility for Sunday’s bombing would indicate a major tactical shift.Islamic State militants have been blamed for at least four bomb attacks on Turkey since June 2015, including a suicide bombing that killed 10 German tourists in the historic heart of Istanbul in January. Local jihadist groups and leftist radicals have also staged attacks in Turkey in the past.
PKK or affiliates behind Ankara bombing, initial findings suggest -officialInitial findings suggest the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) or an affiliated group was responsible for a car bombing in the Turkish capital Ankara on Sunday that killed 27 people and wounded 75 more, a security official said. »According to initial findings, it seems that this attack has been carried out either by the PKK or an affiliated organisation, » the official told Reuters.
Al Qaeda gunmen kill 16 in Ivory Coast beach attackGunmen from al Qaeda’s North African branch killed 16 people, including four Europeans, at a beach resort town in Ivory Coast on Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly attacks that have confirmed the Islamists’ growing reach in West Africa.Six shooters targeted hotels on a beach at Grand Bassam, a weekend retreat popular with westerners about 40 km (25 miles) east of the commercial capital Abidjan, before being killed in clashes with Ivorian security forces, the government said.
« Six attackers came onto the beach in Bassam this afternoon, » Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said during a visit to the site. « We have 14 civilians and two special forces soldiers who were unfortunately killed. » A French man was killed in the attack, according to a French foreign ministry spokesman. The nationalities of the other dead were not yet known, but four were European, one officer said during a briefing attended by a Reuters reporter.Ivory Coast Interior Minister Hamed Bakayoko later said foreign citizens from France, Germany, Burkina Faso, Mali and Cameroon were among the victims.
The reporter saw the bodies of three white people at Grand Bassam’s Chelsea Hotel and another in the Hotel Etoile du Sud next door.A short drive from Abidjan – one of West Africa’s largest cities with around 5 million inhabitants – Grand Bassam fills up on weekends with thousands of beachgoers.Witnesses said the gunmen followed a pathway onto the beach where they then opened fire on swimmers and sunbathers before turning their attention to the packed seafront hotels where people were eating and drinking at lunchtime.
« They started shooting and everyone just started running.There were women and children running and hiding, » said another witness, Marie Bassole. « It started on the beach. Whoever they saw, they shot at. » Security forces moved to evacuate the area surrounding the beach. Bullet holes riddled vehicles nearby and glass from shattered windows littered the ground.The body of one of the attackers, dressed in dark trousers and a blood-covered striped shirt, lay beside the beachside entrance to one hotel, a bullet hole in his head.
Beside him on the sand sat a combat vest used to carry extra ammunition. Nearby, on the ground, lay unexploded grenades.Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has carried out other recent attacks in the region, claimed responsibility for Sunday’s shootings, according to the U.S.-based SITE intelligence monitoring group, citing an AQIM statement.It said the attack had been carried out by just three militants.Barely two months ago, Islamists killed dozens of people in a hotel and cafe frequented by foreigners in neighbouring Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou. Gunmen also attacked a hotel in the Malian capital, Bamako, late last year.
Both of those attacks were also claimed by AQIM and raised concern that militants were extending their reach far beyond their traditional zones of operation in the Sahara and the arid Sahel region.
Though previously untouched by Islamist violence, Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa’s largest economy and the world’s top cocoa producer, has long been considered a target for militants.It has been on high alert since the Ouagadougou attacks, and security has been visibly bolstered at potential targets, including shopping malls and high-end hotels.By Sunday evening, Ivorian authorities had begun an investigation into the attacks.
« We have a mobile phone that is now in the hands of the Ivorian scientific police that will allow us to look at all the ramifications and go back to the source, » Interior Minister Bakayoko said on state-owned television.As the scale of the tragedy become evident, regional and world leaders expressed their support for Ivory Coast, which has recently emerged from a decade of political turmoil and civil war to become one of the world’s fastest growing economies.
President Macky Sall of Senegal, another country seen as a likely target for AQIM, called upon West African countries to step up their cooperation against terrorism and violent extremism.France’s President Francois Hollande, meanwhile, denounced the shootings in the former French colony as a « cowardly attack. » « France will bring its logistical support and intelligence to Ivory Coast to find the attackers. It will pursue and intensify its cooperation with its partners in the fight against terrorism, » he said in a statement.
Helicopters kill 17 as Yemen government moves against Aden militants Saudi-led helicopters attacked al Qaeda militants in Aden overnight in an effort to dislodge them from a stronghold in the southern port city, killing at least 18 people, medics and a security official said on Sunday.The assault took place as Saudi-backed forces supporting President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fought to widen their control of Taiz in the southwest of Yemen after breaking a siege there on Friday.Islamist militants from al Qaeda and Islamic State have exploited the conflict to expand their control, especially in areas where Hadi supporters have managed to expel the Iran-allied Houthis, including in Aden and Lahej provinces.
Witnesses and medics said Apache helicopters from the Saudi-led coalition struck armoured vehicles and a government compound used by the militants in al-Mansoura district, a stronghold in north Aden. There was no immediate comment from the coalition.Medics said a total of 18 people have been killed — 17 suspected militants and one civilian bystander — and at least 23 civilians and militants were wounded. Three members of the security forces were also injured.
Security forces cordoned off an area of al-Mansoura district where dozens of suspected militants are believed to be holed up, while warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition dropped leaflets on the area telling residents to stay home and report any militants to authorities.
A tenuous calm in the district was broken occasionally in the afternoon with bursts of gunfire. A Reuters reporter saw the rubble of a butcher’s shop and the wreckage of cars. Electricity was cut across the district and food shops remained closed.Shops and businesses closed as security forces sealed off a block in the area, where dozens of suspected militants are believed to be holed up.The city’s governor said the operation was the second phase of a government campaign to restore state control over the city, the temporary seat of the Yemeni government.
« This stage will continue until it achieves its objectives, foremost of which to impose the authority of the state and restore security and stability in all districts of the capital Aden and its suburbs and to end the security chaos, » Governor Aydaroos al-Zubaidi said.
Militants killed Zubaidi’s predecessor and several other government officials, military and security officers in a series of suicide attacks and shootings in Aden since Hadi’s forces captured the city from the Houthis last July.The campaign took place a day after forces loyal to Hadi broke a siege by the Houthis around Taiz, Yemen’s third biggest city, about 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Aden.The advance represented a breakthrough for Hadi’s government, which has been struggling to achieve a major victory against the Houthis who seized control of most of the country in 2015 in what they described as a revolution against corruption.
Residents said that more fighting was reported in eastern Taiz on Sunday between the Houthis and fighters allied to Hadi, where reinforcements from both sides have arrived.
Witnesses said there were many casualties but gave no figures or more details.Medical supplies provided by Saudi Arabia have also reached the main al-Thawra hospital in Taiz for the first time since last year, a medic at the facility said.Yemen’s government was forced out of the capital Sanaa by the Houthi rebels in September 2014 and is now based in Aden, but struggles to impose its authority even there. The coalition began a military campaign in March last year to prevent the Houthis from taking complete control of Yemen.
Rise of the jihadists in Yemen may be unstoppable: analystsRivals Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group are cementing their presence in south Yemen in the absence of state authority and little opposition from pro-government Arab coalition forces, experts say.For the first time since its campaign against Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen began almost a year ago, warplanes from the Sunni Saudi-led coalition this weekend targeted jihadists in Aden.Analysts fear such action may be short-lived, however, and that the growing jihadist power in the south may be unstoppable.
In three months, 150 people have been killed in clashes in Yemen’s second city and temporary capital Aden, where jihadists control some districts in defiance of the authorities and the coalition.Critics of the government hold officials responsible for the rise of the jihadists, accusing some of collaborating with militants and sometimes even arming them.But one Western military expert said the relationship between jihadist groups and the recently reestablished state in south Yemen « is no alliance ». »There is a de facto cohabitation, » the expert said.The state’s grip collapsed when Huthi rebels overran the capital Sanaa unopposed in September 2014.
Iran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia scrambled to mount an Arab air campaign last March after the Huthis advanced on the south where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi had taken refuge.
Hadi’s administration has failed to establish its authority fully in five southern provinces, including Aden, which were recaptured from the rebels last summer.And now jihadists from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and IS are exploiting this to broaden their influence. »AQAP and IS are arguably the war’s principal beneficiaries, » an International Crisis Group report said last month.The two Sunni militant groups, « ideological enemies » of Shiite Huthis that also dismiss Hadi’s government as apostate, have « moved their fighters into the space vacated by the two sides », the ICG added.
« Weapons and resources directed to the anti-Huthi opposition have seeped into AQAP/IS hands, a trend likely to continue if the Huthis retreat further, » it said.Weakened loyalist forces have relied on support from local Popular Resistance militiamen in their fight against the Huthis and allied troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.But Popular Resistance recruits were drawn from Islamist Salafists as well as southern separatists and jihadists, according to Zeid al-Sallami, a Yemeni expert on Islamist groups.After recapturing the southern provinces, Hadi ordered the militiamen to be integrated in the army and police.But this process was hampered by a « lack of financial means and the absence of a clear mechanism to make it work », said Ali al-Ahmadi, a former Popular Resistance chief. »Frustrated, numbers of resistance fighters ended up joining Al-Qaeda and IS, » said Ahmadi, adding that Al-Qaeda benefited most. »Thanks to their financial means, Al-Qaeda and IS attracted hundreds of ignored resistance fighters and bought weapons stocked in Aden and the rest of the south, » he said.
Al-Qaeda has been active in Yemen for more than 20 years and is well entrenched.Although many of its leaders have been killed in US drone strikes, AQAP is « today more powerful than ever », according to US-based intelligence consultancy The Soufan Group.The Islamic State is nowhere near as strong as AQAP, » it argued in a report on IS.The IS branch in Yemen was created by Al-Qaeda defectors in November 2014, and carried out its first attacks the following March, targeting Shiite mosques in Sanaa.
« What it lacks in numbers and support it makes up for in extreme violence and a determination to gain a lasting foothold in yet another collapsing state, » The Soufan Group said.AQAP ruled the southern province of Abyan for a year before being driven out in June 2012. But last April it seized Hadramawt’s provincial capital Mukalla and nearby oil installations.From Mukalla, AQAP has moved to regain its foothold in southern provinces including Abyan last year and nearby Lahj and Shabwa. »Every day, Al-Qaeda sets up a new checkpoint without mounting its flag, » said Abdelbari al-Marqashi, a resident of Zinjibar city in Abyan.As for IS, Hadi accuses his predecessor of using it for his own ends. The group is « manipulated by Ali Abdullah Saleh, » he said in an interview with Saudi daily Okaz.Jihadists are implementing a « strategy of expanding their territories », a diplomat warned. »There is a risk of ending up with a substitution caliphate (Islamic regime) in Yemen if they (Islamists) are defeated in Iraq and Syria. »
Saudi forces kill woman during raid to capture wanted man- agencySaudi security forces shot dead a woman armed with a machine gun during a raid to arrest a man suspected of involvement in attacks on Shi’ite Muslims and on security forces, state news agency SPA reported on Sunday.The agency quoted the interior ministry as saying that the man, identified as Sweilem al-Ruwaili, had been hiding at one of his comrades from the « deviant group » in the northern al-Jawf region when he was captured in the raid on Thursday. Saudi Arabia uses the term deviant group to refer to Islamist militants from al Qaeda or Islamic State.Ruwaili was on a list of 16 wanted people published by the kingdom last year in connection with two deadly mosque bombings claimed by Islamic State in May. The authorities offered a cash reward of five million riyals ($1.3 million) for information leading to their arrest.Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a series of bombings and shootings in Saudi Arabia since Nov. 2014 that have killed more than 50 people.
In August 2015, a suicide bomber killed at least 15 people in an attack on a mosque used by members of a local security force in southwest Saudi Arabia, in an assault that an online statement said was carried out by Islamic State.A statement from the interior ministry said the woman had surprised security forces with a machine gun, and was subsequently hit in the raid and died in hospital of her wounds.
She had been married to another wanted man who « is in areas of conflict abroad », the statement said.
Saudi Arabia says it will punish anyone linked to Hezbollah Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it would punish anyone who belongs to Lebanon’s Iran-backed Shi’ite Islamist group Hezbollah, sympathises with it, supports it financially or harbours any of its members.
An Interior Ministry statement carried by the state news agency SPA said that Saudis and expatriates would be subjected to « severe penalties » under the kingdom’s regulations and anti-terrorism laws. Foreigners would be deported, it said.The move comes after Gulf Arab countries declared Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, raising the possibility of further sanctions against the group, which wields influence in Lebanon and fights alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria .
« Any citizen or resident who supports, shows membership in the so-called Hezbollah, sympathises with it or promotes it, makes donations to it or communicates with it or harbours anyone belonging to it will be subject to the stiff punishments provided by the rules and orders, including the terrorism crimes and its financing, » the statement said.Foreigners working and living in the oil-exporting kingdom would also face expulsion, it said.Hezbollah has close ties to Iran, Saudi Arabia’s bitter rival for power in the region. Saudi Arabia supports Syrian opposition groups to topple Assad and blames Iran and Hezbollah for helping him cling to power after five years of civil war.Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has stepped up criticism of Saudi Arabia, accusing it of directing car bombings in Lebanon.
Iranian commander rejects claims of regional interference, calls Saudis adventurists A leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard rejected on Sunday accusations that Iran was interfering in regional affairs and accused Saudi Arabia of « adventurism ».In rare remarks, Commander Qassem Soleimani, one of the most influential figures in Iran, suggested the Saudis were responsible for militant Islamist groups such as Islamic State. »Takfir and takfiris » – Shi’ite terms for Sunni extremists – « are a fire within the house of our Sunni brothers, » Soleimani said. « And the people who created them thought that the Islamic Republic and Shias would fall to their knees. »It’s Saudi which has engaged in adventurism against Islam and us. » Iran, a predominantly Shi’ite country, is engaged in a struggle for regional influence against Saudi Arabia, a mostly Sunni country. The two countries are now supporting opposing armed factions in conflicts in Syria and Yemen and opposing political factions in Iraq and Lebanon.
Soleimani heads the Quds Force, the branch of the Revolutionary Guard responsible for operations outside Iran. He has personally been involved in combat operations in both Iraq and Syria.In the past couple of years, he has been photographed with fighters in Syria, where Iran is defending the government of President Bashar al Assad, and Iraq, where Iranians have fought against Islamic State.
Moroccans protest over U.N. Ban’s West Sahara position Tens of thousands of Moroccans marched though the capital Rabat on Sunday to protest against U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s position on the Western Sahara dispute and rally support for the king.Waving portraits of King Mohamed and Moroccan flags, protesters chanted the « The Sahara is ours, the King is ours » as they packed the streets near the parliament building in a rally supported by the government.Morocco’s government last week accused Ban of no longer being neutral in the Western Sahara conflict, saying he used the word « occupation » to describe Morocco’s presence in the region that has been at the centre of a dispute since 1975. »That was a serious attack on the feelings of all Moroccans, the march shows we are all united in our national cause, » Mbarka Bouida, delegate minister for foreign affairs said, joining the protesters.
State news agency MAP said three million people attended the march, though those figures could not be confirmed. Some protesters said they were bussed for free to the march and said trains had also been free for the day of the rally.
The long-running dispute over the region in the northwest edge of Africa has dragged on since Morocco took control over most of it in 1975 following the withdrawal of former colonial power Spain.
The Polisario Front, which claims the territory belongs to ethnic Sahrawis, fought a rebel war against Morocco until a U.N.-brokered ceasefire in 1991, but the two sides have been deadlocked since that agreement.Ban said earlier this month he would restart U.N. efforts to reach a solution after visiting camps in southern Algeria for the Polasario Front leadership and refugees who fled the conflict and who have spent decades there.The Moroccan government said Ban used the word « occupation » to describe Moroccan annexation of Western Sahara in 1975 Polisario, backed by Morocco’s regional rival and neighbour Algeria and a number of other African states, wants a referendum promised in the ceasefire agreement on the region’s fate.
Morocco says it will not offer more than autonomy for the region, rich in phosphates and possibly offshore oil and gas. »We came to tell Ban and the world that the Sahara is a red line for us, and we would die for it, » a protester named Salah, who travelled from Oujda area.Morocco’s king last year insisted only the autonomy plan was acceptable. Rabat invests heavily in the Western Sahara, hoping to calm social unrest and independence claims, and in February announced a $1.85 billion investment plan.
France says EU could impose sanctions over Iran missile testsThe European Union could impose sanctions on Iran over its recent ballistic missile tests, France’s foreign minister said on Sunday.The United States, France and other countries have already said that, if the missiles are confirmed as nuclear-capable, the tests, conducted last week by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, would violate U.N. Security Council resolution 2231.Asked whether this could trigger sanctions from the European Union, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said: « We condemn ballistic missile tests and, if necessary, sanctions will be enacted. » The tests are due to be discussed by EU foreign ministers at a meeting on Monday.U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, whose country in January imposed sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran’s ballistic missile program after a series of tests at the end of last year, said the latest tests were a clear violation of U.N. Resolution 2231.The United States plans to raise the issue in U.N. Security Council consultations this week and is urging other countries to help thwart Iran’s missile program.
« The missiles are a violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution because they are longer than the distance allowed for ballistic missiles and, because of that, they represent a potential threat to the countries in the region and beyond, » Kerry said.
« We have made it very clear that the missile concerns remain part of sanctionable activity with respect to Iran. If Iran chooses to violate that, they will invite additional sanctions, as we put them in place just a month ago as a result of the prior tests. » Resolution 2231, adopted last July as U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program were lifted, « calls upon » Iran to refrain from certain ballistic missile activity.Western diplomats say this amounts to a clear ban, but acknowledge that Russia, China and Iran probably interpret it as an appeal for voluntary restraint, and that Russia and China would be likely to block any action by the Security Council.Iran says none of its missiles are designed to carry nuclear weapons.
Egypt’s justice minister sacked after comments criticised as blasphemous Egypt’s prime minister sacked Justice Minister Ahmed al-Zend on Sunday after he was criticised for saying he would jail Islam’s Prophet Mohammad himself if he broke the law.Zend’s comments came in a televised interview on Friday. He immediately said « God forgive me », and on Saturday issued an apology in another interview. It was not immediately clear who would replace Zend, a hardliner and outspoken critic of the Muslim Brotherhood. »Prime Minister Sherif Ismail issued a decree today to relieve Ahmed al-Zend … of his position, » a government statement said, giving no more details.Zend, a former appeals court judge, had been publicly outspoken in his criticism of the Islamist movement removed from power by the army in mid-2013 and banned as a terrorist group.
He has in the past denounced the 2011 revolt that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule and ushered in the election that brought the Muslim Brotherhood to power. He has also been a strong defender of the judiciary and its powerful position.Egyptian judges issued a statement opposing Zend’s removal over what the head of the Judges Club told Reuters was a slip of the tongue that could have happened to anyone.
« Egypt’s judges are sorry that someone who defended Egypt and its people, judiciary and nation in the face of the terrorist organisation that wanted to bring it down should be punished in this way, » said Abdallah Fathi.
Egyptian courts have been absolving Mubarak-era officials, while imposing long sentences on liberal and Islamist activists.Egypt’s judiciary has faced criticism from rights groups in the past two years after judges issued mass death sentences against Muslim Brotherhood supporters, locking up youth activists and sentencing writers and journalists.Zend’s predecessor was also forced to resign last May after saying the son of a garbage collector was ineligible to serve as a judge.
Palestinian wins global teachers’ award for valuing play A Palestinian school teacher won a $1 million education award on Sunday to applause from world leaders for helping children to learn through play. Hanan Al Hroub, who teaches at the Samiha Khalil High School in the West Bank Palestinian city of Al-Bireh, was presented with the award in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Leaders including Pope Francis, Britain’s Prince William, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and former U.S. President Bill Clinton recorded messages for the ceremony.The Global Teacher Prize was set up by the not-for-profit Varkey Foundation after a 2013 survey found the profession’s status had been declining.Hroub, who grew up at a refugee camp near the West Bank city of Bethlehem, beat nominees from Japan, Canada, Kenya, the United States and the United Kingdom. Hanan, who has detailed her approach in a book entitled ‘We Play and Learn’, said: « I am proud to be a Palestinian female teacher standing on this stage. » Wearing a traditional Palestinian dress decorated with red embroidery, she accepted the prize « as a win for all teachers in general and Palestinian teachers in particular. » She said she would use some of the money to promote her education methods and support fellow teachers in the Palestinian territories.
Pope Francis announced the winner in a video message to the ceremony, which was chaired by UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. »You learn how to be social through games as well as learn the joy of life, » Francis said.
U.S. says looking for way to move forward on Israel, Palestinian peace The United States is looking for a way to break the deadlock between Israel and the Palestinians, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday, acknowledging that by itself it could not find a solution.Having twice failed to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, the Obama administration is discussing ways to help preserve the prospect of an increasingly threatened two-state solution, U.S.officials have told Reuters.At the same time, France is seeking support for an initiative to relaunch talks between the two sides this summer and prevent what one French diplomat has called the risk of a « powder keg » exploding.Last year France failed to get the United States on board for a U.N. Security Council resolution to set parameters for talks between the two sides and a deadline for a deal. Since then, the stance of former foreign minister Laurent Fabius, to recognise a Palestinian state automatically if the new initiative fails, has been toned down. »Obviously we’re all looking for a way forward. The United States and myself remain deeply committed to a two state solution. It is absolutely essential, » Kerry said when asked whether the U.S. was ready to cooperate with Paris’ efforts.
« There’s not any one country or one person who can resolve this. This is going to require the global community, it will require international support, » he said speaking alongside European foreign ministers in Paris.A former ambassador to Washington, Pierre Vimont, is heading France’s diplomatic push and will be in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the United States this week to discuss the French initiative.With U.S. efforts to broker a two-state solution in tatters since in April 2014 and Washington focused on this year’s election, Paris is lobbying countries to commit to a conference before May that would outline incentives and give guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians, seeking face-to-face talks before August.
« The conflict is getting worse and the status quo cannot continue, » France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said.
U.S. officials have no expectation peace talks will resume before the end of U.S. President Barack Obama’s term in January 2017 and have played down the odds of any quick decision on how the White House might help preserve a two-state solution. »We’re talking about any number of different ways to try to change the situation on the ground in an effort to try to generate some confidence, » Kerry said. « So we are listening carefully to the French proposal.
Merkel’s party suffers drubbing in German state votes Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives lost out in two out of three regional state elections on Sunday as Germans gave a thumbs-down to her accommodating refugee policy with a big vote for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD).The poor showing in both Baden-Wuerttemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate represented a worst-case scenario for Merkel, who has staked her legacy on her decision last year to open Germany’s doors to over 1 million migrants.The backlash was also visible in Saxony-Anhalt in former East Germany, where Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) remained the largest party but the AfD grabbed 21.5 percent. »We have fundamental problems in Germany that led to this election result, » said AfD chief Frauke Petry, whose party entered all three regional parliaments.The result is a setback for Merkel just as she is trying to use her status as Europe’s most powerful leader to seal a European Union deal with Turkey to stem the tide of migrants.
She alarmed many EU leaders last week by agreeing a last-minute draft deal with Turkey to stop the migrant flow and demanding their support. Now weakened by the state polls, she must seek their backing again later this week to seal the deal.
In Baden-Wuerttemberg in the southwest, a CDU stronghold for more than 50 years before turning to a Green-led coalition with the SPD in 2011 after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, the Greens came home first with 32.5 percent. The CDU took 27.5 percent, according to exit polls on the broadcaster ZDF.Even more damaging for the CDU was the result in Rhineland-Palatinate, the state of former chancellor Helmut Kohl.
There, the CDU’s Julia Kloeckner, who had positioned herself as a candidate to succeed Merkel one day, lost out to Social Democrat (SPD) incumbent state premier Malu Dreyer. The SPD won 37.5 percent of the vote to the CDU’s 33 percent, the ZDF exit poll indicated.In Saxony-Anhalt, the CDU remained the biggest party on 30.5 percent, but the AfD grabbed 21.5 percent, even surpassing the SPD, Merkel’s coalition partner in Berlin. It was the first time the AfD had become the second-biggest party in any regional state.
Already represented in five of Germany’s 16 regional parliaments, the anti-immigrant party campaigned on slogans such as « Secure the borders » and « Stop the asylum chaos ».Turnout in all three states was much higher than in 2011, rising by 5.7 percentage points in Baden-Wuerttemberg, by 9.7 points in Rhineland-Palatinate, and by 11.8 points in Saxony-Anhalt.
Obama tells Cuban dissidents he will discuss rights with Castro U.S. President Barack Obama promised one of Cuba’s most prominent dissident groups he would raise the issues of freedom of speech and assembly with Cuban President Raul Castro during his March 20-22 visit to the Caribbean island.In a letter dated March 10, Obama praised the work of the Ladies in White, which marches weekly to protest Cuba’s Communist government, and defended his policy of seeking to normalize relations with Cuba as good for its people.U.S. support for the dissidents is a source of tension ahead of Obama’s visit, the first by a U.S. president since Fidel Castro’s rebels overthrew a pro-American government in 1959.After more than half a century of Cold War-inspired animosity, the two sides promised 15 months ago to normalize relations.The Ladies in White criticized Obama’s policy change, saying the Cuban government continues to suppress dissent by breaking up anti-government demonstrations while maintaining a monopoly on the media. They say Cuba has cracked down more ferociously since rapprochement. »We take seriously the concerns you have raised, » said Obama’s letter, which group leader Berta Soler read to about two dozen Ladies in White and other supporters gathered in a Havana park.
« I will raise these issues directly with President Castro, » said Obama, who called the Ladies « an inspiration to human rights movements around the world. » A senior U.S. official in Washington confirmed that an Obama aide delivered the letter to the Ladies in White in Miami.As in marches for the most of the last year, a demonstration on Sunday ended with police detaining the protesters after they were met by a larger group of pro-government counterdemonstrators.
Police detained about two dozen people, at which point the streets filled with conga dancers and drummers who led hundreds of government supporters in their own rally. The weekly demonstrations and detentions are normal, but the conga line was an additional flourish a week before Obama’s visit.Soler welcomed Obama’s letter but still disagreed with him for enacting unilateral changes without any reciprocal moves by Cuba. »The response of this letter is positive for us, and we greatly appreciated it, » Soler said minutes before she was detained.The Cuban government dismisses the dissidents as mercenaries seeking to destabilize the country. Cuba also defends its universal healthcare and education as human rights and criticizes the U.S. record on race relations and the Guantanamo Bay military prison.
Trump says accepts no responsibility for campaign protestersR epublican presidential front-runner Donald Trump refused to take responsibility on Sunday for clashes at his campaign events and criticized protesters who have dogged his rallies and forced him to cancel one in Chicago last week.When a protester interrupted his speech on Sunday at an airport hangar in Bloomington, Illinois, minutes after it began, Trump derided him as a « disrupter » and told the cheering crowd: « Don’t worry about it – I don’t hear their voice. » « Our rallies are so big and we have so many people, I never hear their voices. I only hear our people’s voices saying: ‘There they are, there they are,' » the billionaire businessman said as the audience roared approval and some 2,000 protesters waited outside.Two later rallies on Sunday in Ohio and Florida passed without disruption.
Trump is trying to cement his lead over his remaining Republican rivals – U.S. Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Governor John Kasich – in five states that hold presidential nominating contests on Tuesday for Republicans and Democrats: Florida, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri.The four Republicans and Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are vying to run in the Nov. 8 election to succeed Democratic President Barack Obama.Trump used a round of Sunday morning television appearances to rebut strong criticism from Republican rivals and Democrats that he was encouraging discord with divisive language disparaging Muslims and illegal immigrants.
« I don’t accept responsibility. I do not condone violence in any shape, » Trump said on NBC’s « Meet the Press. » The 69-year-old New York real estate mogul defended his supporters and said he was considering helping pay the legal fees of a 78-year-old white man who punched a young black man at a Trump rally in North Carolina last week. The man, Trump said, « got carried away. » « I’ve actually instructed my people to look into it, » he said.
The man, John McGraw, was charged with assault and later with communicating a threat after he was seen on video saying he enjoyed hitting « that loudmouth » and threatening next time « to kill him. » Trump had earlier promised to help cover the legal fees of supporters involved in clashes at his rallies.On Friday night, thousands of protesters, many of them telling journalists they were Sanders or Clinton supporters, showed up at the Chicago rally, forcing Trump to cancel the event and casting a shadow over his weekend rallies.
Trump drew condemnation from his rivals.
« We are now seeing images on television that we haven’t seen in this country since the 1960s, images that make us look like a Third World country, » Rubio, 44, said at a campaign event in The Villages, a retirement community in Florida. « Do we really want to live in a country where Americans hate each other? » Clinton, the Democratic front-runner and former U.S.secretary of state, said Trump was « incredibly bigoted » and pitting Americans against each other. »He is trafficking in hate and fear, » she told CNN. « He is playing to our worst instincts. » Trump said tension at his rallies came from people being « sick and tired » of American leadership that has cost them jobs through trade deals, failed to defeat Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, and treated military veterans poorly.
« The people are angry at that – they’re not angry about something I’m saying, » he said. « I’m just the messenger. » Trump has harnessed the discontent of white, working-class voters who blame trade deals for costing them jobs. He has proposed building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, disparaged some Mexican immigrants as criminals and advocated a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States.A few dozen protesters, mostly young, stood in the rain outside a later Trump rally on Sunday in West Chester, Ohio, near Cincinnati.Alexander Shelton, a 26-year-old student and activist, wore a white Muslim prayer robe with a picture of the civil rights leader Malcolm X painted on front. »We have to stand up against white supremacy, » he said.
« Trump stands for that. » Michael McKinney, 47, a self-employed credit-card processor from Ohio, came to the rally with his wife and young daughter, and blamed the protesters for the violence. »If the protesters don’t act civilly, people on the edge are going to snap, » he said. »We are not a Third World nation. We don’t stand for killing each other because we disagree or even harm each other, » he said. « This isn’t the United States I grew up in. »
Record Brazil protests put Rousseff’s future in doubt Hundreds of thousands of Brazilians flooded the streets on Sunday in the biggest ever protests calling for President Dilma Rousseff’s removal, reflecting rising popular anger that could encourage Congress to impeach the leftist leader.The demonstrations were the latest in a wave of anti-government rallies that lost momentum late last year but have regained strength as a sweeping corruption investigation nears Rousseff’s inner circle.From the Amazon jungle city of Manaus to the business hub of Sao Paulo and the capital Brasilia, protesters marched in a nationwide call for Rousseff to step down, raising pressure on lawmakers to back ongoing impeachment proceedings against her that just a few weeks ago appeared to be doomed.Police estimates from more than 150 cities compiled by news website G1 showed around 3 million Brazilians participated in the demonstrations. Some police estimates of previous protests have proved to be exaggerated.
Polling firm Datafolha estimated 500,000 demonstrators in Sao Paulo, the biggest rally in the city’s history and more than twice the size of a major protest a year ago. The military police put the figure at 1.4 million at the height of the demonstration.Government sources contacted by Reuters acknowledged the demonstrations were bigger than anti-government rallies in March 2015, which gathered as many as 1 million people. In the skyscraper-lined Avenue Paulista in Sao Paulo, a sea of protesters wearing Brazil’s yellow-and-green national colors chanted « Dilma out » and waved banners that read « Stop the corruption » while music blared from nearby trucks.
« The country is at a standstill and we are fighting to keep our company afloat, » said small business owner Monica Giana Micheletti, 49, at the Sao Paulo demonstration. « We have reached rock bottom. » Many blame Rousseff for sinking the economy into its worst recession in at least 25 years. Opinion polls show that more than half of Brazilians favor the impeachment of the president, re-elected for a second four-year term in 2014.Rousseff, who insists she will not quit, is the latest leftist leader in Latin America to face upheaval as a decade-long commodities boom that fueled breakneck growth and social spending comes to an abrupt end.
Ahead of the demonstrations, tensions were high after Sao Paulo state prosecutors requested on Thursday the arrest of Rousseff’s predecessor and political mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, on money-laundering charges. A judge still has to decide on the request, which can be rejected.
As in previous protests, Sunday’s rallies were led by middle-class Brazilians angry over growing allegations of corruption in Rousseff’s administration. No violence was reported.
Poor Brazilians, who form the base of the ruling Workers’ Party support, have not turned out in great numbers in recent protests. But their support for Rousseff has faded as unemployment rises and inflation climbs.
« This government helped many people buy homes, cars and electronics, but we still don’t have health, education and basic sanitation, » said Paulo Santos, a waiter who stopped at the demonstration which packed the beach-front avenue in Rio de Janeiro before heading to work.Many protesters voiced support for Sergio Moro, the judge overseeing the two-year-old investigation into a network of political kick-backs and bribes centered on state oil company Petrobras. Some held banners that read « We are all Moro » after the judge’s uncompromising tactics have been criticized by the government.
The demonstrators took aim at politicians from across the spectrum, including Rousseff’s opponents, as they vented their frustration with a ruling class that has been widely exposed in the graft probe, known as ‘Operation Carwash’.
Dozens of companies and senior business executives have also been implicated.The head of the opposition PSDB party, Aecio Neves, and several of his colleagues were insulted by protesters when they took part in the demonstration in Sao Paulo, local media reported.
« Brazil needs to find a new and virtuous path and we will help the country find that path, » said Neves, who narrowly lost the 2014 election to Rousseff and has called for new polls.In Brasilia, protesters inflated a giant doll of Lula wearing a striped prison uniform and chained to a ball that read « Operation Carwash ». Police estimated about 100,000 protesters took part, but that figure could not be independently confirmed.
For Brasilia-based political analyst Leonardo Barreto, the massive scale of Sunday’s demonstrations could accelerate impeachment hearings in Congress. « Today’s protests give legitimacy to this process, » he said. « If the government fails to react, impeachment will move faster. » Popular discontent grew in recent weeks after a ruling party lawmaker reportedly testified under a plea bargain and accused Rousseff and Lula of trying to hamper the Petrobras investigation.The corruption scandal has already strained Rousseff’s ties with her main coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).At its national convention on Saturday, the PMDB said it would decide in a month whether to break with the government.Party insiders said the mood of the country would be decisive.If Rousseff is impeached by Congress, the leader of the PMDB, Vice-President Michel Temer, would take office.
In an effort to analyse the fallout from the protests, Rousseff met with a handful of ministers at her home in Brasilia, a presidential aide said.Rousseff’s press office welcomed the peaceful nature of the demonstrations, saying it reflected the maturity of the country’s democracy.Small groups of a few hundreds of her supporters wearing red shirts also marched in several cities.
Shares in Brazilian companies and Brazil’s real currency have surged in recent weeks as investors bet that a change in government would lift business and consumer confidence and rescue an economy that contracted 3.8 percent last year.Political tensions have stalled Rousseff’s legislative agenda, which included measures to limit public spending and overhaul a costly pension system to regain investors’ trust.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks lifted by Wall Street gains, firmer oil Asian shares started the week higher on Monday, buoyed by gains on Wall Street, firmer crude prices and glimmers of strength in weekend data from China.The S&P 500 ended at its highest level of the year on Friday as oil prices climbed further and investors reassessed stimulus steps taken by the European Central Bank last week.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.4 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index added 1.5 percent.The Bank of Japan’s two-day policy meeting begins on Monday.Policymakers were set to discuss this week whether to exempt $90 billion in short-term funds from the BOJ’s newly imposed negative interest rate, people familiar with the matter said, after the securities industry warned that investment money would be driven into bank deposits.
The BOJ is seen likely to stay on hold after adopting negative interest rates at its meeting in late January. The U.S.Federal Reserve and the Bank of England are also seen standing pat at their respective meetings later this week, in the wake of the ECB’s move to expand its easing programme.Data released before the market opened showed Japan’s core machinery orders rose a more-than-expected 15.0 percent in January from the previous month.
Chinese data released on Saturday, meanwhile, showed continuing weakness in other key parts of the economy, but also contained a few bright signs. Manufacturing output in January and February grew at its weakest pace since 2008, while retail sales rose at their slowest rate since May 2015.But fixed-asset investment, a crucial driver of the economy, gained 10.2 percent in the first two months compared with the same period a year earlier. »Chinese data out over the weekend showed further weakening across the board, but it is clear that government spending and a recovery in the real estate market are helping hold up growth, » Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG Markets, said in a note to clients.
« China looks to be returning to a very familiar investment and real estate-driven growth pattern, somewhat at odds with their claims of economic rebalancing, » he said.People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said over the weekend that central bank won’t resort to excessive stimulus to bolster growth but will keep a flexible stance in the event of an economic shock.
The dollar was steady against a basket of currencies, with the dollar index at 96.216, holding above a one-month low of 95.938 touched on Friday.Against the yen, the dollar edged down slightly to 113.82 , though it remained within its recent ranges.The euro added 0.1 percent to $1.1159, well above last week’s low of $1.0821 plumbed after the ECB’s stimulus expansion.
Crude oil prices were lower on Monday, after marking sharp gains on Friday after the Paris-based International Energy Agency said the market may have hit bottom.U.S. crude slipped about 0.3 percent to $38.37 a barrel after rising 2 percent on Friday, when it hit a 2016 high and also logged its fourth straight gaining week.Brent edged down about 0.1 percent to $40.34 a barrel after gaining nearly 1 percent in the previous and 4 percent for the week, its third weekly gain in a row.
Pound’s swings complicate life for small UK firms before EU voteTom Phipps drew up this year’s business plan long before Prime Minister David Cameron called a referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union last month.The announcement came as no surprise to Phipps, a purchaser for Universal Tyres, a medium-sized firm on the western outskirts of London. Even the June 23 date had been widely expected.But he had not factored in the sharp swings in the value of the pound that followed the decision, or the currency’s nine percent slide against the U.S. dollar since early December, largely on concerns that Britain might vote to leave the EU.Phipps said the actual amount he pays for the tyres he buys at dollar prices has risen by about six percent from rates above $1.50 which he had expected to pay in December. The rate is now around $1.42.
« No one had anticipated this kind of move, definitely not us, » Phipps, 40, told Reuters from the company’s base on an industrial estate in Hayes.
« I’m sitting back and praying that the pound climbs back above $1.40 and keeps going. I still have a few weeks to go before I need to buy dollars to pay for products bought abroad and I am hoping that this doesn’t get any worse. » Many British companies are struggling to find a strategy for how to deal with a possible « Brexit » from the EU. For small and medium-sized firms, like Phipps’, the uncertainty of the run-up to the vote is a more immediate concern.
Cameron promised a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU as far back as 2013, saying it was time to resolve differences over the issue that has long divided the nation and his ruling Conservative Party.
He says Britain’s interests are best served by staying in the 28-nation bloc and leaving would be a « leap in the dark ».
The « out » campaign says Britain would be better off financially outside the EU.
That view is challenged by economists who say a Brexit would be a huge headache for thousands of British firms. Economists at banks including Citi, HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank have said it could cause sterling to lose about a fifth of its value, forcing many to rethink their businesses.Currency traders UBS have forecast the pound could also weaken to parity with the euro. It is now around 1.29 euros.Even a short-term swing in an exchange rate can be the difference between profit and loss for small or medium-sized firms in an era of disinflation and sluggish demand, with many burdened by debts from the 2008-09 financial crisis.
« From a business point of view, the instability in currency that the Brexit process will cause for the next four months is frustrating, » Phipps said. »I must stress how uninformed I still feel of the real consequences for the UK and businesses like us should we leave. » Some companies have tried to protect themselves by hedging — making investments that offset the risk posed by currency movements — against both the fallout of an « Out » vote and the volatility in sterling that the campaign will generate.
Currency options — contracts where the holder pays a small percentage for a guarantee of exchanging in future at a rate set today — have risen since early December.The focus initially was chiefly on six- and seven-month contracts but prices have now also risen on longer-term contracts, suggesting firms are covering themselves for more falls in sterling later in the year.
Some firms have also agreed forward contracts, another means of hedging under which two parties agree to buy or sell an asset at a specified price on a future date.But such hedging focuses mainly on large multi-national companies serviced most closely by banks.Research by corporate banking consultancy East and Partners shows only 20-25 percent of British and French companies with an annual turnover of less than 20 million pounds use options or forward contracts to hedge their annual currency exposure.
Universal Tyres has a turnover of 14 million pounds annually and employs 45 staff, selling tyres and parts to about 600 customers, typically garages, dealerships and stations that conduct the annual MOT test to ensure cars are roadworthy.Phipps does generally try to hedge, usually on a rolling basis, governed by demand and cash flow. But he says he has not done so in the current situation because he was surprised by the size and speed of the Brexit debate’s impact on sterling. »We transact regularly in the spot or the forward market.
The last couple of years it has worked for us but I hadn’t anticipated this kind of move, » he said.About 60 percent of the products he buys come from China and are priced in dollars. About 15-20 percent are bought from Europe, he said.
Banking sector researchers say small companies may be reluctant to hedge because of a lack of knowledge about the choices, costs and benefits available to them. »The truth is that the vast majority of small companies tend to have a relationship with their local bank manager, » says Daniel Webber, chief executive of consumer currency consultancy FXCompared.com.
« He or she will typically be someone who is primarily concerned with day-to-day finance, overdrafts, business development loans, that sort of thing. » Webber said banks could do more to help provide smaller firms with more knowledge but « it will not happen overnight. » Some big international lenders, such as Deutsche Bank and Citi, have already begun to create teams that provide companies with specialist currency advice, and mostly London-based consultancies have been doing so independently.James Lockyer, development director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers and an adviser to companies on political risks, says such knowledge could be vital for firms seeking to protect themselves as « it gets tricky in the next few months »Even with such specialist knowledge, smaller companies may still feel at the mercy of the politicians as the Brexit campaign heats up. »The swings in the currency whenever a politician says something are very difficult to hedge against, » Phipps said.
China’s supply-side slogan means different things to different people To some it means upgrading China’s ubiquitous hole-in-the-wall noodle shops, to others it is manufacturing high-tech toilet seats. »Supply-side reform » is the buzz phrase at China’s annual parliament in Beijing, picking up on an expression introduced by President Xi Jinping in speeches late last year. Analysts say it refers to the scaling back of the role of government in business to allow market forces greater room to flourish, such as through the restructuring of state-owned companies.But its exact meaning has been left vague, giving room for the thousands of delegates at parliament to come up with their own interpretations, raising the risk of wasteful spending by provincial governments and underlining the difficult task Beijing has in clearly communicating its policies to local governments across the country.
« I think that’s always been an issue in China. It’s such a big country with so many layers of government – it’s a challenge to push the message forward to a local level and make sure implementation is done properly, » said Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics in Singapore.So-called supply-side reform in the impoverished province of Gansu in northwestern China means officials are pushing hole-in-the-wall vendors of the province’s famous Lanzhou beef noodles to invest more in interior design and « connect to the internet » so they can charge more, the official news agency Xinhua reported last week.The noodle shops can become « like KFC and other western fast foods, » Xinhua said.Many officials at soporific delegate meetings said one version of supply-side reform should be getting Chinese manufacturers to reproduce the popular high-tech toilets that Chinese consumers are snapping up in Japan.
Yet others say it as a license for companies to go on an overseas acquisition spree.
« What is supply-side reform? Currently the global economy is struggling, lots of European brands are struggling, why don’t we buy them? » Yang Haiyang, an economics professor at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, said at an alumni event in the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing in January. »If Chinese people buy these brands, they turn into Chinese brands. Chanel, LV, Adidas, Nike – let’s buy them all. » Similarly, Lei Jun, chief executive of Xiaomi, China’s second-biggest smartphone vendor, told reporters on the sidelines of the opening of China’s parliament last Saturday that supply-side reform meant getting Chinese companies to make products that can compete with imported goods.
Others have interpreted the term – which originated from an English phrase pioneered by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan to refer to deregulation and tax cuts – as approval for price controls.
Li Li, the head of the Health and Family Planning Commission of Jiangxi province, said controlling how quickly medical fees rise was a classic example of « supply-side reform. » « That’s not really the sort of supply-side reforms the central leadership are talking about in the key reports they’ve put out, » said Evans-Pritchard, noting Beijing is more focused on cutting back the role of government in business and greasing the wheels of capitalism.Every year around 3,000 delegates from across China, representing more than 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, meet in Beijing for the National People’s Congress, which lasts around 12 days. It is the one time of the year that the central government has all members of parliament together, so it is an important time for leaders to get their messages out.
This would not be the first time a central government initiative intended to reform and upgrade the Chinese economy turned into over investment by local officials.China has been battling a glut in solar panels and wind turbines ever since businesses rushed in to take advantage of government subsidies and cheap bank loans after Beijing decided it wanted to be the global leader in renewable energy.
China’s government has said it will eliminate entrenched industrial overcapacity, make sure new industries get the capital they need and give freer rein to market forces.But the government has also said it will prevent mass layoffs, have a controlling hand in state-owned enterprises and continue its accommodative monetary policy.The country aims to lay off 5-6 million state workers over the next two to three years as part of efforts to curb industrial overcapacity and pollution, sources have told Reuters.
Nobody at the annual parliament meeting however, used « supply-side reform » to refer to the need to lay off millions of workers in sunset industries.The breadth and vagueness of the term may also be seen by delegates, who are chosen for their loyalty to the party and their willingness to publicly praise government policy at the rubber stamp parliament, as a chance for them to showcase their own plans.To be sure, who is to say that local government interpretation of the phrase is wrong, said economist Dong Tao. »Nobody has defined it, » said Tao, who works for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. « If we don’t know exactly what « supply-side economics » is, how can you say that local governments’ definitions are wrong?
Bangladesh bank says hackers tried to steal $951 million Bangladesh’s central bank confirmed on Sunday that cyber criminals tried to withdraw $951 million from its U.S. bank account, as the country’s finance minister said he first got to know of one of the biggest bank heists in history through the media.Unknown hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank, and transferred $81 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to casinos in the Philippines between Feb. 4 and Feb. 5.Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said the central bank did not inform him about the heist, and that he learned of it only a month later when news first appeared in the media.
« I am very much unhappy about the handling of the issue, » he told reporters in his office in Dhaka.He said he planned to meet Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday and decide what action to take against central bank officials.The cyber heist and its global scale has left Bangladesh officials scrambling to find answers and recover the money that was lost.The incident has also left other banks and businesses around the world eager to learn more, so they can review their own networks for signs that they are vulnerable to similar attacks or might already have been breached.Bangladesh Bank said in a Facebook post that hackers made 35 separate requests to withdraw money from its Fed account, totalling $951 million, confirming earlier reports.Officials have said the account, used for international settlements, had billions of dollars.Bangladesh officials expect that it would be difficult to recover the money that has already gone out of the banking channels.
Officials have said that the money that made its way to the Philippines was further diverted to casinos and then possibly on to Hong Kong.After a meeting with the investigators and central bank officials on Sunday, Mohammad Aslam Alam, the secretary of the banking division of the ministry of finance, said recovery could take months.But he added that the Philippines had managed to freeze $68,000, which Dhaka should be able to recover.The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the largest opposition party, demanded the resignation of the central bank governor and the finance minister.
(World news summary compiled by Maghreb news staff)