Belgium names Brussels bomber brothers, says key suspect on run Belgium’s chief prosecutor named two brothers on Wednesday as Islamic State suicide bombers who killed at least 31 people in the most deadly attacks in Brussels’ history but said another key suspect was on the run.
Tuesday’s attacks on a city that is home to the European Union and NATO sent shockwaves across Europe and around the world, with authorities racing to review security at airports and on public transport. It also rekindled debate about lagging European security cooperation and flaws in police surveillance.The attacks came four months after militants, also from IS, carried out bombings and shootings in Paris that killed 129 people. Some Belgian media reports said a forensic link had been established between one of the Brussels bombers, who may have been killed, and the Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital.Washington announced that Secretary of State John Kerry would visit Belgium on Friday to demonstrate support.The Belgian federal prosecutor told a news conference that Ibrahim El Bakraoui, 29, one of two men who blew themselves up at Brussels airport on Tuesday, had left a will on a computer dumped in a rubbish bin near the militants’ hideout.
In it, he described himself as « always on the run, not knowing what to do anymore, being hunted everywhere, not being safe any longer and that if he hangs around, he risks ending up next to the person in a cell » – a reference to suspected Paris bomber Salah Abdeslam, who was arrested last week.
His brother Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, detonated a bomb an hour later on a crowded rush-hour metro train near the European Commission headquarters, prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw said.Both men, born in Belgium, had criminal records for armed robbery but investigators had not linked them to Islamist militants until Abdeslam’s arrest, when police began a race against time to track down his suspected accomplices.That seems to have prompted the bombers to rush into an attack in Belgium after months of lying low, according to the testament found on the laptop.
At least 31 people were killed and 271 wounded in the attacks, the prosecutor said. That toll could increase further because some of the bomb victims at Maelbeek metro station were blown to pieces and victims are hard to identify. Several survivors were still in critical condition.The Bakraoui brothers were identified by their fingerprints and on security cameras, the prosecutor said. A second suicide bomber at the airport had yet to be identified and a third man, whom he did not name, had left the biggest bomb and ran out of the terminal before the explosions.
Belgian media named that man as Najim Laachraoui, 25, a suspected Islamic State recruiter and bomb-maker whose DNA was found on two explosives belts used in the Paris attacks and at a Brussels safe house used by Abdeslam.De Standaard newspaper, however, citing an unidentified source, named Laachraoui as the second suicide bomber at the airport.Khalid El Bakraoui rented under a false name the apartment in the city’s Forest borough, where police hunting Abdeslam killed a gunman in a raid last week. He is also believed to have rented a safe house in the southern Belgian city of Charleroi used to mount the Paris attacks.
« BLACK DAYS » Turkey said it had detained Ibrahim El Bakraoui near the Syrian border last year and deported him to the Netherlands before he was briefly held in Belgium, then released. « Belgium ignored our warning that this person is a foreign fighter, » President Tayyip Erdogan said.The Brussels attacks came days after a suspected Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up in Istanbul’s most popular shopping district, killing three Israelis and an Iranian.
The Syrian-based Islamist group claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attacks, warning of « black days » for those fighting it in Syria and Iraq. Belgian warplanes have joined the coalition in the Middle East, but Brussels has long been a hub of Islamist militants who operated elsewhere.A minute’s silence was observed across Belgium at noon.Prime Minister Charles Michel cancelled a trip to China and reviewed security measures with his inner cabinet before attending a memorial event at European Commission headquarters with King Philippe, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and French Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
« We are determined, admittedly with a strong feeling of pain in our stomachs, but determined to act, » Michel told a joint news conference with Valls. « France and Belgium are united in pain more than ever. » Valls played down cross-border sniping over security, saying: « We must turn the page on naivete, a form of carefreeness that our societies have known. »It is Europe that has been attacked. The response to terrorism must be European. » EU justice and interior ministers will hold an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday, the Dutch EU presidency said.
More than 1,000 people gathered around an improvised shrine with candles and street paintings outside the Brussels bourse. Belgium’s crisis coordination centre kept the level of security alert at the maximum as the man hunt continued. Some buses and trains were running but the metro and the airport were closed, along with key road tunnels in Brussels.The blasts fuelled political debate across the globe about how to combat militants.
Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican nomination to succeed Obama in November’s U.S. election, suggested suspects could be tortured to avert such attacks. He also said in a British television interview that Muslims were not doing enough to prevent that kind of violence. After a tip-off from a taxi driver who unwittingly drove the bombers to the airport, police searched an apartment in the Brussels borough of Schaerbeek late into the night, finding another bomb, an Islamic State flag, 15 kg of the same kind of explosives used in the Paris attacks and bomb-making chemicals.An unused explosive device was also found at the airport.
CLOSING IN Security experts believed the blasts were probably in preparation before Friday’s arrest of locally based French national Abdeslam, 26, whom prosecutors accuse of a key role in the Nov. 13 Paris attacks.He was caught and has been speaking to investigators after a shootout at an apartment in the south of the city, after which another Islamic State flag and explosives were found.About 300 Belgians are estimated to have fought with Islamists in Syria, making the country of 11 million the leading European exporter of foreign fighters and a focus of concern in France and other neighbours over its security capabilities.
Reviving arguments over Belgian security policies following the Paris attacks, in which 130 people died in an operation apparently organised from Brussels, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin spoke of « naivet? » on the part of « certain leaders » in holding back from security crackdowns on Muslim communities.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders retorted that each country should look to its own social problems, saying France too had rough high-rise suburbs in which militants had become radicalised. Valls said France had no place teaching Belgium lessons and had problems with its own communities.Brussels airport seemed likely to remain shut for several days over the busy Easter holiday weekend, since the departure hall was still being combed as a crime scene on Wednesday and repairs can only begin once investigators are finished.
Fear and defiance in Brussels a day after attacks Brussels resident Aurelie Cardon says she will avoid taking the metro from now on. Or maybe move abroad.Her eardrums were perforated when a bomb exploded in the metro carriage next to hers on Tuesday and doctors had to pull a piece of burned plastic out of the corner of her eye. »There will be other attacks, so I want to find a way not to take this (metro) line anymore. Maybe I’ll buy a bike or a motorcycle, » she told Reuters from hospital, using Facebook because she cannot hear.
A day after 31 people were killed and 260 injured in attacks on the Maelbeek underground railway station and the Zaventem airport, the mood was a mixture of shock and defiance in the eerily quiet city of 1.2 million people, headquarters to the European Union and NATO.
« What happened yesterday was really horrible. As a citizen of Brussels, it really hurts to experience something like this … But we are not going to let our lives be dictated by the terrorists, » said Linda van den Bosche, who lives in an apartment next to the Maelbeek station. Across the city, people laid flowers and candles at memorials. During a minute of silence, one man held a copy of a newspaper front page reading « Hang in there! » On the unusually quiet Grand Place in the city centre, British visitors Darren Smith, 45, and Anne Stocks, 46, said they would carry on with their trip as planned.
« We were due to stay until Friday and we’ll stay until Friday, » Stocks said. « You just have to carry on, what happened is really horrible but you can’t just stay indoors because you worry it could happen again. » NO LOCKDOWN THIS TIME But there were worries about the impact on local businesses.In the middle of the cobbled square, horse-drawn carriage driver Thibault Dantine, 46, said trade was slow. »There would usually be much more people, » he said. « I’m very worried for the future, I’m afraid tourists won’t come back, » he said, a Belgian flag flying from his carriage.
Dantine said the tourism sector in Brussels had only just begun to recover from a tough winter following a five-day security lockdown in November, when Brussels feared an attack similar to the assault that killed 130 people in Paris.Authorities in the Belgian capital struck a more defiant note on Wednesday, acknowledging that closing shops, schools and public services last year had frustrated residents.
« It’s important to draw lessons from the lockdown in November. It’s no longer an option today when we want to show that the state is stronger than events … Brussels continues to function, » said the head of the Brussels regional government, Rudi Vervoort.Some residents agreed, but said authorities needed to do more. « It’s right we are not in lockdown again. That clearly didn’t solve anything, » said Jean Vermeren, an instructor at a local swimming pool that was open as normal. « What we need is more intelligence. Belgium can’t be a black hole anymore. »
Islamist web links Belgian suicide bombers to Paris attackers Khalid El Bakraoui, the man named on Wednesday as the Brussels metro suicide bomber, is the link suggesting members of the same Islamist cell were behind the November attacks in Paris and Tuesday’s Brussels bombings that killed 31 people.
The group seems to have been knitted together by time serving in Belgian prisons and fighting in Syria. Belgium, with a Muslim population of about 5 percent of its 11 million people, has Europe’s highest rate of citizens joining Islamist militants in Syria.
Khalid and his brother Ibrahim, who blew himself up at Brussels Airport, were already known to authorities for violent crime.Khalid, 27, was sentenced in 2011 to five years in prison for car-jacking. Ibrahim, 30, was jailed in 2010 for shooting a Kalashnikov assault rifle at police after a robbery. Released in 2014, he has been sought since mid-2015 for breaching parole conditions.
According to Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure, Khalid, under a false name, had rented a flat in the city of Charleroi that some Paris attackers had used as a base. He also rented another flat in the Brussels district of Forest that was the scene of a shootout last week after what police thought would be a routine house search.
The March 15 shootout proved to be a decisive moment in the investigation into the Paris attacks, resulting in a police sniper killing Algerian gunman Mohamed Belkaid, a Paris attacks suspect. Police also discovered a fingerprint of Salah Abdeslam, who would be arrested three days later, the only suspected Paris attacks participant to be taken alive.
Abdeslam and Belkaid had known each other for months at least. The two and another man, Najim Laachraoui, who had travelled to Syria in February 2013, were stopped in a Mercedes at a checkpoint as they crossed from Hungary to Austria in September, but then released.
In December, police already hunting for Abdeslam launched a public appeal for Belkaid and Laachraoui, releasing a photo of two men in a shop.Belkaid was travelling using papers with the false name Samir Bouzid.Laachraoui, a 25-year-old Belgian, rented a house, also using a false name, in the Belgian town of Auvelais that was searched on Nov. 26. Traces of his DNA were found in houses used by the Paris attackers last year.He studied electrical engineering, and is suspected of having made the suicide bombs used in Paris and possibly those that exploded in Brussels.
A week after launching the appeal, police found remains of a bomb factory, including traces of explosive acetone peroxide and handmade belts, in a flat in Schaerbeek, the Brussels borough where Laachraoui grew up.Apart from having travelled with Abdeslam, Belkaid can be tied to Paris through the attacks’ suspected mastermind, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Belgian killed along with his female cousin during a raid in Paris suburb St Denis on Nov. 18.Belkaid, using the name Bouzid, had wired money to Abaaoud’s cousin.
Turkey says Brussels attacker deported in 2015, Belgium ignored warningOne of the attackers in the Brussels suicide bombings was deported last year from Turkey, and Belgium subsequently ignored a warning that the man was a militant, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Erdogan’s office identified the man as Ibrahim El Bakraoui, one of the two brothers named by Belgium as responsible for the attacks that killed at least 31 people in Brussels on Tuesday and were claimed by the Islamic State group. In previous cases, officials have said that without evidence of crime, such as having fought in Syria, they cannot jail people deported from Turkey. Among such cases was Brahim Abdeslam, one of the suicide bombers in Paris in November, who was also sent back to Belgium from Turkey early last year.
Erdogan told a news conference that Bakraoui was detained in the southern Turkish province of Gaziantep near the Syrian border and was later deported to the Netherlands. Turkey also notified Dutch authorities, Erdogan said.A Dutch government official said Erdogan’s comments were « being carefully looked into, » but that they could not yet say if El Bakraoui had been in the Netherlands. »One of the attackers in Brussels is an individual we detained in Gaziantep in June 2015 and deported. We reported the deportation to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara on July 14, 2015, but he was later set free, » Erdogan said.
« Belgium ignored our warning that this person is a foreign fighter. » Erdogan’s office confirmed that Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands. It said he was later released by Belgian authorities as « no links with terrorism » were found. It was not clear when Bakraoui was handed over to Belgian authorities.Erdogan initially said Bakraoui was deported in June. His office later said he was detained in June and deported in July.Belgian newspaper Le Soir quoted Justice Minister Koen Geens as confirming Bakraoui was deported to the Netherlands. Geens’ spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.The attacks in Brussels came just days after a suspected Islamic State suicide bomber blew himself up in Istanbul’s most popular shopping district, killing three Israelis and an Iranian and wounding dozens.
Clinton More Europe can do to help U.S. combat terrorism U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the attack in Brussels that killed more than 30 people is the « latest brutal reminder » that more must be done to defeat Islamic State militants, including by European Union member countries.
In an address at Stanford University in California, Clinton said the United States and Europe should take a « harder look » at protocols at airports and other « soft sites » that are outside security perimeters.Clinton also said « there is much we can do to support our European partners » but « there is also more they can do to share the burden with us. » Clinton said she would like to see more European countries investing in defense and security in the way Germany has during the Obama administration. « The most urgent task is stopping the flow of foreign fighters to and from the Middle East » who are citizens of France, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom with European passports that make it easier for them to cross into Syria and return radicalized, Clinton said.
Clinton said that many European nations do not currently alert their neighbors when they turn away a « suspected jihadist » at their border or when a citizen’s passport is stolen. European Union countries also need to share traveler information more readily, Clinton said. »It’s actually easier for the United States to get flight manifests from EU nations than it is for EU nations to get them from their own neighbors, thanks to an agreement that the United States negotiated when I was secretary of state, » Clinton said.
Additional steps that could be taken in Europe are the creation of a « new, unified, European border and coast guard » to strengthen the external borders of a continent that is under « unprecedented pressure from refugees and migrants, » Clinton said. Clinton also praised past partnerships between the United States and Europe, calling the NATO alliance between North American and European countries one of the best investments that America has made.Republican front-runner Donald Trump has in recent days said that the United States should rethink its involvement in the decades-old alliance.Clinton also took aim at Trump, along with presidential rival U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, when she slammed « offensive, inflammatory rhetoric that demonizes all Muslims, » including those who could be partners in the fight against terrorism.
Europe needs to step up Islamic State fight -U.S. defense chief U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said on Wednesday the Brussels attacks will demonstrate to Europe that it needs join the United States in stepping up the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. »The Brussels event is going to further signify to Europeans that, as we have been accelerating our campaign to defeat ISIL in Syria and Iraq and elsewhere, they need to accelerate their efforts and join us, » said Carter, using an acronym for Islamic State, in an interview on CNN.
Kerry to visit Belgium on Friday in show of U.S. support after bombingsU.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will visit Belgium on Friday to voice U.S. support for investigations of Tuesday’s bombings, a State Department spokesman said on Wednesday after Kerry arrived in Moscow for talks on Syria and Ukraine.
« He will reiterate the strong support of the United States for Belgian efforts to both investigate these attacks and continue contributing to international efforts to counter violent extremism, » spokesman John Kirby said.The United States has offered assistance in the investigation of the bombings at Brussels airport and in its metro on Tuesday that killed at least 31 people and injured 271.
Kirby said Kerry would meet Belgian and European Union officials while in Brussels.He would have just completed talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on a political transition in Syria, where a fragile true prevails after five years of devastating civil war.Kerry is hoping for more details from the Kremlin on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose departure is sought by opposition leaders as part of any transition. Russia has been Assad’s main supporter in the war.The Kremlin meeting, which was arranged after Putin announced recently he was partially withdrawing Russian forces from Syria, will also explore the larger threat posed by the Islamic State militants after the Brussels attacks.
Obama rejects singling out Muslims in fight against Islamic State U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the United States can and will defeat Islamic State and rejected the notion put forth by some Republican presidential candidates that Muslims in the United States should be singled out for surveillance.
In his most extensive remarks about Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels in which Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 31 people and wounded 260 others, Obama said the United States was offering Belgium all assistance to help bring the attackers to justice.
« We will also continue to go after ISIL aggressively until it is removed from Syria and removed from Iraq and is finally destroyed, » added Obama, using an acronym for the group. He was speaking at a news conference with Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, while on a visit to Buenos Aires. Preventing attacks by the Islamist militants, however, is difficult because « it’s challenging to find, identify very small groups of people who are willing to die themselves and can walk into a crowd and detonate a bomb, » he said.Reacting to the Brussels attacks, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he would bring back torture and « do a lot more than waterboarding. » Republican candidate Ted Cruz called for heightened police scrutiny of neighborhoods with large Muslim populations, and Trump said it was a good idea.Obama said one reason there have not been more attacks in the United States is the Muslim American community is successful, patriotic and integrated.
« They do not feel ghettoized, » Obama said. « So any approach that would single them out or target them for discrimination is not only wrong and un-American, but it also would be counterproductive because it would reduce the strength, the antibodies that we have to resist the terrorism. » Obama, who visited Cuba before traveling to Argentina, noted that Cruz’s father had immigrated to the United States from Cuba, « a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance. » « The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense, » Obama said.Obama also rejected a call by Cruz, a senator from Texas, for the United States to carpet-bomb areas held by Islamic State in Syria or Iraq, saying it would be inhumane and would provide Islamic State with an effective tool to recruit more suicide bombers.
Journalists in line of fire over reporting of terror attacks Two controversies around the Brussels attacks have shown yet again the thin line the media must tread between breaking the news quickly and not compromising police enquiries.Just two days before jihadists struck the Belgium capital Tuesday, the police had criticised « the irresponsibility of a certain outlet » which had published information « far too early » about the missing Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam, « causing us problems ».
Hours before Abdeslam was arrested Friday after four months on the run, the French weekly news magazine L’Obs revealed that his fingerprints had been found in an apartment near Brussels. Police moving in to arrest Abdeslam found the outside broadcast van of a Flemish-language TV channel parked only metres from his hideout.Then on Wednesday two Belgian news websites had to retract reports claiming that an as yet unidentified third suspect involved in the Brussels airport bombings had been arrested.It prompted the BBC’s veteran Europe correspondent Chris Morris to tweet, « This morning’s reporting an object lesson in why all should be careful about quoting anonymous sources secondhand. »
– Interviews with gunmen –
To their credit, Belgian media had respected the news blackout demanded by police in Brussels as they carried out a series of raids days linked to the Paris attacks in November, in which 130 people were killed.The French government watchdog had earlier praised the way its media had covered the Paris attacks after criticising several outlets’ coverage of the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket shootings which took place in January 2015.
Reporters then had managed to interview one of the Kouachi brothers who massacred some of the country’s best known cartoonists as police besieged them, as well as Amedy Coulibaly as he held staff and customers hostage in the Hyper Cacher store in the east of the city.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve warned Wednesday that « the media need to be careful to avoid putting out information that is not accurate and could be exploited » for nefarious ends. »But I don’t believe that the news media is getting in the way of the investigators, » he told AFP with an ironic smile.More often than not the media « are late, or you are not very precise, or you haven’t got the information, » he said. « It is this lag which means the news media does not interfere with the police investigations. »
On the ground, however, journalists confronted with a deluge of often unsourced material from social media as well as traditional sources find themselves wondering if they will be accused of not only endangering enquiries but also lives. »We are in constant contact with the authorities to see if our leads are potentially dangerous (in these type of situations). In that case, we do not publish, » said Corinne Audouin, a crime reporter on France Inter. »Obviously when we are broadcasting live we don’t say everything that we know in real time, » she added.
– News blackouts –
The day several suspects linked to the Paris attacks were cornered in Saint Denis north of the city, one of the public radio’s reporters learned that the police had stopped firing on the apartment because they had run out of ammunition.
« We decided not to broadcast this in case those inside were listening, » said Matthieu Aron, an investigative journalist at the station. Several British and American media commentators, however, were more concerned that the blanket coverage given to the Paris and Brussels attacks sent the wrong message while terror attacks elsewhere were not seen to be so newsworthy.
The Guardian’s Roy Greenslade pointed out that suicide bombings that killed 44 in Beirut the day before the Paris attacks got only a tiny fraction of its coverage in the international media.For Jean-Michel Decugis of the French rolling news television channel iTele, there are times when journalists have to kill their own stories.
« I always ask if the information I have will hamper the police. If they tell me it will, I pretty much always would not put it out, » he said.But such self-censorship in the name of public safety has been taken to extremes in Turkey, journalists there insist.News and social media blackouts are often imposed by the government after terror attacks, which has already an unenviable record for locking up reporters. »These censorship measures are always disproportionate and always very vague » like the one imposed after Saturday’s Istanbul attack, said Johann Bihr of Reporters Without Borders.
United States to press Russia on Syria’s Assad U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to press President Vladimir Putin over a political transition for Syria on Thursday, after Europe’s foreign policy chief turned up unexpectedly in Geneva to try to reinvigorate peace talks.With a fragile truce in place and Europe pressing the warring sides to keep going with negotiations, a state department official said Kerry wants to « get down to brass tacks » on the question of President Bashar al-Assad’s future.
The head of Syria’s delegation in Geneva sounded positive after meeting European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, a rare encounter with a senior Western figure.
« For the first time, I can tell you that we were able to break the impasse, maybe in the form and a little bit in substance, » he said, adding that the government would attend the next round of talks after legislative elections in government-held areas on April 13.He did not give any details and Mogherini said the EU had not changed its position on the need to start a political transition in Damascus. The Saudi-backed opposition, whose chief delegate also met Mogherini, has said there are no points of convergence.The negotiations have been bogged down on a series of issues and one delegate said it was up to Kerry and Putin to create a breakthrough.
« We’re waiting for a U.S.-Russian accord to solve the (key) issue once and for all. Until they resolve it this process will drag on, » Randa Kassis, who heads up a Moscow-backed opposition group, said.While the United States want Assad to step aside, Russia says only the Syrian people can decide his fate at the ballot box and has bristled at any talk of regime change.
Kerry is holding talks with Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday, in a meeting arranged after the Russian leader’s surprise announcement on March 14 that he was partially withdrawing his forces from Syria. »The Secretary would like to now really hear where President Putin is in his thinking … on a political transition » in Syria, the official said as Kerry arrived in Moscow. »Obviously what we are looking for, and what we have been looking for, is how we are going to transition Syria away from Assad’s leadership, » the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
UNILATERAL THREAT After five years of conflict that has killed over 250,000 people and caused the world’s worst refugee crisis, Washington and Moscow reached a deal three weeks ago for a cessation of hostilities and delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged areas.The State Department official said meetings with Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would evaluate the status of the ceasefire and try to « get on the same page » about ending violations and increasing humanitarian assistance.
Russia this week threatened to act unilaterally against those who violate the ceasefire unless it reached a deal with the United States on ways to detect and prevent truce breaches. The Syrian opposition has accused government forces of renewing sieges and stepping up a campaign of barrel-bombing across the country.Government officials have rejected any discussion on the fate of Assad.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the peace talks were always going to be long and difficult, and it was too early to talk about patience running out on any side.
U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said on Tuesday he hoped the U.S-Russia meeting would give an impetus to the peace talks where the divisive issue of a political transition is stalling progress.But the State Department official played down expectations the meeting would have an immediate impact on the talks, which adjourn on Thursday.A Syrian activist at the talks, Jihad Makdissi, said de Mistura was planning to issue a paper on a « potential common vision ».
The Syrian government delegation said the U.N. envoy had handed them a document which they would study on their return to Damascus. No details of either paper were disclosed. However, the United Nations said the Syrian government had given verbal assurances that aid convoys can go into three or four areas that its forces are besieging.U.N. humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said the United Nations had been allowed to enter eight or nine of the 11 areas it had asked to supply with aid, including three or four besieged areas.But it had not been allowed to go into the town of Daraya, where the World Food Programme has said some people have been reduced to eating grass.
PALMYRA OFFENSIVE On the battlefield, Syrian government forces and their allies were reported to have pushed forward against Islamic State fighters to reach the outskirts of the historic city of Palmyra on Wednesday.
State news agency SANA quoted a military source who said the army and allied militia advanced in the hills outside Palmyra and towards a road junction « after eliminating the last terrorist Daesh groups there », referring to Islamic State fighters. Islamic State is not covered by the truce agreement.The Syrian army is trying to recapture Palmyra, which Islamic State seized in May, to open a road to the mostly IS-held eastern province of Deir al-Zor.
Clashes raged around Palmyra after government forces took control of most of a nearby hill with air cover from Syrian and Russian warplanes, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Russia has withdrawn around half of its air force in Syria, according to Reuters calculations based on state TV footage, some of which was not broadcast.But Moscow has maintained a group of Su-24 bombers at its Latakia air base and deployed a number of advanced attack helicopters, meaning it is able to continue a reduced number of air strikes in the country.Operating from Russia’s Shayrat air base southeast of Homs, the helicopter force will be used to secure territory gains around Aleppo and support the Syrian army offensive against Islamic State in Palmyra, Western officials said.
U.N. finalises common ground document for Syria talksEU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini arrived unexpectedly in Geneva on Wednesay, possibly highlighting concerns that talks on Syria risk getting deadlocked unless headway on the matter of political transition is made soon. The U.N. Syria special envoy is finalising a document for delegates at peace talks that will synthesise common points of convergence, but is likely to stay clear of the divisive issue of political transition, activists and diplomats said With a fragile truce in place in Syria, warring sides are more than a week into talks on ending the conflict, but government officials have rejected any discussion on a political transition or the fate of President Bashar al-Assad, who opposition leaders say must go as part of any such plan.Mogherini met the head of the Syrian government delegation Bashar Ja’afari, a rare meeting with a senior Western official.
She also held talks with chief coordinator for the opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Riad Hijab.Speaking before the negotiations adjourn on Thursday, Ja’afari said he had received a document from envoy Staffan de Mistura. « We will respond to it at the beginning of the next round, » he said, declining to take any questions.The five-year-old conflict between the government and insurgents has killed more than 250,000 people, allowed Islamic State to take control of some eastern areas and caused the world’s worst refugee crisis.
The U.N. envoy said on Tuesday that he aimed to establish if there were any points held in common by the different parties. If successful, he would announce these on Thursday.Randa Kassis, who heads up a Moscow-backed opposition group, said de Mistura would distribute a document of common points gathered from the various delegates.Points included creating a future unified Syrian army to fight terrorism or ensuring a democratic and non-sectarian based Syria.
« I don’t think much has happened in this round, » Kassis told Reuters. « We’re waiting for a U.S.-Russian accord to solve the (key) issue once and for all. Until they resolve it this process will drag on. » Jihad Makdissi, head of the Cairo opposition group, confirmed he was also expecting de Mistura to issue a paper on a potential « common vision » for Syria that he believed was on the right path. « It covers many points important to the Riyadh platform, the Cairo platform, and the Moscow platforms, » he said, referring to the different opposition groups.A Western diplomat said he believed de Mistura’s new document was an attempt to synthesise views he had heard from his various interlocutors during the round of talks.
The cessation of hostilities deal, engineered by Washington and Moscow three weeks ago, but not signed by any of the warring parties, remains fragile. Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the HNC’s delegation, said on Tuesday it was « obvious » there were no points of convergence with the Syrian government and accused it of renewing sieges and barrel bombing campaigns against civilians.Mogherini, who has never previously visibly been involved in the talks, was also set to meet U.N. envoy de Mistura, but her visit coincides with high-level meetings in Moscow between Russian and U.S. officials.They aim to give fresh impetus to the talks and assess how Russia envisages a political transition in Syria, in particular the fate of Assad.
EU joins Syria peace talks as sides remain at odds The EU sent its foreign policy chief to Geneva on Wednesday to breathe new life into Syrian peace talks, as the two sides remained at odds over the country’s political future.
Federica Mogherini spoke to negotiators on both sides, and the head of the government delegation, Bashar Ja’afari, said after his meeting that he believed an impasse in the talks had been broken.But he was told by the EU and U.N. that accelerating a political transition in Syria — a major sticking point given fundamental disagreements between the warring parties over the fate of President Bashar al-Assad — was the only way to defeat groups like Islamic State.Mogherini arrived unexpectedly on what was the penultimate day of the round of negotiations, possibly highlighting EU concerns that the talks risk getting deadlocked.
« She came to support us to engage positively in the talks that would lead to an end to the Syrian crisis, » Ja’afari said after the rare meeting with a senior Western official. »For the first time, I can tell you that we were able to break the impasse, maybe in the form and a little bit in substance. » The five-year-old conflict between the government and insurgents has killed more than 250,000 people, allowed Islamic State to take control of some eastern areas and caused the world’s worst refugee crisis.
With a fragile truce in place in Syria, warring sides are more than a week into talks on ending the conflict, but government officials have rejected any discussion on a political transition or the fate of Assad, who opposition leaders say must go as part of any such plan.After the attacks in Brussels claimed by Islamic State, Ja’afari again insisted on Wednesday that fighting terrorism had to come before any discussion of political transition. »My main message especially in meeting with that (Syrian government) delegation is the need to start a political transition in Damascus, » Mogherini told reporters, stressing that there had been no change in the EU’s position on the « Syrian regime ».
« This in our opinion is the only way create conditions in the country to first find peace and security and secondly defeat Daesh (Islamic State). » U.N. special envoy Staffan De Mistura echoed her comments. »So the ball goes back to those who have been complaining about terrorism and (we’re) saying what about all of you helping us to solve politically the crisis in Syria, » he said.Mogherini’s visit coincided with high-level meetings in Moscow between Russian and U.S. officials, which de Mistura has said he hopes will give an impetus to the talks, just as they did by engineering a cessation of hostilities that came into effect almost three weeks ago.
COMMON GROUND DOCUMENT Activists and diplomats said de Mistura was finalising a document to present to delegates on Thursday that will synthesise common points of convergence, but is likely to stay clear of the divisive political transition issue.Ja’afari said he had received a document from de Mistura that his delegation would respond to at the beginning of the next round, though the government could not return before Syrian parliamentary elections on April 13.De Mistura said on Tuesday that he aimed to establish if there were any points held in common by the different parties.If successful, he would announce these on Thursday.
Randa Kassis, representing a Moscow-backed opposition group, said de Mistura would distribute a document of common points gathered from the various delegates.
Points included creating a future unified Syrian army to fight terrorism or ensuring a democratic and non-sectarian based Syria. »We’re waiting for a U.S.-Russian accord to solve the (key) issue once and for all. Until they resolve it this process will drag on, » Kassis told Reuters.Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the HNC’s delegation, whose chief coordinator Riad Hijab met de Mistura and Mogherini on Wednesday, said on Tuesday it was « obvious » there were no points of convergence with the Syrian government and accused it of renewing sieges and barrel bombing campaigns against civilians.
Russian major was killed in Syria last month former subordinates A major with an elite unit from Russia’s interior ministry was killed in Syria last month, several of his former comrades told Reuters on Wednesday, though Russian officials have not acknowledged his death.
The death would bring to six the number of Russian servicemen known to have been killed in Syria during the Kremlin’s five-month military campaign, which it said last week it was winding down. The death of Sergei Chupov, 51, was first reported by the Conflict Intelligence Team, a group of Russian bloggers who use social media to track Russian military engagements abroad.Reuters spoke independently to several former colleagues of Chupov, who confirmed that he was killed in fighting in Syria.
Reuters also visited the cemetery outside Moscow where Chupov is buried. Funeral wreaths and a modest iron cross with a wooden crucifix adorn the fresh grave, with a picture of Chupov wearing uniform and medals. The date of his death marked on the grave, Feb. 8, matches the date in other accounts of his death. »I know Chupov was a negotiator in Syria and was killed by a direct hit from a mortar shell, » Radik Belov, who said he served under Chupov’s command in a reconnaissance platoon in the 1990s, told Reuters.
The Russian defence ministry, which oversees the Russian operation in Syria, and the interior ministry, did not respond to Reuters questions about Chupov. A Kremlin spokesman said he had not heard about the case. There were no details about what Chupov was doing in Syria.His former comrades said he was a long-standing officer with experience of combat. He served with the Interior Ministry troops, an elite force who have in the past been involved in fighting in Russia’s restive Chechnya region.
SPECIAL FORCES Russia has for months said its role in Syria is restricted to air strikes, advising and training Syrian government forces, search and rescue missions for downed aircrew, and protecting Russia’s bases.However, Russia’s Interfax news agency on Wednesday quoted the commander of Russia’s contingent in Syria, Alexander Dvornikov, as saying that Russia had special forces in Syria who were involved in reconnaissance of targets for air strikes and « other special tasks ».
At the cemetery in the town of Balashikha, four men in their thirties and forties, who said they had served under his command, left a glass of brandy and a slice of bread at his grave, a Russian tradition.They said they were all ex-servicemen but declined to give their names. They referred to Chupov as their commander and mentor. He was « a true Russian officer » said one of the men.Another described him as someone « who deserved to be a hero ».
They said they did not want to go into details because Russia has many enemies and the death of a Russian soldier in Syria could be used against Moscow. Asked about the bloggers’ report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a teleconference with journalists: « I have heard nothing about it. I don’t know … on what sort of information it’s based. » President Vladimir Putin last week ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of Russian forces in Syria, saying they had achieved most of their objectives.At a Kremlin ceremony a few days later to decorate officers for the Syria mission, Putin broke four months of official silence about the death of a Russian soldier, Fyodor Zhuravlyov, bringing the official death toll Syria to five.The Conflict Intelligence Team, citing social media posts and accounts of people who knew him, said Chupov graduated from a prestigious military school in then Soviet Kazakhstan, and served in Afghanistan and Chechnya.
Russia says has special forces unit in Syria – newspaper Russia has a special forces group in Syria that carries out reconnaissance and « other special tasks », a senior Russian military officer was quoted as saying, the first time Moscow has acknowledged having ground forces in combat roles inside Syria.
« I will not hide the fact that on the territory of Syria there is a division of our special operations forces, » state-run newspaper Rossiisskaya Gazeta quoted Alexander Dvornikov, a commander of the Russian contingent in Syria, as saying.
« They perform supplementary reconnaissance on targets for Russian air strikes, they are engaged in guiding aircraft to targets in remote areas, and perform other special tasks. » Carrying out target reconnaissance can often involve putting small groups of highly-trained troops behind enemy lines so they can gather information on targets that cannot be obtained from drones or satellite surveillance.That Russia has been carrying out such high-risk missions suggests the Kremlin has been more deeply embroiled in the Syrian conflict than it has previously acknowledged.
Six Russian servicemen are known to have died in Syria, two of them in circumstances that the Russian authorities have not disclosed. The death of the sixth serviceman, a major in the interior ministry troops, emerged on Wednesday.Until now, Russian officials said the military’s role in Syria was limited to air strikes, training and advising Syrian government forces, mounting search and rescue operations for downed air crews, and protecting Russian bases.But forces opposed to Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have said Russian forces, in combat roles, have taken part in government offensives.
Syrian army expects to retake Palmyra « within hours » -TV Syrian soldiers and their allies advanced to within 1 km (half a mile) of Palmyra on Thursday and soldiers speaking from the outskirts of the historic city said they hoped to recapture it from Islamic State fighters within hours.The Syrian army is trying to retake Palmyra, which the ultra-hardline Islamist militants seized in May, to open a road to the mostly IS-held eastern province of Deir al-Zor.
The recapture of the desert city would be one of the most prominent successes for President Bashar al-Assad since Russia launched a military intervention in September which turned the tide of Syria’s civil war in his favour.Palmyra is the site of ancient Roman-era temples and colonnades – many of them destroyed by the militants – as well as being a strategic link between the west and east of Syria.
« We are 850 metres from Palmyra city. In a few hours(government) forces will declare the city of Palmyra completely secure, God willing, » one soldier told Ikhbariya television channel, in comments echoed by his comrades on the front.One of the soldiers said they had cleared around 120 explosives from the ‘Palmyra Triangle’ road junction area as they approached the city from the west.
Syrian television quoted the field commander as saying the road into Palmyra was now open to government forces after they took control of hills overlooking its approaches.Earlier, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported clashes on the outskirts of the city as government forces, backed by Russian and Syrian warplanes, made advances.Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said last week he was withdrawing most Russian forces, predicted on Thursday that the Syrian army would retake Palmyra soon.
UN Libya envoy says prevented from flying to Tripoli The U.N. envoy to Libya said on Wednesday he had been forced to cancel a flight to Tripoli because he had not been granted landing rights by the self-declared government there.
Martin Kobler said he had intended to visit the Libyan capital to « pave the way » for a U.N.-backed unity government to move there from Tunis. Fayez Seraj, prime minister of the unity government, said last week that such a move was imminent.Libya has two sets of rival parliaments and governments, one in Tripoli and one in the east.A unity government was formed under a plan to end Libya’s simmering conflict, but has faced stiff opposition from hardliners on both sides of Libya’s political divide. Earlier this month the unity government called for an immediate transfer of power. But the prime minister in Tripoli, Khalifa Ghwell, warned it not to move, and the eastern government said it should first secure a long-delayed vote of approval from the internationally recognised parliament in the east. Ghwell’s office in Tripoli said authorities there had asked Kobler for an agenda for his visit but had not received a reply and therefore had not granted permission for him to land.Previous requests from Kobler to visit had not been granted for the same reason, it said, adding that the visit had been postponed, not cancelled.
In televised comments on Wednesday, Ghwell repeated his criticism of Kobler and the U.N., saying they risked creating « chaos ». Seraj has said that his government would be able to move to Tripoli after a security plan was agreed with police and military forces, as well as armed groups.
But the security situation in the Libyan capital remains fickle, and there have been repeated clashes between armed groups. Overnight, the commander of Tripoli’s diplomatic police, Faraj Swaihili, escaped an assassination attempt by an armed group, according to accounts posted by residents on social media. No-one could be reached to confirm the reports.
At least seven people were killed on Wednesday in clashes about 35km (22 miles) west of Tripoli between a brigade from Zawiya and armed militiamen who had tried to ransack the town of Tuwaybiya to avenge an earlier killing there, said security official Sabri Kshada. That followed clashes near a bank in the Bab Ben Ghashir district of Tripoli on Monday, and heavy gunfire between the Zawiyat Addahmani area and Bab Azizziya on Saturday.Tripoli is controlled by a number of semi-official armed groups which clash periodically, and it was not clear if any of the most recent incidents were linked to political developments.Some armed groups, including powerful factions from the western city of Misrata, have said they will back the unity government, but other brigades remain opposed
In chaos of Libya, unity government only adds to disarrayIt was meant to finally bring an end to Libya’s political chaos and unrest, but the creation of a new UN-backed unity government has only added to the country’s disarray.Desperate to resolve years of political deadlock that has allowed jihadists to gain an important foothold on Europe’s doorstep, the United Nations and Western powers have been pushing hard for the acceptance of a Libyan power-sharing deal announced in December.
Under the agreement, Libya’s rival administrations — one supported by the internationally recognised parliament in the east and the other backed by an Islamist-backed militia in Tripoli — are supposed to cede power to a new Government of National Accord (GNA) under prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj.But so far the only thing the two sides seem able to agree on is their mutual disdain for the new authority.
« The birth of this government in this way has done nothing but worsen the political crisis… create new conflicts and further destabilise » the country, said Mohamed Eljarh, a Libya analyst at the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
The extent of the crisis was hammered home on Wednesday when UN envoy Martin Kobler was prevented from travelling to Tripoli to work on installing the GNA.
« Again had to cancel flight to Tripoli… UN must have the right to fly (to) Tripoli, » he wrote on Twitter, without specifying what had blocked the mission.The GNA has not been formally endorsed by either parliament but it announced earlier this month it was taking office on the basis of a petition signed by a narrow majority of Libya’s elected lawmakers.
The United States and its European allies have called on the government to swiftly move to Tripoli and take up power, threatening sanctions against those who undermine the political process. But neither of Libya’s rival administrations has so far shown any willingness to cooperate »Unless the international community can give the GNA control over Libyan finances, a powerful national army, and somehow make it legitimate in the eyes of the Libyan people, the GNA is poised to become the weakest of Libya’s three competing national authorities, » said Michael Nayebi-Oskoui, a US-based Middle East and North Africa analyst.
– ‘A long way’ from stability –
Libya collapsed into lawlessness following the 2011 NATO-backed ouster of longtime strongman Moamer Kadhafi.Heavily armed groups rushed to the fill the power vacuum and in mid-2014 a militia alliance including Islamists overran Tripoli, forcing a recognised government that had struggled to function to flee to eastern Libya.
Eljarh said there was no hope of the GNA taking power in Tripoli « as long as the main armed groups are not ready to pledge allegiance » to the new authority. « The international community would need to be ready to provide it with military protection if needed, » he said.And any attempt to force the government on Tripoli would be « a major security risk likely to cause clashes between armed groups ».The stakes are high. Just across the Mediterranean from Europe, Libya has become the latest stronghold of the jihadist Islamic State group.IS has seized control of Kadhafi’s coastal hometown of Sirte and launched a wave of attacks, both against rival Libyan forces and across the border in Tunisia.
The group claimed responsibility last year for two attacks in Tunisia — on the Bardo national museum and at a beach resort near Sousse — that killed a total of 59 tourists. The lawlessness has also seen Libya became a favoured jumping-off point for smugglers bringing migrants on dangerous sea journeys to Europe.Around 330,000 migrants have landed in Italy from Libya since the start of 2014, as Europe already struggles to cope with the influx of those fleeing five years of war in Syria.Despite the international pressure, Nayebi-Oskoui said Libya is in such a shambles that it is unlikely the GNA will make a difference soon. »Libya’s fractured social and tribal structures require a strong and legitimate central government, » he said. « Unfortunately we seem to be a long way from realising that objective. »
Security Council response needed in W.Sahara crisis -U.N. official The United Nations Security Council must act to ensure Morocco’s decision to expel personnel from a U.N. peacekeeping mission in the disputed territory of Western Sahara does not set a bad precedent for other missions, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.
The controversy over U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s use of the word « occupation » during a recent visit to the region is Morocco’s worst dispute with the U.N. since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over Western Sahara and established a peacekeeping mission, known as MINURSO.
The United Nations has shut its military liaison office and withdrawn dozens of international staffers from MINURSO as demanded by Morocco in retaliation for Ban’s remarks, which Rabat has described as « unacceptable. » U.N. officials have said the reduction of staff has severely affected the mission in the Moroccan-annexed Western Sahara region.So far the 15-country Security Council, which ordered the deployment of MINURSO decades ago and renews its mandate every year, has said nothing on the Moroccan dispute with the U.N.despite near daily discussions on the subject.Ban wants swift council action to back him and MINURSO with a strong statement of support.
« The Secretary-General very much wants the Security Council to act, and not only to preserve MINURSO’s operations but also to prevent similar actions in other peacekeeping operations around the world, » a U.N. official familiar with the Western Sahara dossier told reporters on condition of anonymity.The leaders of Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan have demanded the departure of U.N. peacekeepers from conflict-torn parts of their countries.
The U.N. official said the presence of MINURSO was necessary to prevent a « security vacuum », adding that « there is the potential for escalation » into renewed conflict. Diplomats have blamed the council’s silence on Morocco’s traditional ally France, along with Spain, Egypt and Senegal.Rabat accused Ban earlier this month of no longer being neutral in the Western Sahara dispute when he used the word « occupation » to describe its 1975 annexation of the region, when Morocco took over from colonial power Spain.
Ban had visited refugee camps in southern Algeria for the Sahrawi people, who say Western Sahara belongs to them. They fought a war against Morocco until the 1991 ceasefire.The Polisario Front wants a referendum on independence, but Morocco says it will only grant autonomy. Polisario says Rabat’s moves against the U.N. jeopardize the ceasefire and could lead to renewed conflict.
Yemen combat to halt April 10, a week before peace talks -U.N. The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a cessation of hostilities starting at midnight on April 10 and peace talks in Kuwait beginning a week later, United Nations special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Wednesday. There have already been several failed attempts to defuse the conflict in Yemen, which has drawn in regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran, and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country.
« This is really our last chance, » Ould Cheikh Ahmed told reporters in New York. « The war in Yemen must be brought to an end. » A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen a year ago with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country.
The U.N. Security Council welcomed the announcement and urged parties to the conflict to « immediately reduce violence and refrain from any action that could lead to increased tensions, in order to pave the way for a cessation of hostilities. » Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Saudi Arabia is « fully committed to make sure that the next talks take place and particularly supports us with regard to the cessation of hostilities. » The U.N. says more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the Saudi-led military intervention whose ultimate aim is to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. U.S.-based rights group Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that the United States, Britain, France and others should suspend all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia over what the group deemed unlawful air strikes.
The Saudi-led coalition has targeted civilians with air strikes and some of the attacks could be crimes against humanity, U.N. sanctions monitors told the Security Council in January.Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, an affiliate of the global Sunni Muslim militant organization, has also expanded its foothold in the country as the government focuses on its battle with the Houthi rebels.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said prominent Yemeni figures would be enlisted to cooperate with a de-escalation and coordination committee on the cessation of hostilities and « to report on progress and security incidents. » He said the peace talks would focus on five areas: a withdrawal of militia and armed groups; a handover of heavy weaponry to the state; interim security arrangements; restoration of state institutions; and resumption of inclusive political dialogue.
Looming fiscal crisis could worsen food crisis in Yemen, Oxfam says Signs of a domestic financial crisis are raising the specter of famine in conflict-ridden Yemen, where millions of people already are going hungry, Oxfam said on Thursday.
The possibilities of tightening credit and a currency devaluation threaten the Arab Peninsula’s poorest nation, which imports nearly all its food and needs a functioning economic system to fund those shipments, the global charity said in a report.Half of the nation’s residents, or nearly 14.4 million people, already struggle to buy food and need assistance in a crisis going largely unheeded in the international community, it said.
« An invisible food crisis … risks turning famine warnings into a reality over the coming months, » Oxfam said.Yemen imports roughly 90 percent of its food, it said.Wheat, sugar, powdered milk and rice are among the essential goods that have grown scarce since war intensified in Yemen a year ago, Oxfam said.
The shortages stem in part from nervous markets following reports that Yemen’s Central Bank may cut credit lines that guarantee payment for incoming wheat and rice cargoes, the report said.Threats to Yemen’s currency, the riyal, reportedly at risk of devaluation, also could cause food prices to rise, it said.
Already impoverished Yemenis « will not be able to withstand the rising prices for food if importers are unable to trade, » said Sajjad Mohamed Sajid, Oxfam’s country director in Yemen, in a statement.
A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen a year ago with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country.
« A catastrophe on top of catastrophe … has created one of the biggest humanitarian emergencies in the world today, » Sajid said. « Yet most people are unaware of it. » The charity reported instances of people eating only a meal a day in Taiz city, on the frontline of the conflict, and empty market stalls with no vegetables on display.Raising hopes of an end to the violence, a senior Yemeni government official told Reuters this week that talks aimed at ending the war were expected in Kuwait next month along with a temporary ceasefire.The United Nations hosted two inconclusive rounds of peace talks in Switzerland last year.
Nearly 87 million children live in conflict zones, brains not developing-UNICEF Nearly 87 million children around the world have been growing up in conflict zones, in conditions that can hinder the development of their brains, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.Exposure to extreme trauma may hinder the development of brain cell connections, essential for health, emotional wellbeing and ability to learn, UNICEF said.
« In addition to the immediate physical threats that children in crises face, they are also at risk of deep-rooted emotional scars, » Pia Britto, UNICEF chief of early child development, said in a statement. »Conflict robs children of their safety, family and friends, play and routine.
« Yet these are all elements of childhood that give children the best possible chance of developing fully and learning effectively, enabling them to contribute to their economies and societies, and building strong and safe communities when they reach adulthood. » A child is born with 253 million functioning brain cells called neurons, which have the potential to develop rapidly during the first seven years of life before reaching full adult capacity of around one billion neurons, UNICEF said.
This, however, largely depends on early childhood development such as breastfeeding, learning opportunities and a chance to grow up in a safe environment, it said.Extreme trauma puts children at risk of living in a state of toxic stress inhibiting brain cell connections, with lifelong consequences to their cognitive, social and physical development, UNICEF said.
Turkish tourism and economy struggle due to bombings, Russia chill Suicide bombings in Istanbul, a row with the Kremlin and hard times for the Russian middle class – all these factors spell trouble for Turkey’s tourist industry and its wider economy. Nowhere is the mood gloomier than among shopkeepers in Istanbul, Turkey’s cultural gem and scene last weekend of the second suicide attack on tourists in the city this year. »There’s zero business now, » said one clerk at a clothing store near the medieval Galata Tower, a top destination for foreign visitors.
« Everyone is nervous, » chimed in his friend a few hours after the attack – blamed by the government on Islamic State – which killed three Israelis and an Iranian in Istanbul’s most popular shopping district. Their feeling that business, already bad, can only get worse is understandable. In January, an Islamist militant blew himself up near the fabled Blue Mosque, killing 12 people from Germany – which traditionally accounts for the largest number of visitors to Turkey.Economists forecast that tourism revenue will tumble by a quarter this year, costing the country around $8 billion.
The risk is that better off tourists such as Germans will choose to take their holidays elsewhere while Russians, Turkish tourism’s number two market, will be forced to stay away due to an economic crisis at home and political tensions following Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane in November.Overall visitor numbers to Turkey fell a relatively modest 1.6 percent last year, according to Tourism Ministry data.But the signs are not good before the May to October peak season, when Turkey usually earns around 70 percent of its tourism revenues.
BIG SPENDERS Unfortunately for Turkey, tourists from the richest countries, who tend to be the biggest spenders, are also the most easily spooked by security worries.
« Security concerns have the biggest impact on high-income tourist groups, who are most likely to change their plans to visit, » said Mehmet Besimoglu, an economist at Oyak Investment.German travel group TUI has reported a 40 percent drop in summer bookings for holidays in Turkey and the picture for Britain, the number three market, is uncertain.
British holiday company Thomas Cook said more of its customers were opting to holiday in Spain, as well as the United States and Cuba. Fewer wanted to go to Turkey, it added. Altogether Turkey has suffered four suicide bombings this year, bringing the death toll to more than 80. The other two, claimed by an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), struck the capital, Ankara, which relatively few tourists visit.
The violence is not new. Islamic State has also been blamed for bomb attacks last year that killed more than 130 people.While these were in Ankara and near the Syrian border, the effect on tourism – which accounts for about 4.5 percent of the $800 billion economy and provides more than one million jobs – has already been felt. Last year, for instance, the number of Italians visiting Turkey decreased by 27 percent while Japanese dropped off by nearly 40 percent.Now, economists say, the drop-off in tourism is so pronounced it could have a broad economic impact. They estimate an $8 billion fall in revenue would knock more than half a percentage point off economic growth, which the government is targeting at 4.5 percent for this year.
With tourism accounting for more than half of Turkey’s current account earnings last year, this would also spell trouble for the central bank’s hopes that the deficit can be brought down from a yawning 4.5 percent of gross domestic product in 2015.Some economists believe tourism could prove an even bigger drag on the economy. « If terrorist attacks continue and things get worse, the impact could be as high as one percentage point being deducted from economic growth, » said Muammer Komurcuoglu, economist at Is Invest. That would be unwelcome news for President Tayyip Erdogan and the ruling AK Party, which is keen to show the economy is on track despite the insecurity.
RUSSIAN CHILL Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has announced a plan to offer emergency support to the tourism sector, including a 255 million lira ($87 million) grant and a facility to allow firms to restructure their debt. It is unclear whether that will help.Turkey is no longer able to rely on Russians seeking sunshine and southern beaches as a back-up due to the combined effects of economics and politics.
Middle class Russians have been hit hard by an economic crisis caused by the weak price of oil, the country’s main export earner, and Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis.One result has been a dive in the Russian currency which has made foreign holidays, including in Turkey, much more expensive.Two years ago, Russians needed just over 15 roubles to buy a Turkish lira; now they need almost 24.
On top of that has come the chill in relations between Ankara and Moscow. President Vladimir Putin signed a series of punitive economic sanctions against Turkey, including a ban on charter flights, in retaliation for its shooting down of the Russian warplane near the border with Syria.The biggest impact from the sanctions would be to tourism, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said.Numbers of Russian tourists declined by nearly a million last year, to 3.6 million. That could get even worse this year, said Ercan Erguzel, an economist at Morgan Stanley. »Based on our talks with sector representatives, we have the impression that number of Russian tourists may even fall to below 1 million in 2016 in the most extreme scenario, » he said.
More aid agencies pull out of Greek camps, spurning EU deal More aid agencies helping refugees and migrants arriving in Greece said they were joining a boycott of detention centres on Wednesday, angered at an EU deal they say runs roughshod over human rights.
Human rights organisations reject the pact between the European Union and Turkey to fast-track registration and asylum applications, under which hundreds of new arrivals have been detained since Sunday. Refugees or migrants whose applications fail will be sent back to Turkey.
Aid agencies said cooperating with the Greeks at detention centres would make them complicit with an « unfair and inhumane » practice.Two aid agencies said on Wednesday they were following the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR and aid organisation Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), a major contributor to the relief effort, which both announced on Tuesday they would cut back assistance.
« The IRC alerted the (Greek) coast guard on Monday that we would not transport the world’s most vulnerable people to a place where their freedom of movement is impeded upon, » said Lucy Carrigan, a regional spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee (IRC).The IRC will continue to support those at another makeshift camp, she said.
The Norwegian Refugee Council, a major non-governmental organisation, said it was suspending most of its activities at a detention centre on the Greek island of Chios. »We are extremely close to be in a position where this site is dangerously overcrowded … We have a large number of refugees including pregnant women and children lying on the concrete floor in the reception hall, » said Dan Tyler, a protection adviser for the council.Tension in the facility was building up and there had already been demonstrations, he told Reuters.
THOUSANDS STRANDED Thousands of people have been stranded in Greece since a cascade of border shutdowns in the Balkans started in February. There are almost 50,000 refugees and migrants stranded in Greece, the vast majority of them not detained in camps since most arrived before the new EU arrangement came into effect on March 20.Some 12,000 are at Idomeni, a sprawling complex of tents on the Greek border with Macedonia. Since Tuesday, MSF medical personnel have been absent from the camp, citing security reasons after two migrants tried to set themselves on fire. Migrants living at Idomeni blocked a motorway and a customs checkpoint on Wednesday, demanding that the border be opened.Greek authorities said they needed help. « We need these international organisations, particularly the UNHCR, which is of great assistance to us. Naturally we want it to stay, under certain rules, of course, » Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Toskas told Greek radio.
A government source said migration minister Yannis Mouzalas was trying to coax aid organisations back.
« He is the best placed to mediate with these groups, » the source said. Mouzalas, a physician, was extensively involved with aid agencies and participated in relief missions before his cabinet appointment in Greece’s leftist-led government last year.More than 147,000 people, many fleeing conflict in the Middle East and Asia, have arrived in Greece by sea this year.Almost one million arrived in Europe via Greece in 2015.
Obama sees no Middle East peace deal before his presidency ends U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he did not expect a breakthrough on Middle East peace before he leaves office and reiterated his support for a two-state solution in which Israelis and Palestinians could live peacefully side by side.
Speaking to students and teachers in Argentina, Obama said he expected to continue working on Middle East peace after he leaves office next January.The president’s comments came amid reports that his administration was considering a renewed push on the issue.Obama conceded that despite his and others’ efforts, the decades-long dispute had not come closer to being resolved during his presidency. »This is not something I was able to get done, » he said. « I am not that hopeful that it’s going to happen in the next nine months. It’s been 60 years; it’s not going to happen in the next nine months. » 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 said earlier this month.
Despite his skepticism about progress anytime soon, Obama reinforced his commitment to that prospect. »There’s been talk about a one-state solution or sort of a divided government. It’s hard for me to envision that being stable, there’s such deep distrust between the two peoples right now, » he said. « And the neighborhood is in such a mess that I continue to believe that a two-state solution is the best way.Now, over time that could evolve. »
Israel charges Palestinian for hacking drones, airport info Israel has charged a Palestinian computer hacker from the Gaza Strip with breaking into Israeli military drone camera systems for Islamic militants and gleaning details of civilian aircraft movements.
Beersheba District Court said on Wednesday it had charged Majd Oweida, 22, with designing several computer programs to help the Islamic Jihad group – for which he had been working since 2011 – to access Israeli networks. The court in southern Israel did not reveal details of how and where Oweida was taken into Israeli custody. Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip declined to comment on the arrest.According to the court statement, the charges against Oweida include helping Islamic Jihad hack into and monitor broadcasts from Israeli drones flying above Gaza.It said he also hacked signals from Israeli police street cameras and collected flight information from the country’s main Ben Gurion airport outside Tel Aviv.
U.S. to charge Iran in cyber attacks against banks, New York dam-sourcesThe Obama administration is expected to blame Iranian hackers as soon as Thursday for a coordinated campaign of cyber attacks in 2012 and 2013 on several U.S. banks and a New York dam, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against about a half-dozen Iranians, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. It is one of the highest-profile U.S. indictments against a foreign nation on hacking charges. It follows a landmark 2014 case in which a grand jury charged five members of the Chinese military with hacking into American computer networks and engaging in cyber espionage on behalf of a foreign government.The charges, related to unlawful access to computers and other alleged crimes, were expected to be announced publicly by U.S. officials as soon as Thursday morning at a news conference in Washington, the sources said.
The indictment was expected to directly link the hacking campaign to the Iranian government, one source said. The banks will not be identified in the indictment due to fear of retaliation, the source said.Though a planned indictment for the breach of back-office computer systems at the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, New York, has been reported, it was only part of a hacking campaign that was broader than previously known, as the indictment will show, the sources said.
The dam breach coincided roughly with a spate of distributed denial of service attacks in 2012 that hit more than a half dozen U.S. financial institutions and the two episodes were long suspected of being connected. Cyber security experts have said these, too, were perpetrated by Iranian hackers against Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, PNC Financial Services and SunTrust Bank.
In the intrusion of the dam computers, the hackers did not gain operational control of the floodgates, and investigators believe they were attempting to test their capabilities.The hackers who were expected to be named in the indictment all reside in Iran, one source said.The Justice Department declined to comment.
‘WILD WEST DAYS’ The indictment would be the Obama administration’s latest step to confront foreign cyber attacks on the United States.President Barack Obama accused and publicly condemned North Korea over a 2014 hack on Sony Pictures and vowed to « respond proportionally. » No details were made public of any retaliation.James Lewis, a cyber security expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said, « We need to make clear that there will be consequences for cyber-attacks and that the Wild West days are coming to an end. » Two weeks ago, it was widely reported that U.S. prosecutors were preparing an indictment against Iranian hackers related solely to the dam attack.
The broader indictment would come at a time of reduced tensions between the United States and Iran after a landmark 2015 nuclear deal. At the same time, the Obama administration has shown a willingness to confront Tehran for bad behavior.Charging the Iranian hackers would be the highest-profile move of its type by the Obama administration since the Justice Department in 2014 accused five members of China’s People’s Liberation Army with hacking several Pennsylvania-based companies in an alleged effort to steal trade secrets.
‘WHEN, NOT IF’ U.S. national security professionals and cyber-security experts have grown increasingly worried about attacks on infrastructure including dams, power plants, factories and financial institutions.That concern has grown since a December cyber attack in the Ukraine caused a blackout that temporarily left 225,000 customers without power. Speaking at a cyber security conference earlier this month, National Security Agency chief Michael Rogers said it was a matter of « when, not if » another country launched a successful and destructive cyber attack on U.S. critical infrastructure like the one seen in Ukraine.Some experts have said the United States is less well-equipped to respond to a major infrastructure attack because systems are more connected and reliant on the Internet.The United States and Israel covertly sabotaged Iran’s nuclear program in 2009 and 2010 with the now-famous Stuxnet computer virus, which destroyed Iranian centrifuges that were enriching uranium.
Cruz gets Jeb Bush backing as Republican elites try to stop Trump U.S. presidential candidate Ted Cruz won the backing of former rival Jeb Bush on Wednesday as prominent Republicans overcome their aversion to the conservative senator to try to force a standoff with insurgent Donald Trump at their party’s convention in July. The endorsement by Bush, part of a Republican dynasty, is the latest sign of how keen the party’s establishment is to stop Trump, fearing that his rhetoric on illegal immigration and national security will cost the party votes at the Nov. 8 presidential election.Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, is a staunch social conservative and a divisive figure in the party due to his willingness to criticize the leadership and his prominent role in bringing about a 2013 government shutdown.But he is still seen by party grandees and many Republicans in Congress as preferable to Trump, a real-estate billionaire viewed as straying even further from party orthodoxy.
« Republicans across the spectrum are realizing that to nominate Donald Trump brings chaos to our party and potentially to our country, » U.S. Representative Trent Franks of Arizona told Reuters, « and that any differences they might have had with Ted Cruz are far less important than the danger of nominating Mr. Trump. » In his customary style, Trump took to social media to register his scorn, referring to the profligate spending by former Florida governor Bush’s well-funded campaign and associated political fund-raising groups.
« I think having Jeb’s endorsement hurts Lyin’ Ted, » ran a message on Trump’s Twitter account. « Jeb spent more than $150,000,000 and got nothing. I spent a fraction of that and am first! » Bush, who quit his campaign last month after a poor start to the primary season, sent a fund-raising email on Cruz’s behalf to his supporters, urging them to help « overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity » of Trump. Cruz won the Republican caucuses in Utah on Tuesday but time is running out for him to defeat Trump before the Republican convention in July, and for Republican establishment figures to reassert control of a party that is being wrested away from it by rank-and-file voters.
Cruz looked on track to win all of the 40 Republican delegates from Utah, although Trump won the 58 delegates up for grabs in Arizona, partly due to his tough message on illegal immigration.After Tuesday, Trump had 738 of the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination, according to The New York Times. Cruz had 463.
« WRONG AND UN-AMERICAN » On the Democratic side, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont won in two out of three states that voted for the party’s nominee on Tuesday, but this made only a small dent in the lead held by Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, who won Arizona.
President Barack Obama echoed his fellow Democrats on Wednesday by criticizing Cruz’s call to « carpet bomb » Islamic State and for renewed calls from Cruz and Trump to increase the surveillance of Muslims in the United States after Islamic State suicide bombers killed at least 31 people in Brussels. To target Muslims in this way « is not only wrong and un-American, » Obama said in a news conference in Argentina, « but it also would be counterproductive because it would reduce the strength, the antibodies that we have to resist the terrorism. » The Bush endorsement put pressure on Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is struggling in third place in the Republican race, to drop out.
« Kasich was viewed as the only establishment candidate left, » said U.S. Representative Matt Salmon of Arizona, a Cruz supporter. « With the quintessential establishment candidate now endorsing Cruz, it makes Kasich irrelevant. » People in Kasich’s campaign suggested the candidate was paying no more attention to party elites than voters were, saying he planned to survive to the convention and wrestle the nomination there.
In interviews, some Republican lawmakers and wealthy party donors worried a Bush endorsement was no longer a game-changer.U.S. Representative John Duncan of Tennessee said it would « make a miniscule difference at most. » Cruz remains undaunted, and added Bush’s name to a list of prominent Republicans who had belatedly rallied to his cause, including Mitt Romney, the party’s unsuccessful 2012 candidate. »Across the spectrum Republicans are uniting, » he told the crowd at a New York City campaign event.
Rise of Trump is ‘scary’, says France’s SarkozyDonald Trump is « scary » and his popularity in the United States is worrying, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday. »This man does not deserve as much attention as he gets. What is so scary is the impact he has, » the leader of France’s Republicans party said at an event in London. »It makes me shudder. It makes me shudder about the state of a part of the American heartland, » said Sarkozy, who led France between 2007 and 2012.
He criticised the « populism » and « vulgarity » of Trump’s campaign, which has been marked by controversial statements about Muslims, as the real estate mogul closes in on his Republican Party’s nomination for presidential candidate.Sarkozy’s time as president marked a warming of ties between Paris and Washington, after several years of chill under his predecessor.After a short period out of the limelight, the 61-year-old has his eyes on another run for the presidency in 2017, but faces corruption charges relating to influence peddling.
China’s economy had good start to 2016 – Premier Li China’s economy got off to a good and stable start in 2016, Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday, encouraging observers to consider the economy « as a whole. » Li was speaking at a forum in Boao on the southern Chinese island of Hainan.
He added that employment was stable, although different regions and industries showed different performances, but said that the country had policies in place to strengthen growth.He pointed out that consumption is growing at double-digit rates, and that there is more room to develop western and central regions in China.Li also noted that China has some deep-rooted problems and is seeing unavoidable but temporary adjustment pains as its economy restructures.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar rally batters commodities as Fed talks of tighteningThe dollar rose for a fifth straight session on Thursday, pressuring commodities and Asian share markets after yet another Federal Reserve official talked up the chances of more than one increase in U.S interest rates this year.
If the dollar can keep its footing it will notch up the first weekly gain in a month against a basket of major currencies.
The euro eased to $1.1175, leaving it well off last week’s top of $1.1342. Sterling also slid to $1.4109 on concerns the attacks in Brussels would aid the campaign to leave the European Union in June’s « Brexit » vote.Equity investors tend to dislike any hint of tighter U.S.policy and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4 percent.Japan’s Nikkei eased 0.4 percent, while the resource-heavy Australian market shed 1 percent.
On Wall Street the Dow ended Wednesday with a loss of 0.45 percent, while the S&P 500 eased 0.64 percent and the Nasdaq 1.1 percent.St. Louis Fed President James Bullard joined a chorus of officials in highlighting the risk of at least two rate hikes this year, with the first perhaps as soon as April.Markets imply only one increase and dealers suspect an orchestrated attempt by the Fed to shift that thinking.
« There is now some speculation on April, as Bullard adds to the relatively optimistic Fed rhetoric this week, » « The focus now turns to Fed Chair Yellen who will be speaking at the Economic Club of New York next Tuesday, which could give further clarity on the matter. » Yet for all the Fed’s chatter about multiple hikes, the market seemed far from convinced. Fed fund futures <0#FF:> imply almost zero chance of a move in April and a rate of just 61.5 basis points by year end. The current effective funds rate is 37 basis points. It was also notable that Treasury yields actually fell in response, with the 10-year back down at 1.88 percent from a high of 1.95 percent on Wednesday.
Still, the rise in the dollar sparked profit-taking in a range of commodities from oil to gold to copper.Oil took a further knock when data showed crude stockpiles had risen by three times the amount expected in the latest week.U.S. crude fell a further 22 cents to $39.57 a barrel, after sliding 4 percent on Wednesday. Brent lost 12 cents to $40.35.Gold was down at $1,222.60 an ounce, after hitting its lowest since Feb. 26 at $1,215.10.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Fed talk spurs dollar gains, energy weighs on stocks Global equity markets fell and the dollar advanced on Wednesday as hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials put investors on guard for the possibility of more U.S. interest rate hikes this year than currently anticipated.
The dollar was up 0.47 percent against a basket of major currencies, headed towards its first weekly gain in four weeks.Last week, U.S. central bank policymakers halved the number of rate hikes projected in 2016 to two, weakening expectations for a move at either the April or June policy meetings. Fed Chair Janet Yellen later told reporters « caution is appropriate » when it comes to raising rates. But in the past two days, several Fed officials have expressed views that suggest an appetite for more hikes regardless of the volatility that has been the hallmark of financial markets this year. »You can see the trade occurring, not necessarily that equities in and of themselves are worried about another quarter-point increase, but equities are worried about oil prices, » said Keith Bliss, senior vice-president at Cuttone & Co in New York.
« You see the relationship as the Fed makes noises about going ahead and raising again in April, that is going to give a boost to the dollar which had been selling off, therefore higher dollar prices drag down oil prices. » The stronger dollar also dampened demand for oil, while a report showing U.S. crude stockpiles soared to record highs for a sixth straight week, and triple what analysts had expected, rekindled worries of a glut and further pressured the commodity. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, who is not a voting member of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, said on Tuesday the central bank should consider another rate hike as early as next month. He is scheduled to speak again at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT) on Wednesday.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who is a voting member of the FOMC in 2016, said on Bloomberg TV on Wednesday he would like to see further stabilization in inflation expectations. The weakness in energy names also helped push stocks lower in the United States and Europe. The STOXX Europe 600 oil and gas index dropped 1.6 percent and the S&P energy index tumbled 2.1 percent.The FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading shares closed down 0.11 percent at 1,336.70. MSCI’s index of world shares lost 0.8 percent.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 79.78 points, or 0.45 percent, to 17,502.79, the S&P 500 lost 13.09 points, or 0.64 percent, to 2,036.71 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 52.80 points, or 1.1 percent, to 4,768.86.Brent crude settled down 3.2 percent at $40.47 a barrel and U.S. crude settled off 4 percent at $39.79.
Gold also weakened in the face of the stronger dollar, down 2.2 percent to $1,220.16 an ounce after hitting a low of $1,215.10, its lowest since Feb. 26.Britain’s pound slumped 0.7 percent to $1.4107 amid rising concerns that Tuesday’s attacks in Brussels would bolster the campaign for a vote to leave the European Union in June’s « Brexit » referendum.Benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were last up 15/32 in price to yield 1.8822 percent, down from 1.935 percent on Tuesday.
Man nested in Seattle’s landmark giant sequoia tree, draws coos, boosA man who nested in a giant sequoia tree in downtown Seattle, drew a flock of Twitter comments, with some cooing over #ManInTree and others condemning him for damaging the 80-foot-tall (24-meter-tall) city landmark before coming down on Wednesday.
Seattle police negotiated with the bearded man from the window of a Macy’s department store building some 30 feet (9 meters) from where he had been perched in the tree branches since Tuesday, said Officer Patrick Michaud.Michaud said the man « created himself a little seat, maybe even a nest up there at the top. » Police closed off a small, triangular city block at the base of the tree to protect the public from falling objects, including the man himself, who became a top trending topic.
« Has anyone tried sending a cat up to rescue him? I think they owe us one. #ManInTree, » tweeted @TheChrisAsbury on Wednesday. »I know #ManInTree is (still) causing a logistical nightmare for the City of Seattle but God love this man! » tweeted @carrielamarr.The man was first noticed atop the tree on Tuesday morning, and he spent the day throwing objects, including branches and sequoia seed cones, at police officers on the street below, Michaud said. He also claimed to be armed with a knife.Police used a fire department cherry picker to negotiate with him, but late in the day it was needed elsewhere and left.
A police statement said the man appeared to be going through a personal crisis. He was largely peaceful, Michaud added.By then, T-shirts emblazoned with « Remember the Tree » with the date that the tree-sitting began were being snapped up online. (https://teespring.com/rememberthetree) A live feed streamed by local broadcaster KOMO News showed spectators videotaping the man as he lounged in his nest, sporting an outfit of khaki pants, a checked hoodie and a red beanie hat.Some shouted at the man and accused him of vandalizing the tree that was planted in 1973 and, according to the Seattle Government Department of Transportation’s SDOT Blog, was once 100 feet (30 meters) tall before being damaged by a storm several years ago.
(World news compiled by Maghreb news staff)