Libyan forces lose 10 men in clashes with Islamic State near Sirte

Libyan forces lose 10 men in clashes with Islamic State near Sirte Libyan brigades aligned with a new U.N.-backed government in Tripoli lost 10 men and had another 40 wounded in fighting close to the Islamic State stronghold of Sirte on Wednesday, a hospital spokesman said.

The brigades, mostly composed of fighters from the western city of Misrata, have advanced to the outskirts of Sirte over the past week and say they intend to recapture the city.

On Wednesday they had gained ground south of the city, and at a power station west of Sirte, according to statements posted on their social media accounts. They said they had faced four suicide car bombings, two of which had exploded before reaching their targets. Western states are hoping the United Nations-backed government, which arrived in Tripoli in March, can bring together Libya’s competing factions to defeat Islamic State.

The extremist group established a foothold in Libya amid political chaos and conflict in the North African state, gaining control over Sirte last year. Earlier this week a separate force that guards key oil terminals east of Sirte also advanced towards the city, taking control of two small towns previously controlled by Islamic State.

In Sirte itself, a resident told Reuters that a senior cleric had toured the streets on Tuesday urging people to stay in the city and fight. Most of Sirte’s population of about 80,000 is thought to have fled, and the government-backed brigades have said they want to give those residents who remain a chance to escape before advancing into residential areas. The brigades had already seen 75 of their fighters killed and more than 350 wounded before the latest casualties.

Drowned migrant baby was probably Somali -Italian police A dead baby plucked out of the sea whose picture caused international outrage this week was probably a six-month-old Somali boy whose mother most likely died in the same shipwreck, Italian authorities said on Wednesday.

Like the photograph of the three-year-old Syrian boy Aylan lying lifeless on a Turkish beach last year, the image put a human face on the more than 9,000 people who have died in the Mediterranean since the start of 2014. The baby was pulled from the sea last Friday by a German rescuer working for humanitarian organisation Sea-Watch after a wooden boat carrying more than 400 migrants capsized and sank 58 km (36 miles) off the Libyan coast.

Sea-Watch handed the boy’s body over to the crew of an Italian navy ship, the Vega which brought 135 survivors and 45 bodies recovered after the shipwreck to the port city of Reggio Calabria on Sunday, including those of three small children.

Sea-Watch said it had distributed the photograph of the baby because it wanted to persuade European authorities to ensure safe passage to migrants after at least 700 were feared to have drowned in three shipwrecks in the Mediterranean last week.

The baby in the photograph « was identified by a relative, an uncle, who was among the survivors, » a Reggio Calabria prosecutor told Reuters. The Somali boy’s initials are ML, but the prosecutor declined to release his name because he was a minor.

The other two dead children were a two-year-old boy who was not identified and an eight-month-old Somali girl whose mother was among the dead. Of the 45 bodies brought to port, 28 have so far been identified, the prosecutor said.

Police arrested two survivors of the shipwreck, a Syrian and a Moroccan, suspected of people smuggling.

A third man, from Sudan, thought to have been the captain of the vessel, drowned, the migrants told police. The severely overcrowded wooden fishing boat described by survivors as « old, decrepit, un-seaworthy » and carrying no life jackets or floatation devices, left late last Thursday from Sabratha, Libya, police said.A leak developed in the hull and from there « water poured in and the vessel sank, leaving no escape for any of the many migrants below deck, nor for those unable to swim, » the police statement said.

Islamic State faces major assaults on two fronts in Iraq, Syria Islamic State insurgents faced major assaults on two fronts in both Iraq and Syria on Wednesday in what could prove to be some of the biggest operations to roll back their caliphate since they proclaimed it in 2014.

In Syria, U.S.-backed militia with thousands of Arab and Kurdish fighters were reported to have captured villages near the strategically-important Turkish border after launching a major operation to cut off Islamic State’s last access route to the outside world. In Iraq, Prime Minister Haider Abadi ordered his troops to slow an advance at the gates of Falluja, Islamic State’s closest redoubt to the capital Baghdad, to limit harm to civilians, two days after the army poured into rural areas on the city’s outskirts.

Both operations are unfolding with the support of a U.S.-led coalition that has been targeting the ultra-hardline Sunni Muslim militants, who proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all Muslims from territory in the two neighbouring countries.

The Syrian operation includes American special forces operating in advisory roles on the ground. In Iraq, the U.S.-led coalition has provided air support to government forces who are also assisted by Iranian-backed Shi’ite militia.

While there is no indication that the two advances were deliberately timed to coincide, they show how a variety of enemies of Islamic State have been mobilising in recent months in what Washington and other world powers hope will be a decisive year of battle to destroy the group’s pseudo-state.

« LAST FUNNEL » The Syrian operation, which began on Tuesday after weeks of preparations, aims to drive Islamic State from the last stretch of the frontier with Turkey it controls.

« It’s significant in that it’s their last remaining funnel » to Europe, a U.S. military official told Reuters. Islamic State has used the border for years to receive material and recruits from the outside world, and, more recently, to send militants back to Europe to carry out attacks.

An 80-km stretch of terrain north of the town of Manbij is the only part of the Turkish frontier still accessible to the militants after advances by Kurdish fighters and President Bashar al-Assad’s government elsewhere.

A small number of U.S. special operations forces will support the push on the ground to capture the « Manbij pocket », acting as advisers some distance back from the front lines, U.S.

officials said, discussing the plans on condition of anonymity.

« They’ll be as close as they need to be for the (Syrian fighters) to complete the operation. But they will not engage in direct combat, » the first official said.

The operation will also count on air power from the U.S.-led coalition, which pounded Islamic State positions near Manbij with 18 strikes on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group that reports on the conflict there with a network of sources on the ground, said Islamic State had been pushed out of 16 villages near Manbij. U.S.-led air strikes in support of the ground operation had killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the last 24 hours, the Observatory said.

The assault is being carried out by an alliance known as the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which is composed of a powerful Kurdish militia called the YPG, and Arab combatants that have allied themselves with it.

The group, set up last year, is the main ground force to receive U.S. backing in Syria, where Washington opposes Assad’s government and has had difficulty finding capable allies on the ground in the past.

U.S. officials stressed that most of the fighting near Manbij would be carried out by Arabs, an emphasis apparently aimed at Turkey, which considers the Kurdish YPG to be foes.

« After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying … So you’ll have Syrian Arabs occupying traditional Syrian Arab land, » the first U.S. official said.

However, the Observatory described much of the fighting so far as carried out by Kurds.

The operation is taking place ahead of an eventual push by the U.S.-backed Syrian forces toward Raqqa, Islamic State’s de facto Syrian capital, which, alongside Iraq’s northern city of Mosul is one of two main objectives to bring down the caliphate.

U.S. President Barack Obama has authorised about 300 U.S.

special operations forces to operate on the ground inside Syria to help coordinate with local forces. In a reminder of the risks, one U.S. service member was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said.

A five-year-long, multi-sided civil war in Syria, in which global powers back enemy sides, has made it impossible to coordinate a single campaign against Islamic State there.

The U.S.-backed advance comes some weeks after Assad government troops, with Russian and Iranian support, recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Islamic State.

FALLUJA PAUSE In Iraq, where Abadi’s Shi’ite-led government enjoys military backing both from the United States and Washington’s regional adversary Iran, the decision to pause at the gates of Falluja postpones for now what is expected to be one of the biggest battles ever fought against Islamic State.

« It would have been possible to end the battle quickly if protecting civilians wasn’t among our priorities, » Abadi told military commanders at the operations room near the front line in footage broadcast on state television. « Thank God, our units are at the outskirts of Falluja and victory is within reach. » Falluja has been a bastion of the Sunni Muslim insurgency against both the Shi’ite-led Baghdad government and U.S. troops, who fought the biggest battles of their 2003-2011 occupation there. Islamic State fighters, also known as ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, raised their flag in the city in 2014 before sweeping through Iraq’s north and west.

Abadi first announced plans to assault Falluja 10 days ago.

But with 50,000 civilians still believed trapped inside the city, the United Nations has warned that militants are holding hundreds of families in the centre as human shields.

After heavy resistance from Islamic State, the troops have not moved over the past 48 hours, keeping positions in Falluja’s mainly rural southern suburb of Naimiya, according to a Reuters TV crew reporting from the area.

Explosions from shelling and air strikes as well as heavy gunfire could be heard on Wednesday morning in the city that lies 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad.

Falluja is the second-largest Iraqi city still under control of the Sunni militants after Mosul. Abadi’s initial decision to assault Falluja seems to have gone against the plans of his U.S.

allies, who would prefer the government concentrate on Mosul.

« You do not need Falluja in order to get Mosul, » a spokesman for a U.S.-led anti-IS coalition, U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, said in a phone interview 10 days ago when the government first announced its plans to recapture Falluja.

However, Falluja is Islamic State’s closest bastion to Baghdad and is believed to be the base from which militants have staged a campaign of suicide bombings in the capital, increasing pressure on Abadi to act to improve security.

FLEEING CIVILIANS SCREENED Although most of Falluja’s population is believed to have fled during six months of siege, 50,000 people are still thought to be trapped inside with little food.

« The city is inaccessible for assistance and market distribution systems remain offline, » the United Nations’ World Food Programme said. « The only food available does not come from the markets, but from the stocks that some families still have in their homes. » The military has been detaining men and boys older than 12 who leave the city, to screen them for Islamic State fighters.

« Don’t treat us like we are Daesh, » said 54-year-old Mahdi Fayyadh, among hundreds of families who escaped the city and were now taking shelter in a school.

Fayyadh, who lost a leg to diabetes while under Islamic State’s rule due to a lack of medication, said he fled the city with 11 family members after the assault began. Relatives helped him walk on crutches until they reached army lines, when the other men in the group were taken away.

« I already lost a leg, » Fayyadh said, a battered pair of crutches leaning against his shoulder. « I ask all the good people to not treat us like they (the militants) treated us. » U.S. officials caution that territorial gains will not spell the end of Islamic State, which has established itself outside of its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria, spreading to Libya, Afghanistan and beyond. »It would be premature to say that the gains in Syria, even if they’re sustained, will spell defeat for ISIL, any more than the pummelling of al Qaeda in Pakistan has meant the end of that group, » said one of the U.S. officials.

U.S.-backed forces open major front in Syria war Thousands of U.S.-backed fighters opened a major new front in Syria’s war, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base and appearing to make swift initial battlefield advances.

The operation, which began on Tuesday after weeks of quiet preparations, aims to choke off the group’s access to Syrian land along the Turkish border that the militants have long used to move foreign fighters back and forth to Europe. « It’s significant in that it’s their last remaining funnel » to Europe, a U.S. military official told Reuters, which was first to report the offensive.A small number of U.S. special operations forces will support the push on the ground to capture the « Manbij pocket » of territory, acting as advisers and staying back from the front lines, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military planning.

« They’ll be as close as they need to be for the (Syrian fighters) to complete the operation. But they will not engage in direct combat, » the official said.

The operation will also count on air power from the U.S.-led coalition, which pounded Islamic State positions near Manbij with 18 strikes on Tuesday, including six militant tactical units, two headquarters facilities and a training base.

A Kurdish source, speaking on condition of anonymity, predicted the Syrian militias would reach Islamic State-held Manbij within days, after advancing to within 10 km (6 miles) of the town. It was too early to say how the battle for Manbij would go, the source said, but added that Islamic State defences stationed on the west bank of the Euphrates River had collapsed at the start of the campaign.

ASSAULT Driving Islamic State from its last remaining foothold at the Turkish border has been a top priority of the U.S.-led campaign against the group. The group controls about 80 km (50 miles) of the frontier stretching west from Jarablus. Still, some U.S. military and intelligence officers caution that Islamic State has proved adaptable, willing to change tactics.In Iraq, for example, the Sunni extremist group has countered some territorial and other losses by staging attacks in Baghdad, the seat of the country’s Shiite-led government.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-led air strikes in support of the ground operation killed 15 civilians including three children near Manbij in the past 24 hours. The Observatory’s reporting is based on an activist network in Syria.

It said the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance, which is conducting the assault to capture the Manbij pocket, had taken 16 villages and was 15 km (9 miles) from Manbij town itself.

The U.S. officials said earlier the operation would be overwhelmingly comprised of Syrian Arabs instead of forces with the Kurdish YPG militia, who will only represent about a fifth or a sixth of the overall force.

That is seen as important to NATO member Turkey, which has opposed any further expansion of Syrian Kurdish sway at the frontier.

Ankara sees the Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters, who already control an uninterrupted 400-km (250-mile) stretch of the border, as terrorists and has been enraged by U.S. backing for the militia in its battle with Islamic State in Syria.

But the Observatory said the Kurdish YPG militia made up the majority of the fighters taking part in the SDF assault.

SDF and YPG officials could not immediately be reached for comment. The U.S. officials told Reuters the YPG would only fight to help clear Islamic State from the area around Manbij. Syrian Arab fighters would be the ones to stabilise and secure it once Islamic State is gone, according to the operational plans. »After they take Manbij, the agreement is the YPG will not be staying. … So you’ll have Syrian Arabs occupying traditional Syrian Arab land, » the official said.

TURKISH SENSITIVITIES A U.S. official said Turkey supported the operation, but another clarified it was not expected to directly participate militarily. A Turkish military source said Ankara had been informed by Washington about the operation but could not contribute to it because of the involvement of Kurdish YPG militia fighters and because it was beyond the range of artillery stationed in Turkey.

Still, Turkey has been shelling Islamic State positions in northern Syria by firing across the border in recent weeks.The operation precedes an eventual push by U.S.-backed Syrian forces toward the city of Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria and the prime objective in Syria for U.S.military planners.

The U.S. military official said depriving Islamic State of the Manbij pocket would help isolate the militants and further undermine their ability to funnel supplies to Raqqa. U.S. President Barack Obama has authorised about 300 U.S.special operations forces to operate on the ground from secret locations inside Syria to help coordinate with local forces to battle Islamic State.

One U.S. service member was injured north of Raqqa over the weekend, the Pentagon said. The YPG has been the most effective ally on the ground for U.S.-led air strikes against Islamic State, and last year captured large areas from it in Hasaka province.

The United States hopes that success will draw more and more recruits from Arab populations in Syria to battle the militants and reclaim territory from it. U.S. officials caution that territorial gains would not spell the end of Islamic State, which has « metastasized » and established itself outside of its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria, spreading to Libya, Afghanistan and beyond.

« It would be premature to say that the gains in Syria, even if they’re sustained, will spell defeat for ISIL, any more than the pummelling of al-Qaeda in Pakistan has meant the end of that group, » said one official, using an acronym for the group. »They aren’t nations that will surrender, » the official added, saying the ideas driving them were far « harder to kill. »

Syrian opposition wants clarity over attacks by U.S.-backed force The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces have attacked armed groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad and sometimes appear to have interests aligned with the Syrian government, a Syrian opposition negotiator said on Wednesday.

Basma Kodmani, a member of the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition group at U.N.-mediated peace talks, told reporters that the HNC wanted clarity on the objectives of the SDF. She said the concerns included « how they are viewed by the local population, what they stand for politically, and also because they have so far attacked some of the Free Syrian Army groups and the areas under their control ».

The SDF is an umbrella group of fighters from the Kurdish YPG militia and Syrian Arab groups, some of which fought alongside it in a campaign that drove Islamic State from wide areas of northern Syria last year.

NATO member Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency for autonomy in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast. Washington considers the PKK terrorists but backs the Syrian Kurdish militia in the fight against Islamic State.

Last week Turkey’s foreign minister called the United States « two-faced » for refusing to call the YPG terrorists, after photos emerged purportedly showing U.S. Special Forces wearing YPG emblems on their shoulders.

The SDF fighters have opened a major new front in Syria’s war, launching an offensive to drive Islamic State out of a swathe of northern Syria it uses as a logistics base, and were reported on Wednesday to be making swift progress.

A senior western diplomat said that the SDF was made up of almost 90 percent Kurdish fighters and that Arab representation was more symbolic and within the SDF’s Political echelons.

« The big concern here is that if the Kurds are deemed to be launching the offensive on (the Islamic State stronghold) Raqqa then it could open a new civil war between the two communities. » He added that the U.S. stance of openly backing the YPG but being ambiguous in military support of HNC-backed armed groups was muddying the waters and adding to the opposition’s apprehension towards the U.S. administration.

« We have a player here who is not clear at all on what they stand for, what they want, what their ultimate agenda is. None of this is clear to us, » Kodmani said. « This creates a lot of discomfort, at least with them, and sometimes outright hostility because they themselves are in a position of aggressing the Free Syrian Army and working either directly with regime forces or to the benefit of regime forces. »They have indeed on some fronts been working in exactly the same direction as the regime, unfortunately. » Asked if the problem had been discussed with the United States, Kodmani said: « It is under discussion with any country that can clarify this position, definitely. »

Syrian opposition proposes nationwide Ramadan truce Syria’s main opposition has proposed a nationwide Ramadan truce, opposition delegate Basma Kodmani said on Wednesday. The proposal was made in a letter from Riad Hijab, the coordinator of the opposition High Negotiations Committee, to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Kodmani said.

« The letter to Ban Ki-moon suggests a truce, we know there should be one, full respect of the truce across the country, nationwide, for the full month of Ramadan, » she said. « Ramadan being next week, that would start creating the right conditions, the right atmosphere, for us to return to (peace talks in) Geneva. This is the intention of the HNC. » Kodmani said opposition armed groups were backing the proposal, which would revive the « cessation of hostilities » that began at the end of February and applied to all groups except for Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

« If the regime abides by it, the opposition and the armed groups will do so as well, » she said.

A spokeswoman for Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. diplomat mediating the peace talks, confirmed that the proposal had been put to the International Syrian Support Group, the group of countries led by the United States and Russia which is overseeing the peace process.

« We are aware of this proposal, which is also being discussed between the co-chairs of the ISSG in the larger framework of consolidating the cessation of hostilities, » she said.

« Any consideration to de-escalate the fighting on the ground is most welcome, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan. » U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing that the United States believes any cease-fire is a good thing, but Washington would like to see the cease-fires become « longer and larger. » « What we really want to see happen, the best thing that can happen for the Syrian people, is an enduring nationwide cessation of hostilities, » Kirby said.

De Mistura has said he wants to see improvement in humanitarian aid access and a lessening of the violence before launching a new round of peace talks. On Wednesday, U.N. aid convoys entered the besieged towns of Daraya and Mouadamiya. Kodmani said that was a first step but much more needed to be done, and the international community should keep the pressure on the government of President Bashar al-Assad. »There is no indication that there is a true move towards loosening the sieges and allowing an end to the starvation strategy. That’s what we need to see, » she said

Syria’s besieged Daraya gets its first aid since 2012, but no food The besieged Syrian town of Daraya, a rebel-held suburb of Damascus where President Bashar al-Assad has refused to allow aid to starving Syrians, got its first U.N. aid convoy since 2012 on Wednesday.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said it had coordinated a 48-hour local ceasefire, a « regime of calm », with the Syrian authorities and with the United States « to secure delivery of humanitarian aid to the population ».

Syrian opposition negotiator Basma Kodmani said the aid to Daraya and nearby Mouadamiya, another besieged zone, was only a first step that had come about as a result of extreme international pressure on the Syrian government, and substantial change was still needed.

« The first lesson is that pressure and ultimatums are the only way we get the regime to hear anything, » she said. « We will obviously not be content with one convoy as happened today. » The trucks got through on the day when the Syrian government faced a deadline to admit aid by road or risk having air drops imposed by the countries of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), which includes Syria’s ally Russia.

« If we don’t see substantial change, then we definitely are waiting for those air drops to happen as a sign of the seriousness and the commitment of the international community, » Kodmani said.

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Syria’s government had « cynically allowed limited amounts of aid » into the two besieged areas but failed to deliver the widespread humanitarian access called for by the international community.

« While air drops are complex, costly and risky, they are now the last resort to relieve human suffering across many besieged areas, » he said in a statement. « Countries with influence over the Assad regime such as Russia and Iran must now ensure that these air operations can proceed in a safe and secure manner. » The aid to Daraya contained medical supplies, vaccines, baby milk and nutrition items, but no food.

Jakob Kern, the World Food Programme director in Syria, said the government had not allowed food in the first delivery, but another convoy with food was planned for Friday, and he expected the fighting would be suspended again to allow that aid in.

The United Nations has previously warned that children could die of starvation because of the « horrendously critical » situation in Daraya, Mouadamiya, and a third area, al Waer, which did not receive any aid on Wednesday.

Kern said there was some movement on food for al Waer, but he did not yet have details. He said it was too soon to say if there was an overall breakthrough on aid access.

The U.N. estimates 4,000 civilians are still in Daraya, which is close to a large air base and has been besieged and regularly bombed since 2012.

Some 45,000 people are in Mouadamiya , but government employees are now allowed to go in and out and the siege is « partially over », with a local truce, Kern said.

Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. mediator of Syria peace talks, has said he wants to see improved humanitarian access, as well as a renewed lull in the fighting, before announcing a date for a new round of peace talks in Geneva.

The ISSG humanitarian taskforce will meet on Thursday to review progress on getting aid to more than a million needy people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas. Kodmani said they should not be fooled by the Syrian government allowing in one convoy « to defuse the pressure ».

« If it is going to become tit-for-tat, a convoy for a date, this is not going to work, » she said.

A return to peace talks, after a last round which ended on April 28 amid a spiral of violence, was likely if the international community kept up the pressure on Assad’s government, she said.

The opposition High Negotiations Committee has proposed a nationwide truce during the month of Ramadan, which would restore the « cessation of hostilities » that prevailed for two months from the end of February.

U.N. chief recommends adding 2,500 peacekeepers to Mali mission United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Security Council to add just over 2,500 peacekeepers to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, which has been hit by a series of deadly attacks, according to a new U.N. report.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack a day earlier on two U.N. sites in northern Mali where a peacekeeper from China and three civilians were killed and over a dozen others wounded.

Ban’s report to the 15-nation Security Council, issued on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Wednesday, calls for increasing the maximum number of U.N. soldiers in Mali by 2,049 personnel, which would raise the force’s authorized strength to 13,289.The report said the additional troops should bring capabilities such as intelligence gathering and surveillance, explosive disposal and protecting supply convoys.

Ban also called for adding 480 U.N. police, which would raise the ceiling for police in the U.N. mission, known as MINUSMA, to 1,920 personnel.

This would enable MINUSMA police to boost training and advisory capacities while « supporting the establishment of transnational organized crime and counterterrorism units in Gao, Mopti and Timbuktu, » Ban’s report said.

« It remains critical that MINUSMA urgently address outstanding gaps in force requirements, enhance its capabilities, including intelligence and use of technologies and continue to adjust its posture to be responsive to the deteriorating security situation, » Ban said. The Security Council is scheduled to extend the MINUSMA mandate later this month. French Ambassador Francois Delattre, council president this month, told reporters France was studying Ban’s proposals.

Within the MINUSMA police, Ban called for the establishment of a « special intervention team » in the country’s capital Bamako, and the addition of water police capabilities to protect civilians and help Malian security forces combat transnational organized crime on the Niger river.

Ban said in a statement on Wednesday that recent attacks have killed 12 peacekeepers in Mali.

The Security Council visited Mali in March to push implementation of a fragile peace deal aimed at ending a cycle of internal uprisings and allowing the government to combat the growing threat of Islamist militants. French forces intervened in 2013 to drive back Islamist fighters that hijacked the Tuareg uprising to seize Mali’s desert north in 2012.A U.N. peacekeeping mission was then deployed. But the militants have since reorganized and launched a wave of attacks against security forces, peacekeepers and civilian targets and have threatened neighboring countries.

Al Qaeda says conducted Mali raid that killed China peacekeeper  Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack on two United Nations’ sites in northern Mali where a peacekeeper from China and three civilians were killed and over a dozen others wounded.

China’s Foreign Ministry said four of its peacekeepers were injured and called for an investigation into the attack late on Tuesday on the base in the town of Gao. The country said it has 2,400 peacekeepers stationed in Africa.

Two Malian security guards and a French expert were killed in a later attack carried out with light arms on the U.N.anti-mining operation (UNMAS) in a different neighbourhood of Gao, the U.N. peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) and U.N.headquarters said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was « outraged by the terrorist attacks carried out yesterday in Gao, » his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

He said recent attacks have killed 12 peacekeepers in Mali, adding that Ban would submit proposals to the Security Council in the coming days on strengthening MINUSMA’s « posture and capabilities. » « He reiterates the long-standing demand to ensure that MINUSMA forces are adequately equipped to operate in a dangerous and unpredictable environment such as Mali, » Dujarric said.

The 15-nation Security Council also condemned the attack and urged the government to investigate it and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mali’s government and separatists signed a peace accord last year but it has not stopped periodic violence in northern Mali by Islamist militants who have also staged a series of high profile assaults in Burkina Faso, Mali and Ivory Coast.

AQIM said on social media its al-Mourabitoun division fought « crusader occupation forces » in Gao on Wednesday, according to SITE Intelligence Group, a monitoring firm.

MINUSMA confirmed the death toll and said three peacekeepers and 10 civilians had been injured in the rocket or mortar attack. Its head, Mahamat Saleh Annadif, called on the government to ensure those responsible were brought to justice.

The double assault occurred just days after five U.N.peacekeepers were killed and one injured in an ambush on a convoy in central Mali. In a separate incident on Tuesday, attackers killed three police officers at a station seven kilometres (four miles) from the border of Mali and set the building ablaze, Burkina Faso’s Interior Minister Simon Compaore said after a cabinet meeting.Mali’s peacekeeping mission was started in April 2013 after Tuareg separatists and Islamic militants began a rebellion in the desert north.

Algerian troops kill eight Islamist fighters – defence ministr Algeria said on Wednesday its troops had killed eight Islamist militants and seized weapons during an operation 350 km (220 miles) east of the capital Algiers. Militant attacks are rare since Algeria emerged from its 1990s war with armed Islamists, but small groups of fighters allied to al Qaeda’s North Africa branch are active in remote areas.The eight militants were killed when troops ambushed them late on Tuesday near the town of Guelta Zarka in the eastern province of Setif, the defence ministry said.More than 200,000 people died in Algeria’s civil war with armed Islamists in the 1990s, which ended with an amnesty deal with several groups of fighters

Newly built Austrian refugee shelter set on fire A building in northern Austria that was due to house dozens of asylum seekers was deliberately set on fire, the Red Cross said on Wednesday, a relatively rare attack on a refugee centre in a country that has taken in many migrants.

The new wooden building in the town of Altenfelden, near Austria’s borders with Germany and the Czech Republic, caught fire overnight. The Red Cross, which owns the building, later said arson was the cause.

« It was a shock for us, » Red Cross spokesman Stefan Neubauer said, adding that 48 people had been due to move into the building in two weeks’ time. « It was an act of vandalism with which we have not been confronted yet. » Wooden buildings are being used as a cheaper form of accommodation in Austria, which last year took in 90,000 asylum seekers, more than 1 percent of its population, and has scrambled to house them in decent conditions.

Police said two fire sources had been found at the building’s external walls, adding that arson was the presumed cause of the blaze.

Austria’s Interior Ministry said an investigation was under way and referred to a report last month showing a rise in far-right crimes in 2015.

« There can be no tolerance for extremist criminal acts, » Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka said in a statement.

« Violence against those seeking protection is not the solution and is a breeding ground for radicalisation. » Europe’s migration crisis has heightened public concerns about security and jobs, fuelling a rise in support for far-right parties in Austria, Germany and other European countries.Despite the growing popularity in Austria of the anti-immigration Freedom Party, whose presidential candidate Norbert Hofer narrowly lost a run-off election last week, violent attacks on centres for new immigrants are rare.

« We want to build a new house on the same site, » Neubauer said, estimating the damage at 300,000 euros ($335,190).

Germany braces for Turkish backlash to Armenian genocide vote The German parliament will approve a symbolic resolution on Thursday that declares the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a « genocide », a move that risks aggravating tensions with Turkey at a sensitive time for Berlin and its European partners.

Turkey rejects the idea that the killings of up to 1.5 million Christian Armenians during World War One amounted to a genocide and has warned German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the run-up to the Bundestag vote that it will damage bilateral ties. The timing could not be more awkward for Merkel, who has staked her political future on a deal with Turkey under which Ankara has agreed to stem the flow of refugees to Europe in exchange for cash, visa-free travel rights and accelerated talks on European Union membership. After repeated delays over the past year, Merkel is powerless to stop the resolution, which has been championed by the opposition Greens party and is also supported by lawmakers from her conservative bloc and the centre-left Social Democrats.

Berlin is expecting a backlash from Ankara. Last year, when neighbouring Austria passed a similar declaration, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Vienna and warned of « permanent negative effects » on relations.

But German officials hope the vote will not undermine the migrant deal between the EU and Turkey, which has been under a cloud since Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan pushed out his prime minister last month and began questioning parts of the agreement.

« We can only hope this doesn’t lead to an over-reaction from the Turkish side, » said Franz Josef Jung, a senior lawmaker in Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

« YES, GENOCIDE » « Despite some of his rhetoric, we believe Erdogan has a strong interest in making the migrants deal work and will not allow this to get in the way, » added a German official close to Merkel who requested anonymity. Merkel will not be in the Bundestag for the vote due to public appointments, a spokeswoman said.The resolution uses the word « genocide » in the headline and text. It also acknowledges that the German Empire, then a military ally of the Ottomans, did nothing to stop the killings.

« The fate of the Armenians is exemplary in the history of mass exterminations, ethnic cleansing, deportations and yes, genocide, which marked the 20th century in such a terrible way, » the resolution reads.

More than 20 other countries, including France, have passed similar resolutions in past years, infuriating Turkey, which accepts that many Armenians were massacred in 1915 but denies there was any organised campaign to wipe them out. Over a thousand Turks demonstrated against the resolution on Saturday in front of the Reichstag building in Berlin and some German lawmakers say they have been bombarded with hate mail and insults on social media for supporting the motion.

COLUMN-With Washington looking the other way, Iran fills a void in Iraq (Mohamad Bazzi is a journalism professor at New York University and former Middle East bureau chief at Newsday. He is writing a book on the proxy wars between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The opinions expressed are his own.) By Mohamad Bazzi June 1 (Reuters) – On May 30, Iraqi special forces stormed the southern edge of Falluja under U.S. air cover, launching a new assault to recapture one of the last major Iraqi cities under the control of Islamic State militants.

Iraq’s elite forces who are leading the fight have been trained by U.S. advisers, but many others on the battlefield were trained or supplied by Iran. It’s the latest example of how Washington has looked the other way as Iran deepened its military involvement in Iraq over the past two years.

In recent weeks, thousands of Iraqi soldiers and Shi’ite militia members supported by Iran assembled on the outskirts of Falluja for the expected attack on the Sunni city. In the lead-up to the assault, General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the special operations branch of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, met with leaders of the Iraqi coalition of Shi’ite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.

Sunni politicians in Iraq condemned the involvement of Soleimani and other Iranian advisers in the battlefield preparations, saying it could fuel sectarian tension and unleash a new round of Sunni-Shi’ite bloodletting. They also cast doubt on the Iraqi government’s assurances that the offensive is purely an Iraqi-led effort to defeat Islamic State. « Soleimani’s presence is cause for concern, » said an Iraqi member of parliament from Falluja. « He is absolutely not welcome in the area. » Leaders of the Shi’ite militias have pledged that they will not take part in the main offensive on the city, and will instead help secure nearby towns and lay siege to Islamic State fighters. But the battle over Falluja highlights Iran’s growing military and political influence over Iraq, a country wracked by a complex civil war that leaves it open to outside manipulation.

If there is one regional player that gained the most from America’s gamble in Iraq, it is Iran. With its invasion in 2003, the United States ousted Tehran’s sworn enemy, Saddam Hussein, from power. Then Washington helped install a Shi’ite government for the first time in Iraq’s modern history. As U.S. troops became mired in fighting an insurgency and containing a civil war, Iran extended its influence over all of Iraq’s major Shi’ite factions.

Today, the Iranian regime is comfortable taking a lead role in shaping the military operations of its Iraqi allies. There is no one to restrain Tehran, and the rise of Islamic State, which views Shi’ites as apostates, threatens the interests of Iran and all Iraqi Shi’ite factions.

The Iranian regime has several interests in its neighbor: Iraq provides strategic depth and a buffer against Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Arab states that are competing with Iran for dominance over the Persian Gulf. More broadly, Tehran wants to ensure that Iraq never again poses an existential threat to Iranian interests, as Hussein did when he invaded Iran in 1980, instigating the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that devastated both countries.

Hussein was supported by the Sunni Arab states and most Western powers. (The Shi’ites are the majority in Iraq, but since its independence from Britain in 1932, the country was ruled by the Sunni minority until the U.S. invasion in 2003.) Iran will do whatever is necessary to keep a friendly, Shi’ite-led government in power in Baghdad.

Iran has excelled at playing the long game, especially in Iraq. Tehran’s willingness to spread money to various proxies and factions gave it great agility in maneuvering through Iraqi politics. One diplomatic cable sent by the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Christopher Hill, to officials at the State Department in November 2009 estimated that Tehran’s financial assistance to its Iraqi surrogates ranged from $100 to $200 million a year.

The Islamic Republic was also willing to invest across sectarian lines: Iran « recognizes that influence in Iraq requires operational (and at times ideological) flexibility, » Hill wrote in his cable. « As a result, it is not uncommon for the IRIG [Islamic Republic of Iran Government] to finance and support competing Shia, Kurdish, and to some extent, Sunni entities, with the aim of developing the Iraqi body politic’s dependency on Tehran’s largesse. » Like some of Iraq’s other neighbors, Iran used its largesse to help fuel and prolong the Iraqi insurgency and civil war. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps financed, armed and trained numerous Shi’ite militias that targeted U.S. troops and Iraq’s Sunni community. The Iranians provided explosives, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other small arms. They also brought Iraqi militiamen to Iran to be trained in the use of explosives and as snipers.

After Islamic State militants swept through northern Iraq in June 2014, Tehran once again mobilized to protect the Shi’ite-led government from the Sunni militant threat. Soleimani traveled to Baghdad at the start of the crisis to coordinate the defense of the capital with Iraqi military officials. He also directed Iranian-trained Shi’ite militias – including the Badr Brigade and the League of the Righteous, two notorious militias responsible for widespread atrocities against Sunnis – in the fight against Islamic State. With a weakened and corrupt Iraqi military, the militias proved crucial in stopping the jihadists’ advance.

Since mid-2014, Tehran has provided tons of military equipment to the Iraqi security forces and has been secretly directing surveillance drones from an airbase in Baghdad. Iran has also sent hundreds of its Quds Force fighters to train Iraqi forces and coordinate their actions.

And Iran has paid a price for its deepening military involvement. In December 2014, a Revolutionary Guards commander, Brigadier General Hamid Taqavi, was killed by a sniper in the Iraqi city of Samarra while he was training Iraqi troops and Shi’ite militia fighters. Taqavi was the highest-ranking Iranian official to be killed in Iraq since the Iran-Iraq war. Thousands of Revolutionary Guards gathered for his funeral in Tehran, where Ali Shamkhani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told mourners: « If people like Taqavi do not shed their blood in Samarra, then we would shed our blood » within Iran.

For their part, Iraqi leaders argued that as long as the United States did not provide military assistance, they had no choice but to ask Iran for more help. « When Baghdad was threatened, the Iranians did not hesitate to help us, » Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, told a television interviewer in late 2014.

Although Abadi has signaled that he wants to be closer to the West, he needs the support of Iran and its Iraqi allies to keep his government in power. Without the Iranian-backed militias taking the lead in fighting over the past two years, the Iraqi government would not have recovered as much territory from the jihadists. Through a combination of funding, training for militias and political support, Iran will continue to extend its influence over the major Shi’ite groups in Iraq.

The United States and Iran now share common interests in defeating Islamic State and maintaining a stable regime in Baghdad that can transcend sectarian conflicts. While the Obama administration and Tehran are not coordinating directly in Iraq, they essentially have an undeclared alliance.Without committing far more U.S. troops and resources, there is little that Washington can do to counter Iranian power in Iraq. And Tehran will not hesitate to use its many levers of influence over Saddam Hussein’s former domain.

Archived U.S. State Dept briefing video deliberately cut Part of a U.S. State Department briefing video about secret U.S.-Iran nuclear talks was deliberately deleted at the request of an unknown official before it was posted to an online archive, the department said on Wednesday. The excised portion of the Dec. 2, 2013, briefing included a question about whether an earlier spokeswoman for the department had misled reporters about whether the United States was holding secret direct nuclear talks with Iran.

The State Department initially said it believed a « glitch » caused the gap but on Wednesday said an internal inquiry found it was a deliberate omission. However, it said no rules were broken because none existed governing the integrity of the briefing transcript and video. Rules are now being put in place. The inquiry was carried out by the department’s Office of the Legal Adviser at the request of State Department spokesman John Kirby, who is also assistant secretary of the department’s Bureau of Public Affairs.

« In so doing, they learned that a specific request was made to excise that portion of the briefing. We do not know who made the request to edit the video or why it was made, » Kirby told reporters at his daily briefing. The video editor who received the request by telephone « does not remember anything other than that the caller was passing on a request from someone else in the (Public Affairs) bureau, » Kirby added.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a U.S. State Department official said the editor discussed the request with her supervisor and concluded that it came from a « level of credibility and authority » high enough that they should act on the request.Kirby said the video had been replaced some time ago with a full version that was archived with the Defense Department. He said the transcript of the briefing had always been available online and had not been modified.

Saudi, Iran set to clash over OPEC oil output targets OPEC is set for another showdown between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran when it meets on Thursday, with Riyadh trying to revive coordinated action and set a formal oil output target but Tehran rejecting the idea.

Tensions between the Sunni-led kingdom and the Shia Islamic Republic have been the highlights of several previous OPEC meetings, including in December 2015 when the group failed to agree on a formal output target for the first time in years. Several OPEC sources said Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies would propose to set a new collective ceiling in an attempt to repair OPEC’s waning importance and end a market-share battle that has sapped prices and cut investment.

« The Gulf Cooperation Council is looking for coordinated action at the meeting, » a senior OPEC source said, referring to a group combining OPEC’s biggest producer Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Any agreement between Riyadh and Tehran would be seen as a big surprise by the market, which in the past two years has grown increasingly used to clashes between the political foes as they fight proxy wars in Syria and Yemen.

Saudi Arabia effectively scuppered plans for a global production freeze – aimed at stabilising oil markets – in April.

It said then that it would join the deal, which would also have involved non-OPEC Russia, only if Iran agreed to freeze output.

Tehran has been the main stumbling block for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to agree on output policy over the past year as the country boosted supplies despite calls from other members for a production freeze.

Tehran argues it should be allowed to raise production to levels seen before the imposition of now-ended Western sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran would not support any new collective output ceiling and wanted the debate to focus on the more radical idea of individual country production quotas. « An output ceiling has no benefit to us, » Zanganeh told reporters upon arriving in Vienna late on Wednesday and before seeing any fellow OPEC ministers.

COUNTRY QUOTAS New Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih was the first OPEC minister to arrive in Vienna this week, signalling he takes the organisation seriously despite fears among fellow members that Riyadh is no longer keen to have OPEC set output.

At its previous meeting in December 2015, OPEC failed to set any production policy including a formal output ceiling, effectively allowing its 13 members to pump at will in an already oversupplied market.

As a result, prices crashed to $27 per barrel in January, their lowest in over a decade, but have since recovered to around $50 due to global supply outages.

Those include declining output from U.S. shale producers badly hit by low prices but also forest fires in Canada, militant attacks on pipelines in OPEC member Nigeria and declining output in Venezuela, also a member of the group.

Until December 2015, OPEC had a ceiling of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) – in place since December 2011, although it effectively abandoned individual production quotas years ago.

OPEC currently produces around 32.5 million bpd. Any ceiling below that number would represent an effective cut.

« One of our main ideas (is) to have a country quota. But I don’t believe at this meeting we can reach agreement for this, » Zanganeh said, adding that Iran was producing 3.8 million bpd and would soon reach pre-sanctions levels of 4 million bpd.

Should OPEC fail to agree any policy on Thursday, it would again convince the market that its main members could try to raise supplies further to gain market share despite low prices. UAE Oil Minister Suhail bin Mohammed al-Mazroui said oil markets were still not close to rebalancing due to a severe glut and a further price correction was possible. The Venezuelan energy minister also warned that supply outages have propped up prices in recent months but a global oil glut might build up again when missing barrels return. »More than 3 million barrels are out of the market. When those circumstances are removed from the market, what’s going to happen? » Eulogio Del Pino told reporters in Vienna.

Gulf OPEC members seek to revive global oil output deal  Gulf OPEC members including Saudi Arabia are looking to revive the idea of coordinated oil-output action by major producers when the group meets on Thursday including by establishing a new output ceiling inside the group, OPEC sources said.

Saudi arch-rival and OPEC member Iran said the country was not yet ready for an output pact, but several OPEC sources said the atmosphere inside the group had improved and a compromise was possible. Any agreement between Riyadh and Tehran would be seen as a big surprise by the market, which in the past two years has grown increasingly used to clashes between the two political foes and a lack of OPEC decisions.

« The Gulf Cooperation Council is looking for coordinated action at the meeting, » a senior OPEC source said, referring to a group combining OPEC’s biggest producer Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.

Saudi Arabia effectively scuppered plans for a global production freeze – aimed at stabilising oil markets – in April.

It said then that it would join the deal, which would also have involved non-OPEC Russia, only if Iran agreed to freeze output.

Tehran has been the main stumbling block for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to agree on output policy over the past year as the country boosted supplies despite calls from other members for a production freeze.

Tehran argues it should be allowed to raise production to levels seen before the imposition of now-ended Western sanctions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

On Wednesday, Iran said its position had not changed and even though its exports were rising quickly it was too early for Tehran to join such a pact – meaning it would need an exemption, which Saudi Arabia has repeatedly resisted.

« Iran supports OPEC’s efforts to bring stability to the market with fair and logical prices, but it will not commit to any output freeze, » Iran’s representative to OPEC, Mehdi Asali, was quoted as saying by Iranian oil ministry news agency Shana.

« The issue of output rationing can be discussed after the market stabilises, » Asali said. Iranian officials had yet to arrive in Vienna.

OUTPUT CEILING At its previous meeting in December 2015, OPEC failed to set any production policy including a formal output ceiling, effectively allowing its 13 members to pump at will in an already oversupplied market.

As a result, prices crashed to $27 per barrel in January, their lowest in over a decade, but have since recovered to around $50 due to global supply outages.

Those include declining output from U.S. shale producers badly hit by low prices but also forest fires in Canada, militant attacks on pipelines in OPEC member Nigeria and declining output in Venezuela, also a member of the group.

On Wednesday, four OPEC sources said the group was likely to consider setting a new production ceiling.

Until December 2015, OPEC had a ceiling of 30 million barrels per day (bpd) – in place since December 2011.

OPEC currently produces around 32.5 million bpd. Any ceiling below that number would represent an effective production cut.

Three sources said the ceiling would need to be set substantially above 30 million bpd, but a final figure would likely require lengthy discussions.

« Even a 32 million bpd target would only ratify maximum production and not amount to a policy change. But it could be signalling surprise given the low expectations the market has for this meeting, » said Robert McNally, president of the Rapidan group.

Oil recouped intraday losses to trade flat near $50 a barrel on hopes of possible compromises at Thursday’s meeting.

The new Saudi energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, was due to meet fellow Gulf ministers later on Wednesday in a traditional gathering preceding OPEC.

Falih was the first OPEC minister to arrive in Vienna this week, signalling he is taking the organisation seriously despite fears among fellow members that Riyadh is no longer keen to have OPEC as an output-setting organisation.

Earlier on Wednesday, Falih met Venezuelan energy minister Eulogio Del Pino, who said in a statement that the two « agreed on the importance of OPEC as a major player in the oil market ».

He also warned that supply outages have propped up prices in recent months but a global oil glut might build up again when missing barrels return.

« More than 3 million barrels are out of the market. When those circumstances are removed from the market, what’s going to happen? » Del Pino told reporters in Vienna.

Sri Lanka to gradually ban house maids abroad amid abuses, social cost Sri Lanka will gradually stop sending house maids abroad, mainly to the Middle East, due to rights abuses, social costs and a local labour shortage, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said on Wednesday.Sri Lanka’s expatriate workers, mainly house maids and unskilled labourers, send back remittances – the island nation’s main foreign exchange earner – that help earn around $7 billion a year for the $82.2 billion economy.

Senaratne said President Maithripala Sirisena had appointed a committee to study strategies to reduce the numbers gradually and finally stop sending maids abroad.

« We want to discourage the house maids category in the foreign employment because the social cost is very high, » he told Reuters. Human rights abuses and social costs due to rapes, drug addiction and child abuse in many families of house maids, and labour shortage locally, have prompted the government to take such a decision, he said.

The total number of departures for foreign employment declined by 12.4 percent last year to 263,307, partly due to the slowdown of economic activities in the Middle East. Sri Lanka is already encouraging sending skilled male workers abroad instead of low-skilled females and house maids.

In 2013, around 1,650 Sri Lankan house maids complained of being physically and sexually abused by their employers mainly in the Middle East, the latest data from the Foreign Employment Bureau showed.

In 2013, the Saudis beheaded a young Sri Lankan housemaid for killing an infant left in her care, rejecting repeated appeals by the Indian Ocean island against her death sentence. Colombo recalled its ambassador from Riyadh in protest. After their Sri Lankan maid complained of too much work in 2010, a Saudi couple tortured her by hammering 24 nails into her hands, legs and forehead. The maid returned home.Last year, however, Saudi authorities reduced a Sri Lankan maid’s sentence for adultery from death by stoning to a three-year jail term after an appeal.

Obama says the Democratic nominee will be clear next week -PBS  President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he expected the winner of the Democratic presidential nominating race would be clear next week after Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders compete in races in California and New Jersey.

« I think that there has been a healthy debate in the Democratic Party, and it’s almost over, » Obama said during a town hall-style event broadcast by PBS. People will « probably have a pretty good sense next week, » of who the nominee will be, Obama said.

Clinton, a former U.S. secretary of state, is the front-runner in the Democratic race. Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, lags her in the number of delegates needed to wrap up the nomination. California and New Jersey, which both have large numbers of delegates up for grabs, hold their votes next Tuesday.

Obama has not endorsed either candidate in the Democratic race, though he has made clear his affection and admiration for Clinton, who was his opponent in the 2008 Democratic nominating race. Obama appointed Clinton as his secretary of state after winning the presidential election that year.

Obama slams Trump for promising to roll back Wall Street reforms U.S. President Barack Obama slammed Donald Trump’s proposal to weaken Wall Street reforms and touted his own economic record on Wednesday during a trip to a city he visited three weeks into his presidency that has recovered from its recession lows.

Obama’s remarks in Elkhart, Indiana, foreshadowed the arguments he is likely to make on the campaign trail this fall against the likely Republican presidential nominee. Obama did not mention Trump by name, but he lambasted the billionaire’s policy proposals, particularly his promise to dismantle most of the U.S. Dodd-Frank financial regulations.

« How it is that somebody would propose that we weaken regulations on Wall Street? Have we really forgotten what just happened eight years ago? » Obama said, sounding exasperated. « The notion that you would vote for anybody who would now allow them to go back to doing the same stuff that almost broke our economy’s back makes no sense. I don’t care whether you are a Republican, or a Democrat or an independent, why would you do that? » Obama, who leaves office in January, is eager to have a Democrat succeed him to ensure his legacy on the economy, healthcare reform and climate change continues.

By going to Elkhart, the president sought to illustrate the success of his policies in the face of Republican opposition.His trip to the city in early 2009 came in the middle of a fight for the U.S. Congress to pass a roughly $800 billion economic stimulus package.

Elkhart had an unemployment rate as high as 19.6 percent in 2009, the White House said; it is now around 4 percent.

Indiana’s Republican Governor Mike Pence said the city had recovered despite Obama’s policies, not because of them.

« I believe the people of Elkhart … have brought our economy back in spite of the burdens that higher taxes, mandates and increasing regulations from Washington, D.C. have placed on them, » he wrote in an opinion piece published in « The Elkhart Truth. » Obama has not endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her race for the Democratic presidential nomination against Bernie Sanders, the U.S. senator from Vermont, but he has made his eagerness to campaign for the winner clear. He name checked Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, by noting deficits had fallen under both of their administrations, and he said Republicans had helped the rich by blaming poor people, minorities, feminists, and immigrants for squeezing the economic wellbeing of the middle class. »The primary story that Republicans have been telling about the economy is not supported by the facts. It’s just not, » Obama said to a largely supportive crowd at a local high school.

Battling to hold off Sanders, Democrat Clinton to assail Trump on foreign policy Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton’s campaign signaled on Wednesday plans for a big assault on Republican Donald Trump even as she battles to hold off rival Bernie Sanders in California.

Clinton, a former secretary of state, is to deliver what her campaign described as a major speech on Thursday in San Diego to underscore what she feels would be the threat posed by Trump to U.S. national security if he is elected president on Nov. 8. Her language to describe Trump has grown more aggressive by the day. On Wednesday, she seized on testimony released in a lawsuit against Trump University in which some former workers said they believed Trump’s for-profit school was fraudulent.

« Trump and his employees took advantage of vulnerable Americans encouraging them to max out their credit cards, empty their retirement savings, destroy their financial futures, all while making promises they knew were false from the beginning, » Clinton told a campaign event in Newark, New Jersey.

« This is just more evidence that Donald Trump himself is a fraud. » Lawyers for Trump have said most students were satisfied with Trump University, dismissing the former workers’ testimony as discredited.

The effort to define Trump as unfit to be commander in chief comes as Clinton faces fierce opposition from Sanders, a U.S.

senator from Vermont who has insisted on staying in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination despite Clinton’s nearly insurmountable lead.

California’s primary next Tuesday is shaping up to be pivotal in the Democratic contest, with Clinton holding a 13-point advantage over Sanders, 51 percent to 38 percent, according to the Hoover Institution’s Golden State Poll in the state.

Clinton, with 2,312 delegates, needs 71 more delegates to reach the required 2,383 for the Democratic nomination. Sanders has 1,545. At stake in the California primary are 548 delegates that are awarded proportional to the vote. Five other states also vote next Tuesday, including New Jersey, which could also turn the tide for Clinton.

Despite Clinton’s perceived advantage, there are lingering concerns among some Democrats about possible weakness given the protracted battle with Sanders, a democratic socialist whose calls for free college tuition have energized young voters.

Doug Schoen, a Democratic pollster, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that California voters appeared to be leaning toward Sanders in recent days.

Sanders has been holding multiple events each day in the state this week. Clinton canceled a New Jersey event planned for Thursday to go to California a day earlier than anticipated and is to stay there until Monday.

« The inevitability behind Mrs. Clinton’s nomination will be in large measure eviscerated if she loses the June 7 California primary to Bernie Sanders, » Schoen wrote. « That could well happen. » ‘CAN’T IGNORE TRUMP’ Other Democrats expressed confidence in Clinton’s position and her move to assail Trump on foreign policy.

« I think she has to, » said Democratic strategist Jim Manley.

« Leaving aside California, I think they can’t just ignore Donald Trump in that they should be spending a majority of time focusing on him instead of Sanders at this point, because based on the math Sanders can’t win. » Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the election, has faced criticism for a variety of positions on foreign policy, such as his willingness to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his idea that Japan and South Korea might need to develop nuclear arsenals. On the other hand, past Republican presidents and current Democratic President Barack Obama have, like Trump, said NATO nations should pay more for their defense to ease the U.S.burden. Trump, however, has declared NATO obsolete and in need of reconfiguring.

A Clinton aide said Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, would say Trump had not outlined a coherent foreign policy doctrine and had proven himself to be temperamentally unfit to serve as president.Republicans see weakness in Clinton’s foreign policy credentials as Obama’s first-term secretary of state, given festering foreign policy problems such as the Syrian civil war.

Trump blasts PGA Tour for plan to move golf tournament to Mexico Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a golf resort developer who has railed against Mexico in the 2016 campaign, lost an important golf tournament to that country on Wednesday when the PGA Tour said it would leave his Trump Doral course in Miami.

Although the PGA Tour said it was not a political decision, Trump said in a statement the move was akin to decisions by some U.S. companies to move jobs to Mexico, which has been a refrain of his presidential campaign.

« The PGA Tour has put profit ahead of thousands of American jobs, millions of dollars in revenue for local communities and charities and the enjoyment of hundreds of thousands of fans who make the tournament an annual tradition, » he said. « This decision only further embodies the very reason I am running for president of the United States. » The PGA said the World Golf Championship event would move from Trump National Doral to a site in Mexico City and be sponsored by the Grupo Salinas conglomerate. PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said the move was necessary « once it became apparent that we would not be able to secure sponsorship at levels that would sustain the event and help it grow at Trump National Doral. » « From a golf standpoint, we have no issues with Donald Trump. From a political standpoint, we are neutral. The PGA Tour has never been involved or cares to be involved in presidential politics, » Finchem told a news conference in Dublin, Ohio. Cadillac has been the title sponsor for the event in recent years including this year’s tournament in March. Cadillac representatives did not respond to a request for comment.Trump’s son Eric Trump said Cadillac had been willing to continue.

« Cadillac is ready, willing and able to continue as title sponsor for the tournament, » he told Reuters. « And I also can say that Cadillac is an amazing company and a longtime partner to the Trump Organization and we have an impeccable relationship. » The Doral tournament is one of the biggest pro golf events of the year, drawing top golfers from around the world competing for a $6 million purse. The Doral course has hosted a PGA tournament since 1962. Trump, whose golf empire includes 18 courses, purchased the golf resort in 2012 and led a $250 million renovation of its Blue Monster course where the PGA tournament has been played.The news about Doral surfaced on the same day that Trump announced he would step away from the campaign trail later this month to travel to Scotland for the reopening of the Turnberry golf resort, which he bought in 2014.

FOREX-Yen sits atop big gains on risk aversion, policy disappointment The yen sat on top of large gains against its peers early on Thursday after surging on risk aversion and disappointment over lack of clear policy guidance by Japan following a decision to delay a consumption tax hike.

The dollar was steady at 109.480 yen, having slid from a high of 110.830 overnight as a big drop in Tokyo stocks fuelled bids for the safe-haven currency. The greenback, which had soared to a one-month high of 111.455 yen on Monday on expectations for an early U.S. rate hike, also took a big knock after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Wednesday that he was delaying a sales tax hike by two and a half years.

« There are three factors behind the dollar/yen tumble. First was the deterioration in risk appetite. The second was that the dollar was vulnerable after having risen too sharply, » said Shin Kadota, chief Japan FX strategist at Barclays in Tokyo. « Lastly, some participants appeared let down that the prime minister did not accompany the tax hike delay announcement with clear stimulus plans. » The euro lost 0.6 percent versus the yen on Wednesday and last traded at 122.50, while the Australian dollar retreated 0.7 percent against the yen overnight.

Worries about whether Britain will vote to stay in the European Union or not later this month also buoyed the yen, although the Japanese currency did give back some its big gains against the dollar late Wednesday on the stronger-than-expected Institute for Supply Management (ISM) U.S. factory activity numbers. The dollar will await the U.S. May ADP private employment report due later in the day for potential relief, with the report often seen providing clues to the all-important non-farm payrolls data scheduled for release on Friday.

The euro was steady at $ 1.1185 after gaining 0.5 percent overnight. The market will keep an eye on the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later in the session, although few expect the gathering to result in fireworks as the central bank is widely anticipated to stand pat on monetary policy.The Australian dollar dipped 0.1 percent to $0.7250 , losing a some steam after rising sharply to a two-week high of $0.7300 the previous day on stronger-than-expected local first quarter GDP data.

Rise in U.S. manufacturing activity masks underlying weaknessU.S. manufacturing grew for a third straight month in May, but factories appeared to be taking in fewer deliveries from their suppliers, which could hamper production in the months ahead.

Other data on Wednesday showed automobile sales rising last month from April, extending the recent flow of relatively strong data that suggested economic growth was regaining speed in the second quarter.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose half a percentage point to a reading of 51.3 last month, with a jump in prices paid by factories for raw materials also accounting for the increase. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the manufacturing sector, which accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. economy. The ISM’s supplier deliveries sub-index surged five points to a reading of 54.1 last month. A reading above 50 in this index indicates slower deliveries.

« The rise in the ISM exaggerates the underlying tone in the U.S. manufacturing sector. While the jump in supplier deliveries is a good thing from an inventory perspective, it is perhaps a signal of weaker production activity ahead, » said Millan Mulraine, deputy chief economist at TD Securities in New York.

U.S. stocks ended little changed, while the dollar fell against a basket of currencies. Prices for longer-dated U.S.government debt rose.

Manufacturing remains constrained by the lingering effects of the dollar’s surge and oil price plunge between June 2014 and December 2015. The sector has also been hurt by business efforts to reduce an inventory glut, which has resulted in fewer orders being placed with factories.

Although the dollar’s rally is fading and oil prices are steadily rising, economists do not expect a strong bounce back in factory activity. New orders received by factories were little changed in May, production tumbled and order backlogs shrank. New export orders were unchanged and factory employment continued to contract.

There was also an increase in the number of manufacturers reporting that customers’ inventories were too high.

PERSISTENT WEAKNESS While the ISM index has remained in expansion territory for three consecutive months, so-called hard manufacturing data has been generally weak. The government reported last week that orders for long-lasting manufactured capital goods, excluding defense and aircraft, fell in April for a third straight month.

Another manufacturing survey from data firm Markit showed factory activity in May was the weakest since September 2009.

« A turnaround in manufacturing is going to take time, it’s not going to happen overnight, » said Ryan Sweet, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Separately, Autodata Corp said motor vehicle sales increased to an annualized rate of 17.45 million units last month from 17.42 million units in April. The rise came despite Ford Motor Co and General Motors Co reporting slowing demand for sedans, and fewer selling days. Sales were lower than a year earlier, however.

The steady increase in auto sales last month suggests consumer spending likely remained fairly strong in May after posting its largest increase since August 2009 in April.

A third report from the Commerce Department showed construction spending tumbled 1.8 percent, the largest decline since January 2011, after an upwardly revised 1.5 percent jump in March. Construction spending was previously reported to have increased 0.3 percent in March.

The weak construction report was at odds with a stream of bullish data – including consumer spending, industrial production, goods exports and housing – which have bolstered views the economy was regaining speed after growth braked to a 0.8 percent annualized rate in the first quarter. As a result of the soft report, the Atlanta Federal Reserve cut its second-quarter gross domestic product estimate by four-tenths of a percentage point to a 2.5 percent rate. However, the sharp upward revision to March’s construction spending suggests the government’s first-quarter GDP growth estimate could be revised higher.

World factories stuck in low gear on sluggish demand Global manufacturing activity remained stuck in a rut last month with factory output from Asia, Europe and the Americas barely improving as producers struggled to bring in new orders, surveys released on Wednesday showed.

Speculation in recent weeks that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in the next few months, concerns about Chinese economic growth, and worries that a possible British exit from the European Union, are all factors that have knocked confidence.

« The world economy will meander along at its slowest pace since the financial crisis for a second year in a row in 2016 as it is ensnared in a « low-growth trap », the OECD said on Wednesday, urging governments to boost spending.

Global manufacturing growth stalled last month as new orders barely accelerated, forcing factories to run down backlogs and cut back on staffing levels, a survey showed on Wednesday. JPMorgan’s Global Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), produced with Markit, came in at 50.0 last month, right on the level that separates growth from contraction, compared to 50.1 in April. »The May PMI data suggest that the global manufacturing sector remains in a low gear. Indices for output, new orders and the headline PMI were all at, or barely above, the stagnation mark, » David Hensley, a director at JPMorgan said.

EURO ZONE PMI AT THREE MONTH LOW Markit’s final manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the euro zone dipped to a three-month low of 51.5 from April’s 51.7.

Gross domestic product in the bloc grew 0.5 percent in the first quarter, but is expected to expand just 0.3 percent this quarter, according to a May Reuters poll.

Having fired another salvo in its battle to drive up growth and inflation in the euro zone earlier this year, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi in April called on governments to help get the region’s sluggish economy on a more solid footing.

Yet, despite the ultra-loose monetary policy, euro zone manufacturing activity remained lacklustre in May, supporting the view that strong economic growth in the first quarter did not carry through to the second.

« This reinforces the idea things are going okay; it’s not a disaster, but clearly there are no obvious signs that the big lift we saw in Q1 is going to be sustained, » said Ben May at Oxford Economics.

« Industry will be a bigger drag on growth in Q2 so we will see a slow down in GDP growth in the euro zone. » Britain’s growth pace slowed in the first three months of the year and many economists expect further weakening in the second quarter. The Bank of England has said a vote to leave the EU could even tip the economy into recession.

Britons vote on June 23 whether or not to remain in the EU and recent data showed business investment fell in annual terms for the first time in three years as uncertainty over the referendum weighed on sentiment. The Markit/CIPS manufacturing PMI for Britain rose more than expected but came in only just above the 50 level. »This data is further evidence that businesses are holding off on hiring/investment decisions prior to the referendum on EU membership, » said James Smith at ING.

CHINA GROWTH SLUGGISH China’s official PMI was only just positive at 50.1, though it was the third straight month of improvement. The survey also revealed new orders slowed and export orders stalled.

A private Caixin/Markit PMI, focusing on smaller companies, made sorrier reading for global firms reliant on China’s market for everything from consumer items, to cars and commodities. It showed conditions deteriorated for a 15th straight month.

China’s economy grew by 6.7 percent in the first quarter, its slowest since 2009, and there are nagging doubts about the authorities’ ability to engineer a turnaround without piling on dangerous amounts of debt.

In Japan, factories grappling to recover from the earthquakes in the southern manufacturing hub of Kumamoto were also knocked by a contraction in external demand. The Markit/Nikkei Japan PMI showed the fastest contraction in three years. The yen’s recovery to an 18-month high against the U.S.dollar last month has also clouded the outlook for Japan’s exporters.In India, the world’s fastest-growing big economy, manufacturing activity increased at a tepid pace as output growth softened for the second month in a row.

AMERICAS SLUGGISH The U.S. Markit manufacturing PMI for May fell to its lowest level since September 2009, with the index at 50.7 from 50.8 in April.

The U.S. Markit output index for May fell to 49.4 from 50.3 and is now contracting for the first time in nearly seven years.

An alternative reading on U.S. manufacturing from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) rose to 51.3 though in May from 50.8 in April, but the May employment index remained at 49.2, unchanged from April.

In Canada, the pace of growth in manufacturing sector was little changed in May but the measures of new orders and employment both slowed, according to Markit data. The RBC/Markit Canadian manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.1 last month from 52.2 in April.

The Canadian economy continues to struggle with the impact of cheaper oil, a major export for the country.

In Latin America, Mexican manufacturing expanded at its fastest pace in 13 months, with the Markit PMI at 53.6 in May from 52.4 in April, even though anaemic demand for Mexican factory exports and lower oil prices hit growth in Latin America’s No. 2 economy in recent months. The downturn in Brazil’s manufacturing sector intensified in May though, leading to a new record in job cuts as production fell for a 16th straight month.The Brazil May Markit manufacturing PMI fell to 41.6, the lowest since 2009, from 42.6 in April.

« Record contraction in payroll numbers is likely to further aggravate domestic demand as we move into the second half of the year, « said Markit economist Pollyana de Lima.Brazil’s economy is expected to contract nearly 4.0 percent for a second straight year in 2016 as an impeachment process against suspended President Dilma Rousseff paralysed investments and pushed the country closer to its worst downturn on record.

GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian shares steady, but strong yen sinks Nikkei Asian shares were steady on Thursday as Wall Street eked out modest gains after the latest batch of U.S. data provided few clues on when the Federal Reserve might raise rates, while a resurgent yen pressured equity markets in Japan.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei skidded 1.3 percent, after the dollar sunk to a two-week low against the yen overnight following Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official announcement late on Wednesday of his widely expected decision to delay a sales tax increase. « There were suggestions that markets were disappointed that PM Abe only announced the widely expected postponement of the sales tax increase and nothing specific on near term fiscal stimulus, » Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac, said in a note on Thursday.

Surveys over the past 24 hours also highlighted a sluggish global economy, with manufacturing activity across Asia, Europe and the Americas barely improving as producers struggled to bring in new orders.

A spate of U.S. economic data on Wednesday failed to reveal any fresh clues as to when the U.S. Federal Reserve might opt to raise interest rates, after central bank officials hinted such an increase could come as early as this month.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose for a third straight month in May. But factories appeared to be taking in fewer deliveries from their suppliers. Separate data showed May automobile sales rose from April.

Investors focused on the brighter spots in the economy helped Wall Street pull off its lows, and braced for Friday’s key nonfarm payrolls report for the latest clues on the strength of the labour market recovery.

Economists predict the report will show that U.S. employers added 170,000 jobs, slightly more than they did in April. Hourly wages are expected to show a 0.2 percent increase from the previous month.

The dollar slipped 0.2 percent to 109.32 yen after dipping as low as 109.05 on Wednesday. The euro edged down 0.1 percent to 122.38 yen, nursing its losses after dropping to lows of 121.91 overnight, its weakest since May 6.Against the dollar, the euro was treading water at $ 1.1192 ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy meeting later in the session. The ECB is widely anticipated to hold steady on monetary policy.

Crude oil futures slipped after a choppy session on Wednesday, as investors awaited developments from this week’s OPEC meeting. Reuters cited four sources from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as saying the industry group was likely to discuss an output ceiling at its meeting in Vienna on Thursday. But later, Iran’s Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh disagreed.U.S. crude was down 0.5 percent at $48.77 a barrel, but remained above its overnight session low of $47.75. Brent percent was 0.3 percent lower at $49.59.

ECB seen firmly on hold, set to raise inflation forecast Keeping interest rates firmly on hold, the European Central Bank will probably raise growth and inflation forecasts on Thursday, a rare positive step even as it emphasises persistent negative risks and a readiness to provide more stimulus. The ECB is buying assets to the tune of 1.74 trillion euros ($1.94 trillion) to lift growth and boost inflation, which has been stuck in negative territory for months, raising the risk the 19-member currency bloc sinks into a deflation spiral.

With oil prices almost doubling since early January, the ECB will nudge up its inflation projections, breaking a cycle of having to cut forecasts quarter after quarter, and supporting ECB President Mario Draghi’s call for patience with measures already taken.

Indeed, corporate bond buys, announced in March, will only start in June, and the first allotment of ultra cheap loans is not due until later this month, indicating that more stimulus is already in the pipeline and supporting an argument by some policymakers for the ECB to stay on the sidelines at least until autumn. The U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on a possible rate hike this summer and Britain’s vote on membership in the European Union this month also raise uncertainty and support the case for a steady course.

« We expect the ECB to try to strike a balance between cautious optimism on the effectiveness of its measures on growth and inflation and its readiness to react to adverse shocks, » Luigi Speranza, an analyst with BNP Paribas, said.

« Draghi will probably try to sound more confident in the euro zone’s economic recovery and the likelihood of a rise in inflation over time, emphasising that the ECB is in no hurry to contemplate additional policy easing at this stage, » Speranza said.

Although the ECB will maintain its guidance that rates will stay at their current or lower levels for an extended period, Darghi may repeat his view that he does not foresee another rate cut.

Inflation has missed the ECB’s target of nearly 2 percent for years as high unemployment keeps a lid on wages, high debt levels choke investment, demand for goods and services remains weak and sharply lower oil prices drag down prices.

But with first quarter growth beating all expectations, economic sentiment rising, investments recording a surprising surge and household consumption holding up, the euro zone economy is on its best run since the global financial crisis.

Even if only few see it as sustainable, most economists expect growth to ease back just slightly, toward a path consistent with the ECB’s expectation for modest but increasingly broad-based expansion.

CORE TROUBLE? Yet, the news regarding inflation is not all positive. Higher oil prices may lift headline prices, but the underlying trend remains weak and the ECB may even cut its forecast for core inflation, which excluded food and fuel.

« The core inflation forecast will in our view be revised lower over the entire forecast horizon, » Danske Bank economist Pernille Bomholdt Henneberg said. « The ECB argues that core inflation will rise as the labour market improves, but we believe wage pressure will stay modest for some time due to labour market slack, while the stronger effective euro will also be a headwind. » Indeed, the euro zone five-year, five-year breakeven forward , a market-based long-term inflation projection, is hovering just below 1.5 percent, indicating little market confidence the ECB can meet its target in the coming years.

Peter Praet, the ECB’s chief economist, has also warned that inflation expectations may be de-anchoring, which would suggest euro zone companies and consumers are losing faith in the ECB’s ability to raise inflation. Any core inflation cut would not trigger fresh ECB measures on Thursday but raises the likelihood that the ECB will eventually extend its asset buying scheme, which is set to run at least until March 2017.

« Our expectation is that the QE programme will be extended to the end of 2017 and we think that an announcement could be made in September, » JPMorgan economist Greg Fuzesi said. « The medium-term inflation forecast remains low-ish, which creates the risk of an unanchoring of inflation expectations, » Fuzesi said. « Ending quantitative easing in March would also cause an unwanted tightening in financial conditions. » ($1 = 0.8955 euros)

Cutting corners? China SUV makers forego key safety feature In China’s booming sport utility vehicle (SUV) market, many automakers are selling cars without electronic stability control (ESC) as a standard feature, potentially putting lives at risk from rollover accidents.

SUV sales topped 6 million in China last year, a jump of more than 50 percent in an overall market that grew less than 5 percent, as drivers sought more room for their money. As China’s economy weakens, price-conscious drivers have shifted from foreign brands to cheaper domestic SUVs.

To make the sale, many automakers and dealers only offer ESC as an extra, more expensive, option. SUVs have a higher centre of gravity putting them more at risk of rolling over. ESC counteracts that, quickly reorienting a skidding vehicle to stop it from rolling. A study published by Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine found vehicles with ESC are two-thirds less likely to flip.

There is no legal requirement in China for ESC, and German parts maker Bosch says 43 percent of SUVs do not come equipped with this technology.

Industry experts note that China, the world’s biggest autos market, similarly doesn’t legally require anti-lock brakes, and other developing markets including India and Mexico do not require air bags.

In 2007, following a series of SUV rollovers, the United States ordered ESC to be compulsory in all passenger vehicles.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHSTA) estimated the change saved more than 2,200 lives over a three year period.

« ESC saves lives, » said Chris Harrison, head of China R&D at Continental AG, another German car parts and technology firm.

China’s Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, generally responsible for regulating the autos industry, did not respond to faxed questions about whether there are plans to make ESC compulsory.

TOP-10 Among the 10 best-selling SUVs in China last year, seven did not have ESC as a standard feature. Those included cars made by Great Wall Motor, Chongqing Changan Automobile , Anhui Jianghuai Automobile (JAC) and Chery Automobile, according to company representatives and officially published specifications.

The three foreign models in the top-10 are universally equipped with the safety feature, but some cheaper foreign SUVs also do not have ESC as standard in China.

BYD Co Ltd , Guangzhou Automobile Group and Geely said some of their models do not have stability control as standard, but it is often available on higher cost packages. Most of the automakers said their SUVs complied with regulations and reflected consumer demand.A spokesman for Chery said that with this year’s model all its Tiggo SUVs come with ESC. JAC and Guangzhou Auto said sales of SUVs without ESC are very low and were part of a pricing strategy to attract customers. Geely said the majority of its third-generation vehicles have ESC. Great Wall, Changan and BYD declined to comment.

CRASH DATA It’s hard to gauge whether the lack of ESC in so many SUVs sold in China has contributed to more fatalities. In the United States, detailed information on every fatal road crash is made publicly available, but in China, crash records and data are often considered state secrets. The World Health Organization estimates China’s overall traffic fatalities could be four times the official figure.

The Ministry of Public Security records only fatal rollover crashes on highways and does not break those down for sedans and SUVs. Its latest available data logged 630 rollovers and 403 deaths on Chinese highways in 2014.

In one instance in 2012, a Sante Fe SUV made by Hawtai Motor skidded on a highway at 110 kms per hour (68 mph), crashed through the barrier and rolled three times, killing a passenger and injuring two others, according to documents provided by a car industry researcher. The vehicle did not have stability control fitted.

Last year, a Sportage SUV made by South Korea’s Kia Motors and not equipped with ESC skidded and flipped over at 60 kph (37 mph) in snowy conditions, killing one occupant. Both Hawtai and Kia said their cars comply with all legal requirements and some of their SUV models do have ESC. Hawtai acknowledged that cars without ESC are less safe, but even those with the safety feature are « not 100 percent safe » because of road conditions and driver habits.

CALCULATED RISK? BAIC Motor Corp’s Huansu SUVs, among China’s 2015 top-10, did not offer ESC before last November, according to BAIC dealers and specifications on the automaker’s website. BAIC sold 181,100 Huansu SUVs last year, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, with a starting price of just 51,800 yuan ($7,873). In November, BAIC launched its Huansu S6, with ESC optional on cheaper packages, but standard on all but one priced above 96,800 yuan.

Buyers appear either unaware of the risks or of the option to pay more for the safety feature.

« You must give up something if you want a car at that price, so I sacrifice ESC, » said Xu Zhou, a Huansu S3 driver in China’s southern Hunan province. « If a car has ESC, that’s great, but if not, you have to be more careful when you drive. » Another Huansu owner told Reuters he didn’t know about ESC when he bought the car, and would buy an SUV with stabilisation technology next time. A spokeswoman for BAIC Huansu said ESC could be offered in the S2 and S3 SUV models at their next redesign as « this option is more and more important. » With China’s SUV market now so competitive, automakers may look to emphasize safety features such as ESC as a way to differentiate, said Chen Liming, a Bosch regional president overseeing the China electronic stability programme. »People are willing to buy safety products, » Chen said.

Fed records show dozens of cybersecurity breaches The U.S. Federal Reserve detected more than 50 cyber breaches between 2011 and 2015, with several incidents described internally as « espionage, » according to Fed records. The central bank’s staff suspected hackers or spies in many of the incidents, the records show. The Fed’s computer systems play a critical role in global banking and hold confidential information on discussions about monetary policy that drives financial markets.

The cybersecurity reports, obtained by Reuters through a Freedom of Information Act request, were heavily redacted by Fed officials to keep secret the central bank’s security procedures. The Fed declined to comment, and the redacted records do not say who hacked the bank’s systems or whether they accessed sensitive information or stole money.

« Hacking is a major threat to the stability of the financial system. This data shows why, » said James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. Lewis reviewed the files at the request of Reuters.

For a graphic on the Fed security breaches, see: http://tmsnrt.rs/1TxSu8R The records represent only a slice of all cyber attacks on the Fed because they include only cases involving the Washington-based Board of Governors, a federal agency that is subject to public records laws. Reuters did not have access to reports by local cybersecurity teams at the central bank’s 12 privately owned regional branches.

The disclosure of breaches at the Fed comes at a time when cybersecurity at central banks worldwide is under scrutiny after hackers stole $81 million from a Bank Bangladesh account at the New York Fed.

Cyber thieves have targeted large financial institutions around the world, including America’s largest bank JPMorgan, as well as smaller players like Ecuador’s Banco del Austro and Vietnam’s Tien Phong Bank.

Hacking attempts were cited in 140 of the 310 reports provided by the Fed’s board. In some reports, the incidents were not classified in any way.

In eight information breaches between 2011 and 2013 – a time when the Fed’s trading desk was buying massive amounts of bonds – Fed staff wrote that the cases involved « malicious code, » referring to software used by hackers.

Four hacking incidents in 2012 were considered acts of « espionage, » according to the records. Information was disclosed in at least two of those incidents, according to the records. In the other two incidents, the records did not indicate whether there was a breach.

In all, the Fed’s national team of cybersecurity experts, which operates mostly out of New Jersey, identified 51 cases of « information disclosure » involving the Fed’s board. Separate reports showed a local team at the board registered four such incidents.

The cases of information disclosure can refer to a range of ways unauthorized people see Fed information, from hacking attacks to Fed emails sent to the wrong recipients, according to two former Fed cybersecurity staffers who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The former employees said that cyber attacks on the Fed are about as common as at other large financial institutions. It was unclear if the espionage incidents involved foreign governments, as has been suspected in some hacks of federal agencies. Beginning in 2014, for instance, hackers stole more than 21 million background check records from the federal Office of Personnel Management, and U.S. officials attributed the breach to the Chinese government, an accusation denied by Beijing.

TARGET FOR SPYING Security analysts said foreign governments could stand to gain from inside Fed information. China and Russia, for instance, are major players in the $13.8 trillion federal debt market where Fed policy plays a big role in setting interest rates.

« Obviously that makes it a very clear (hacking) target for other nation states, » said Ari Schwartz, a former top cybersecurity adviser at the White House who is now with the law firm Venable. U.S. prosecutors in March accused hackers associated with Iran’s government of attacking dozens of U.S. banks.

In the records obtained by Reuters, espionage might also refer to spying by private companies, or even individuals such British activist Lauri Love, who is accused of infiltrating a server at a regional Fed branch in October 2012. Love stole names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers of Fed computer system users, according to a federal indictment.

The redacted reports obtained by Reuters do not mention Love or any other hacker by name. The records point to breaches during a sensitive period for the Fed, which was ramping up aid for the struggling U.S.economy by buying massive quantities of U.S. government debt and mortgage-backed securities.

In 2010 and 2011, the Fed went on a $600 billion bond-buying spree that lowered interest rates and made bonds more expensive. It restarted purchases in September 2012 and expanded them up in December of that year.

The Fed cybersecurity records did not indicate whether hackers accessed sensitive information on the timing or amounts of bond purchases or used it for financial gain.

UP ALL NIGHT The Fed’s national cybersecurity team – the National Incident Response Team, or NIRT – created 263 of the incident reports obtained by Reuters. NIRT operates in a fortress-like building in East Rutherford, New Jersey that also processes millions of dollars in cash everyday as part of the central bank’s duty to keep the financial system running, according to the New York Fed’s website. The unit provides support to the local cybersecurity teams at the Fed’s Board and regional banks, which process more than $3 trillion in payments every day.

The NIRT handles « higher impact » cases, according to a 2013 report by the Board of Governor’s Office of Inspector General.

One of the two former NIRT employees interviewed by Reuters described being on a team that once worked around the clock for five-straight days to patch software hackers had used to gain access to Fed systems in an attempt to obtain passwords. The former employee worked through several of those nights, taking naps at a desk in the office.

In that case, Fed security staff found no signs that sensitive information had been disclosed, the former employee said. Information about future interest rate policy discussions is isolated from other Fed networks and is more difficult for hackers to access, the former NIRT worker said. But the Fed was under constant assault, much like any large company, the former employee said, and was « compromised frequently. » An internal watchdog has criticized the central bank for cybersecurity shortcomings. A 2015 audit by the Fed board’s Office of Inspector General found the board was not adequately scanning databases for vulnerabilities or putting enough restrictions on system access. »There is heightened risk of unauthorized disclosure and inappropriate use of sensitive board information, » according to the audit released in November.

U.S. unveils guidelines to reduce salt in restaurant, packaged food From pizzas and soups to deli meats, dips and hamburgers, Americans’ diets are often packed with salt. On Wednesday the Food and Drug Administration moved to cut average salt consumption by a third in an effort to reduce heart attacks and strokes.

The agency issued draft guidelines for major food manufacturers and big chain restaurants designed to reduce salt in hundreds of products, with separate sodium reduction targets set for two and 10 years. More than 70 percent of the salt in the average diet comes in the form of processed and prepared food. The FDA’s goal is to lower sodium in those foods and give consumers the choice to add salt later if they want to. Excess sodium raises blood pressure and is a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

The goal is to cut average adult salt consumption from 3,400 milligrams a day to 2,300. The average American consumes almost 50 percent more sodium than recommended by most experts, the FDA said.

Many U.S. food companies, including Campbell Soup Co , General Mills Inc and Kraft Heinz Co, have already cut salt levels to some extent in anticipation of the guidelines, which have been in the works since 2011.

The FDA said it looks forward to a robust discussion with the public and industry before finalizing the guidance. Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s food safety and nutrition division, said the discussion is needed « to make sure we have the right targets. » She declined to predict when the guidance would be finalized.

The food industry is likely to challenge the FDA’s targets.

« Like others inside and outside of government, we believe additional work is needed to determine the acceptable range of sodium intake for optimal health, » Leon Bruner, chief science officer at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the industry’s biggest lobbying organization, said in a statement.

« This evaluation should include research that indicates health risks for people who consume too much sodium as well as health risks from consuming too little sodium, » Bruner added.

The agency has divided the affected food into 150 categories. Each will have different sodium targets, and some products will have more room for reductions than others. The agency singled out salad dressing as an example, saying the amount of sodium ranges from 150 mg per hundred grams to more than 2,000. Wheat bread ranges from 220 mg to 671 mg, it said.

‘SUBSTANTIAL BENEFITS’ The FDA’s proposal received support from Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

« Scientifically rigorous studies consistently find that lowering sodium reduces both blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, » he said on a conference call with reporters. « No other intervention would have as large a benefit for so many people.

Even modest reductions in sodium will have substantial benefits. » FDA Commissioner Robert Califf acknowledged on the same call that some researchers have challenged the notion that lowering sodium is good for cardiovascular health and that there may be legitimate discussions about the benefit of lowering sodium to very low levels.

Still, the preponderance of evidence shows a direct, dose-related benefit to reducing sodium levels, he and other FDA officials said.

The guidelines were issued less than two weeks after the FDA said it planned a major overhaul of the way packaged foods are labeled to reflect the amount of added sugar and specific serving sizes.

The proposed salt guidelines are in theory voluntary. In practice FDA guidance tends to dictate practice. The approach is consistent with that taken by more than three dozen countries that are also working to reduce sodium consumption, Frieden said.

In the United Kingdom, he added, sodium consumption decreased by 15 percent between 2003 and 2011 and was associated with a substantial decline in heart disease and stroke.

The FDA’s recommendations are principally aimed at products marketed on a national scale and national chain restaurants.

The National Restaurant Association said it is offering more menu choices but that « as restaurants continue to develop lower-sodium items, these efforts are challenged by consumer preference, limited technology, and acceptable lower-sodium options that take into account taste, quality and safety. » It said it is reviewing the draft to assess its next steps.About half the money spent by Americans on food goes toward food eaten outside the home, according to government figures.

Tanzania seizes ‘idle’ land from investors to return to poor farmers Tanzania has begun a nationwide programme to seize land left undeveloped by investors and return it to poor farmers, in a bid to quell conflicts between farmers, herders and developers.

For more than a decade, foreign investors have bought up large tracts of land for agriculture or for energy projects, but many have left the land unused.Agriculture is the backbone of Tanzania’s economy and more than 80 percent of the population depend on it for their livelihood.

William Lukuvi, the minister for lands, housing and human settlements development said the government would start to identify farms or land parcels larger than 20 hectares (50 acres) which are deemed « idle » in preparation for their re-distribution to other users. »Our intention is to identify those holding large areas and farms without developing them. We will revoke their title deeds and give the land to those in need, » he said last month.

Lukuvi said the government aims to target and discourage investors who buy and hold onto land solely for its speculative value instead of investing and developing their assets. This encroaches on the livelihood and rights of local farmers, he added.

About a quarter of Tanzania’s 48.7 million hectares (120 million acres) of agricultural land is cultivated by peasant farmers, according to Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries estimates.

CONFLICTS OVER WATER, LAND For decades, often deadly conflicts have broken out between farmers and herders over access to land and water. Frequent drought has forced herders, who usually stay in the mountains, down into the valleys where most farming takes place, raising tensions between the two groups.

Godfrey Massay, an expert on land investment at Arusha-based charity, Tanzania Natural Resource Forum, said the government’s initiative could help ease clashes over land. However he warned that it should not be seen as a panacea for recurring conflicts without government investment in supportive infrastructure.

« Herders need access to water sources without any encumbrances and farmers need to farm peacefully, » he said.

Both groups need to be consulted on their needs, before decisions are made about land use, Massay added.

Tanzania’s national land policy aims to protect the customary rights of local communities to land. Despite this, village lands have been bought up.

Massay described landlords who buy land and hold it for speculative value alone as « boils that need to be lanced ».

One of the conditions attached to the land title is for the holder to develop land within three years from the time the title was issued, he said.

« When a landholder fails to develop without any good cause, the Commissioner for Lands is allowed to revoke the title. » Since he rose to power, President John Magufuli has taken steps to monitor and improve statutory control over the country’s land sector in an effort to tackle inefficiencies and corruption.

William Ole Nasha, the deputy minister for agriculture, livestock and fisheries told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the government is currently reviewing land titles for a total of 549,000 hectares (1.3 million acres).

In May, the government revoked ownership of more than 1,800 hectares (4,400 acres) of land to redistribute it to local people in an effort to resolve recurring conflicts between farmers and herders.

« Everybody has got his share. I don’t see why farmers and herders should ever quarrel again, » said Andrew Jaka, a farmer in the Mvomero district in the country’s eastern Morogoro region, who received 5 hectares (12 acres) as part of the deal.

Residents of Luhanga village in the Mbarali district in Tanzania’s southern highlands who had lost 5,000 hectares (12,350 acres) of land to an investor told the Thomson Reuters Foundation of their gratitude to the government for giving it back to them.

« Our rights had been violated by this investor but we thank the government for bringing back our land, » said Ismail Chungu, Luhanga village’s executive officer.Most people in the village opposed the investors’ move to take their land which threatened their day-to-day livelihood.

Others told the Thomson Reuters Foundation they had been forced to find odd jobs to survive. »We could hardly get enough food for the entire year. I had to work for others in order to support my family for the rest of the year, » said Rozalia Mashaka, a resident of Luhanga. »I am happy that we have got our land back. I will grow enough food to feed my family, » she said.

(World news summary compiled by Maghreb news staff)