Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw after Manbij operation -minister Turkey expects Syrian Kurdish fighters to withdraw east of the Euphrates river after they and other U.S.-backed forces seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij from Islamic State last week, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.
The Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), a U.S.-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters, said on Friday they had seized full control of Manbij near the Turkish border in a significant strategic blow to Islamic State.
Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as a hostile force, an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group that has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s southeast, and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union as well as by Ankara.
« Of course we have an expectation, » Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara. « The U.S. promised that the (Syrian Kurdish) forces within the coalition and democratic forces there would move east of the Euphrates again following the Manbij operation. » U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in a statement on Monday that liberation of Manbij was an important step in the campaign against the Islamic State, and he thanked the Turkish government for its support.
« For the people of Manbij city, now begins the difficult job of rebuilding their homes and communities, and I call on all of our coalition partners to help them with that task, » Carter said.
« For its part, the military coalition will continue to work with capable and motivated local forces to defeat ISIL and ensure it remains defeated, » he said, using an acronym for the Islamic State militant group. Carter did not address what would happen with the Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said the United States has commitments from the Kurdish leadership that the local Arabs liberating their lands will be the ones to rebuild the area.
The operation, in which U.S. special forces played a significant role, marks the most ambitious advance by a group allied to Washington in Syria since the United States launched its military campaign against Islamic State two years ago. U.S. officials have said that completion of the Manbij operation would create the conditions to move on the militant group’s de facto capital of Raqqa.
Russia says close to joint military action with US in Aleppo – agencies Russia and the United States are close to starting joint military action against militants in Syria’s Aleppo, Russian news agencies on Monday quoted Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying.
Fighting for control of the divided city of some 2 million people has intensified in recent weeks and there have been some gains for rebel groups battling Syrian government forces .
Russia backs Syrian President Bashar al Assad in the five-year-old Syria conflict, while the United States wants to see Assad step down. But both are participating in talks to try to find a political solution to end the civil war.
Senior Russian and U.S. military officials have held Geneva negotiations on Aleppo and on restoring an overall ceasefire, U.N. Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said last Thursday.
« We are now in a very active phase of negotiations with our American colleagues, » the RIA news agency cited Shoigu as saying. « We are moving step by step closer to a plan – and I’m only talking about Aleppo here – that would really allow us to start fighting together to bring peace so that people can return to their homes in this troubled land. » Asked about Shoigu’s remarks, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau told reporters in Washington: « We have seen the reports and have nothing to announce … We remain in close contact (with Russian officials). » Trudeau said the United States continued to push for a broader cessation of Syria hostilities accord with Russia.
The battle for Aleppo is « one of the most devastating urban conflicts in modern times, » Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), said on Monday.
« No one and nowhere is safe. Shellfire is constant, with houses, schools and hospitals all in the line of fire. People live in a state of fear. Children have been traumatized. The scale of the suffering is immense, » Maurer said in a statement.
The ICRC reiterated its call on all warring parties to allow humanitarian agencies to deliver supplies to civilians in desperate need of food and clean water across Aleppo.
Russia has delivered aid to Aleppo and is helping to rebuild damaged water pumping stations, Shoigu said. About 700,000 people are still living in Aleppo and residents in the eastern part of the city were « hostages of armed groups », he added.
Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Syrian militants had used a temporary ceasefire around Aleppo to regroup.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia should play a more active role in helping to resolve the Syria crisis.
« (They should) sit down at the table and negotiate, » Bogdanov told RIA news agency, saying he would meet representatives of the Syrian opposition in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Aug. 16.But the official spokesman for the Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), Riad Nassan Agha, said on Monday the HNC was unaware of this meeting. He said it did not know which « opposition » Bogdanov was referring to.
Kurdish forces open new front on IS capital Mosul Kurdish Peshmerga forces on Monday said they had secured a river crossing point enabling them to open a new front against Islamic State and further tighten their grip on the militants’ capital Mosul.
Backed by air strikes from the U.S.-led coalition, Kurdish fighters reached Kanhash, the western side of the Gwer bridge, the target of an offensive that started on Sunday.
The militants damaged the bridge, across the Grand Zab river and to the southeast of Mosul, two years ago as they swept through northern and western Iraq. Repairing the bridge would allow Peshmerga and other anti-IS forces to move towards Mosul from a new front.
« Control over Kanhash Heights give the Peshmerga strategic advantage over nearby enemy positions and the main road linking Mosul, » tweeted Masrour Barzani, the head of the Kurdistan Region Security Council.
« This successful operation will tighten the grip around ISIL’s stronghold Mosul, » he added, using another acronym of IS.
About 150 square kms (58 square miles) were taken from the militants along the Grand Zab which flows into the Tigris, Kurdish officials said.
The Iraqi army and the Peshmerga forces of the Kurdish self-rule region are gradually taking up positions around Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of the capital Baghdad.
It was from Mosul’s Grand Mosque in 2014 that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a « caliphate » spanning regions of Iraq and Syria.
With a pre-war population of nearly 2 million, it is the largest urban centre under the militants’ control and its fall would mark the effective defeat of Islamic State in Iraq, according to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has said he aims to retake it this year.
The Iraqi army is trying to close in from the south. In July it captured the Qayyara airfield, 60 km (35 miles) south of Mosul, which is to serve as the main staging post for the anticipated offensive.
« Noose tightening around #ISIL terrorists: #Peshmerga advancing east of #Mosul, #ISF shoring up south near #Qayyara, » tweeted Brett McGurk, the U.S. envoy to the coalition fighting the militant group in a comment on the Kurdish offensive.
The militants were using suicide car bombs and mortar rounds to try to slow the Kurds’ advance, said Saif Hameed, a Reuters correspondent who covered the offensive on Sunday.
« At the sixth village we entered, we received the usual incoming fire and the gunner was firing back … mortars started to land on our right every three minutes, » said Hameed, who was moving in a Peshmerga armoured truck with a group of journalists.
« Suddenly one of the men who was anxiously watching through the narrow, shattered bulletproof glass shouted and all eyes turned to the left, » Hameed said. « It was a car bomb and it was speeding towards us. » « The gunner opened fire from the turret and it vanished. We didn’t know where it went. As we retreated from the village, we were told it exploded elsewhere. » IS said in a statement on its Amaq news service that two car bombs driven by suicide fighters were detonated in one of the villages to block advancing Kurdish forces, causing casualties among the Peshmerga.
Authorities in autonomous Kurdistan gave no toll for the fighting, other than confirming on Sunday the death of a Kurdish TV cameraman and the injury of another journalist.
Preparations for the offensive on Mosul were nearing the final phase, McGurk told reporters during a visit to Baghdad on Thursday. He said the planning included considerations for humanitarian aid to uprooted civilians.
Up to one million people could be driven from their homes in northern Iraq, once fighting intensifieds around Mosul, posing « a massive humanitarian problem », the International Committee of the Red Cross forecast last month.More than 3.4 million people have already been forced by conflict to leave their homes across Iraq, taking refuge in areas under control of the government or in the Kurdish region.
Air strike on MSF hospital in Yemen kills at least 11 -aid group A Saudi-led coalition air strike hit a hospital operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres in northern Yemen on Monday, killing at least 11 people and wounding 19, the aid group said.
A Reuters witness at the scene of the attack in the Abs district of Hajja province said medics could not immediately evacuate the wounded because war planes continued to fly over the area and emergency workers feared more bombings.
« The location of the hospital was well known, and the hospital’s GPS coordinates were repeatedly shared with all parties to the conflict, including the Saudi-led coalition, » the aid group also known as Doctors Without Borders, said in a statement.
It said one of its staff members was among those killed when an aerial bomb hit the hospital compound, also killing 10 patients.
« This is the fourth attack against an MSF facility in less than 12 months, » the statement said. »Even with the recent United Nations resolution calling for an end to attacks on medical facilities and high-level declarations of commitment to international humanitarian law, nothing seems to be done to make parties involved in the conflict in Yemen to respect medical staff and patients. » A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Another air attack hit what MSF described as a school in neighbouring Saada province on Saturday, killing 10 children.
The coalition said the bombing had targeted a training facility run by Yemen’s dominant Houthi movement.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the air strike on Sunday and called for a investigation, which the coalition said it would conduct, according to a statement sent to Reuters.
Dozens of air strikes have hit civilians in Yemen since a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia began military operations in March 2015 to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power and roll back gains by the Iran-allied Houthis.
The Houthis and their allies in the General People’s Congress (GPC) party headed by powerful ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh set up a ruling council this month to run the parts of the country they control.In its first decree on Monday, the council declared itself the « highest authority in the state (which) exercises all the powers vested in the president. » Hadi’s internationally recognised government and the United Nations have criticized the council, set up after U.N.-backed peace talks in Kuwait collapsed.
Yemen is a « pressure cooker », aid groups warn amid outrage over school airstrike The number of children killed in Yemen’s conflict has risen sharply in the last week, a U.N. official said on Monday as aid agencies condemned a weekend airstrike on a school which killed 10 children and injured 28.
A Saudi-led coalition, which began a military campaign in March last year against Iranian-allied Houthi rebels that drove the internationally recognised government into exile, said the strike in Saada province had targeted a Houthi training facility.
But UNICEF, which visited the site in Haydan after the strike as well as the hospital treating the injured children, dismissed suggestions the victims were Houthi recruits.
« The children who were killed were between the ages of six and 14, and the majority were between six and eight, » said Julien Harneis, UNICEF’s Yemen representative.
« The Houthis do not recruit children so young into their militia. We spoke with the parents, we checked the ages and we visited the site, and there is nothing to indicate it was anything other than a Koranic school. » Harneis welcomed calls by the U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday for a swift investigation into the attack.
« The main thing is there should be change in the way the conflict is conducted. How did this happen? Why did it happen? What needs to change so that more children will not be killed? » The war has killed more than 6,500 people, displaced more than 2.5 million and created a humanitarian catastrophe in one of the world’s poorest countries.
Aid agencies say well over 2,000 children have been killed or wounded since the start of the war. A recent U.N. report said the coalition was responsible for 60 percent of child deaths and injuries last year.
Harneis said the number of children killed and injured by airstrikes, street fighting and landmines had increased sharply during « a massive spike in violence » across Yemen in the 10 days since peace talks ended in Kuwait without a breakthrough.
PRESSURE COOKER He said the humanitarian situation was deteriorating as violence escalated and the country became increasingly cut off. « You have got this real pressure cooker with a collapsing economy and a collapsing health system, » Harneis said.
« All across the board, it’s just getting worse. I have never seen anything so bad. It’s just appalling. » He said the central bank was running out of foreign exchange and Yemeni rials were difficult to obtain, jeopardising aid operations.
Harneis said the impact of the war on healthcare would mean an additional 10,000 children under five would die this year from preventable causes such as diarrhoea and measles.
He also warned that the immediate crisis would have grave longterm implications.
« If the health system and education systems collapse then for years after the war ends, the country will be vulnerable to things like pandemics, and you will have lower education rates which is going to hamper the country for years, if not decades. » Grant Pritchard, advocacy director at Save the Children’s Yemen office, said the attack on the school was « inexcusable ».
He said well over 100 schools and hospitals had been damaged and destroyed with nearly half the attacks blamed on coalition strikes. « It’s difficult to understand how they could mistake a military training camp (for) a school, » he added.
Sudan ceasefire talks collapse after less than a weekTalks to secure a lasting ceasefire in Sudan’s three warring regions under a road map for peace have collapsed less than a week after they began, the government’s chief negotiator said on Monday.
Rebels have been fighting the Sudanese army in the southern regions of Kordofan and Blue Nile since 2011, when South Sudan declared independence. Conflict in Darfur, in the west, began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government based in the capital Khartoum.
Last week, rebel and opposition groups agreed to a road map for ceasefire talks and political reconciliation brokered by the African Union and already accepted by the government – the first such agreement since the fighting began in the south of Sudan.
Ceasefire talks began immediately after.
« Peace talks failed because of the lack of seriousness of the armed movements to reach a ceasefire agreement … they are warlords invested in war, » Ibrahim Mahmoud, the government’s lead negotiator, said at Khartoum airport after returning from the peace talks in Addis Ababa.
« The main reason the negotiations broke down was the rebels’ deal-breaking request that, following the ceasefire, humanitarian aid be delivered by airlift to rebel areas in South Kordofan and the Blue Nile from Ethiopia, South Sudan and Kenya.
This was wholly rejected by the government delegation. » A spokesman for the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-North) said the talks had failed because « the government didn’t want peace … we put forward major concessions but the government remained set on its positions and was unwilling to concede anything ».
He said the rebels had requested that some of the aid come from outside of Sudan to deny the government the ability to cut it off as it had on previous occasions in Darfur.
The road map sets out a process for reaching a permanent ceasefire and provides for a national dialogue between the government and both political and armed opposition groups. It also included provisions for immediate humanitarian assistance.
The signatories included two of the most prominent rebel groups — the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the SPLM-North — as well as the largest political opposition group, the Umma Party. The Sudan Liberation Movement, a major rebel force in Darfur, and the Sudanese Communist Party refused to sign.
Pentagon announces single largest transfer of Guantanamo inmates U.S. officials said on Monday 15 inmates from the Guantanamo prison were transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the single largest transfer of Guantanamo detainees during President Barack Obama’s administration.
The transfer of the 12 Yemeni and three Afghan citizens brings the total number of detainees down to 61 at the U.S.naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Most have been held without charge or trial for more than a decade, drawing international condemnation.
Obama, who had hoped to close the prison during his first year in office, rolled out his plan in February aimed at shutting the facility. But he faces opposition from many Republican lawmakers as well as some fellow Democrats.
« In its race to close Gitmo, the Obama administration is doubling down on policies that put American lives at risk, » Republican Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
« Once again, hardened terrorists are being released to foreign countries where they will be a threat, » he said. While Obama’s plan for shuttering the facility calls for bringing the several dozen remaining prisoners to maximum-security prisons in the United States, U.S. law bars such transfers to the mainland. Obama, though, has not ruled out doing so by executive action.
« I think we are at an extremely dangerous point where there is a significant possibility this is going to remain open as a permanent offshore prison to hold people, practically until they die, » said Naureen Shah, Amnesty International’s U.S. director for security and human rights.
Shah said keeping Guantanamo open gave cover to foreign governments to ignore human rights. « It weakens the U.S. government’s hand in arguing against torture and indefinite detention, » she said.
One of the detainees who was transferred is an Afghan national, identified as Obaidullah, who has spent more than 13 years at Guantanamo. He had been accused of storing mines to be used against American forces in Afghanistan.
« The continued operation of the detention facility weakens our national security by draining resources, damaging our relationships with key allies and partners, and emboldening violent extremists, » Lee Wolosky, the State Department’s special envoy for closing the Guantanamo detention center, said.
« The support of our friends and allies – like the UAE – is critical to our achieving this shared goal, » Wolosky said.A State Department official speaking on condition of anonymity said the UAE had resettled five detainees transferred in November 2015.
East Libyan forces pledge move to « secure » oil assets Forces loyal to Libya’s eastern government will secure major oil ports and fields to « protect » them, a senior commander said, signalling possible conflict with a U.N.-backed administration in Tripoli which is taking steps to restart crude production.
Abdulrazak al-Nazhuri, chief-of-staff for General Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), also restated a threat to target oil tankers that do not have permission from eastern authorities to dock.
Since a 2011 revolt against Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s oil sector has been steadily disrupted by competing governments and their armed allies, as well as by militant attacks.
Haftar’s LNA has mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields and their former allies, the Petroleum Facilities Guard (PFG) in recent weeks, as the PFG agreed with the U.N. backed Government of National Accord (GNA) to stop blockading the facilities.
« We will enter the ports of Zueitina and Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, » Nazhuri told Reuters in an interview at a military base in the eastern town of Marj.
The three ports are occupied by the PFG, which signed the deal with the GNA at the end of last month to enable the Tripoli authorities to restart production, a major step towards asserting its control across the country.
Last week one LNA brigade entered Zueitina in a show of force, though it stopped short of the oil port controlled by the PFG. A resident and a security source said LNA troops were still stationed there on Monday. There was no immediate sign of major military movement near it or the other ports. « Our entry into the ports is to protect them, not to occupy them or to be substitutes for the mercenaries or thieves who preceded us, » Nazhuri said.
BATTLE FOR SIRTE Haftar and his allies in the east oppose the GNA, saying it is empowering armed groups in the western city of Misrata and Tripoli.
Misrata brigades aligned with the GNA have largely driven Islamic State from their former North African stronghold of Sirte, raising fears splits between eastern and western factions could deepen, reigniting a civil conflict that erupted in 2014.
Sirte lies in the centre of Libya’s coastline, just 180 km (112 miles) west of Es Sider and close to other key oil fields and installations.
Haftar’s LNA initially said it would lead the campaign against Islamic State in Sirte, but mobilised around eastern oil ports and fields instead.
Partly because of the blockades at the eastern ports, Libya’s oil production is currently about 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), a fraction of the 1.6 million bpd the OPEC member was producing before the 2011 uprising toppled Gaddafi.
The agreement with Jathran was part of efforts to revive output, ease a financial crisis, and bolster the fortunes of the GNA, which has been struggling to impose its authority.
But the deal was controversial, with the National Oil Corporation (NOC) in Tripoli warning that the payments to Jathran’s forces could set a dangerous precedent.
The NOC office in Benghazi, which is loyal to the eastern government and parliament but is meant to be reunifying with the Tripoli branch, also spoke out against the deal, adding to uncertainty over whether exports could resume.
« We have said that in the event that permission is not sought from the National (Oil) Corporation that answers to the (eastern) parliament, we will target the ships with our air force as we deem them militias or smugglers, » said Nazhuri.
« The goal is not to threaten any nation but to protect the Libyan people’s assets. » All desert oil fields in the east of the country are under the control of Haftar’s forces, Nazhuri said.
Nazhuri also defended a decision last week to replace the municipal council in Benghazi with a security official, which raised concerns of growing military control in the east.
He said the LNA had intervened at popular request because « the council was internally split and not offering anything for citizens », seeking to manage the situation until the liberation of Benghazi, « not a return to military rule ».
For the past two years Haftar has been waging a military campaign in Benghazi against a coalition of Islamists and other opponents, including Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked militants.The LNA has repeatedly announced that Benghazi’s « liberation » is imminent. It has made big gains in recent months but some areas remain outside its control.
Turkish police raid Istanbul courthouses, more officers detainedTurkish police raided the country’s biggest courthouse and two other halls of justice in Istanbul on Monday, detaining dozens of judicial personnel as part of their investigation into last month’s attempted military coup.
The raid on the Palace of Justice, which has hosted some of Turkey’s most important trials, was a powerful symbol of a post-coup crackdown that has purged Turkey’s military, law-and-order, education and justice systems since the failed putsch.
Plain clothes police officers held the arms of the detainees as they escorted them out of the building and into waiting cars.
Warrants had been issued for 173 judicial staff, of whom 136 were detained in the raid, the state-run Anadolu agency said.
More than 35,000 people have been detained, of whom 17,000 have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended since the July 15 putsch, which authorities blame on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.
President Tayyip Erdogan demands the United States extradite Gulen, and the purge is straining relations with Western allies who Turkish officials say appear more concerned by the crackdown than the failed coup that killed 240 people, mostly civilians.
Police were searching offices at the main courthouse in Istanbul’s Caglayan district as well as at two other courthouses on the European side of the city, Anadolu said. The homes of those being detained were also being searched, it said.
In the crackdown since the abortive coup, more than 76,000 civil servants, judges and security force members have been suspended and nearly 5,000 dismissed, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday.
Western officials are concerned the purge will impact stability in the NATO member and a key partner in their war on Islamic State in neighbouring Iraq and Syria. Turkish officials counter they are confronting an major internal threat.
With tensions rising with the West, Turkey has sought to normalise relations with Russia, sparking concerns Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin might use their detente to pressure Washington and the European Union.
Also at risk is a deal with the EU on helping stem the flow of migrants into Europe, under which Turkey pledged to stop people leaving its shores and readmit those who crossed into the bloc illegally from Turkey.
Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told Monday’s German newspaper Bild that Turkey could walk away from its promises if the EU fails to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October.
« It can’t be that we implement everything that is good for the EU, but that Turkey gets nothing in return, » he told Bild.
EXTRADITE HIM In keeping with Erdogan’s tough line on Gulen, Yildirim told reporters there would be no compromise apart from « this chief terrorist coming to Turkey and being prosecuted, » according to Anadolu agency.
Turkish officials say they have handed over documents to U.S. officials concerning Gulen. Washington has been cautious, saying it needs clear evidence before he can be extradited. A U.S. Department of Justice team is due in Turkey this month.
Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any role and condemned the coup bid. Turkish officials describe a network of his followers inside state institutions masterminding the putsch.
Erdogan’s critics say he could use the purge to crack down broadly on dissent. A top U.N. rights official last week warned against a « thirst for revenge ».
A court in the western city of Izmir has imposed a ban on reporting the statements of suspects and anonymous witnesses in the coup investigation, Turkey’s broadcasting authority RTUK said on Sunday.
It said the ban, applying to all media, was taken to ensure that the investigation was sound and conducted in secrecy.
Newspapers and broadcasters have given extensive coverage of statements from detained military officers since last month.
In another arrest, a prosecutor in eastern Turkey, who had been suspended under the coup investigation, was detained as he tried to cross the border into Syria on Sunday night, a Turkish government official said.
He said Ekrem Beyaztas, chief prosecutor in Erzurum province, was detained by border guards in Kilis province. There was a warrant for his detention.
« Our initial assessment is that he was trying to reach PYD-controlled parts of northern Syria in an attempt to seek protection, » the official said referring to Syria’s main Kurdish party, which Turkey considers a terrorist group because of its ties to Kurdish militants in Turkey.
« In recent weeks, runaway coup plotters have been trying to leave Turkey via routes traditionally used by the PKK to smuggle militants and weapons in and out of the country, » he said.
Two fugitive staff colonels accused of involvement in the coup were detained in the central Turkish city of Konya along with one person helping to hide them, Anadolu said. They were flown to Istanbul for questioning. It said one of the officers was accused of commanding soldiers to open fire on protesters on Istanbul’s Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul and the other of ordering a raid on the state broadcaster TRT on the night of the coup.
Give us EU visa freedom in October or abandon migrant deal, Turkey says Turkey could walk away from its promise to stem the flow of illegal migrants to Europe if the European Union fails to grant Turks visa-free travel to the bloc in October, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a German newspaper.
His comments in Bild’s Monday edition coincide with rising tensions between Ankara and the West that have been exacerbated by the failed coup attempt in Turkey on July 15. Turkey is incensed by what it sees as an insensitive response from Western allies to the failed putsch, in which 240 people were killed.
Long wary of Turkey’s ambitions to join the EU, Europe has been alarmed by the crackdown since the coup, fearing President Tayyip Erdogan is using purges to quash dissent. The unease has relations between Turkey and Austria and Sweden. Ankara has summoned diplomats from both countries to protest what it says are false reports about changes to its child abuse laws.
Asked whether hundreds of thousands of refugees in Turkey would head to Europe if the EU did not grant Turks visa freedom from October, Cavusoglu told Bild: « I don’t want to talk about the worst case scenario – talks with the EU are continuing but it’s clear that we either apply all treaties at the same time or we put them all aside. » Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx of migrants into Europe – has been subject to delays due to a dispute over Turkish anti-terrorism legislation, as well as the post-coup crackdown.
Brussels wants Turkey to soften the anti-terrorism law. Ankara says it cannot do so, given multiple security threats which include Islamic State militants in neighbouring Syria and Kurdish militants in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast.
European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger has said he does not see the EU granting Turks visa-free travel this year due to Ankara’s crackdown, which has included the round-up of more than 35,000 over alleged involvement in the coup.
Cavusoglu said the migration deal with the EU stipulated that all Turks would get visa freedom in October, adding: « It can’t be that we implement everything that is good for the EU but that Turkey gets nothing in return. » A spokesman for the European Commission declined to comment on the interview directly but said the EU continued to work together with Turkey in all areas of cooperation.
SWEDEN, AUSTRIA Since the coup, more than 17,000 people have been placed under formal arrest, and tens of thousands more suspended from their jobs. Turkish authorities blame the failed putsch on U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers.
Gulen denies involvement and has condemned the coup attempt.
Cavusoglu told reporters that the Ankara government had summoned Sweden’s ambassador to protest at comments from Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom, a day after it hauled in Austria’s charge d’affaires.
« (The) Turkish decision to allow sex with children under 15 must be reversed. Children need more protection, not less, against violence, sex abuse, » Wallstrom wrote on her official Twitter account.
Cavusoglu dismissed her comments as « the result of racism and anti-Islam sentiment in Europe … It is a scandal for a foreign minister to tweet something like this based on false rumours. It is worrying that this campaign of lies, which started in Austria, has spread to Sweden. » Her comments were in reference to a decision by Turkey’s constitutional court last month to remove a provision in the penal code which identifies all sexual acts against children under the age of 15 as « sexual abuse ».
A Turkish official said the claim that sexual abuse of children under 15 would now go unpunished was « completely baseless » and that new legislation would go into effect before the court ruling does to plug any legal loopholes.
On Sunday, Turkey summoned Austria’s charge d’affaires to protest at a headline on an electronic news ticker at the airport in Vienna that allegedly read, « Turkey allows sex with children under the age of 15 ». Austrian officials played down the matter as one of freedom of the press.
A Turkish Foreign Ministry statement said the publication of such « slandering » news reports were encouraged by recent comments from Austrian politicians.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern has said the EU should end accession talks with Turkey, prompting Cavusoglu to refer to Austria as the « capital of radical racism ». On Monday, Kern said that if the EU broke off accession talks with Turkey, this should not impact the migrant deal. »If this deal depends on the illusion of accession talks, then we have a big problem, » Kern told Austrian news agency APA.
Olympics-Egyptian judoka sent home over handshake refusal with Israeli Egyptian judoka Islam El Shehaby has been sent home from the Rio Olympics after refusing to shake the hand of Israeli Or Sasson following the end of their bout, the International Olympic Committee said on Monday.
El Shehaby, who was sent home by his own team, lost the fight on Friday and was reprimanded by the IOC for his actions.
The athlete said he did not want to shake hands with an Israeli, nor was he obliged to do so under judo rules, but the IOC said his behaviour went against the rules and spirit of the Olympic Games and the rules of fair play.
« The President of the National Olympic Committee issued a statement saying they respected all athletes and all nations at the Olympic Games, » the IOC said in a statement.
After Sasson defeated El Shehaby and the pair retook their places in front of the referee, the Egyptian backed away when Sasson bowed and approached him to shake hands.
When called back by the referee to bow, El Shehaby gave a quick nod before walking off amid loud boos from the crowd .
« The Disciplinary Commission (DC) considered that his behaviour at the end of the competition was contrary to the rules of fair play and against the spirit of friendship embodied in the Olympic Values, » the IOC said.
« The DC issued a ‘severe reprimand for inappropriate behaviour’ to the athlete. It noted … the shaking of hands after a match is not in the competition rules of the International Judo Federation. » « As well as a severe reprimand, the DC has asked the Egyptian Olympic Committee to ensure in future that all their athletes receive proper education on the Olympic Values before coming to the Olympic Games, » the IOC said.
El Shehaby, 32, had reportedly been pressured by fans on social media not to show up for the match with his Israeli opponent, who went on to win bronze in the +100kg category, because it would shame Islam.
This is not the first time athletes from Arab nations or Iran refuse to compete with Israeli athletes in Olympics or other international competitions.
At the 2004 Athens Olympics then Iranian world champion Arash Mirasmaeili refused to fight Israeli judoka Ehud Vaks, earning praise back home.
« Shaking the hand of your opponent is not an obligation written in the judo rules. It happens between friends and he’s not my friend, » El Shehaby said after his bout.
« I have no problem with Jewish people or any other religion or different beliefs. But for personal reasons, you can’t ask me to shake the hand of anyone from this State, especially in front of the whole world, » he said. Egypt was the first Arab power to make peace with Israel, in 1979, but the treaty remains unpopular among many Egyptians.
Mauritania slavery activists tortured in custody: lawyer Thirteen Mauritanian anti-slavery campaigners who are on trial for « rebellion and use of violence » told a court on Monday they had been tortured in custody, their lawyer said.
They were arrested last month after a protest in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the west African country prepared for an Arab League summit.
« One by one, the thirteen spoke out against the forms of torture they had been subjected to in custody, » said Brahim Ould Ebetty, representing the members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA).
The activists demanded that « proceedings be brought against the torturers they have mentioned by name, » the lawyer added.
The thirteen are accused of rebellion, use of violence, attack against public authority, armed assembly and membership of an unrecognised organisation, which carries a potential fine and a jail term of up to two years.
The Nouakchott slum was home to many so-called Haratin — a « slave caste » under a hereditary system of servitude whose members are forced to work without pay as cattle herders and domestic servants.
About 10 police officers were injured during the protest, according to local officials. Hereditary systems of slavery still exist in Mauritania despite an official ban, where those belonging to « slave castes » are forced to work as cattle herders and domestic servants without pay.
Austria arrests nine Iraqis over gang rape of German womanNine Iraqi asylum seekers and refugees have been arrested over the alleged gang rape of a 28-year-old German woman in Vienna on New Year’s Day, Austrian police said on Monday, a case likely to fuel public debate over immigration and crime.
Austria has not seen scenes like those in the German city of Cologne on New Year’s Eve, when hundreds of women told police they had been groped, attacked and robbed by mobs of men.
But immigrants have been accused of isolated sexual and other attacks committed in Austria, which has helped harden public opinion against an open-door policy towards migrants fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and elsewhere, as the Cologne episode did in Germany.
The far-right Freedom Party, which is running first in opinion polls, has seized on cases in which immigrants have been accused of crimes to press for stricter immigration policies.
Immigration is likely to be a central theme in the re-run of a presidential election on Oct. 2. The nine Iraqi men arrested in Vienna and two other provinces over the weekend are aged between 21 and 47 years and deny any wrongdoing, a police spokesman said. All have either applied for, or been granted, asylum.
They are accused of assaulting the German woman, who was visiting a friend in Vienna, in an apartment where two of the men were staying.
« The presumed perpetrators are likely to have taken advantage of the female victim’s high level of inebriation, » the Vienna police said in a statement. The woman, from the northern German state of Lower Saxony, was celebrating at a square in central Vienna and does not remember what happened between about 2 a.m. and when she woke in the apartment around 6 a.m., the police spokesman said.
Third French beach town bans Muslim burkini swimsuit A Corsican seaside resort on Monday became the third French town to ban the body-covering burkini swimsuit worn by some Muslim women, following weekend scuffles on the beach.
The cities of Cannes and Villeneuve-Loubet have banned the burkini, arguing that the garment, which leaves only the face, hands and feet exposed, defies French laws on secularism.
Socialist mayor Ange-Pierre Vivoni of Sisco, on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, told BFM Television the burkini was not acceptable in his town.
« People here feel provoked by things like that, » he said.He said he was not targeting Muslims but he wanted to get rid of Islamist fundamentalists on the island. « These people have no business here, » he said.
On France Info radio, Vivoni denied media reports saying that a scuffle on the Sisco beach Saturday night had been sparked by a tourist taking pictures of Muslim women bathing in a burkini.
« The brawl was not due to a burkini. Young Corsicans were defending tourists who were peacefully taking pictures of the landscape, » he said.
He said the ban on the burkini – the word is a combination of burqa and bikini – aimed to protect both people of North African descent as well as others in the community. « The population of Sisco lives in permanent fear. There are many provocateurs here … We are living on a powder keg, » he said
Iranians fight rising infertility and taboos With infertility rising in pollution-plagued Iran, a growing number of couples must navigate the country’s web of social and religious taboos as they seek treatment.
After years of struggling for a second child, Mohammed and his wife made the difficult decision to visit a fertility clinic in Tehran.
Waiting anxiously in the corridor while his wife underwent in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), the 45-year-old said his biggest concern was that his family might find out.
« Some people don’t like to admit they are receiving a donation because family members might later say that the sperm was not his and the child cannot inherit anything as he or she is not part of the family by blood, » he said.
In fact, the doctors were using Mohammed’s own sperm, but he was worried his family might not believe that.
This happened to one of his cousins who was born through IVF treatment and later became embroiled in a bitter inheritance dispute with his family.
« This is why people don’t want to be photographed here. We worry it will cause problems, » he said.
Iran has a broadly progressive attitude to modern medicine, and some of the most advanced facilities in the Middle East, but fertility treatment remains a sensitive issue.
As well as social taboos, Iranians must contend with varying instructions from religious leaders.
It is illegal, for instance, to directly insert into a woman the sperm of a man who is not her husband.
Using another woman’s eggs is less controversial, although a « temporary marriage » is recommended between the man and female donor that can be annulled after the operation.
There is a grey area, however, since some clerics say an egg that has already been fertilised in a lab — even with a third party’s sperm — is considered to have its own identity and can therefore be implanted into the womb.
– ‘Increased severely’ –
These questions are becoming more acute in Iran as evidence emerges of rising infertility.
A comprehensive study carried out in 2012 found that 20 percent of couples in Iran were failing to conceive after trying for a year.
That is around five to eight percentage points higher than the global average reported by the World Health Organization.
An estimated three million couples are unable to conceive in Iran, but the country only has the capacity to administer around 40,000 IVF treatment cycles per year.
« Male infertility has increased severely, » said Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundi, head of Tehran’s Avicenna fertility clinic as well as the Iranian Society of Embryology and Reproductive Biology that carried out the study.
« In the past 25 years that we have been involved with treating infertility… the sperm quality of men has dramatically decreased and we also observe much more premature menopause. »
Interviews with the heads of two other clinics in Tehran supported the findings.
« We don’t have precise figures, but we do see a rise in infertility among both men and women, » said the head of a private hospital’s IVF section, asking not to be named due to the sensitivity of the topic.
All those interviewed said pollution was the most likely cause of the spike.
Tehran is a heavily polluted city, home to around five million cars. Poor water treatment facilities, a worsening diet and smog-producing factories are also likely factors in infertility, the doctors said.
– ‘Gone through so much’ –
As well as social and religious taboos, there is also the question of money.
Even the Avicenna clinic, which is a public facility, charges about 70 million rials (around $2,000) for one cycle of treatment — around five months’ wages for the average worker — and success can never be guaranteed.
Nonetheless, the clinic has seen a steady 15 percent increase in patients each year, prompting its directors to start building larger facilities.
Speaking in the lobby shortly after IVF treatment, 28-year-old Parisa, who did not want to give her full name, was highly emotional as she spoke of the difficulties she had faced during five years of trying for a child.
It was an uphill struggle convincing her husband, who was embarrassed about his infertility, to try IVF.
Their first procedure was successful, but the foetus died after three months.
Now the doctors have taken three eggs to fertilise. »I would be happy with triplets! » she said, but her laughter quickly turned to tears. »I have gone through so much — I will take whatever God gives me. »
New York man charged in slaying of Muslim imam, assistant A New York man was charged on Monday with second-degree murder in the deaths of a New York Muslim imam and his assistant, who were gunned down at the weekend, a police spokesman said.
The charges against Oscar Morel, 35, of Brooklyn, came just hours after hundreds of mourners gathered for the outdoor funeral of the two men. The killings in the borough of Queens had shocked the neighborhood’s Bangladeshi community.
Morel was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Imam Maulama Akonjee, 55, and Thara Uddin, 64, the police spokesman said.
He also was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. The spokesman did not disclose any possible motive for the shooting.
Morel had been questioned by police following his arrest on charges related to a hit-and-run traffic accident on Saturday, the day of the shootings.
Akonjee and Uddin were shot in the head at close range after Saturday prayers at the Al-Furqan Jame Mosque in Queens’ Ozone Park section.
Police told a briefing before the charges were announced that a suspect being questioned was an Hispanic man from Brooklyn.
Police said there was still no known connection between the man being questioned and the murder victims.
« We believe because of the evidence we have acquired thus far that … this is the individual, » New York City Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said when asked if he could reassure the rattled community.
Speaker after speaker at the funeral had implored authorities to investigate the murders as hate crimes and to step up efforts to protect mosques and parts of the city like Ozone Park where many Muslims live and work.
« We want justice, » Badrul Kahn, founder of the Al-Furqan mosque, shouted to the crowd in the service’s opening speech.
« We want justice, » responded the mourners, most of them men dressed in Islamic garb.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, addressing the funeral, promised the city would bolster the police presence in the neighborhood even though the motive behind the killings was still unclear. Police had said earlier that there was no evidence the men were targeted because of their faith but nothing was being ruled out.Residents of Ozone Park were shaken by the brazen daylight killings and said such a crime was rare in the normally quiet neighborhood.
Slain Muslim imam was beloved in Bangladeshi enclave of New York Imam Maulama Akonjee was a devout spiritual leader beloved by his Bangladeshi Muslim community, according to those who knew him in the New York City neighborhood where he lived, worshiped and died violently.
Nearly everyone who knew the cleric and his religious associate Thara Uddin asked the same question: What reason would anyone have to gun down two revered, humble men as they left their mosque in the Ozone Park section of Queens on Saturday? In a diverse neighborhood with a reputation for tolerance and relatively low crime, the mystery has raised suspicions among many residents that the brazen, daylight murders were inspired by hatred of their religious or ethnic identities. An outdoor funeral was held for the two men on Monday.
Badrul Khan, founder of Ozone Park’s Al-Furqan Jame Mosque, said he had known Akonjee for a long time. The 55-year-old cleric, a father of seven, emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh several years ago, he said.
Judging from what he knew about the imam, Khan said he could think of only one reason the fatal shooting could have happened: « This is a hate crime, nothing else. » Police say the gunman stalked the men, who were dressed in religious garb, as they left Al-Furqan on Saturday afternoon and then shot them point-blank in the heads before fleeing.
A man was being questioned by detectives on Monday, but he had not been charged in connection with the killings. A motive had not yet been established, and police had not discovered a connection between the suspect and victims.
Khan, who spoke at the funeral for the two men in Ozone Park on Monday, told Reuters that the imam was a man of simple routines who lived and breathed his religious faith.
« This imam is a speaker, a translator for us, » Khan said, referring to the cleric’s role on interpreting the Koran. « His whole life was his job, praying here, then going home. » Akonjee never expressed political views in public, but instead was known for his kindness, humility and abhorrence of violence, Kahn said.
Rana Miah, 38, said he had known Akonjee since 2003. Miah’s brother is married to the imam’s daughter.
« He taught people at the mosque and visited them at their homes to teach them, with what time he had. He also used to cook for his family, » Miah said.
Miah said Akonjee and Uddin used to walk together from the mosque to the block where they both lived. Akonjee had booked a ticket to return to Bangladesh at the end of the month to visit his mother, who is ill, Miah said.Hasina Aktar, 33, a stay-at-home mother, said her father and husband both go to Al-Furqan mosque to pray.
She described the imam as a « nice, decent » man of strong faith, and she couldn’t imagine why anyone would target him. »He never fought. He encouraged Muslims in the community to pray, encouraged us to pray five times every day, to come to the mosque, to remember Allah. »
POLITICAL OVERTONES Absent any other good explanation for the crime, she said she was inclined to think the murders were motivated by hate.
Aktar said she has become afraid to wear her hijab in public, not because of the killings but because of what she sees is an escalating national anger against Muslims.
The funeral took on political overtones given the circumstances of the killings. The mayor and other elected officials condemned the shooting, and dozens of men in a sweltering parking lot held placards demanding justice.To be sure, not everyone in Ozone Park believed the murders were linked to the men’s religion or ethnicity.
Tyrone Fields, 51, who works at a nearby hospital, emigrated from Barbados but has lived in Ozone Park for years, he said. « People really keep to themselves here. This is a nice neighborhood, » he said. « I think it must have been something personal. » COLUMN-Who do you hate the least? The dilemma for French voters In Michel Houellebecq’s bleak satirical novel « Submission », the French political order is turned on its head after the soul-crushing re-election in 2017 of Francois Hollande, the most unpopular president the country has ever seen.
« A strange, oppressive mood settled over France, a kind of suffocating despair, all-encompassing, but shot through with glints of insurrection, » writes Houellebecq in his 2015 bestseller.
Nine months before real French voters go to the polls, this gloomy vision – or some variation of it – no longer seems quite so outlandish.
Hollande, 62, may be a long-shot to win re-election. But the chances of him emerging as the Socialist candidate for president remain high despite his abysmal approval ratings, now hovering in the mid-teens.
Also high, following a string of horrific attacks in France that have made security the top issue in the campaign, are the chances that his main challenger could be Nicolas Sarkozy, 61, the man who was France’s most unpopular modern leader before Hollande beat him in 2012 and claimed the mantle for himself.
So the next French election could well boil down to a choice between two failed presidents who are viewed with disdain by a majority of French voters, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front.
« It would be election by elimination, » says Thomas Guenole, a political scientist and co-founder of consulting firm Vox Politica. « The choice facing French voters would be: who do you hate the least? » A survey by Ifop last month asked French voters who they would not want to see elected next year under any circumstances. Hollande came out on top at 73 percent. Sarkozy and Le Pen were not far behind, at 66 and 63 percent, respectively.
ALIENATION Perhaps the only certainty in such a race, is that Le Pen, whose party is comfortably ahead of Hollande’s Socialists and Sarkozy’s Republicans in the polls, would make it into the second round.
The expectation is that Hollande, if he did run, would not.
But if he is up against Sarkozy in the first round and if Francois Bayrou, leader of the centrist Democratic Movement, joins the fray, he perhaps has a glimmer of hope.
Le Pen’s chances of winning a second-round run-off are seen as extremely slim. But the antipathy towards both Hollande and Sarkozy makes it difficult to completely rule out a Le Pen victory.
Unlike in 2002, when Socialist voters held their noses and backed centre-right candidate Jacques Chirac in the second round to stop Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie, the appetite for crossing party lines to back Hollande or Sarkozy would be far more limited – in part because Marine Le Pen has spent years softening the image of the National Front.
« If elections were taking place today she would have no chance, » said Dominique Moisi, senior adviser at the French Institute for International Affairs (IFRI). « But if they are taking place in a context of new terrorist attacks you cannot exclude this scenario. » Regardless of who emerges victorious, the choice between three deeply unpopular candidates could deepen the sense of alienation in France, fuelling a despondency akin to what Houellebecq describes in his book.
France is not the only country whose voters face poor choices.
The U.S. election campaign is playing out in similar fashion, with Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump both intensely disliked by large portions of the U.S.voting population.
In Germany, which will hold an election in the autumn of 2017, voters may feel they have little choice but to give Angela Merkel a fourth term, despite deep misgivings over her handling of Europe’s refugee crisis. There are simply no attractive alternatives. But the situation in France stands out because the country has such a desperate need for new ideas and leadership to pull it out of its economic malaise and spiralling crisis of confidence.
JUPPE AND MACRON On the right, the alternative to Sarkozy is Alain Juppe, the 70-year-old former prime minister, foreign minister and defence minister.
Polls suggest Juppe would have an easier ride to the presidency. And although there is nothing « new » about him, he enjoys broader support than his conservative rival, with 58 percent of French saying they could accept him as president, according to the Ifop poll.
But the recent attacks – a mass killing on the promenade in Nice and the throat-slitting of a Catholic priest in a church near Rouen – have shifted the focus of the campaign to security, immigration and national identity, themes that play to Sarkozy’s strengths as a hardline former interior minister.
Sarkozy is climbing in the polls and Juppe, seen for months as the frontrunner, is falling as a November primary to decide the centre-right candidate for president approaches. Whoever wins that primary will be the favourite to become France’s next president.
The attacks are also undermining the appeal of Emmanuel Macron, the 38-year-old economy minister and former investment banker who has been positioning himself as an alternative to Hollande on the left by preaching economic renewal.
A political sensation a few months ago, French media are now questioning whether Macron’s new political movement « En Marche » (forward) shouldn’t be renamed « En Panne » (broken down).
« In the current environment people want an experienced commander in chief and that is not Macron, » says Jerome Fourquet of Ifop.
That means French voters may well be confronted with a choice next year that satisfies few. In Houellebecq’s fictional world, the disillusionment resulting from Hollande’s re-election leads to the rise of a Muslim candidate who defeats Marine Le Pen in 2022 and introduces Sharia law and polygamy in France. That won’t come to pass. But if the 2017 vote does play out as it now looks like it might, it would not be good for France or for Europe, where leaders are already struggling to inspire their citizens.
Trump promises to work with NATO to defeat Islamic State Republican Donald Trump said on Monday he would work closely with NATO allies to defeat Islamic State militants if he wins the White House, reversing an earlier threat that the United States might not meet its obligations to the Western military alliance.
In a policy speech, Trump said he would wage a multi-front « military, cyber and financial » war against Islamic State, although it was not clear how that would differ from the Obama administration’s fight with the jihadist group.
« We will also work closely with NATO on this new mission, » said Trump, whose remarks about the defense organization earlier this summer drew heavy criticism from allies and even some of his fellow Republicans.
Trump said a newly adopted approach to fighting terrorism by the organization had led him to change his mind and he no longer considered NATO obsolete. He was apparently referring to reports the alliance is moving toward creating an intelligence post in a bid to improve information sharing.
While Trump appeared to claim credit for prodding NATO to focus more on the threat of terrorism, the 28-nation alliance has been grappling with the issue for more than a decade. NATO invoked Article 5, its collective self-defense mechanism, for the first time in its history to offer support to the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Trump called for shutting down access to the internet and social media for those aligned with Islamic State, which holds territory in Syria and Iraq. But he said he did not want to detail military strategy because it would tip off potential foes.
« We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism just as we have defeated every threat we’ve faced at every age and before, » Trump said, blaming his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, and President Barack Obama for aiding the rise of Islamic State.
In a speech in the swing state of Ohio, Trump also said that in implementing his call for a temporary ban on Muslims immigrating to the country, he would institute « extreme vetting » and develop a new screening test to try to catch people who intend to do harm to the United States.
As president, he said, he would ask the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to identify regions of the world that remain hostile to the United States and where normal screening might not be sufficient to catch those who pose a threat.
The Clinton campaign said Trump’s plan to have immigrants submit to ideological tests was « a cynical ploy to escape scrutiny of his outrageous proposal to ban an entire religion from our country and no one should fall for it. » Reading from a teleprompter, Trump said Clinton did not have the judgment and character to lead the country.
« Importantly, she also lacks the mental and physical stamina to take on ISIS and all of the many adversaries we face, » he said.
Trump, a wealthy New York businessman whose volatile campaign has alienated some in the Republican establishment, faced a fresh rebuke on Monday as he falls behind Clinton in opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
The Wall Street Journal, a leading conservative voice, said in an editorial he should fix his campaign within weeks or step down. Echoing growing alarm about Trump’s candidacy among many leading Republicans, the newspaper said Trump had failed to establish a competent campaign operation.
‘STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE’ « If they can’t get Mr. Trump to change his act by Labor Day, the GOP will have no choice but to write off the nominee as hopeless and focus on salvaging the Senate and House and other down-ballot races, » the newspaper said.
Labor Day, which falls on Sept. 5 this year, marks the end of U.S. summer vacations and traditionally launches the final phase of the long U.S. election season.
« As for Mr. Trump, he needs to stop blaming everyone else and decide if he wants to behave like someone who wants to be president – or turn the nomination over to Mike Pence, » it said, referring to the Indiana governor, who is Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
Adding to Trump’s woes this week was the news, first reported by The New York Times, that the name of his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was on secret ledgers showing cash payments designated to him of more than $12 million from a Ukrainian political party with close ties to Russia.
Manafort denied any impropriety in a statement on Monday. « I have never received a single ‘off-the-books cash payment’ as falsely ‘reported’ by The New York Times, nor have I ever done work for the governments of Ukraine or Russia, » he said.
Artem Sytnik, the head of Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau, confirmed in a briefing with reporters that Manafort’s name appeared on a ledger and that more than $12 million had been allocated as an expenditure, referencing Manafort.
But Sytnik said the presence of Manafort’s name « does not mean that he definitely received this money. » The Clinton campaign said the news was evidence of « more troubling connections between Donald Trump’s team and pro-Kremlin elements in Ukraine. » Trump has spoken favorably in the past of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last month, he invited Russian hackers to find « missing » emails from Clinton’s time as secretary of state, when she used a private email server to conduct government business, although he later described that comment as sarcasm.The current RealClearPolitics average of national opinion polls puts Clinton 6.8 points ahead of Trump, at 47.8 percent to Trump’s 41 percent. Polls also show Trump trailing in states such as Pennsylvania that are likely to be pivotal in the election.
Republican Asia experts say Trump presidency would be ‘ruinous’U.S. Asia experts who served in past Republican administrations said on Monday they would back Hillary Clinton in the presidential race as a Donald Trump presidency would lead to « ruinous marginalization » for the United States in the region.
In an open letter, the eight former senior officials said that with global strategic competition growing, including from China, it was « absolutely the wrong time to elect an unstable, ill-prepared amateur with no vision or foresight to meet the manifold challenges of the 21st century. » They said the Republican nominee offered « only bluster or preposterous panaceas » for Asia that would « wreck our country’s credibility, economy, and leadership in very short order. » The signatories to the letter included Michael Green, who served as President George W. Bush’s top Asia adviser at the White House, James Clad, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense, and Patrick Cronin, a former senior official at the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Should Trump get the chance to put his « nostrums » into practice, Asian countries would be forced to shift towards states challenging the United States, most notably China, and some might seek security through nuclear weapons, the former officials said.
« In short, if the Trump brand … becomes America’s brand, we can expect ruinous marginalization in Asia and unwanted compliance with rules which the Chinese and other challengers set, » they said.
Their letter was the latest repudiation of Trump’s candidacy by Republican national security specialists.
Last week, 50 former Republican national security officials, including a former CIA director, called Trump unqualified to lead and said he would be « the most reckless president in American history. » Trump responded to that statement by deriding the signatories as members of « the failed Washington elite » who « deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. » Trump has caused alarm in Asia and beyond by saying he would consider letting Japan and South Korea build their own nuclear weapons, rather than have them relying on the United States for protection against North Korea and China. While making U.S. allies anxious, Trump has also irritated Beijing with his comments, such as by comparing the U.S. trade deficit with China to rape. One Chinese state newspaper equated him to Hitler.At the same time, Beijing also sees Trump as a businessmen with whom it could probably negotiate and may also hope he would be less tough on human rights than Clinton.
GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks at 1-year high on global easy money policy, oil jumps Asian shares rose to one-year highs, expanding their gains this year to almost 10 percent, supported by a jump in oil prices and investor expectations of an extended phase of easy monetary policy around the globe.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, bringing its gains so far this year to 9.8 percent. Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.3 percent.
On Wall Street on Monday, S&P 500, Dow and Nasdaq stock indexes all closed at life-time highs, gaining 0.3 to 0.6 percent. Brazilian shares also hit two-year highs, helped by higher oil prices.
Oil prices hit one-month highs on Monday, gaining 10 percent or more in a three-day rally as speculation intensified over potential producer action to support prices amid a glut of crude.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Monday his country is consulting with Saudi Arabia and other producers to achieve oil market stability, bolstering hopes that oil producing nations could take action to stabilise prices.
The market started to rally on Thursday after Saudi energy minister said non-members and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are to meet on the sidelines of the International Energy Forum, which groups producers and consumers, in Algeria from Sept. 26-28.
Brent crude traded at $48.01 a barrel, down 0.7 percent from Monday but still not far from Monday’s high of $48.46, its highest since July 12.
Brent has gained more than 9 percent cumulatively since then. Since the start of August, it has risen more than 13 percent.
In currencies, the dollar slipped slightly but was broadly stuck in its recent trading ranges as market players look to the minutes from the Fed’s July policy meeting, due on Wednesday.
« At that meeting, the Fed revised up its view on the labour market and said risks to the economy diminished. So markets will be keen to see what discussion they had on future rate hikes, » said Masahiro Ichikawa, senior strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management.
Although Fed officials have said a rate hike is possible by the end of year, investors are not convinced the Fed can raise rates this year at all given the fragile global economic outlook. Its December rate hike was the first in almost a decade.
Most other countries are easing their monetary policies, with Britain, Australia and New Zealand cutting rates in recent weeks and Japan stepping up its purchasing of exchange-traded funds.
These measures pose a risk that any Fed tightening could strengthen the dollar to an uncomfortable level for U.S.companies and policymakers. Fed funds futures are pricing in only about 50 percent chance of one rate hike by December.
The dollar’s index against a basket of six major currencies stood at 95.51, down 0.1 percent on the day after having slipped 0.1 percent on Monday.
The euro fetched $1.1186, off last week’s high of $1.1222.
The yen rose 0.6 percent to one-month high of 100.60 to the dollar.The British pound slipped to near its three-decade low marked last month as traders brace for the first round of hard UK economic data on consumer and corporate reaction to June’s vote for Britain to leave the European Union. The pound traded at $1.2887, having shed 2.5 percent so far this month and coming within a cent from its July 6 low of $1.2798.
FOREX-Dollar treads water ahead of data, sterling nears post-Brexit lows The dollar treaded water early on Tuesday, caught in a narrow range ahead of a series of U.S. data releases later in the session, while sterling was on the defensive after downbeat U.K. data nudged it towards a 31-year low.
The dollar was flat at 101.250 yen after spending the previous day stuck between 101.460 and 100.870.
The euro was steady at $1.1180, having scraped out a 0.2 percent gain overnight. The dollar index was little changed at 95.641 after losing about 0.2 percent on Monday.
The greenback was put on the defensive after weaker-than-expected U.S. data on Friday dented prospects of a near-term rate hike by the Federal Reserve, with the resulting fall in Treasury yields pressuring the currency.
The markets will look to U.S. data later in the day including consumer prices, housing starts and industrial output for another chance to gauge the health of the world’s largest economy.
The dollar fared better against the pound, which has slid steadily on concerns that the economic fallout from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union would keep the Bank of England stuck with an easier monetary policy indefinitely.
Sterling was effectively flat at $1.2881 after slipping 0.3 percent overnight in the wake of data showing prices of British homes for sale falling by their most in nine months in August.
The pound has inched closer to $1.2798, a 31-year low struck in June after the Brexit referendum.
« The pound is likely to keep slipping towards $1.2798 as the U.K. economy faces the risk of a downturn and amid the prospect of further easing by the BOE, » said Masafumi Yamamoto, chief currency strategist at Mizuho Securities in Tokyo, who forecasts the pound to reach $1.2000 by the year’s end.
« Although unlikely, the British economy will have to avoid a recession for the pound to bottom out. But indicators now being released after the Brexit vote point towards a recession and the need for more monetary easing. » Investors will look to the British consumer prices data due later in the session for immediate incentives.
Commodity-linked currencies fared well thanks to a rise in crude oil prices.The Canadian dollar was at $1.2924 per dollar after touching a one-month high of $1.2902 overnight. The Australian dollar was steady at $0.7680 after gaining 0.4 percent on Monday.
Outbreak of yellow fever in DR Congo could go global, children’s charity warns An outbreak of yellow fever that has killed hundreds of people in central Africa could spread across the world, an international children’s charity warned on Tuesday, even as a massive vaccination campaign was expected to get underway.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared a yellow fever epidemic in June after the haemorrhagic virus spread from Angola, where at least 360 people have died since last December in the worst outbreak in decades.
A wide effort to bring the outbreak under control by vaccinating more than 10 million people in DRC was due to start this week after delays due to shortages of vaccine and syringes.
« There is no known cure for yellow fever and it could go global, » said Save the Children’s country director for DRC, Heather Kerr, in a statement.
The yellow fever vaccine takes one year to manufacture. Save the Children said there are only 7 million emergency vaccines after stocks were depleted in series of outbreaks earlier this year.
World Health Organisation (WHO) advisers have recommended using a fifth of the standard dose of vaccine in the event of a global shortage – enough to immunize temporarily but not to give lifelong immunity.
« We’ve got to urgently reach as many children and families as we can with the supplies that are left, and this is the only way we are able to do that right now, » Kerr said.
The WHO aims to vaccinate 8.5 million people in Congo’s capital Kinshasa and 3.4 million in DRC’s border areas before the onset of the rainy season in October, to reduce the risk of mosquito-borne diseases spreading.
A total of 2,269 suspected cases and 16 deaths have been reported in DRC as of August 8, the WHO said. Angola is starting a campaign this week to vaccinate 3 million people. The epidemic appears to be declining in the Southern African country with no confirmed cases reported in July or August, the WHO said.
(World news summary compiled by Maghreb news staff)