Florida homeowner files lawsuit against HOA over order to remove BLM flag

Stephanie Guerilus
Wed, November 25, 2020

Antoine Mickel has sued his Florida HOA after they demanded his Black Lives Matter flag be removed but had no similar requests for those who supported Trump or Blue Lives Matter

A Florida homeowner is suing the HOA over their mandate that he remove a Black Lives Matter flag, but had no similar demands of other residents in support of different causes.

Antoine Mickel has lived in his Arlington neighborhood, where he and his neighbors have expressed their various views through the use of flags adorned on their homes, for 20 years. Some of the flags have included support for President Donald Trump, Blue Lives Matter, LGBTQ, sports, and those that are seasonal.

(Photo by Natasha Moustache/Getty Images)

However, Mickel was informed last month by his homeowner’s association that he had to remove his banner that reflected his commitment to Black Lives Matter. On Tuesday, he responded by filing a federal lawsuit and claimed his freedom of speech was being violated, News4Jax reports.

River Point Community Association, River City Management Services, the community’s president, and its property manager are named in the suit. Mickel told the outlet he respected the views of others and simply wanted the same courtesy extended to him.

“I can’t even sit in my home and feel comfortable,” Mickel said, adding that he is being made to feel like an outcast.

HOAs are given liberty to make and enforce their own rules. However, federal law will take precedence and Mickel believes that he is being unfairly targeted.

The National Fair Housing Alliance chairperson is supporting Mickel and he has recruited famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump in his efforts.

“The first day that he put up his Black Lives Matter flag, he was met with retaliation from the homeowners association,” Crump said. “If he did not take down the flag, they threatened him with fines and eviction.”

Read More: Sasha, Malia Obama joined summer BLM demonstrations, Barack says



Antoine Mickle exercised his 1st amendment right to free speech by flying a #BLM flag at his home — until his HOA threatened him with fines and eviction. Now here’s the double standard: His neighbors expressed their support for #Trump2020 and #BlueLivesMatter without reprimand! pic.twitter.com/PM3qVw9ypU

— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) November 25, 2020

Crump also said that there seems to be two justice systems that exist in America and that Black people did not reap the same benefits of their white counterparts.

“Not only in policing but also in every aspect of our legal system. A justice system for Black people and a justice system for white people, when we should have equal justice for the United States of America,” he said.

“And so when we think about how this unfolded, the fact that Mr. Mickel saw other neighbors in his community putting up flags and expressing all kinds of flags—whether it was political flags, supportive of police or any number of positions—but the one day that he says ‘I too have a right to the first amendment. I too have a right to protest a position that others think differently from me on.’ The first time he said, ‘I’m putting on my Black Lives Matter flag,’ he was met with retaliation from the homeowners association.”

The HOA issued a statement to News4Jax over their matter and disputed whether it was actually a flag on Mickel’s home.

“It was the fact that a non-specific time period flag was flying off of his house, not on a flagpole. A letter would have been sent had he flown a Blue Lives Matter flag off of his house. At this time, the Association does not intend to take any further action and considers the matter closed.”

The post Florida homeowner files lawsuit against HOA over order to remove BLM flag appeared first on TheGrio.

Peat compost is 'environmental vandalism', Monty Don says

Press Association
Wed, November 25, 2020

Important peat habitats are destroyed to meet demands for compost, conservationists say - PA

TV gardener Monty Don has joined horticultural and environmental charities to call for a ban on the use of peat in compost by 2025.

Environmental groups have warned that voluntary targets to end peat in compost for gardeners and professional plant growers have failed.

Without a legal ban, important peat habitats will continue to be destroyed and it will be hard for the Government to meet its goals to boost nature and tackle the climate crisis, they said.

The National Trust, Friends of the Earth, the RSPB, the Royal Horticultural Society, Plantlife International, CPRE the countryside charity, The Wildlife Trusts, Garden Organic, and Wildlife and Countryside Link are calling for a ban.

Healthy peatlands trap in carbon, helping to reduce emissions and tackle climate change, as well as helping to control flooding by holding water and encouraging plants and vegetation that provide homes for an array of wildlife.

But they lose these functions if the peat is damaged, for example by being dug up and removed for sale, and emit carbon emissions instead, the groups warn.

In an open letter to Environment Secretary George Eustice, they say a total ban on peat in compost, including its extraction in the UK, its import, export and sale in both the retail and professional sectors, should be brought in by 2025 at the latest.

Joining their call, Mr Don warned that the continued use of peat in compost is "an act of environmental vandalism".

The move comes after figures from the horticultural industry showed the use of peat declining, but at a rate which would take decades to phase it out altogether.

A voluntary target to end its use by amateur gardeners by 2020, set by the Government in 2011, has been missed, with peat continuing to make up 44.6% of compost sold in the retail sector in 2019.

And in the professional growing sector peat use was down from 63.9% of growing material in 2015 to 62.9% in 2019, putting it off track to meet a target to phase out peat by 2030.

More than two million cubic metres of peat was sold or used in the UK in 2019, the majority imported from the Republic of Ireland and other EU countries, with the remainder coming from the UK.

Mr Don said: "There is no garden, however beautiful, that justifies the scale of environmental damage or contribution to climate change that peat use causes.

"The extraction of peat for horticultural use is an act of environmental vandalism. It causes irreparable environmental damage.

"The fact that it also significantly contributes to the release of CO2 and aggravates the effects of climate change adds salt to a grievous wound."

The broadcaster, writer and celebrity gardener added: "The time has come for the Government and Parliament to impose a total ban on all peat production and sales."

Paul de Zylva, nature campaigner for Friends of the Earth, said: "It is extraordinary that the Government is allowing peat use to undermine its ability to act on climate change and restore nature.

"The gardening sector has had a decade to end peat use and to start giving its customers genuine choice to buy truly peat-free composts.

"An outright ban or a levy on its sale could be the only way to stop garden centres and DIY stores profiting from the sale of this natural asset at rock-bottom prices."

Environmental groups are also calling for publication of the long-awaited England peat strategy, with targets and funding to restore peatlands in the country.

Buried under a Serbian cornfield, Roman military headquarters slowly sheds its secrets

Thu, November 26, 2020,
KOSTOLAC, Serbia (Reuters) - Buried under a Serbian cornfield close to a coalmine, the well-preserved remains of a Roman legion's headquarters are being excavated by archaeologists who say its rural location makes it unique.

Covering an estimated 3,500 square meters, the headquarters - or principium - belonged to the VII Claudia Legion. Its location was deduced in the spring during a survey.

There are over 100 recorded principiums across the territory of the Roman empire, but almost all are buried under modern cities, said Miomir Korac, lead archaeologist of digs there and at the Roman provincial capital Viminacium that the compound served.

"A very small number of principiums are explored completely (and) ... so we can say (preservation of) this one is unique as it is undisturbed."l

The compound, which lies east of Belgrade and around one metre (3 ft) under the surface, had 40 rooms with heated walls, a treasury, a shrine, parade grounds and a fountain.

So far only a quarter has been explored, with excavations scheduled to resume next spring.

Inside one room, archaeologists found 120 silver coins that "must have been lost during an emergency" such as an invasion or a natural disaster, said the principium's lead archaeologist Nemanja Mrdjic.

"The distribution of coins from a corner to the door, ... suggests they (coins) spilled while someone was fleeing."

The VII Claudia Legion was active between 2nd and 5th centuries AD, and its walled camp and principium were separated from the rest of Viminacium, which had its own fortifications.

Excavations of Viminacium have been ongoing since 1882, and finds there include a Roman ship, golden tiles, jade sculptures, mosaics and frescos, along with 14,000 tombs and the remains of three mammoths.

Archaeologists estimate that they have only uncovered 4% of the site, which they say its bigger than New York’s Central Park.

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; editing by John Stonestreet)

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Rocky, tiny owl rescued from Rockefeller Christmas tree, takes flight

Wilson Wong and Tim Stelloh
Wed, November 25, 2020



The tiny owl found in the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree took flight on Tuesday after being treated at a wildlife rehabilitation facility for several days.

The Ravensbeard Wildlife Center said on Tuesday that Rocky — short for Rockefeller — was cleared for take off at dusk by avian veterinarians and owl experts.

“Rocky's release was a success!” the center said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “She is a tough little bird and we're happy to see her back in her natural habitat.”


"We are sure that Rocky will feel your love and support through her journey south," the post continued.

Dozens of people expressed their gratitude on social media for her swift recovery and safe release.

On Tuesday, a Facebook user said: “This made me tear up a little, in a good way! Happy life Rocky.”

The adult Saw-whet owl was rescued last week after accompanying the 75-foot Norway spruce from Oneonta, in upstate New York, for the 170 mile ride to New York City.

When the owl was found, she hadn’t eaten or drunk in days, but began to recover after getting fluids and food. A worker who helped transport and secure the tree discovered the owl and his wife called the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center.

The center said a return trip to Oneonta would likely be too traumatic to the bird, so it planned to release it on facility grounds in the upstate town of Saugerties.

Lithuania finds its first coronavirus cases in mink

Thu, November 26, 2020

FILE PHOTO: Denmark mink culling process


VILNIUS (Reuters) - Lithuania's health agency said on Thursday it had found the first cases of coronavirus among its mink, as 22 dead mink on a farm in central Lithuania tested positive.

The tests at the 60,000-strong mink farm started after minks began dying unexpectedly, and the farm now suspects the mink got the virus from an infected worker, its director told local media.

"At this moment the farm is in isolation, but we only told to cull 40 mink who were in close contact with the infected. The rest are under close surveillance and any decisions would be taken as the situation develops", said a health agency spokeswoman.

Lithuania has 1.6 million mink on 86 farms, she added.

Denmark said last week a new, mutated strain of the coronavirus stemming from mink farms in the country was "most likely" extinct.

All farmed minks in Denmark have been culled because of coronavirus outbreaks among the animals and the discovery of the mutated strain, which authorities said showed reduced sensitivity to antibodies, has caused fears it could compromise vaccines.

Lithuania's mink herd is vastly smaller than Denmark's, which was one the world's biggest.

France and Poland have found the first cases of COVID-19 in their mink over the past week.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas; Editing by Tom Brown)

UK must treat Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as Iranian hostage, husband says

Campbell MacDiarmid
Thu, November 26, 2020

the UK must acknowledge that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian hostage, says husband Richard Ratcliffe, pictured with his daughter Gabriella, 6 - Clara Molden for The Telegraph

The UK needs to recognise Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention in Iran as a state-sponsored hostage taking, her husband said Thursday, the day after Tehran released a jailed British-Australian academic in an apparent prisoner swap.

Melbourne University lecturer Kylie Moore-Gilbert was released from Tehran’s Evin prison on Wednesday after serving over two years of a 10-year sentence for spying. Australia refused to confirm she was freed in a prisoner exchange, saying only that her release followed “diplomatic engagement with the Iranian government”.

Thailand said Thursday it had repatriated three Iranians involved in a failed 2012 bombing targeting Israeli diplomats. While Thai officials declined to call it a swap, Iranian state television showed the garlanded men being hailed as returning heroes in the same segment showing Dr Moore-Gilbert departing Tehran airport.

“It’s very certainly transactional from their point of view,” said Richard Ratcliffe, whose wife has been detained for four-and-a-half years in Iran.

The British-Iranian mother of one from north London was jailed in 2016 on charges of trying to overthrow the government, something her and her employer Thomson Reuters Foundation strongly deny. But the 42-year-old’s release has been tied to repayment of a long-standing £400 million debt that London owes Tehran.

The UK has acknowledged it owes the debt – which arose over non-delivery of 1,500 Chieftain tanks ordered and paid for by the Shah of Iran shortly before his 1979 overthrow – but says repayment must not breach sanctions.

However Mr Ratcliffe said that the UK’s position of not linking repayment of the debt to the release of Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe ignored the reality of her case. “They picked her up for that money and they have made it increasingly clear about what that’s about,” he said.

He called on the UK to acknowledge that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe was a victim of hostage diplomacy and not simply a citizen in need of consular assistance.

“I think it would protect her and protect others in the future to call Iran out for taking hostages,” he said. “Hostage taking and torture is no different than any other kind of abuse, you do not protect people from abuse by euphemising it away. You need a clear accountability so people do not do it with impunity.”

But publicly at least, the UK has been reluctant to speak out forcefully.

“I welcome news that Kylie Moore-Gilbert has been able to return to Australia and her family,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Wednesday. “I call on the Iranian government to release all the remaining dual British nationals arbitrarily detained and allow them to reunite with their loved ones.”

Currently on temporary home release in Tehran, Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe will complete her sentence in March. But an Iranian court issued a new charge against her in September.

“I would still take seriously the threat of a new prison sentence,” said Mr Ratcliffe. “I would expect if we wait long enough she will be sent back to prison again.”

While the Foreign Office remains tight-lipped about efforts to free Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, her husband said he was skeptical that their current approach is working. “The British government preference seems to be to wait for the other side to be less unreasonable, well we’ve been waiting a long time.”

From Tehran’s perspective, its success in exchanging one prisoner for three jailed citizens may be encouraging.

Michael Stephens, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, said: “I think what Kylie's release proves is that all along she was innocent, and that this was a cheap shot policy by Iran to get some of its captives out of jail. Ultimately it confirms that Iran has a policy of taking hostages and using them as leverage, and that it appears to get them what they want.”

But for Mr Ratcliffe, the release of one prisoner means his wife’s release must be “a bit closer”.

“It's a happy day for Kylie, one more family starts to heal again,” he said. “We’d like to be next.”

Kylie Moore-Gilbert: Academic says Iran detention was 'long and traumatic'

 
Thu, November 26, 2020

A British-Australian academic who has been freed from jail in Iran has thanked supporters for getting her through "a long and traumatic ordeal".

Kylie Moore-Gilbert has consistently denied accusations of espionage since her arrest in Iran in September 2018.

She had been serving a 10-year sentence but was released in a swap for three jailed Iranians, Tehran said.
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Dr Moore-Gilbert's family said they were "relieved and ecstatic" that she was free.

The Melbourne University lecturer had been travelling on an Australian passport in 2018 when she was detained at Tehran airport as she tried to leave following a conference.

Concerns for her wellbeing escalated in August when news emerged that she had been transferred to Qarchak, a notorious prison in the desert.

On Thursday, Dr Moore-Gilbert said Australian officials had worked "tirelessly" to secure her freedom. She thanked them and other supporters who had "meant the world to me" while in detention.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert was reported to have been on several hunger strikes while in Evin prison in Tehran

"I have nothing but respect, love and admiration for the great nation of Iran and its warm-hearted, generous and brave people," she said in a statement.

"It is with bittersweet feelings that I depart your country, despite the injustices which I have been subjected to. I came to Iran as a friend and with friendly intentions, and depart Iran with those sentiments not only still intact, but strengthened."

The Cambridge-educated scholar - who was tried in secret - had endured "over 800 days of incredible hardship", her family added.

"We cannot convey the overwhelming happiness that each of us feel at this incredible news," they said in a statement released by the Australian government.

According to Iranian state media, she was exchanged for an Iranian businessman and two Iranian citizens "who had been detained abroad". They have not yet been named.

Video of the apparent exchange was published by state broadcaster IRIB news and the Tasnim website.


نخستین تصویر تبادل جاسوس صهیونیستی با سه تاجر ایرانی pic.twitter.com/Y0lEIFLY5J

— باشگاه خبرنگاران جوان | YJC (@yjc___agency) November 25, 2020

The footage, which had no commentary, showed Dr Moore-Gilbert wearing a grey hijab and being driven away in a mini-van. Three men are seen being met by officials. One is in a wheelchair.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison declined to comment on whether a swap had taken place, but said no-one had been released in Australia.

"The injustice of her detention and her conviction, Australia has always rejected, and I'm just so pleased that Kylie's coming home," he told local network Nine.

In letters smuggled out of Tehran's Evin prison earlier this year, Dr Moore-Gilbert said she had "never been a spy" and feared for her mental health. She said she had rejected an offer from Iran to become a spy.

"I am not a spy. I have never been a spy, and I have no interest to work for a spying organisation in any country," she wrote.

She was later visited by Australia's ambassador to Iran, Lyndall Sachs, who reported that she was "well".

Dr Moore-Gilbert was reported to have spent long periods in solitary confinement and undertaken hunger strikes while in detention.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the release "was achieved through diplomatic engagement with the Iranian government".

She added Dr Moore-Gilbert would "soon be reunited with her family" but did not specify when she would be returning to Australia.

Melbourne University Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell said he was "delighted" at the news, adding: "We have waited a long time for this day."

Iran has detained a number of foreign nationals and Iranian dual citizens in recent years, many of them on spying charges. Human rights groups have accused Tehran of using the cases as leverage to try to gain concessions from other countries.

British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed on spying charges in 2016. She has always maintained her innocence.

Her husband, Richard Ratcliffe, welcomed reports of Dr Moore-Gilbert's release.

"Nazanin and I are really happy for Kylie and her family," he told the BBC. "They have been through so much, borne with such dignity. And it is an early Christmas present for us all, that one more of us is out and on their way home, one more family can begin to heal."

Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, said news of Dr Moore-Gilbert's release was "an enormous relief".

"There may now be renewed grounds for hoping that UK-Iranian dual-nationals like Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori will also be released from their unjust jail terms in Iran in the coming days or weeks," she said.

Anoosheh Ashoori, a retired civil engineer from London, was jailed for 10 years in July 2019 after being convicted of spying for Israel's Mossad intelligence agency.

Paris police suspended over beating of Black man

SYLVIE CORBET
Thu, November 26, 2020

PARIS (AP) — A Black man beaten up by several French police officers said he is seeking justice after the publication of videos showing officers repeatedly punching him, using a truncheon and tear gas against him for no apparent reason.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered the officers involved in the case suspended.

The incident came as President Emmanuel Macron’s government is pushing a new bill that restricts the ability to film police, which has prompted protests from civil liberties groups and journalists concerned that it would allow police brutality to go undiscovered and unpunished.

Videos first published on Thursday by French news website Loopsider show the violent arrest of a music producer, Michel Zecler, in the 17th arrondissement or district of the French capital on Saturday.

The video images obtained by the Associated Press, both from a security camera inside the studio and filmed by neighbors outside, show three officers following Zecler inside his music studio, where they can be seen repeatedly punching him and beating him with a truncheon.

Zecler told the Associated Press he feels “good” now that “the truth is out.”

“I want to understand why I have been assaulted by people who were wearing a police uniform. I want justice actually, because I believe in the justice of my country," he said.

Zecler said that the officers hurled repeated insults at him, including a very strong racist epithet.

He added that he still does not understand why officers decided to arrest him. He suffered injuries to his head, forearms and legs.

His lawyer, Hafida El Ali, said: “He asked them what they wanted, if they wanted to check his identity. ... They didn't stop beating him, the video of the violence (inside the studio) lasts for 12 minutes.”

At some point the officers called in reinforcements and went outside. They then threw a tear gas grenade into the studio to get those inside to come out, according El Ali.

El Ali said that nine others who were recording music in the studio basement were also beaten.

“Outside they are still beaten up and thrown to the ground and that's the moment when a police officer sees they are being filmed," she said. Then the violence stops.

Zecler was taken into custody.

“I’m obviously scandalized by these images,” Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said in a television interview. "There are racist police, lawyers or bakers, but to say the police are racist, it's not true.”

Zecler's lawyer stressed the value of the videos in her client's case.

“These videos are essential because initially my client was being detained... for violence against people with public authority," El Ali said. "This is very serious. The reality is that if we didn't have these videos maybe my client would be in prison.”

Darmanin tweeted that the body that investigates allegations of police misconduct, the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, is looking into the case, saying, “I want disciplinary proceedings as soon as possible.”

The Paris police prefecture said in a statement that IGPN will seek to establish the exact circumstances surrounding the man’s arrest.

The Paris prosecutor’s office is also investigating the police actions. The prosecutor’s office said Thursday it has dropped the proceedings against Zecler opened the day of his arrest, and instead opened an investigation for “acts of violence by a person in position of public authority” and “false declaration.”

According to Le Parisien newspaper, based on the written record of the officers' declarations the day after the arrest, Zecler drew their attention because he was not wearing a mask — which is mandatory in Paris outdoors amid the coronavirus pandemic. He seemed “nervous” and a “strong drug smell" was emanating from him. They said he was getting “dangerous” toward them.

Zecler's lawyer said: "My client never committed any violence against the police... He did not even defend himself."

It’s the second such police brutality investigation in Paris this week prompted by video footage. The government ordered an internal police investigation on Tuesday after police officers were filmed tossing migrants out of tents and intentionally tripping one while evacuating a protest camp.

That same day, France’s lower house of parliament approved a draft law meant to strengthen local police and provide greater protection to all officers. It notably makes it a crime to publish images of officers with intent to cause them harm. The bill, which enjoys public support after recent terrorist attacks, will now go to the Senate.

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France Police
Music producer identified only by his first name, Michel, is pictured on his way to the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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France Police
In this photo provided by Mazava music production shows Michel, no family name given, Saturday Nov.21, 2020 in Paris . French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (Mazava music production Via AP)

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France Police
In this photo provided by Mazava music production shows Michel, no family name given, Saturday Nov.21, 2020 in Paris . French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (Courtesy of Hafida el Ali Via AP)



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France Police
Music producer identified only by his first name, Michel, answers to media, before going to the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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France Police
Music producer identified only by his first name, Michel, is pictured on his way to the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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France Police
Music producer identified only by his first name, Michel, answers to media, before going to the Inspectorate General of the National Police, known by its French acronym IGPN, in Paris, Thursday, Nov. 26, 2020. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin ordered several Paris police officers suspended after the publication of videos showing them beating up a Black man and using tear gas against him with no apparent reason. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

'Why now?' Dismay as US considers troop pullout from Somalia

CARA ANNA
Thu, November 26, 2020

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — No country has been involved in Somalia’s future as much as the United States. Now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the Horn of Africa nation at what some experts call the worst possible time.

Three decades of chaos, from warlords to al-Qaida affiliate al-Shabab to the emergence of an Islamic State-linked group, have ripped apart the country that only in the past few years has begun to find its footing. The U.S. Embassy returned to Somalia just last year, 28 years after diplomats and staffers fled.

Somalia faces a tense election season that begins in the next few weeks to decide the presidency and parliament. United Nations experts say al-Shabab, supporting its 5,000 to 10,000 fighters on a rich diet of extorting businesses and civilians, is improving its bomb-making skills. And an ever bigger military force, the African Union’s 19,000-strong AMISOM, has begun its own withdrawal from a country whose forces are widely considered unready to assume full responsibility for security.

It is not clear whether President Donald Trump will order the withdrawal of the some 700 U.S. military forces from Somalia, following his orders for Afghanistan and Iraq, or whether the reported urge will pass before he leaves office in January. But the idea is taken seriously, even as U.S. drone strikes are expected to continue in Somalia against al-Shabab and IS fighters from neighboring Djibouti and Kenya — where al-Shabab carried out a deadly attack against U.S. forces early this year.

The U.S. Africa Command has seen a “definitive shift” this year in al-Shabab's focus to attack U.S. interests in the region, a new report by the Department of Defense inspector general said Wednesday — and the command says al-Shabab is Africa's most “dangerous” and “imminent” threat.

Here’s what’s at stake:

COUNTERTERRORISM

“The first thing ... it’s disastrous for Somalia’s security sector, it just causes that first panic reaction: You know, why now?” said Samira Gaid, a Somali national security specialist who served as senior security adviser to the prime minister and special adviser to the head of AMISOM. “Especially since over the past three and half years in particular the security sector really improved, and we tried to work closely with" the U.S., she told The Associated Press.

Recent progress includes a “war council” between the U.S. and Somali governments, she said, where the U.S. helps to draw up military plans. “We call them Somali-led operations, but really the U.S. is hand-holding us through it."

The U.S. military also trains Somalia’s elite Danab special forces that now number around 1,000, and is providing Danab with air cover and intelligence, Gaid said.

“Danab was expanding, that’s why this is so shocking,” she said. “Is it possible to move forward with that plan now?”

Danab units are now operational in four of Somalia's five member states, the U.S. military says, and they conducted about 80% of the Somali national army's offensive forces in the quarter ending Sept. 30 and “nearly all” operations against al-Shabab.

The Danab forces also serve as a model for how the rest of Somali military forces can develop to be “more meritocracy and less clan-focused,” said Omar Mahmood, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

The loss of U.S. forces is widely seen as a gain for al-Shabab, and for the far smaller presence of hundreds of IS-affiliated fighters in Somalia's north. “From the al-Shabab perspective, they just need to hold out,” Mahmood said, and they might even ask themselves what need there is for any potential Taliban-style negotiations.

Al-Shabab’s messaging has always stressed the extremist group's staying power, national security specialist Gaid said: “These external forces will always leave.” A U.S. withdrawal will play into that narrative.

Gaid said she doesn't see any other country stepping into the U.S. military’s role, though a withdrawal would open space for powers like Russia and China. Somalia also has some 1,500 special forces that have been trained by Turkish troops, she said, but “they don’t benefit from Turkish advisers on the ground.”

SECURITY

Without U.S. forces, al-Shabab “will find it easier to overrun AMISOM, let alone the Somali national army,” Vanda Felbab-Brown, co-director of the African Security Initiative at the Brookings Institution, told an online event this week. And with neighboring Ethiopia’s conflict increasing pressure to withdraw more Ethiopian forces from Somalia, a U.S. troop withdrawal “is really just the worst time.”

The support that U.S. forces give AMISOM is “huge,” Gaid said, including as a key interlocutor with Somali forces. And with AMISOM also drawing down by the end of next year, “it’s a tricky time.”

The U.S. has said implementation of the plan for Somali forces to take over the country's security next year is “badly off track,” said the new report by the Department of Defense inspector general.

Somali forces cannot contain the al-Shabab threat on its own, the report said. They still rely on the international community for financial support, and yet they “sometimes go unpaid for months.”

Maybe a U.S. withdrawal would lead the AMISOM force to adjust its own withdrawal timeline “more realistically,” Mahmood said.

The U.S. has been the most engaged security partner in Somalia “willing to get down and dirty,” he added. But no other country appears to have the willingness to replace what U.S. forces are doing on the ground

And a withdrawal of both the U.S. and AMISOM would risk leaving the impression that “Somalia increasingly can rely less and less on external security partners," Mahmood said.

POLITICAL STABILITY

Somalia is on the brink of elections, with the parliamentary vote scheduled in December and the presidential one in February. What had meant to be the country’s first one-person-one-vote election in decades instead remains limited by disputes between the federal government and regional ones — which the U.S. has said also weakens command and control of Somali forces.

At least keep U.S. forces in Somalia until after the elections, Felbab-Brown wrote this week, warning of possible post-election violence or al-Shabab taking advantage of any chaos.

Even though U.S. forces don’t provide election security, “our problem is, with the U.S. focused on a drawdown of troops, it would not be focused on how the elections are going politically,” Gaid said.

The U.S. has been one of the most vocal actors on Somalia's election process, she said. “We were all expecting after November that the U.S. would be clear on a lot of stuff. Now it seems we have to wait.”

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Somalia US Troop Withdrawal
U.S. Army Spc. Dominic Deitrick, assigned to the 1-186th Infantry Battalion, Task Force Guardian, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, seen through a night-vision device, provides security for a 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS) C-130J Super Hercules during unloading and loading operations Friday, June 12, 2020 at an unidentified location in Somalia. No country has been involved in Somalia's future as much as the United States but now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the nation at what some experts call the worst possible time. (Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ruano/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)

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Somalia US Troop Withdrawal
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Damian T. Donahoe, deputy commanding general, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, center, talks with service members during a battlefield circulation Saturday, Sept. 5, 2020, in Somalia. No country has been involved in Somalia's future as much as the United States but now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the nation at what some experts call the worst possible time. (Senior Airman Kristin Savage/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)

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Somalia US Troop Withdrawal
A U.S. Army soldier assigned to Site Security Team Task Force Guardian, 1st Battalion, 186th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, provides security for a C-130J Super Hercules from the 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS) at an unidentified location in Somalia Wednesday, June 10, 2020. No country has been involved in Somalia's future as much as the United States but now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the nation at what some experts call the worst possible time. (Staff Sgt. Shawn White/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)



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Somalia US Troop Withdrawal
U.S. Army soldiers assigned to the 1-186th Infantry Battalion, Task Force Guardian, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, provide security for a 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS) C-130J Super Hercules during loading and unloading operations at an unidentified location in Somalia Friday, July 10, 2020. No country has been involved in Somalia's future as much as the United States but now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the nation at what some experts call the worst possible time. (Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ruano/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)

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Somalia US Troop Withdrawal
U.S. Army Spc. Kevin Martin, junior sniper, assigned to the 1-186th Infantry Battalion, Task Force Guardian, Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa, provides security for a 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron (EAS) C-130J Super Hercules during unloading operations at an unidentified location in Somalia Sunday, June 28, 2020. No country has been involved in Somalia's future as much as the United States but now the Trump administration is thinking of withdrawing the several hundred U.S. military troops from the nation at what some experts call the worst possible time. (Tech. Sgt. Christopher Ruano/Combined Joint Task Force - Horn of Africa via AP)

Trump set to execute more inmates than any other president - with more due before Biden takes office

Donald Trump is set to become the only president in history to carry out federal executions during the ‘lame duck’ period

Harriet Alexander Wednesday 11 November 2020 

Donald Trump has enthusiastically embraced the death penalty
(Getty Images)

Three death row prisoners are to be executed by the federal government in the window of time before Joe Biden takes office, as Donald Trump continues his unprecedented and enthusiastic embrace of capital punishment.

Mr Trump ordered in July 2019 ordered a resumption of federal executions and this year, on 14 July, the first prisoner was put to death, ending a 17 year hiatus.

His administration has executed seven people so far this year, and expects to execute three more before Christmas - meaning that he will have put more people to death in a single year than any other president.

Furthermore, no president before him has ever executed death row inmates in the “lame duck” period.

Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) said Mr Trump was "out of step with federal practices for more than a century."

"No-one has ever attempted to carry out so many executions at the federal level," he told Newsweek.

"No-one in modern American history has attempted to carry out so many executions in such a short period of time, and no-one has done so in a manner that so closely disregards the rule of law.

The federal death penalty applies in all 50 states and US territories but is used relatively rarely.

In 1972 the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional, in Furman v. Georgia in 1972. They put it back on the books four years later, and most states resumed executions.

It was not reinstated at a federal level until 1988, however, and was then expanded in 1994 to make 60 offences eligible for federal execution - among them treason, espionage, murder involving torture or government officials, and first degree murder.

Now, 28 US states have the death penalty on the books.

In recent years, New Mexico (2009), Illinois (2011), Connecticut (2012), Maryland (2013), New Hampshire (2019) and Colorado (2020) have legislatively abolished the death penalty, replacing it with a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility for parole.


More than half of US states do not have the death penalty
(Death Penalty Information Center)

George W. Bush was the only other president, since 1988, to order federal executions.

Mr Trump has outpaced Mr Bush, and sparked anger by pressing ahead with highly contentious cases.

On 26 August the only Native American on death row was executed by the federal government, despite objections from many Navajo leaders who had urged Mr Trump to halt the execution on the grounds it would violate tribal culture and sovereignty.

On 8 December the government plans to execute Lisa Montgomery, who will be the first woman federally executed since 1953.

She is a victim of sex trafficking who suffers from psychosis and complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, according to anti-death penalty advocates.

On 10 December they plan to put to death Brandon Bernard for the murder of a Texas couple in 1999, when he was 18.

The last time the US government executed a person as young as eighteen at the time of the crime was in 1952.

The third person to be executed during the “lame duck” period is likely to be Orlando Hall, a Black man sentenced to death by an all-white jury in 1994 for kidnapping, raping, and burying a 16-year-old girl alive in retaliation for a bad drug deal.

He never denied killing her, but his lawyers insist racial bias and remorse were not taken into account.

Mr Dunham said the ratcheting up of federal executions were also out of step with the views of Americans.

He told Newsweek support for the death penalty has been waning, and cited a recent Gallup poll that found 56 per cent of Americans are in favour of the death penalty, down from 80 per cent in 1994.

The 2019 Gallup survey also showed that 60 per cent of Americans think life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is a more appropriate punishment for murder than the death penalty.

Mr Biden has promised to eliminate the death penalty at a federal level, and try to convince states to take it off their books too.

“Over 160 individuals who’ve been sentenced to death in this country since 1973 have later been exonerated,” his manifesto states.

"Because we cannot ensure we get death penalty cases right every time, Biden will work to pass legislation to eliminate the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government’s example.

“These individuals should instead serve life sentences without probation or parole.”