Greece investigates reports theatre director accused of rape taught refugee children
By Karolina Tagaris
ATHENS (Reuters) - A prosecutor has ordered an investigation into reports that migrant children were taught acting classes by the former artistic director of Greece’s National Theatre, now facing child rape allegations, a migration ministry official said on Monday.
Dimitris Lignadis turned himself in on Saturday following an arrest warrant issued after lawsuits were filed against him by two men who say he raped them when they were minors. He has denied wrongdoing and is being held pending a plea hearing on Wednesday.
His case has become the highest profile accusation in a cascade of sex abuse scandals in Greek culture and sport in recent weeks, causing a reckoning which Greeks have compared to the “me too” movement in the United States.
The Migration Ministry’s special secretary for the protection of unaccompanied minors, Irini Agapidaki, told Reuters she had asked the prosecutor to investigate reports in newspapers and on social media that children staying in shelters had taken acting lessons with Lignadis in 2017-18.
“I have an institutional obligation and a moral duty to request that these reports are thoroughly investigated,” Agapidaki said.
A lawyer for Lignadis could not immediately be reached for comment.
The semi-official Athens News Agency reported that after two or three lessons with Lignadis, some migrant children had “expressed discomfort or refusal to return to the classroom”. It said the shelters were run by three charities, which it did not identify.
Lignadis resigned from his position earlier this month after accusations of harassment against him appeared in Greek media. The allegations were among a number that have surfaced in Greece since January, when Olympic sailing champion Sofia Bekatorou testified in court that she had been raped 23 years ago by a sports official.
No case was brought against the man Bekatorou accused, as the statute of limitations had passed. But her testimony won praise from politicians and was followed by similar confessions from athletes, actors, singers and others.
The scandals have become a major political issue, with the leftwing opposition calling on Culture Minister Lina Mendoni to resign, accusing her of protecting Lignadis. She denied on Friday that she and the theatre director were friends.
On Monday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gave his backing to Mendoni. His government is due to outline further measures to combat sexual abuse, a spokeswoman told a briefing. She said Mitsotakis would address parliament on Thursday on the issue.
Tuesday, February 23, 2021
White supremacy a 'transnational threat', U.N. chief warns
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are becoming a “transnational threat” and have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to boost their support.
Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, Guterres said the danger of hate-driven groups was growing daily.
“White supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are more than domestic terror threats. They are becoming a transnational threat,” he told the Geneva forum. Without naming states, Guterres added: “Today, these extremist movements represent the number one internal security threat in several countries.”
In the United States, racial tensions simmered during the turbulent four-year presidency of Donald Trump. His successor Joe Biden has said the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters was carried out by “thugs, insurrectionists, political extremists and white supremacists”.
“Far too often, these hate groups are cheered on by people in positions of responsibility in ways that were considered unimaginable not long ago,” Guterres said. “We need global coordinated action to defeat this grave and growing danger.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is to report to the council on March 18 on systemic racism against people of African descent. The global inquiry was launched after George Floyd died in Minneapolis last May when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Guterres also accused authorities in some countries of using the COVID-19 pandemic to deploy “heavy-handed security responses and emergency measures to crush dissent”.
“At times, access to life-saving COVID-19 information has been concealed - while deadly misinformation has been amplified - including by those in power,” he said.
Guterres warned about the power of digital platforms and the use and abuse of data.
“I urge all Member States to place human rights at the centre of regulatory frameworks and legislation on the development and use of digital technologies,” he said. “We need a safe, equitable and open digital future that does not infringe on privacy or dignity.”
GENEVA (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Monday that white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are becoming a “transnational threat” and have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to boost their support.
Addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council, Guterres said the danger of hate-driven groups was growing daily.
“White supremacy and neo-Nazi movements are more than domestic terror threats. They are becoming a transnational threat,” he told the Geneva forum. Without naming states, Guterres added: “Today, these extremist movements represent the number one internal security threat in several countries.”
In the United States, racial tensions simmered during the turbulent four-year presidency of Donald Trump. His successor Joe Biden has said the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters was carried out by “thugs, insurrectionists, political extremists and white supremacists”.
“Far too often, these hate groups are cheered on by people in positions of responsibility in ways that were considered unimaginable not long ago,” Guterres said. “We need global coordinated action to defeat this grave and growing danger.”
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is to report to the council on March 18 on systemic racism against people of African descent. The global inquiry was launched after George Floyd died in Minneapolis last May when a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Guterres also accused authorities in some countries of using the COVID-19 pandemic to deploy “heavy-handed security responses and emergency measures to crush dissent”.
“At times, access to life-saving COVID-19 information has been concealed - while deadly misinformation has been amplified - including by those in power,” he said.
Guterres warned about the power of digital platforms and the use and abuse of data.
“I urge all Member States to place human rights at the centre of regulatory frameworks and legislation on the development and use of digital technologies,” he said. “We need a safe, equitable and open digital future that does not infringe on privacy or dignity.”
Indonesia president warns of forest fires as hot spots detected
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots had been detected on the island of Sumatra.
The Southeast Asian country has suffered some of the biggest tropical forest fires outside the Amazon and Congo in recent years, putting at risk endangered animals like orangutans and tigers and sending choking haze across the region.
“Ninety-nine percent of forest fires are perpetrated by humans, whether intentional or out of negligence,” Jokowi, as the president is widely know, said in a virtual meeting with officials.
Farmers often used fire as a cheap land clearing method, the president said, calling on local governments to get forest fire containment infrastructure ready.
Jokowi said Sumatra is facing a rising risk of forest fires this month and warned that the Kalimantan region on Borneo island, as well as Sulawesi island, could also start seeing forest fires in May to July, with the peak expected in the August to September period.
The president said the fires could cause considerable financial losses and “not to mention the damage to our ecology and ecosystem.”
Fires, sometimes set to clear land for palm oil plantations in the world’s top producer of the commodity, were the most damaging in years in 2015, with the World Bank estimating they caused $16.1 billion of damage.
Meanwhile, fires in 2019 caused total damage and economic loss amounting to at least $5.2 billion, equal to 0.5% of gross domestic product, the World Bank said. (reut.rs/3qJCnwH)
State news agency Antara, citing a meteorology official, reported that number of hot spots in Riau province on Sumatra island has jumped to 63 as of Monday, from nine a day earlier.
($1 = 14,110.0000 rupiah)
Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Ed Davies
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Monday local authorities should get prepared for potential forest fires later this year as hot spots had been detected on the island of Sumatra.
The Southeast Asian country has suffered some of the biggest tropical forest fires outside the Amazon and Congo in recent years, putting at risk endangered animals like orangutans and tigers and sending choking haze across the region.
“Ninety-nine percent of forest fires are perpetrated by humans, whether intentional or out of negligence,” Jokowi, as the president is widely know, said in a virtual meeting with officials.
Farmers often used fire as a cheap land clearing method, the president said, calling on local governments to get forest fire containment infrastructure ready.
Jokowi said Sumatra is facing a rising risk of forest fires this month and warned that the Kalimantan region on Borneo island, as well as Sulawesi island, could also start seeing forest fires in May to July, with the peak expected in the August to September period.
The president said the fires could cause considerable financial losses and “not to mention the damage to our ecology and ecosystem.”
Fires, sometimes set to clear land for palm oil plantations in the world’s top producer of the commodity, were the most damaging in years in 2015, with the World Bank estimating they caused $16.1 billion of damage.
Meanwhile, fires in 2019 caused total damage and economic loss amounting to at least $5.2 billion, equal to 0.5% of gross domestic product, the World Bank said. (reut.rs/3qJCnwH)
State news agency Antara, citing a meteorology official, reported that number of hot spots in Riau province on Sumatra island has jumped to 63 as of Monday, from nine a day earlier.
($1 = 14,110.0000 rupiah)
Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Ed Davies
Tunisian power struggle risks street escalation
By Tarek Amara, Angus McDowall
TUNIS (Reuters) - A standoff over a cabinet reshuffle in Tunisia has accelerated a power struggle between the president, prime minister and parliament speaker that threatens to spill over into street protests by rival blocs and bring down the government.
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators attend a protest to mark the anniversary of a prominent activist's death and against allegations of police abuse, in Tunis, Tunisia February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo
The dispute has been building since a 2019 election delivered a fragmented parliament and a political outsider as president, creating a constant state of political turmoil in the only country to emerge with an intact democracy from the “Arab Spring” revolts a decade ago.
It has come to a head as Tunisia attempts to navigate the economic havoc wrought by COVID-19, while facing the biggest protests for years and public debt levels that have spooked capital markets needed to finance the state budget.
If the government falls, appointing a new one could take weeks, further delaying fiscal reforms needed to win financing.
“Today the revolution faces its most severe crisis and the solution is dialogue leading to change in the constitution, the political system, the electoral system,” said Zouhair Maghzaoui, head of the Chaab political party, which has backed President Kais Saied in his dispute with Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.
Saied has vowed not to swear in four ministers nominated in a reshuffle by Mechichi, saying each has a possible conflict of interest.
Mechichi, who took office last summer, is backed by Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the only major political party to have weathered Tunisia’s first decade of democracy.
The 2011 revolution jettisoned autocracy, but many Tunisians have been disillusioned by a bad economy. Meanwhile, a power sharing system established in a 2014 constitution has led to constant squabbling between presidents, prime ministers and parliamentary leaders.
Both parliament and the president are required to approve a prime minister, who has most executive powers while the president oversees defence and foreign affairs.
A constitutional court, envisaged to resolve disputes between rival branches of the state, has not been formed yet because none of those in power can agree on judges they trust to be impartial.
Saied wants a presidential system with only a minor role for political parties. Ghannouchi and his allies want a more clearly parliamentary system.
“The president wants to be the main player... he wants a puppet prime minister,” said Sadok Jabnoun, a senior official in jailed media mogul Nabil Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia party and a supporter of Mechichi.
RIVAL PROTESTS
Recent protests against inequality and police abuses have mostly directed anger at Mechichi and Ghannouchi.
However, Ghannouchi’s Ennahda has called for its own members to demonstrate on Saturday to “protect democracy” and oppose Saied’s rejection of Mechichi’s reshuffle.
Other parties with opposing views have also called for demonstrations.
The spectre of rival protests recalls the extreme polarisation that gripped Tunisia in 2013 and 2014 before Ennahda and a group of secular parties averted violence by agreeing to share power.
Saied, a political outsider, won the 2019 presidential election run-off vote in a landslide that, analysts say, he saw as a strong personal mandate and a rejection of the parties that dominate parliament.
Meanwhile the parliamentary election left a chamber in which no party had more than a quarter of votes, making it all but impossible for a government to gain stable majority backing.
“I am not ready to back down from my principles,” Saied said of the dispute, adding that the presidency was not a mere post office to uncritically receive decisions sent by prime ministers.
By Tarek Amara, Angus McDowall
TUNIS (Reuters) - A standoff over a cabinet reshuffle in Tunisia has accelerated a power struggle between the president, prime minister and parliament speaker that threatens to spill over into street protests by rival blocs and bring down the government.
FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators attend a protest to mark the anniversary of a prominent activist's death and against allegations of police abuse, in Tunis, Tunisia February 6, 2021. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo
The dispute has been building since a 2019 election delivered a fragmented parliament and a political outsider as president, creating a constant state of political turmoil in the only country to emerge with an intact democracy from the “Arab Spring” revolts a decade ago.
It has come to a head as Tunisia attempts to navigate the economic havoc wrought by COVID-19, while facing the biggest protests for years and public debt levels that have spooked capital markets needed to finance the state budget.
If the government falls, appointing a new one could take weeks, further delaying fiscal reforms needed to win financing.
“Today the revolution faces its most severe crisis and the solution is dialogue leading to change in the constitution, the political system, the electoral system,” said Zouhair Maghzaoui, head of the Chaab political party, which has backed President Kais Saied in his dispute with Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.
Saied has vowed not to swear in four ministers nominated in a reshuffle by Mechichi, saying each has a possible conflict of interest.
Mechichi, who took office last summer, is backed by Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda, the only major political party to have weathered Tunisia’s first decade of democracy.
The 2011 revolution jettisoned autocracy, but many Tunisians have been disillusioned by a bad economy. Meanwhile, a power sharing system established in a 2014 constitution has led to constant squabbling between presidents, prime ministers and parliamentary leaders.
Both parliament and the president are required to approve a prime minister, who has most executive powers while the president oversees defence and foreign affairs.
A constitutional court, envisaged to resolve disputes between rival branches of the state, has not been formed yet because none of those in power can agree on judges they trust to be impartial.
Saied wants a presidential system with only a minor role for political parties. Ghannouchi and his allies want a more clearly parliamentary system.
“The president wants to be the main player... he wants a puppet prime minister,” said Sadok Jabnoun, a senior official in jailed media mogul Nabil Karoui’s Heart of Tunisia party and a supporter of Mechichi.
RIVAL PROTESTS
Recent protests against inequality and police abuses have mostly directed anger at Mechichi and Ghannouchi.
However, Ghannouchi’s Ennahda has called for its own members to demonstrate on Saturday to “protect democracy” and oppose Saied’s rejection of Mechichi’s reshuffle.
Other parties with opposing views have also called for demonstrations.
The spectre of rival protests recalls the extreme polarisation that gripped Tunisia in 2013 and 2014 before Ennahda and a group of secular parties averted violence by agreeing to share power.
Saied, a political outsider, won the 2019 presidential election run-off vote in a landslide that, analysts say, he saw as a strong personal mandate and a rejection of the parties that dominate parliament.
Meanwhile the parliamentary election left a chamber in which no party had more than a quarter of votes, making it all but impossible for a government to gain stable majority backing.
“I am not ready to back down from my principles,” Saied said of the dispute, adding that the presidency was not a mere post office to uncritically receive decisions sent by prime ministers.
Baloch protesters end sit-in after Pakistani prime minister's pledge to meet them
By Umar Farooq
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Protesters calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Pakistan’s Balochistan province ended a week long sit-in in the capital on Monday, after an assurance that Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet them next month.
Balochistan, where separatist militants have waged an insurgency against the state that has grown in profile as ally China develops mining there, has long been plagued by enforced disappearances. Families say men are picked up by the security forces, disappear often for years, and are sometimes found dead, with no official explanation.
“We don’t have any big hopes from this government, but the way they have reassured us, we also have decided to give them a chance,” Sammi Baloch, who has been searching for her father Deen Muhammad since 2009, told Reuters.
She and other families have protested across Pakistan for years to little avail.
The Islamabad protesters - 10 families of missing men and around a hundred supporters - said they will return if assurances are not met.
Security officials say many of Balochistan’s so-called disappeared have links to the separatists. But actual court punishments have been rare.
Pakistan’s military and human rights ministry did not respond to requests for comment for this story, including questions about specific family members sought by the protesters.
For one week, protesters held up photos of missing relatives under the watchful eyes of police surrounding them.
Among them was 60-year-old Baz Khatoon, who clutched a stack of news reports and court filings about her son, Rashid Hussain Brohi. She believes he was detained in Dubai in December 2018, was flown to Pakistan six months later, and then vanished without a trace.
Khatoon said her son moved to Dubai to be safe in 2017 after three male relatives, including his father, had turned up dead after being taken away by security forces over the years.
After Brohi was detained, Amnesty International and U.N. bodies looking into disappearances called on the Emirati authorities not to deport him to Pakistan for fear he would be killed there.
Brohi’s mother has obtained a copy of an Emirati travel document showing Brohi’s Emirati visa was cancelled in June, 2019, and that he left two days later on a flight to a small airport in Balochistan. The UAE government media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Pakistani news channels reported that he was brought back to Pakistan and charged with sending funds to gunmen responsible for a 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi. But Khatoon said she has been given no official explanation of his whereabouts.
“Just tell us our kids are safe, put them in jail, we don’t have any problem with that,” Khatoon said.
“If they were in jail at least we would know they are safe, at least I could take some food there for my son, or a blanket to keep him warm, or a change of clothes.”
By Umar Farooq
FEBRUARY 22, 2021
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Protesters calling for an end to enforced disappearances in Pakistan’s Balochistan province ended a week long sit-in in the capital on Monday, after an assurance that Prime Minister Imran Khan will meet them next month.
Balochistan, where separatist militants have waged an insurgency against the state that has grown in profile as ally China develops mining there, has long been plagued by enforced disappearances. Families say men are picked up by the security forces, disappear often for years, and are sometimes found dead, with no official explanation.
“We don’t have any big hopes from this government, but the way they have reassured us, we also have decided to give them a chance,” Sammi Baloch, who has been searching for her father Deen Muhammad since 2009, told Reuters.
She and other families have protested across Pakistan for years to little avail.
The Islamabad protesters - 10 families of missing men and around a hundred supporters - said they will return if assurances are not met.
Security officials say many of Balochistan’s so-called disappeared have links to the separatists. But actual court punishments have been rare.
Pakistan’s military and human rights ministry did not respond to requests for comment for this story, including questions about specific family members sought by the protesters.
For one week, protesters held up photos of missing relatives under the watchful eyes of police surrounding them.
Among them was 60-year-old Baz Khatoon, who clutched a stack of news reports and court filings about her son, Rashid Hussain Brohi. She believes he was detained in Dubai in December 2018, was flown to Pakistan six months later, and then vanished without a trace.
Khatoon said her son moved to Dubai to be safe in 2017 after three male relatives, including his father, had turned up dead after being taken away by security forces over the years.
After Brohi was detained, Amnesty International and U.N. bodies looking into disappearances called on the Emirati authorities not to deport him to Pakistan for fear he would be killed there.
Brohi’s mother has obtained a copy of an Emirati travel document showing Brohi’s Emirati visa was cancelled in June, 2019, and that he left two days later on a flight to a small airport in Balochistan. The UAE government media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Pakistani news channels reported that he was brought back to Pakistan and charged with sending funds to gunmen responsible for a 2018 attack on the Chinese consulate in Karachi. But Khatoon said she has been given no official explanation of his whereabouts.
“Just tell us our kids are safe, put them in jail, we don’t have any problem with that,” Khatoon said.
“If they were in jail at least we would know they are safe, at least I could take some food there for my son, or a blanket to keep him warm, or a change of clothes.”
Farmers fight back: Making animal feed from a locust plague
By Baz Ratner
LAIKIPIA (Reuters) - Kenya is battling some of the worst locust plagues in decades, but start-up The Bug Picture hopes to transform the pests into profits and bring “hope to the hopeless” whose crops and livelihoods are being destroyed by the insects.
By Baz Ratner
LAIKIPIA (Reuters) - Kenya is battling some of the worst locust plagues in decades, but start-up The Bug Picture hopes to transform the pests into profits and bring “hope to the hopeless” whose crops and livelihoods are being destroyed by the insects.
Unusual weather patterns exacerbated by climate change have created ideal conditions for surging locust numbers, which have destroyed crops and grazing grounds across East Africa and the Horn.
Scientists say warmer seas are creating more rain, waking dormant eggs, and cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger and more frequent.
The Bug Picture is working with communities around the area of Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu in central Kenya to harvest the insects and mill them, turning them into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertilizer for farms.
“We are trying to create hope in a hopeless situation, and help these communities alter their perspective to see these insects as a seasonal crop that can be harvested and sold for money,” said Laura Stanford, founder of The Bug Picture.
In central Kenya’s Laikipia, clouds of locusts are devouring crops and other vegetation. The Bug Picture is targeting swarms of 5 hectares or less in inhabited areas not suitable for spraying.
Swarms can travel up to 150 km (93 miles) a day and can contain between 40-80 million locusts per square kilometre.
“They destroy all the crops when they get into the farms. Sometimes they are so many, you cannot tell them apart, which are crops and which are locusts,” said farmer Joseph Mejia.
The Bug Picture pays Mejia and his neighbours 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.4566) per kilogram of the insects. Between Feb. 1-18, the project oversaw the harvest of 1.3 tons of locusts, according to Stanford, who said she was inspired by a project in Pakistan, overseen by the state-run Pakistan Agricultural Research Council.
The locusts are collected at night by torchlight when they are resting on shrubs and trees.
“The community ... are collecting locusts, once they (are collected) they are weighed and paid,” said Albert Lemasulani, a field coordinator with the start-up.
The insects are crushed and dried, then milled and processed into powder, which is used in animal feed or an organic fertiliser.
Scientists say warmer seas are creating more rain, waking dormant eggs, and cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger and more frequent.
The Bug Picture is working with communities around the area of Laikipia, Isiolo and Samburu in central Kenya to harvest the insects and mill them, turning them into protein-rich animal feed and organic fertilizer for farms.
“We are trying to create hope in a hopeless situation, and help these communities alter their perspective to see these insects as a seasonal crop that can be harvested and sold for money,” said Laura Stanford, founder of The Bug Picture.
In central Kenya’s Laikipia, clouds of locusts are devouring crops and other vegetation. The Bug Picture is targeting swarms of 5 hectares or less in inhabited areas not suitable for spraying.
Swarms can travel up to 150 km (93 miles) a day and can contain between 40-80 million locusts per square kilometre.
“They destroy all the crops when they get into the farms. Sometimes they are so many, you cannot tell them apart, which are crops and which are locusts,” said farmer Joseph Mejia.
The Bug Picture pays Mejia and his neighbours 50 Kenyan shillings ($0.4566) per kilogram of the insects. Between Feb. 1-18, the project oversaw the harvest of 1.3 tons of locusts, according to Stanford, who said she was inspired by a project in Pakistan, overseen by the state-run Pakistan Agricultural Research Council.
The locusts are collected at night by torchlight when they are resting on shrubs and trees.
“The community ... are collecting locusts, once they (are collected) they are weighed and paid,” said Albert Lemasulani, a field coordinator with the start-up.
The insects are crushed and dried, then milled and processed into powder, which is used in animal feed or an organic fertiliser.
VIDEO
https://www.reuters.com/video/?videoId=OVE0QD46R&jwsource=em
Reporting by Baz Ratner; Writing by Omar Mohammed; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Raissa Kasolowsky
Reporting by Baz Ratner; Writing by Omar Mohammed; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Raissa Kasolowsky
Boeing 747 cargo plane drops engine parts in Netherlands, investigation launched
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - An incident involving a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane that dropped engine parts after a mid-air explosion and fire over the southern Netherlands on Saturday is under investigation, the Dutch Safety Board said.
The Longtail Aviation cargo plane, flight 5504, scattered small metal parts over the Dutch town of Meerssen, causing damage and injuring a woman shortly after take-off, Maastricht Airport spokeswoman Hella Hendriks said.
The Bermuda-registered plane, which was headed from Maastricht to New York, was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, a smaller version of those on a United Airlines Boeing 777 involved in an incident in Denver, also on Saturday.
After that incident, Boeing recommended airlines suspend operations of certain older versions of its 777 airliner powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines, variants currently flown by five airlines.
U.S. regulators announced extra inspections and Japan suspended their use while considering further action.
In the Dutch incident, witnesses heard one or two explosions shortly after take-off and the pilot was informed by air traffic control that an engine was on fire, Hendriks said.
“The photos indicate they were parts of engine blade, but that’s being investigated,” she said. “Several cars were damaged and bits hit several houses. Pieces were found across the residential neighbourhood on roofs, gardens and streets.”
Longtail Aviation said it was “too early to speculate as to what may have been the cause of the problem” and that it was working with Dutch, Belgian, Bermuda and UK authorities looking into the incident.
Dozens of pieces fell, Hendriks said, measuring around 5 centimetres wide and up to 25 centimetres long. The aircraft landed safely at Liege airport in Belgium, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the Dutch border.
Boeing referred questions to Dutch authorities.
“Our investigation is still in a preliminary phase, it is too early to draw conclusions,” a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board said on Monday.
Europe’s EASA aviation regulator said on Monday that it was aware of the Pratt & Whitney jet engine incidents, and was requesting information on the causes to determine what action may be needed.
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - An incident involving a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane that dropped engine parts after a mid-air explosion and fire over the southern Netherlands on Saturday is under investigation, the Dutch Safety Board said.
The Longtail Aviation cargo plane, flight 5504, scattered small metal parts over the Dutch town of Meerssen, causing damage and injuring a woman shortly after take-off, Maastricht Airport spokeswoman Hella Hendriks said.
The Bermuda-registered plane, which was headed from Maastricht to New York, was powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines, a smaller version of those on a United Airlines Boeing 777 involved in an incident in Denver, also on Saturday.
After that incident, Boeing recommended airlines suspend operations of certain older versions of its 777 airliner powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines, variants currently flown by five airlines.
U.S. regulators announced extra inspections and Japan suspended their use while considering further action.
In the Dutch incident, witnesses heard one or two explosions shortly after take-off and the pilot was informed by air traffic control that an engine was on fire, Hendriks said.
“The photos indicate they were parts of engine blade, but that’s being investigated,” she said. “Several cars were damaged and bits hit several houses. Pieces were found across the residential neighbourhood on roofs, gardens and streets.”
Longtail Aviation said it was “too early to speculate as to what may have been the cause of the problem” and that it was working with Dutch, Belgian, Bermuda and UK authorities looking into the incident.
Dozens of pieces fell, Hendriks said, measuring around 5 centimetres wide and up to 25 centimetres long. The aircraft landed safely at Liege airport in Belgium, some 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of the Dutch border.
Boeing referred questions to Dutch authorities.
“Our investigation is still in a preliminary phase, it is too early to draw conclusions,” a spokeswoman for the Dutch Safety Board said on Monday.
Europe’s EASA aviation regulator said on Monday that it was aware of the Pratt & Whitney jet engine incidents, and was requesting information on the causes to determine what action may be needed.
'No other option': Deadly India floods bare conflicts from hydropower boom
By Alasdair Pal
RAINI, India (Reuters) - Growing up in a remote tribal village high in the Indian Himalayas, Kundan Singh loved to play on a field by the sparkling Rishiganga river
FILE PHOTO: Kundan Singh, 48, poses for a picture near his home after a flash flood swept down a mountain valley destroying dams and bridges, in Raini village in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 11, 2021. Picture taken February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
The 48-year-old recalls afternoons there competing in sports tournaments, surrounded by forests of pine.
Fifteen years ago, bulldozers descended on Raini village to build a dam, part of a push by India to increase hydroelectric power. The field was lost, and villagers have been in conflict with the Rishiganga Hydropower Project ever since.
The dam was swept away two weeks ago in a flash flood that also smashed bridges and another hydroelectric power station in the Dhauliganga river valley of Uttarakhand state, leaving over 200 feared dead.
Whatever the role of climate change, which is rapidly heating the world’s highest mountains, experts say rampant construction is adding to the burden weighing on rural communities across the Himalayas.
This building boom is creating conflict across the region, as shown by interviews with nearly two dozen Raini villagers, legal and technical documents, satellite imagery and photographs, and correspondence with local officials, some of it not previously reported.
“We wrote letters, we protested, we went to court, we did everything,” Singh said. “But no one heard us.”
JOBS DIDN’T COME
The 150 villagers are members of the Bhutia tribe of historically nomadic shepherds from Tibet, some of whom settled in India after a 1962 war with China closed the border.
Granted protected status with government quotas for jobs and education, many nonetheless live in poverty in the mountainous state, labouring on roads and construction sites, weaving woollen rugs and growing potatoes and pulses on small plots around a bend in the river.
Villagers were initially enthusiastic at the prospect of a power plant that promised jobs, according to court documents, the project’s impact assessment and minutes of a 2006 meeting between village leaders and representatives of the dam.
But the jobs did not come, Singh and other locals said. Those who managed to find work on the dam clashed with the owners over unpaid wages and alleged construction violations, according to court documents.
A paint company from Punjab controlled the dam during initial construction. It has not filed accounts since 2015, and its current directors could not be reached for comment. The project entered bankruptcy before being bought by the Kundan Group in 2018, and finally started operations last year. Executives at the conglomerate did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
As India seeks to nearly double its hydropower capacity by 2030, construction of dams in the region is increasingly leading to disagreements between plant owners and locals, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, which has studied the conflicts.
“It happens with many projects,” he said. “People want to resist and oppose, but project developers… will always make promises of employment and development.”
In the Alaknanda basin, a cluster of streams that feeds the Ganges river – worshipped as a god by many Hindus – six hydroelectric dams have been constructed, according to Thakkar’s nonprofit. Eight more, including the Tapovan dam that was severely damaged in the Feb. 7 floods, are under construction, while a further 24 have been proposed.
A spokeswoman for India’s power ministry said the country has strict measures in place regarding the planning of hydropower projects and the rights of local people are always considered.
MUDDY BANKNOTES, RUBBLE
During the dam’s construction, blasts from explosives were frequent, according to interviews with about 20 residents and court documents.
The use of explosives in construction in the region was criticised after devastating floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, dubbed a “Himalayan tsunami” that claimed some 6,000 lives.
In 2019, Singh and his brother took a two-day bus journey to meet with lawyer Abhijay Negi, who recalled them arriving with a bundle of muddy banknotes collected from other residents as payment.
“Please help us save our village,” Singh told him.
Negi helped the men file a case against the Kundan Group unit operating the dam, alleging construction had left behind loose rubble and rocks, according to photographs and diagrams submitted as evidence.
Uttarakhand’s top court ruled there was evidence of “substantial damage” to the area that suggested explosives were being used for illegal mining, though it did not rule on when the damage occurred. The court ordered a local investigation, but it is not clear if this has happened and officials involved could not be reached.
High up on the mountain, almost all the Raini residents survived the floods. But Singh said the disaster has left many dreaming of escape.
“Many want to leave, but I will stay because I have no other option,” he said. “I will stay because of poverty.”
By Alasdair Pal
RAINI, India (Reuters) - Growing up in a remote tribal village high in the Indian Himalayas, Kundan Singh loved to play on a field by the sparkling Rishiganga river
FILE PHOTO: Kundan Singh, 48, poses for a picture near his home after a flash flood swept down a mountain valley destroying dams and bridges, in Raini village in the northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 11, 2021. Picture taken February 11, 2021. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis
The 48-year-old recalls afternoons there competing in sports tournaments, surrounded by forests of pine.
Fifteen years ago, bulldozers descended on Raini village to build a dam, part of a push by India to increase hydroelectric power. The field was lost, and villagers have been in conflict with the Rishiganga Hydropower Project ever since.
The dam was swept away two weeks ago in a flash flood that also smashed bridges and another hydroelectric power station in the Dhauliganga river valley of Uttarakhand state, leaving over 200 feared dead.
Whatever the role of climate change, which is rapidly heating the world’s highest mountains, experts say rampant construction is adding to the burden weighing on rural communities across the Himalayas.
This building boom is creating conflict across the region, as shown by interviews with nearly two dozen Raini villagers, legal and technical documents, satellite imagery and photographs, and correspondence with local officials, some of it not previously reported.
“We wrote letters, we protested, we went to court, we did everything,” Singh said. “But no one heard us.”
JOBS DIDN’T COME
The 150 villagers are members of the Bhutia tribe of historically nomadic shepherds from Tibet, some of whom settled in India after a 1962 war with China closed the border.
Granted protected status with government quotas for jobs and education, many nonetheless live in poverty in the mountainous state, labouring on roads and construction sites, weaving woollen rugs and growing potatoes and pulses on small plots around a bend in the river.
Villagers were initially enthusiastic at the prospect of a power plant that promised jobs, according to court documents, the project’s impact assessment and minutes of a 2006 meeting between village leaders and representatives of the dam.
But the jobs did not come, Singh and other locals said. Those who managed to find work on the dam clashed with the owners over unpaid wages and alleged construction violations, according to court documents.
A paint company from Punjab controlled the dam during initial construction. It has not filed accounts since 2015, and its current directors could not be reached for comment. The project entered bankruptcy before being bought by the Kundan Group in 2018, and finally started operations last year. Executives at the conglomerate did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
As India seeks to nearly double its hydropower capacity by 2030, construction of dams in the region is increasingly leading to disagreements between plant owners and locals, said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, which has studied the conflicts.
“It happens with many projects,” he said. “People want to resist and oppose, but project developers… will always make promises of employment and development.”
In the Alaknanda basin, a cluster of streams that feeds the Ganges river – worshipped as a god by many Hindus – six hydroelectric dams have been constructed, according to Thakkar’s nonprofit. Eight more, including the Tapovan dam that was severely damaged in the Feb. 7 floods, are under construction, while a further 24 have been proposed.
A spokeswoman for India’s power ministry said the country has strict measures in place regarding the planning of hydropower projects and the rights of local people are always considered.
MUDDY BANKNOTES, RUBBLE
During the dam’s construction, blasts from explosives were frequent, according to interviews with about 20 residents and court documents.
The use of explosives in construction in the region was criticised after devastating floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, dubbed a “Himalayan tsunami” that claimed some 6,000 lives.
In 2019, Singh and his brother took a two-day bus journey to meet with lawyer Abhijay Negi, who recalled them arriving with a bundle of muddy banknotes collected from other residents as payment.
“Please help us save our village,” Singh told him.
Negi helped the men file a case against the Kundan Group unit operating the dam, alleging construction had left behind loose rubble and rocks, according to photographs and diagrams submitted as evidence.
Uttarakhand’s top court ruled there was evidence of “substantial damage” to the area that suggested explosives were being used for illegal mining, though it did not rule on when the damage occurred. The court ordered a local investigation, but it is not clear if this has happened and officials involved could not be reached.
High up on the mountain, almost all the Raini residents survived the floods. But Singh said the disaster has left many dreaming of escape.
“Many want to leave, but I will stay because I have no other option,” he said. “I will stay because of poverty.”
Blackwater founder Erik Prince accused of helping evade U.N. Libya sanctions
By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Erik Prince, the private security executive and supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “at the very least” helped evade an arms embargo on Libya, according to excerpts from a United Nations report seen by Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: Erik Prince arrives for the New York Young Republican Club Gala at The Yale Club of New York City in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., November 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
Independent U.N. sanctions monitors accused Prince of proposing a private military operation - known as ‘Project Opus’ - to Libya’s eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar in April 2019 and helping procure three aircraft for it.
Matthew Schwartz, a lawyer for Prince, denied the accusations in the annual U.N. report, which was submitted on Thursday to the Security Council Libya sanctions committee and is due to be made public next month.
“Mr. Prince had no involvement in any alleged military operation in Libya in 2019, or at any other time,” Schwartz said in a statement. “He did not provide weapons, personnel, or military equipment to anyone in Libya.”
The U.N. monitors wrote in the report that they had “identified that Erik Prince made a proposal for the operation to Khalifa Haftar in Cairo, Egypt on, or about, 14 April 2019.” Haftar was in Cairo at the time to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“Mr. Prince was not in Egypt at any point in 2019 – as travel records confirm – and has never met or spoken to Mr. Haftar. This alleged meeting is fiction and never took place,” Schwartz said.
The report described Prince’s proposal as “a well-funded private military company operation” designed to provide Haftar with armed assault helicopters, intelligence surveillance aircraft, maritime interdiction, drones, and cyber, intelligence and targeting capabilities.
“The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya,” the monitors wrote.
Libya initially descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 when the U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo. The country has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized government in its west and Haftar’s eastern-based forces.
PROJECT FAILURES
The U.N. monitors reported that the air and maritime component of ‘Project Opus’ had to be aborted in June 2019 after Haftar was unimpressed with the aircraft procured for the operations and “made threats against the team management.”
A South African team leader evacuated 20 private military operatives to Malta on inflatable boats, the monitors said.
“Project Opus private military operatives were deployed to Libya for a second time in April and May 2020 in order to locate and destroy high value targets,” said the U.N. monitors, but the operation again had to be aborted due to security concerns.
The rival Libyan administrations agreed a ceasefire in October, but have not pulled back their forces. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. Egypt had backed Haftar, but Sisi last week offered his country’s support to Libya’s interim government.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded an end to foreign interference in Libya.
Prince - the brother of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos - founded the private security firm Blackwater and was a pioneer in private military contracting after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003.
Blackwater sparked international outrage in 2007 when its employees shot and killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. One of the employees was convicted of murder in December 2018 and three others were convicted of manslaughter. Trump pardoned the four men in December last year.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sonya Hepinstall
By Michelle Nichols
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Erik Prince, the private security executive and supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump, “at the very least” helped evade an arms embargo on Libya, according to excerpts from a United Nations report seen by Reuters.
FILE PHOTO: Erik Prince arrives for the New York Young Republican Club Gala at The Yale Club of New York City in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., November 7, 2019. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
Independent U.N. sanctions monitors accused Prince of proposing a private military operation - known as ‘Project Opus’ - to Libya’s eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar in April 2019 and helping procure three aircraft for it.
Matthew Schwartz, a lawyer for Prince, denied the accusations in the annual U.N. report, which was submitted on Thursday to the Security Council Libya sanctions committee and is due to be made public next month.
“Mr. Prince had no involvement in any alleged military operation in Libya in 2019, or at any other time,” Schwartz said in a statement. “He did not provide weapons, personnel, or military equipment to anyone in Libya.”
The U.N. monitors wrote in the report that they had “identified that Erik Prince made a proposal for the operation to Khalifa Haftar in Cairo, Egypt on, or about, 14 April 2019.” Haftar was in Cairo at the time to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
“Mr. Prince was not in Egypt at any point in 2019 – as travel records confirm – and has never met or spoken to Mr. Haftar. This alleged meeting is fiction and never took place,” Schwartz said.
The report described Prince’s proposal as “a well-funded private military company operation” designed to provide Haftar with armed assault helicopters, intelligence surveillance aircraft, maritime interdiction, drones, and cyber, intelligence and targeting capabilities.
“The Project Opus plan also included a component to kidnap or terminate individuals regarded as high value targets in Libya,” the monitors wrote.
Libya initially descended into chaos after the NATO-backed overthrow of leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 when the U.N. Security Council imposed an arms embargo. The country has been divided since 2014 between the internationally recognized government in its west and Haftar’s eastern-based forces.
PROJECT FAILURES
The U.N. monitors reported that the air and maritime component of ‘Project Opus’ had to be aborted in June 2019 after Haftar was unimpressed with the aircraft procured for the operations and “made threats against the team management.”
A South African team leader evacuated 20 private military operatives to Malta on inflatable boats, the monitors said.
“Project Opus private military operatives were deployed to Libya for a second time in April and May 2020 in order to locate and destroy high value targets,” said the U.N. monitors, but the operation again had to be aborted due to security concerns.
The rival Libyan administrations agreed a ceasefire in October, but have not pulled back their forces. Haftar is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Russia, while the government is backed by Turkey. Egypt had backed Haftar, but Sisi last week offered his country’s support to Libya’s interim government.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has demanded an end to foreign interference in Libya.
Prince - the brother of Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos - founded the private security firm Blackwater and was a pioneer in private military contracting after U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003.
Blackwater sparked international outrage in 2007 when its employees shot and killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians in Baghdad. One of the employees was convicted of murder in December 2018 and three others were convicted of manslaughter. Trump pardoned the four men in December last year.
Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sonya Hepinstall
Violence against civilians surges in Afghanistan after peace talks: UN report
By Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Charlotte Greenfield
KABUL (Reuters) - Civilian casualties in Afghanistan escalated sharply after peace talks began last year, the United Nations said in a report released on Tuesday, calling for a ceasefire as negotiators met for the first time after weeks of inaction.
U.S.-brokered peace talks began in September but progress has since slowed and violence has risen with uncertainty over whether international forces will pull out troops by May as originally planned.
Civilian casualties were 8,820 in 2020, according to the United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) annual report. That was 15% lower than the previous year, but the report’s authors noted with alarm a sharp uptick and historically high civilian casualties in the final three months of 2020, when peace talks began.
Last year “could have been the year of peace in Afghanistan. Instead, thousands of Afghan civilians perished,” said Deborah Lyons, head of UNAMA, reiterating calls for a ceasefire which has been repeatedly rejected by the Taliban. “Parties refusing to consider a ceasefire must recognise the devastating consequences.”
The Taliban on Tuesday issued a response critical of the report, saying “the concerns, precise information and accurate details that were shared by us have not been taken into account.”
The report said that for the first time since records began, deaths and injuries had escalated in the final three months of the year from the previous three months. Casualties for the fourth quarter were up 45% compared with the same period in 2019.
The majority of were ascribed to non-government actors, predominately the insurgent Taliban, and more than one-fifth were attributed to government forces.
A government spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Both sides said on Twitter their chief negotiators met in Doha, the venue for talks, on Monday evening, adding that teams would continue work on an agenda.
After a monthlong break over the new year period, negotiators returned to Doha briefly before many senior members of the Taliban left to hold meetings in Russia and Iran. Mujahid said they would hold further meetings soon.
Zabihullah said that the lull was only a break and the Taliban were committed to talks, with further meetings expected in coming days.
By Abdul Qadir Sediqi, Charlotte Greenfield
KABUL (Reuters) - Civilian casualties in Afghanistan escalated sharply after peace talks began last year, the United Nations said in a report released on Tuesday, calling for a ceasefire as negotiators met for the first time after weeks of inaction.
U.S.-brokered peace talks began in September but progress has since slowed and violence has risen with uncertainty over whether international forces will pull out troops by May as originally planned.
Civilian casualties were 8,820 in 2020, according to the United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan’s (UNAMA) annual report. That was 15% lower than the previous year, but the report’s authors noted with alarm a sharp uptick and historically high civilian casualties in the final three months of 2020, when peace talks began.
Last year “could have been the year of peace in Afghanistan. Instead, thousands of Afghan civilians perished,” said Deborah Lyons, head of UNAMA, reiterating calls for a ceasefire which has been repeatedly rejected by the Taliban. “Parties refusing to consider a ceasefire must recognise the devastating consequences.”
The Taliban on Tuesday issued a response critical of the report, saying “the concerns, precise information and accurate details that were shared by us have not been taken into account.”
The report said that for the first time since records began, deaths and injuries had escalated in the final three months of the year from the previous three months. Casualties for the fourth quarter were up 45% compared with the same period in 2019.
The majority of were ascribed to non-government actors, predominately the insurgent Taliban, and more than one-fifth were attributed to government forces.
A government spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Both sides said on Twitter their chief negotiators met in Doha, the venue for talks, on Monday evening, adding that teams would continue work on an agenda.
After a monthlong break over the new year period, negotiators returned to Doha briefly before many senior members of the Taliban left to hold meetings in Russia and Iran. Mujahid said they would hold further meetings soon.
Zabihullah said that the lull was only a break and the Taliban were committed to talks, with further meetings expected in coming days.
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