Venezuela's Maduro in Mexico on first foreign trip since US accusations

Issued on: 18/09/2021 - 

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro was greeted by Mexico's Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard in Mexico City

Handout Mexican Foreign Ministry/AFP

Mexico City (AFP)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro arrived in Mexico on Friday to participate in a gathering of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean, a rare trip abroad and his first since the United States accused him of drug trafficking.

Maduro was received by Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard on arrival in Mexico City for the summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or CELAC, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

In March 2020, the US Department of Justice accused him of crimes including "narco-terrorism", drug trafficking, and possession of weapons, offering $15 million for information leading to his arrest.

The designation came as the Trump administration worked to help opposition leader Juan Guaido take power.

The Venezuelan president, who usually travels to Cuba, a close ally, or to Caribbean countries, has avoided leaving his country after the reward was issued and his trip to Mexico is the first of an official nature since then.

His participation at the summit was confirmed at the last minute, a few hours before the heads of state and government, foreign ministers and envoys of the 33 countries that make up the body are set to meet.

The CELAC summit will be held at the National Palace in Mexico City on Saturday and opened by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Member states are expected to discuss a range of issues, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the region at the top of the agenda.

Obrador, a leftist leader, has overseen warming relations with Venezuela since he came to power in 2018.

His government refused to recognize former parliamentary leader Guaido in 2019 when he proclaimed himself president of Venezuela.

© 2021 AFP

Hundreds of aid trucks 'not returned' from Ethiopia's Tigray region, says UN

Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

Ethiopian refugees wait for distribution of aid by the World Food Programme (WFP) at Um Raquba refugee camp in Gedaref, eastern Sudan, on December 6, 2020

. © Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES


Hundreds of aid trucks have not returned from Ethiopia's war-hit Tigray region, and their disappearance is "the primary impediment" to ramping up the humanitarian response, the United Nations said Friday.

The disclosure from the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) comes amid rising fears of starvation deaths in Tigray, where the UN has previously estimated that 400,000 people faced famine-like conditions.

Since July 12, 445 contracted non-WFP trucks have entered Tigray, but only 38 have returned, WFP spokeswoman Gemma Snowdon said in a statement.

"At the moment this is the primary impediment to moving humanitarian aid into Tigray. We are unable to assemble convoys of significant size due to lack of trucks," Snowdon said.

"We are continuing to work with transporters and local authorities in Tigray for trucks to be released."

WFP has no information about where the trucks are or what they are being used for, Snowdon said.

Tigray has been mired in conflict since November when Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the regional ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front, a move he said came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps.

The 2019 Nobel Peace Prize winner promised a swift victory, but the TPLF retook much of Tigray including its capital Mekele in June and Abiy then declared a humanitarian ceasefire.

'De facto blockade'

But the UN says Tigray remains under a "de facto blockade" and has warned of a "looming catastrophe" as fighting has dragged on and spread to neighbouring regions.

The Ethiopian authorities and Tigrayan rebels have blamed each other for obstructing humanitarian convoys trying to reach Tigray.

A government Twitter account on Thursday referred to "suspicions that TPLF (is) seizing trucks for own logistics".

But TPLF spokesman Getachew Reda cited obstacles drivers faced while entering Tigray from neighbouring Afar region, adding they have "nothing to do" with Tigrayan officials.

"Drivers of trucks that UN has commissioned complain about fuel availability, (security) concerns, harassment at checkpoints, being stranded at Afar for months, etc," he said on Twitter.

A humanitarian official in Tigray, speaking on condition of anonymity, said many truck drivers were Tigrayan and had faced ethnically-motivated harassment at checkpoints while heading into the region.

(AFP)

What life is like aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule

Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

The Inspiration4 crew (L-R): Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Chris Sembroski and Sian Proctor 

Handout Inspiration4/AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

The first space tourism mission by Elon Musk's SpaceX blasted off from Florida on Wednesday and the four crew members -- a billionaire and three other Americans -- have already seen more than 25 sunsets and sunrises.

SpaceX has released few details about their adventure since they reached an orbit which is more distant than that of the International Space Station.

Here's what we know about their life on board:


- Nine square meters -

The four space tourists are aboard the SpaceX crew capsule called Dragon.

It is 8.1 meters (26.7 feet) tall and has a diameter of four meters (13 feet).

Inspiration4 crew member Hayley Arceneaux looking out of the observation window on the SpaceX capsule Handout Inspiration4/AFP/File

The capsule is composed of a trunk, which is inaccessible to the crew, upon which sits the living quarters.

The entire volume of the capsule is just 9.3 square meters (328 square feet).

Chris Sembroski, a 42-year-old Air Force veteran who is one of the crew members, has compared it to travelling with friends in a van -- one you can't step away from though if you want to take a break.

- Toilets with a view -

The exact technology behind the toilets aboard the capsule is a SpaceX secret.

But Hayley Arceneaux, one of the four crew members, said in a Netflix documentary that the "bathroom is on the ceiling."

"Really literally a panel that we take off and there's like a funnel," Arceneaux said. "There's no upside down in space."

Inspiration4 commander Jared Isaacman communicating while looking out the observation window on the SpaceX capsule Handout Inspiration4/AFP/File

The toilet is located near the clear glass observation dome, or cupola, installed on Dragon, which provides a spectacular 360-degree view of the cosmos.

"When people do inevitably have to use the bathroom, they're going to have one hell of a view," billionaire Jared Isaacman, the mission commander, told Business Insider.

Privacy is ensured with a simple curtain.

- 'Eating, doing chores' -

SpaceX released a video call Friday between the Inspiration4 crew and patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

The 29-year-old Arceneaux, who was treated for bone cancer as a child at St. Jude and works there now as a physician assistant, was asked by a patient what the astronauts do for "fun" in space.

She said they have spent time "eating, doing chores and looking out the window at the world."

Sembroski said they've also been doing "a lot of blood tests and glucose monitoring."

Graphic on the four all-civilian passengers on SpaceX's mission to orbit around the Earth, launched September 15, 2021 from Florida Gal ROMA AFP

The astronauts were also asked what is their favorite "space food."

"My favorite space food is pizza which I had yesterday and I'll probably have for dinner tonight also," said Sian Proctor, 51, who teaches geology at a small college in Arizona and was a finalist to become a NASA astronaut.

Musical interludes are also planned. Each passenger drew up a 10-song playlist and Sembroski planned to bring his ukelele.

The instrument and other objects are to be auctioned later with the proceeds going to St Jude.

The goal of the mission is to raise $200 million for the hospital, with Isaacman personally donating $100 million.

- Scientific research -

SpaceX tweeted on Thursday that the crew had carried out a "first round of scientific research."

Their cardiac rhythms, sleep and blood oxygen levels will be monitored along with radiation exposure.

Their cognitive functions were tested before the flight and will be examined again on their return.

© 2021 AFP

Girls excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan

Issued on: 18/09/2021 -

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan after the Taliban ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom

 BULENT KILIC AFP

Kabul (AFP)

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan on Saturday, after the country's new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom.

The hardline Islamist group ousted the US-backed government last month, promising a softer brand of rule than their repressive reign in the 1990s, when women were mostly banned from education and work.

But the diktat from the education ministry was the latest move from the new government to threaten women's rights.

"All male teachers and students should attend their educational institutions," a statement said ahead of classes resuming Saturday.

The statement, issued late Friday, made no mention of women teachers or girl pupils.

Secondary schools, with students typically between the ages of 13 and 18, are often segregated by sex in Afghanistan. During the Covid-19 pandemic, they have faced repeated closures and have been shut since the Taliban seized power.

Since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001, significant progress has been made in girls' education, with the number of schools tripling and female literacy nearly doubling to 30 percent -- however, the change was largely limited to the cities.

The United Nations said it was "deeply worried" for the future of girls' schooling in Afghanistan.

"It is critical that all girls, including older girls, are able to resume their education without any further delays. For that, we need female teachers to resume teaching," the UN's children's agency UNICEF said.

Primary schools have already reopened, with boys and girls mostly attending separate classes and some women teachers returning to work.

The new regime has also permitted women to go to private universities, though with tough restrictions on their clothes and movement.

- Women's ministry closed -

In a further sign that the Taliban's approach to women and girls had not softened, they appeared to have shut down the government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with a department notorious for enforcing strict religious doctrine during their first rule.

The Taliban appear to have shut down the government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Hoshang Hashimi AFP

In Kabul on Friday, workers were seen raising a sign for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at the old Women's Affairs building in the capital.

Videos posted to social media showed women workers from the ministry protesting outside after losing their jobs.

No official from the Taliban responded to requests for comment.

Although still marginalised, Afghan women have fought for and gained basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming lawmakers, judges, pilots and police officers.

Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce -- a necessity in some cases as many women were widowed or now support invalid husbands as a result of decades of conflict.

The Taliban have shown little inclination to honour those rights -- no women have been included in the government and many have been stopped from returning to work.

- Horrible mistake -

Meanwhile, a top United States general admitted it had made a "mistake" when it launched a drone strike against suspected Islamic State (IS) militants in Kabul last month, instead killing 10 civilians, including children.

The strike during the final days of the US pullout was meant to target a suspected IS operation that US intelligence believed with "reasonable certainty" was planning to attack Kabul airport, said US Central Command commander General Kenneth McKenzie.

"The strike was a tragic mistake," McKenzie told reporters after an investigation.

McKenzie said the government was looking into how payments for damages could be made to the families of those killed.

"I offer my deepest condolences to surviving family members of those who were killed," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The UN Security Council voted Friday to extend the UN political mission in Afghanistan for six months, with a focus on development issues but not peacekeeping.

© 2021 AFP

Taliban replace women's ministry with notorious vice department


Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 15:42

Workers put up a sign for the notorious Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at the old Women's Affairs building in Kabul

 Hoshang Hashimi AFP

Kabul (AFP)

The Taliban appeared Friday to have shut down the government's ministry of women's affairs and replaced it with a department notorious for enforcing strict religious doctrine during their first rule two decades ago.

Workers were seen raising a sign for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice at the old Women's Affairs building in the capital.

Several posts have appeared on Twitter in the last 24 hours showing women workers from the ministry protesting outside the building, saying they had lost their jobs.

No official from the Taliban responded Friday to requests for comment on the matter.

Despite insisting they will rule more moderately this time around, the Taliban have not allowed women to return to work and introduced rules for what they can wear at university.

A new Taliban government announced two weeks ago had no women members or even a ministry to represent their interests.

Although still marginalised, Afghan women have fought for and gained basic rights in the past 20 years, becoming lawmakers, judges, pilots and police officers.

Hundreds of thousands have entered the workforce -- a necessity in some cases as many women were widowed or now support invalid husbands as a result of two decades of conflict.

But since returning to power on August 15 the Taliban have shown no inclination to honour those rights.

When pressed, Taliban officials say women have been told to stay at home for their own security but will be allowed to work once proper segregation can be implemented.

During the Taliban's first rule from 1996 to 2001, women were largely excluded from public life including being banned from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male relative.

Enforcers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were known to lash women found walking alone.

The Taliban have said they would implement a more moderate rule this time around but the reemergence of the vice ministry is seen as an ominous sign 

Hoshang Hashimi AFP

They were also responsible for strictly implementing other hardline interpretations of Islam, such as compulsory attendance at prayers, and no trimming of beards for men.

People reacted angrily on social media Friday in support of a group of women seen on Twitter protesting outside the ministry.

"No-one hears our women," said Twitter user Somaya, while another asked, "what else can we expect from these animals?"

© 2021 AFP

Uncertainty still shrouds Haiti presidential killing

The Caribbean country has been gripped by a dramatic power struggle since President Moise's assassination. Many questions regarding his death still remain unanswered.

    

Armed guards look on during the funeral of assassinated President Jovenel Moise

On July 7, 2021, Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry received a nighttime call from a secret service agent with the country's interior ministry — mere hours before the assassination of President Jovenel Moise. Henry, a politician and trained neurosurgeon, had been appointed to the post by Moise only a few days prior.

The details of said phone call are unknown and will most likely remain secret. In any case, the conversation does not cast a particularly favorable light on Henry, who now also serves as Haiti's interim president.

Haitian and Colombian investigators believe secret service agent Joseph Felix Badio tasked two former Colombian soldiers to murder President Moise. Agent Badio has since gone into hiding.

Undermining the inquiry

It remains to be seen whether further details of the assassination plot will come to light. On Wednesday, Ariel Henry fired chief investigator and prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude as well as Justice Minister Rockefeller Vincent.

Several days earlier, Bed-Ford Claude had brought charges against Henry, ordering him to remain in the country. Numerous public officials close to late President Moise have resigned in protest over Claude's sacking.

Ariel Henry has sacked the chief investigator and justice minister

"I fear this [sacking of Claude and Vincent] is about undermining the inquiry," human rights lawyer Pierre Esperance told Haitian media. An editorial published on Wednesday in Le Nouvelliste, a French-language daily published in the Caribbean country, said Haiti was becoming "sidelined" amid the ongoing "power struggle."

A recent report on the murder of President Moise by Esperance argues that Henry and Moise's wife Martine, who survived the attack, know more about the incident than they are letting on.

The report goes on to say that the Haitian police and the head of security at the presidential residence had "assisted" the plot — not a single officer or body guard was injured in the assassination.

Descent into chaos

This crisis is weighing heavy on embattled leader Henry. Matters are complicated further by Haiti's fragile institutions: The country has been governed without a parliament for many months, only ten out of 30 senators are currently in office, and police are struggling to keep gangs in check.

The August earthquake caused considerable damage

These criminals have been stealing humanitarian aid designated for victims of the August earthquake, holding up convoys and demanding protection money. Gangs have even fired on freight ships carrying aid and tankers. Port-au-Prince harbor, after all, lies right beside the capital's impoverished and crime-ridden Cite Soleil neighborhood.

The city has faced fuel shortages, and gas stations have been forced to close. At night, power shortages plunge Port-au-Prince into darkness.

Henry has been busy forging a caretaker government to remain in power for the next year. The Democratic and Popular Sector (SDP), a radical opposition group which spearheaded anti-Moise protests, has joined the alliance.

Several ministers, who already served under former President Michel Martelly, were furious to learn SDP representatives were joining the government. Martelly, in power from 2011 to 2016, was a member of the US-backed Haitian Tet Kale movement, which was bankrolled by wealthy business people.

Performer and ex-President Michel Martelly on stage

Henry has postponed the November elections to an unspecified time in the future. He first wants to see the constitution amended. Currently, the country's political system resembles the French model in that prime minister and president share power.

Senate leader Joseph Lambert, meanwhile on Tuesday ordered his fellow senators and press representatives to the senate building to attend his swearing-in as president. Lambert has been keen to capitalize on the political uncertainty to further his own agenda.

The swearing-in ceremony, however, was called off after a shooting incident outside the senate building. The New York Times reported that the US has urged Lambert not to take over the presidency.

The international community, meanwhile, has sided with Henry, who is considered a moderate leader with integrity. The UN, Organization of American States (OAS) and so-called Core Group — composed of the ambassadors of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, the European Union, and the US — support Henry's efforts to form an inclusive caretaker government.

This article was translated from German by Benjamin Restle.

EU's new Indo-Pacific strategy: What are the objectives and challenges?

The publication of the EU's new Indo-Pacific strategy was overshadowed by a new US-led alliance. Experts say, additionally, that the new strategy likely won't hand the EU a high level of influence in the region.



European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has suggested that the EU seek greater autonomy in its global approach

After months of waiting, the European Union has finally published its Indo-Pacific Strategy paper ­­­­⁠— a landmark document that ought to define Brussels' attempts to expand its influence in this increasingly important part of the world.

But its publication was overshadowed by the announcement the previous day of a new US-led alliance in the region that doesn't include any European country, as well as comments from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over whether the bloc should seek greater strategic autonomy in the world.

While the intricacies of the EU's new strategy paper are still being digested by analysts, what's clear is that the EU hasn't diverted from its usual path in the Indo-Pacific.

'Good news for Southeast Asia'

"The launch of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is good news for Southeast Asia, which lies at the center of this vast region," Ambassador Igor Driesmans, head of the EU delegation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, told DW.

The ASEAN region is described as "an increasingly important partner for the EU" in the paper, while it also notes confidence in signing new trade deals in the region.

"The launch of EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific marks a major development for the EU's relations with this immense and growing region," said Driesmans, referring to the paper's formal title.

France published its Indo-Pacific strategy paper in 2018, and the Netherlands and Germany launched their own similar guidelines last year. The US and UK also did so years ago.

Not all analysts reckon the strategy paper will significantly alter the EU's influence in the Indo-Pacific, which has become a relatively new region of interest for the bloc. Nor has it resolved the EU's stance on key questions, particularly its position between the US and China in their increasingly fraught rivalry.

"This won't make the EU a decisive actor in the Indo-Pacific, but it will make it an actor," said Frederic Grare, a senior policy fellow with the Asia Program at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

US alliance excludes EU

What's more, the release of the strategy document was also greatly overshadowed by speeches made in Brussels and Washington the previous day.

On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen used her annual State of the European Union parliamentary speech to appeal for greater strategic autonomy for the bloc, which the French government has strongly backed for years. But other member states, as well as some leading EU officials, have pushed against this stance.

"Europe can — and clearly should — be able and willing to do more on its own … What we need is the European Defense Union," von der Leyen said, referring to calls from some European countries for a unified defense strategy and possibly joint military force between the 27 member states.

Just hours later, US President Joe Biden announced the formation of a new Indo-Pacific alliance with the United Kingdom and Australia, called AUKUS.

China described this new alliance as "extremely irresponsible" and "narrow-minded" and said it showed the three countries had a "Cold War mentality."

Earlier this week, China also called on European countries to respect Indo-Pacific countries' efforts to maintain stability in the region, after Chinese authorities denied entry to a German warship on a mission to the South China Sea.

"China attaches great importance to the development of an all-round strategic partnership between China and Germany, including cooperation between the two militaries," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday.

Germany has made it clear that its mission into the sea serves to show that Berlin does not accept Beijing's claims in the South China Sea.

AUKUS 'a stab in the back' for France

Beijing's admonishments of the AUKUS alliance were to be expected, but French officials were also particularly piqued. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian claimed the move was a "stab in the back" and slammed Biden for what he called a "brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision."

Because the AUKUS pact will see the US provide Australia with the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines, it has scuppered a multibillion-dollar submarine deal that Paris had signed with Canberra.

When that agreement was struck in 2016, Paris declared it a deal of the century and considered it a key marker of France's strategic relations with Australia and the wider Indo-Pacific.

UK seeks more influence in Indo-Pacific

Questions have also been raised as to why individual EU members and the EU itself were left out of this new alliance, and whether this points to the widening of the gap between EU and US interests in the Indo-Pacific, especially coming just a day before the EU laid out its own plans for the region.

But sources who spoke to DW said that wasn't the case. The US-UK-Australia mechanism doesn't signal a growing divergence of interests between the US and the EU, said Bonnie Glaser, Asia Program director of the German Marshall Fund of the US.

"There are numerous ways that the EU and the US can work together to advance their shared interests in peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and strengthen the rules-based order," she said.

The end of other strategic ambitions

Along with France's loss of a lucrative submarine contract with Australia, AUKUS also signals the end of President Emmanuel Macron's ambitions of constructing a strategic alliance with Australia and India, which he first hypothesized in 2018, noted Bradley J. Murg, a distinguished senior research fellow at the Cambodia Institute for Cooperation and Peace.

But Murg agreed with other sources that AUKUS will not result in a US-EU split. "At the most basic level, the EU still needs the US in NATO and US security guarantees against Russia," Murg said.

Grare, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, was of a similar opinion. The EU's new Indo-Pacific strategy is "clearly a way to define the region on its own terms to avoid being caught up in the US-China zero-sum game," he said.

"But it is also a way for many member states to satisfy the US enough to keep them engaged in Europe's security."

However, he added, the new AUKUS alliance does signal that "whatever its actual objective, the EU risks marginalization if it does not get involved more seriously in Indo-Pacific affairs."

US: FDA panel votes against widespread COVID vaccine boosters

Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration have voted against approving COVID-19 vaccine booster shots to Americans ages 16 and up. The panel later backed booster shots for the elderly.


The panel of experts expressed concerns about younger age groups getting a third booster shot, but backed it for older people

A US federal advisory panel made up of a team of experts on Friday rejected a plan to give COVID-19 booster shots to most Americans.

Members of the panel expressed concern over the lack of data from Pfizer over the safety of administering the extra doses — especially for younger age groups.

The vote was 16 to 2 against the extra shot for people 16-years-old and up. The panel also had doubts over the value of mass boosters.

During a second vote on Friday, the panel backed booster shots for people who are over 65-years-old and others who are deemed to be high-risk.

The rejection of the plan is a knock to the Biden administration's campaign to offer boosters to most Americans.

What did the panel of experts say?

There was a level of concern among the experts over the necessity of given a third shot to younger Americans.

Dr. Cody Meissner of Tufts Medical Center said he was worried about extra doses being administered to younger age groups considering the risk of heart inflammation seen in younger malesafter a second shot.

"I don't think a booster dose is going to significantly contribute to controlling the pandemic," said Meissner.

Dr. Paul Offit who is a vaccine expert at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was more willing to support a third dose for those over 60 but said, "I really have trouble" supporting the added jab down to age 16.

Dr. Amanda Cohn felt the emphasis should be placed on those who had yet to be inoculated.

"At this moment it is clear that the unvaccinated are driving transmission in the United States," she said.

White House vaccine plan takes a knock

In August, President Joe Biden announced a plan that would see every adult American receive a booster shot eight months after receiving the second jab. Biden said the extra measure would make Americans safer, for longer.

The plan, however, is on the ropes, with leading scientists questioning the sense in providing boosters at at this point in the pandemic.

Earlier in the week, FDA vaccine reviewers joined prominent international scientists in a paper which rejected extra shots in healthy people.

The FDA must now make a decision based on the the expert panel's recommendations, which will be expected in the coming days.

However its not just the FDA that needs to sign off on Biden's vaccine plans.

Booster shots also need to pass the scrutiny of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

kb/rs (AP, Reuters)

THE WAR WAS A TRAGIC MISTAKE

US admits Kabul strike killed multiple civilians in ‘tragic mistake’

Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

File photo of US Marine Corps Gen. Frank McKenzie arriving at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on August 17, 2021. © William Urban, US Navy, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES


The Pentagon retreated from its defense of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.

“The strike was a tragic mistake," Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told a Pentagon news conference.

For days after the Aug. 29 strike, Pentagon officials asserted that it had been conducted correctly, despite 10 civilians being killed, including seven children. News organizations later raised doubts about that version of events, reporting that the driver of the targeted vehicle was a longtime employee at an American humanitarian organization and citing an absence of evidence to support the Pentagon's assertion that the vehicle contained explosives.

McKenzie said the vehicle was struck “in the earnest belief” that it posed an imminent threat.

“I am now convinced that as many as 10 civilians, including up to seven children, were tragically killed in that strike," McKenzie said. “Moreover, we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were associated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to U.S. forces," he added, referring to the Islamic State group's Afghanistan affiliate.

McKenzie apologized for the mistake and said the United States is considering making reparation payments to the family of the victims.

Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters two days after the attack that it appeared to have been a “righteous” strike and that at least one of the people killed was a “facilitator” for the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate, which had killed 169 Afghan civilians and 13 American service members in a suicide bombing on Aug. 26 at the Kabul airport.

After McKenzie's remarks, Milley expressed regret.

“This is a horrible tragedy of war and it’s heart wrenching," Milley told reporters traveling with him in Europe. “We are committed to being fully transparent about this incident.”

“In a dynamic high-threat environment, the commanders on the ground had appropriate authority and had reasonable certainty that the target was valid, but after deeper post-strike analysis our conclusion is that innocent civilians were killed," Milley added.

Accounts from the family, documents from colleagues seen by The Associated Press, and the scene at the family home — where Zemerai Ahmadi’s car was struck by a Hellfire missile just as he pulled into the driveway — all painted a picture of a family that had worked for Americans and were trying to gain visas to the United States, fearing for their lives under the Taliban.

The family said that when the 37-year-old Zemerai, alone in his car, pulled up to the house, he honked his horn. His 11-year-old son ran out and Zemerai let the boy get in and drive the car into the driveway. The other kids ran out to watch, and the Hellfire missile incinerated the car, killing seven children and an adult son and nephew of Zemerai.

The airstrike was the last of a U.S. war that ended as it had begun in 2001 — with the Taliban in power in Kabul. The speed with which the Taliban overran the country took the U.S. government by surprise and forced it to send several thousand troops to the Kabul airport for a hurried evacuation of Americans, Afghans and others. The evacuation, which began Aug. 14, unfolded under a near-constant threat of attack by the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.

(AP)

  

US admits Kabul drone strike mistakenly killed civilians

A US general said the drone strike "tragically killed" as many as 10 civilians, including seven children. At the time, the Pentagon said they hit "IS" terrorists heading to Kabul airport in an explosive-laden vehicle.



The US originally claimed the strike foiled an attack on Kabul airport

The Pentagon said Friday that a drone strike in the Afghan capital of Kabul last month mistakenly killed civilians rather than terrorists belonging to the "Islamic State" (IS) group.

The announcement came after the US Defense Department conducted an internal review of the strike.

What did the Pentagon say?

As many as 10 civilians, including seven children, were "tragically killed" in the drone strike, US Central Command head Frank McKenzie said.

"It was a mistake and I offer my sincere apology," McKenzie told reporters. "At the time of the strike, I was confident that the strike had averted an imminent threat to our forces at the airport."

McKenzie added that he is "fully responsible for this strike and this tragic outcome."

When asked if anybody would be held responsible for the civilian deaths, McKenzie said the military was "in the process, right now, of continuing that line of investigation, and I have nothing for you now because that involves personnel issues."

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also apologized for what he described as a "horrible mistake."

What was said at the time of the strike?

The Pentagon originally claimed the August 29 bombing targeted a vehicle carrying suicide bombers which were headed towards Kabul airport. The strike was conducted just days after a bombing claimed by the "Islamic State" which killed scores of Afghani civilians and over a dozen US troops. The US and other countries were scrambling to finish their evacuations from Afghanistan ahead of the August 31 deadline.

The US military was tracking a white Toyota Corolla they believed was linked with the 'IS' militant group

The US military had said there were "no indication" of civilian casualties at the time of the strike. They also said that "[s]ignificant secondary explosions from the vehicle indicated the presence of a substantial amount of explosive material."

However, an Afghan official quickly disputed the account, telling the AP news agency that children were killed in the blast.

DW's Washington bureau chief Ines Pohl said this showed the US "needed better intelligence."

"This might just be the beginning, as the US relies on drone strikes now that the troops have withdrawn," she said.

What about the alleged IS connection?

McKenzie said the strike was conducted based on hours of surveillance and multiple intelligence reports, which made them believe a white Toyota Corolla was carrying explosives.

However, the review showed this to be wrong, with the secondary explosion most likely coming from the vehicle's fuel tank.

"Moreover we now assess that it is unlikely that the vehicle and those who died were affiliated with ISIS-K, or a direct threat to US forces," the general said, referring to the IS Khorasan group.

McKenzie said the US may make reparation payments to relatives of the victims of the strike.

Separately, Defense Secretary Austin confirmed "there was no connection" between the driver of the vehicle and the Islamic State group.

The driver's activities that day were "completely harmless and not at all related to the imminent threat we believed we faced," Austin said.

Humanitarian aid group Amnesty International said the US admission was a step in the right direction and that an impartial probe was now necessary.

"Anyone suspected of criminal repsonsibility should be prosecuted in a fair trial," said the organization's senior crisis adviser, Brian Castner.

dj,wd/rt (AP, Reuters)

Kremlin critic Navalny’s allies blast Apple and Google for removal of opposition voting app


Issued on: 18/09/2021 -

In this file photo taken on February 20, 2021, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny stands inside a glass cell during a court hearing at the Babushkinsky district court in Moscow. © Kirill Kudryavtsev, AFP

Text by: NEWS WIRES


Allies of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny accused Apple and Google of "censorship" on Friday after they removed an opposition voting app at the start of a three-day parliamentary election in Russia.

Polls opened across the vast country on Friday after a year that saw a sweeping crackdown on President Vladimir Putin's opponents, with Russians given the option of voting online.

State media showed Putin casting his ballot online from self-isolation, several days into quarantine after coming into contact with Covid-19.

As voting began, the opposition said a "Smart Voting" app advising supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies had been removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google.

"They caved in to the Kremlin's blackmail," Leonid Volkov, an exiled aide to Navalny, said on Telegram, after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.

Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov accused the companies of a "shameful act of political censorship", posting a screenshot on Twitter of an email from Apple saying the app was removed because Navalny's organisation has been declared "extremist".

He said the US companies were making a "huge mistake."

Sources familiar with Google and Apple's decision said the move was taken under pressure from Russian authorities, including threats to arrest local staff of the tech giant.

One source said Apple employees faced mounting "bullying tactics and threats to arrest" at the start of the vote, while another noted Google had acted under "extraordinary duress".

The Kremlin welcomed the move, saying the tech giants had conformed with "the letter and spirit" of Russian law.

Falling living standards

The app instructed Russians on how to vote strategically to try to defeat politicians from Putin's United Russia party, after candidates critical of the Kremlin were largely barred from running in the vote.

In power for two decades, Putin's tenure has seen tightening controls over the Russian segment of the internet.

The election for seats in the lower house State Duma, which runs until Sunday, comes after a year that has seen Navalny jailed, many allies arrested and his organisations banned.

Putin, who turns 69 next month, said ahead of the vote he was counting on voters to make "responsible, balanced and patriotic" decisions.

While he remains broadly well-liked, United Russia has seen its popularity drop as living standards decline in a pandemic-induced economic slump.

Russia has also struggled to contain the coronavirus, with even Putin in isolation this week after a major outbreak at the Kremlin.

Zhdanov said on Twitter his team was considering suing Apple and Google, but for now was focusing on other ways of getting the list out.

He posted links to Google Docs with recommended candidates and Navalny's team released a video on YouTube showing the names.

With the vote being held over three days, limited election observing and the option of voting electronically, critics say there will be few checks on the Kremlin party's performance.

In Moscow, some voters waited hours to vote, with long queues forming outside central polling stations.

'Competition is needed'

Some young voters in the capital told AFP they hoped new faces would be able to join the Duma.

"I think it's the right moment for decent people to win," said Sofia Makarova, a 22-year-old barista.

Sergei Ryzhov, a construction worker, said that while the majority of Russians would vote for United Russia, "competition is needed".

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe -- which often monitors elections across the ex-Soviet Union -- said last month it would not be sending observers because of a limit on numbers imposed by Moscow.

Russian social media on Friday was filled with reports of ballot stuffing as well as polling stations filled with army servicemen.

Besides United Russia, 13 more parties are running in the elections. Of the Duma's 450 members, 225 are elected through party lists and the rest through single-member districts.

Ukraine meanwhile announced sanctions against persons involved in organising voting in the Crimea region annexed by Moscow and in the pro-Russian separatist east of the country, with Kiev dubbing the vote in those areas a "farce".

"Russia does not have the right to organise elections in these territories," declared Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine's national security council, additionally warning foreign observers they too faced sanctions if they participated in "this farce".

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had on Thursday said holding the vote in the disputed regions constituted a "violation of international rights".

(AFP)

  

Critics warn of Apple, Google 'chokepoint' repression


Issued on: 18/09/2021 

Google and Apple were under the microscope over their decision to pull a Russian opposition app 

Emmanuel DUNAND, Loic VENANCE AFP/File

Washington (AFP)

The global dominance of tech giants serves as a convenient online chokepoint for authoritarian governments to crack down on dissent or rig elections, critics of Apple and Google said Friday.

The companies were facing international outrage after pulling a Russian opposition voting app off their online marketplaces in response to authorities' escalating pressure, including arrest threats.

Google and Apple, whose operating systems run on 99 percent of the world's smartphones, have a stranglehold on the markets for the applications that allow users to do everything from watch movies to hail a ride.

"The app stores are the new frontier for censorship," Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel at rights group Access Now told AFP. "We're witnessing a new stage of assault on digital rights."

The companies face a growing pile of new legislation, legal trouble and regulators scrutiny over worries their dominance is a competition-killing monopoly.

Concerns recently had been about consumers' choice and app developers ability to avoid paying Apple an up to 30 percent cut on purchases made via its App Store.

But after an app advising opposition supporters on how to vote out Kremlin allies in Russia's parliamentary election was removed from the app stores of both Apple and Google, advocates warned of another threat.

"As long as Apple maintains a stranglehold over what software millions of people (use)... the App Store will continue to be a convenient chokepoint for government censorship and crackdowns on dissent," said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future.

The digital world has been an incubator for opposition from the Arab Spring to Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests by giving people a way to communicate and organize movements rapidly.

Yet that same technology can be turned against people, as was demonstrated by the scandal around Pegasus, a hugely invasive spyware that can essentially turn a phone into a pocket listening device.

- Limits of Big Tech -

Allegations that the software has been used by governments worldwide to eavesdrop on human rights activists, business executives and politicians sparked a global uproar in July.

In the case of Russia, pressure has been building after Moscow accused the US tech giants of election interference and demanded they remove the app.

"This demonstrates the limits of Big Tech to resist crackdowns with regards to dissent, in Russia and elsewhere, during elections and outside them," said David Levine, an election integrity fellow at think tank Alliance for Securing Democracy.

Sources close to the decision to pull the opposition app said both companies faced threats of criminal charges or the jailing of staff and general "bullying" from authorities.

Levine noted this type of escalating pressure could become a "page in the playbook" for repressive governments.

The firms are for-profit, yet because of their global reach and key role in mass communication, can end up being called on to combat hate, lies and repression on their devices or platforms.

As a result, Big Tech can and will get entangled in these type of fights on delicate matters with the governments of places where they do business.

"Giant IT companies are going to have to think about how they operate in these markets, like how far they'll go in terms of complying and cutting off the freedom of people to see things," said Kathryn Stoner, a Stanford political science professor.

Especially for social media companies like Facebook, the role of information gatekeeper is one that the firms have played with widely varying outcomes.

The case in Russia, though, has resonated in particular because it touches on something deeply personal, which also has tremendous consequences.

"This is the government going into your house and saying you cannot talk about voting against us," Isabel Linzer, a Research analyst at NGO Freedom House, said.

"That is as much election interference as it would be to go and stuff a ballot box," she added.

© 2021 AFP

#AUKUS

France recalls its ambassadors to US and Australia in submarine deal backlash

BUT NOT THE UK?! 

Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

Text by: FRANCE 24
Video by: Fraser JACKSON

France on Friday recalled its ambassadors to the United States and Australia in a ferocious row over the scrapping of a submarine contract, an unprecedented step that revealed the extent of French anger against its allies.

President Emmanuel Macron made the exceptional decision due to the “gravity of the announcements on September 15 by Australia and the United States”, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in a statement.

The rare diplomatic backlash against France’s allies came two days after Australia announced the scrapping of a major purchase of French conventional submarines in favour of US nuclear-powered submarines.

The announcement represented “unacceptable behaviour between allies and partners”, said the statement.

Australia in 2016 had chosen France's Naval Group, partly owned by the state, to build 12 conventionally powered submarines, based on France's Barracuda nuclear-powered subs in development.

The contract was worth around 50 billion Australian dollars (€31 billion, $36.5 billion) when announced in 2016.

But on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden, along with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, announced a new US security alliance between their countries that would develop an Australian nuclear-powered submarine fleet.

The Australia-UK-US alliance – dubbed AUKUS – has been strongly condemned by France, with Le Drian calling it “a stab in the back”.

US describes France as 'vital ally'

The United States on Friday reiterated that France was a 'vital ally'.

"France is a vital partner and our oldest ally, and we place the highest value on our relationship," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement, adding that Washington was hoping to continue the discussion on the issue at the senior level in the coming days, including during the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York next week.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby meanwhile acknowledged that telephone talks earlier between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and French counterpart Florence Parly showed "that there is still much work to do in terms of our defence relationship with France."

France 24's Kethevane Gorjestani reports on the US response to France's decision to withdraw its ambassador 02:15

Australia said it regrets France's decision to recall its ambassador to Canberra but it values its relationship with France and will keep engaging with Paris on many other issues.

"We note with regret France's decision to recall its Ambassador to Australia," a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said in a statement. "Australia values its relationship with France ... We look forward to engaging with France again on our many issues of shared interest, based on shared values."

China calls alliance 'extremely irresponsible'

Beijing described the new alliance as an "extremely irresponsible" threat to regional stability, questioning Australia's commitment to nuclear non-proliferation and warning the Western allies that they risked "shooting themselves in the foot".

China has its own "very substantive programme of nuclear submarine building", Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison argued Friday in an interview with radio station 2GB.

China claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in shipping trade passes annually, rejecting competing claims from Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.Beijing has been accused of deploying a range of military hardware including anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles there, and ignored a 2016 international tribunal decision that declared its historical claim over most of the waters to be without basis.

'Directly affecting the vision'

The French ambassador recalls from the United States and Australia -- key allies of France -- are unprecedented. Withdrawing envoys is a last resort diplomatic step taken when relations between feuding countries are plunged into crisis but highly unusual between allies.

"I am being recalled to Paris for consultations," France ambassador to the US Philippe Etienne wrote on Twitter. "This follows announcements directly affecting the vision we have of our alliances, of our partnerships and of the importance of the Indo-Pacific for Europe."

Paris sees itself as a major power in the Indo-Pacific due to overseas territories such as New Caledonia and French Polynesia which give it a strategic and military foothold unmatched by any other European country.

The row has for now at least put on hold hopes of a post-Trump renaissance in Paris-Washington relations under Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a fluent French speaker who was educated in Paris.

France's European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune also said Friday that Paris was unable to trust Canberra in ongoing European Union trade deal talks following the decision.

France's Europe Minister Clément Beaune calls the AUKUS submarine deal a 'breach of trust' 00:34



France meanwhile called off a gala at its ambassador's house in Washington scheduled for Friday.

The event was supposed to celebrate the anniversary of a decisive naval battle in the American Revolution, in which France played a key role.

AUKUS overshadows Europe’s Indo-Pacific plan

France had pushed for several years for a European strategy for boosting economic, political and defense ties in the region stretching from India and China to Japan and New Zealand.

The EU on Thursday unveiled its plan for the Indo-Pacific. But the AUKUS headlines overshadowed the EU’s own Indo-Pacific strategy aimed at "exploring ways to ensure enhanced naval deployments by EU Member States to help protect the sea lines of communication and freedom of navigation", according to a statement.

A French diplomat told AFP on Friday that Macron received a letter from Australian PM Morrison on Wednesday morning announcing the decision to cancel the submarine deal.

French officials then decided to reach out to the Biden administration "to ask what was going on", the source said. He added that discussions with Washington took place just two to three hours before Biden's public announcement.

Paris had raised the issue of the Indo-Pacific strategy during the June 25 visit to Paris of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, expressing the importance of its submarine program with Australia, the diplomat said.

“We said that is was for us a very important and critical component in our Indo-Pacific strategy,” he said. Blinken met with Macron during the visit.

The French diplomat said Australia never gave any indication to France before of its intention to scrap the submarine deal, including during a meeting between Macron and Morrison in Paris on June 15.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

  

AUKUS alliance: Blinken seeks to calm French fury amid diplomatic row

Issued on: 17/09/2021 - 

Video by:

Marc Perelman

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday called France a vital partner in the Indo-Pacific, comments that appeared aimed at calming French anger after the United States, Australia and the UK clinched a deal to supply Australia with submarines. The three countries said on Wednesday they would establish a security partnership for the Indo-Pacific that would help Australia acquire US nuclear-powered submarines and see it scrap a $40 billion French-designed submarine deal. France reacted angrily to the loss of the deal, calling it a "stab in the back." FRANCE 24's French Politics Editor Marc Perelman explains.

  

What does the new AUKUS alliance mean for Japan, South Korea?

Issued on: 17/09/2021 

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that the United States is forming a new Indo-Pacific security alliance with Britain and Australia that will allow for greater sharing of defense capabilities — including helping equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines. Northest Asia Editor for Asia Times, Andrew Salmon, explains what this new alliance means for Japan and South Korea.