IGIHE

Author: Théophile Niyitegeka

  • US deploys heavily armed Marines to Syria

    {Several hundred Marines deployed to prepare for fight to push ISIL out of its Raqqa headquarters.}

    A couple hundred Marines have deployed into Syria with heavy artillery guns, as part of the ongoing preparation for the fight to push ISIL out of its self-declared headquarters of Raqqa, a Pentagon spokesman has confirmed.

    The Marines are pre-positioning howitzers to be ready to assist local Syrian forces, according to US officials.

    The deployment is temporary. But it could be an indication that the White House is leaning towards giving the Pentagon greater flexibility to make routine combat decisions in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, or ISIS).

    Military commanders frustrated by what they considered micromanagement under the previous administration have argued for greater freedom to make daily decisions on how best to fight the enemy.

    In addition, the US is preparing to send up to 1,000 troops to Kuwait in order to be ready to join the ISIL fight if they are needed, officials said.

    Proponents of the move said it would provide US commanders on the ground greater flexibility to quickly respond to unforeseen opportunities and challenges on the battlefield.

    The latest troop movements come on the heels of the recent temporary deployment of some dozens of army forces to the outskirts of Manbij, Syria, in what the Pentagon called a “reassure and deter” mission.

    Flying American flags and moving in large, heavily armoured vehicles, the troops were there to keep a lid on tensions in the area, the Pentagon said.

    Under the existing limits put in place by the Obama administration, the military can have up to 500 US forces in Syria, although temporary personnel do not count against the cap.

    The special operations fighters are ostensibly there to train and assist the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an umbrella group of Kurdish and Arab fighters that have proven to be a key ground asset in the US-led coalition’s battle against ISIL.

    Pentagon leaders sent a new plan to defeat ISIL to the White House late last month. It outlined a strategy that would likely increase the number of US troops in Syria in order to better advise and enable the US-backed Syrian fighters who will take on the battle for Raqqa.

    The military has mapped out a series of options for the Syria fight, including increased artillery support, more Apache helicopters and a more robust training campaign.

    US officials say the battle for Raqqa will look much like the fight in neighbouring Iraq, where local forces are in a fierce battle to retake the northern city of Mosul – ISIL’s last stronghold in the country.

    As troops were preparing to move into Mosul, the US set up bases outside the city to use as logistical hubs and as locations for heavy artillery.

    The moves to pre-position US troops closer to the fight, so they can be tapped as needed, are the kinds of decisions that military commanders say they need to be able to make more quickly, without going to the White House every time for approval.

    The Marines are pre-positioning heavy artillery to be ready to assist local Syrian forces

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • ‘Day Without a Woman’ marked with strike and rallies

    {Women urged to stay away from work, or wear red if they cannot, to highlight their role in US economy and society.}

    American women demonstrating how vital women are to the US economy have stayed home from work, joined rallies or wore red, as International Women’s Day was observed with a multitude of events around the world.

    The Day Without a Woman protest in the US was promoted by organisers of the vast women’s marches that drew more than 1 million Americans the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

    The turnout this time was much smaller, with crowds in many places numbering in the hundreds. There were no immediate estimates of how many women heeded the call to skip work some schools were closed as not enough staff would turn up for work.

    Many seized the opportunity to protest against Trump and his policies concerning women.

    “I believe now more than ever it’s important to stand up for women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ, the environment,” a young woman who left her retail job to join a protest in New York, told Al Jazeera. “With this administration we have to take our rights seriously and make sure everyone is heard and represented.”

    An older man also said he came out because of Trump.

    “I think he discriminates against women, has no respect for women and that’s why I want to be here. For women.”

    A crowd of about 1,000 people, the vast majority of them women, gathered on New York’s Fifth Avenue in the shadow of Trump Tower. Women wore red and waved signs reading “Nevertheless she persisted,” ”Misogyny out of the White House now” and “Resist like a girl”.

    At least 13 protesters were arrested for “disorderly conduct” after sitting in the street near the Trump Hotel, disrupting traffic.

    Some of the main organisers of the Women’s March – Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez and Bob Bland – were among those arrested.

    Elsewhere in the city, a statue of a fearless-looking girl was placed in front of Wall Street’s famous charging bull sculpture. The girl appeared to be staring down the animal. A plaque at her feet read: “Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference.”

    State Street Global Advisors, the firm behind the statue, said it was a way of calling attention to the lack of gender diversity on corporate boards and the pay gap of women working in financial services.

    The nation-wide event was inspired in part by the Day Without an Immigrant protest held last month.

    School in such places as Prince George’s County, Maryland; Alexandria, Virginia; and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, cancelled classes after hundreds of teachers and other employees let it be known they would be out.

    In Providence, Rhode Island, the municipal court closed for lack of staff members.

    In Washington, DC, more than 20 Democratic female representatives walked out of the Capitol to address a cheering crowd of several hundred people.

    Dressed in red, the lawmakers criticised efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act and eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

    House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi encouraged more women to go into politics, saying, “You have marched for progress. Now you must run for office.”

    In front of the White House, dozens protested against a US policy that bans international NGOs from providing abortion services or offering information about abortions if they receive US funding.

    Trump imposed what critics call the “global gag rule” in an executive order he signed just after taking office.

    {{Protest for the privileged?}}

    Some criticised the Day Without a Woman strike, warning that many women cannot afford to miss work or find child care.

    Organisers asked those unable to skip work to wear red in solidarity.

    “It’s almost impossible for a single mother, a low-income worker, a minimum-wage earner to take the day off,” Sarah Sophie Flicker, a protest organiser in New York, told Al Jazeera. “Everyone here stands in solidarity with women who can’t strike.”

    As part of the protest, women were also urged to refrain from shopping.

    A few hundred people gathered on the lawn outside Los Angeles City Hall to rally for women’s rights.

    Hundreds of women dressed in red and holding signs with photos of their local lawmakers gathered at the Utah Capitol to remind legislators they are closely watching how they handle women’s issues.

    In Denver, several hundred people marched silently around the state Capitol.

    Kelly Warren brought her daughters, ages 3 and 12.

    “We wanted to represent every marginalised woman whose voice doesn’t count as much as a man’s,” Warren, a sales associate in the male-dominated construction industry, told AFP.

    Trump took to Twitter to salute “the critical role of women” in the US and around the world. He tweeted that he has “tremendous respect for women and the many roles they serve that are vital to the fabric of our society and our economy”.

    The White House said none of its female staff members skipped work in support of International Women’s Day.

    Women make up more than 47 percent of the US workforce and are dominant among registered nurses, dental assistants, cashiers, accountants and pharmacists, according to the census.

    They make up at least a third of physicians and surgeons, and the same with lawyers and judges. Women also account for 55 percent of all college students.

    At the same time, American women earn 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. The median income for women was $40,742 in 2015, compared with $51,212 for men, according to census data.

    Some women protested against the 'gag rule' that bans NGOs from providing abortion services if they receive US funding

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Apple, Samsung vow to fix flaws after CIA hack report

    {Agency allegedly produced more than 1,000 malware systems to infiltrate and take control of targeted electronics.}

    Apple and Samsung have vowed to quickly fix any vulnerabilities in their products following WikiLeaks’ disclosure of an alleged CIA hacking arsenal capable of breaking into iPhones and other devices.

    The archive claims to show the CIA exploiting weaknesses it discovers in hardware and software systems – without informing manufacturers of the flaws in question.

    “While our initial analysis indicates that many of the issues leaked today were already patched in the latest iOS, we will continue work to rapidly address any identified vulnerabilities,” Apple said in a statement.

    “We always urge customers to download the latest iOS to make sure they have the most recent security updates.”

    Samsung offered a similar response.

    “Protecting consumers’ privacy and the security of our devices is a top priority at Samsung,” a statement from the South Korean electronics giant said.

    “We are aware of the report in question and are urgently looking into the matter.”

    WikiLeaks claims the documents it released on Tuesday are part of a vast trove of leaked CIA documents, tools and code representing “the majority of its hacking arsenal”.

    The CIA would neither confirm nor deny the documents were genuine.

    However, “the American public should be deeply troubled by any WikiLeaks disclosure designed to damage the Intelligence Community’s ability to protect America against terrorists and other adversaries,” a CIA spokesman said in a statement.

    “Such disclosures not only jeopardise US personnel and operations, but also equip our adversaries with tools and information to do us harm.”

    According to the documents, the CIA has produced more than 1,000 malware systems – viruses, trojans, and other software – that can infiltrate and take control of target electronics.

    US intelligence and law enforcement officials said on Wednesday they have been aware since the end of last year of a security breach at the CIA and were focusing on contractors as the likeliest source of documents being passed on to WikiLeaks.

    The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters news agency they believed the documents were authentic.

    {{WikiLeaks exposes alleged CIA hacking programme}}

    The White House said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump was “extremely concerned” about a CIA security breach.

    “Anybody who leaks classified information will be held to the highest degree of law,” spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters.

    One official with knowledge of the investigation said companies that are contractors for the CIA have been checking to see which of their employees had access to the material that WikiLeaks published.

    In Germany on Wednesday, the chief federal prosecutor’s office said it would review the WikiLeaks documents because some suggested the CIA ran a hacking hub from the US consulate in Frankfurt.

    “We’re looking at it very carefully,” said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office. “We will initiate an investigation if we see evidence of concrete criminal acts or specific perpetrators.”

    WikiLeaks alleges devices such as smart TVs are being targeted by the CIA.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Suicide bomb blasts hit wedding near Iraq’s Tikrit

    {Suicide bomb explosions target wedding ceremony in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, officials say.}

    At least 26 people have been killed in suicide bomb explosions at a wedding party in a village near the Iraqi city of Tikrit, medical and security sources have told Al Jazeera.

    There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Wednesday’s attack in Hajjaj village, located 20km north of Tikrit.

    Security forces cordoned off the area and imposed a wider curfew for fear of more attackers.

    A police source told Reuters that two blasts hit the wedding and two more targeted security forces at the scene shortly afterwards. There were ongoing clashes between security forces and fighters in the area, he said.

    Iraqi security forces retook Tikrit from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant – ISIL, also known as ISIS – in April 2015.

    In November, ISIL bomb attacks hit Tikrit, north of the capital, Baghdad, in an apparent diversionary assault as Iraqi forces drove back the armed group’s fighters in their stronghold of Mosul.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • UN: 200,000 die each year from pesticide poisoning

    {Report says pesticides are having ‘catastrophic impacts’ on human health and environment while failing to end hunger.}

    An average of about 200,000 people die from the toxic exposure of pesticides per year across the world, the United Nations says, calling for tougher global regulation of substances meant to control pests or weeds for plant cultivation.

    The UN report – published on January 24 and which is being presented to the UN human rights council on Wednesday – said although pesticide use has been correlated with a rise in food production, it has had “catastrophic impacts” on human health and the environment.

    “Equally, increased food production has not succeeded in eliminating hunger worldwide. Reliance on hazardous pesticides is a short-term solution that undermines the rights to adequate food and health for present and future generations,” the report said.

    It lists an array of serious illnesses and health issues with suspected links to pesticides, including cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, hormone disruption, birth defects, sterility, and neurological effects.

    “In some countries, pesticide poisoning even exceeds fatalities from infectious diseases,” it said.

    The report blamed “systematic denial, fuelled by the pesticide and agro-industry” for “the magnitude of the damage inflicted by these chemicals”.

    In an email statement sent to Al Jazeera in response to questions about the UN report, the United Kingdom’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs cited an unnamed government spokesperson as saying there is not enough proof to show that pesticides are harmful.

    “The government makes decisions on pesticides based on science and we are committed to ensuring pesticides are available only when the scientific evidence shows they do not pose unacceptable risks to people and the environment,” it said.

    According to the UN report, people can be exposed to dangerous levels of pesticides in a wide variety of ways, ranging from farmers who use it on their crops to babies drinking their mother’s contaminated breast milk.

    “Few people are untouched by pesticide exposure. They may be exposed through food, water, air, or direct contact with pesticides or residues,” it said.

    The UN report also highlighted profound effects on the environment.

    “Pesticides sprayed on crops frequently pollute the surrounding ecosystem and beyond, with unpredictable ecological consequences. Furthermore, reductions in pest populations upset the complex balance between predator and prey species in the food chain.

    “Pesticides can also decrease biodiversity of soils and contribute to nitrogen fixation, which can lead to large declines in crop yields, posing problems for food security.”

    Jay Feldman, executive director of the Washington DC-based non-profit environmental organisation Beyond Pesticides, told Al Jazeera the $43bn organic food industry in the US is the best example of how the world does not need to rely on pesticides.

    “There are non-toxic approaches that could meet food production goals, fight starvation, and not contaminate the environment,” said Feldman.

    He highlighted how developing countries are much more susceptible to harmful impacts of pesticides because of a lack of regulation.

    “Developing countries lack any infrastructure to ensure those handling the chemicals are using them to avoid causing dangerous levels of exposure or contamination.

    “We don’t export nuclear technology to countries that we don’t trust would use it properly … so we should not be exporting hazardous materials or technologies to countries that we know do not have the proper system to ensure protection of public health and the environment.”

    He also explained why organic farming is much more cost-effective and productive for farmers in developing countries.

    “Pesticides are a very expensive technology. When we are talking about subsistence agriculture, relying on pesticides becomes an economic burden for farmers largely due to growing weed and pest resistance that requires farmers to keep purchasing stronger pesticides.

    “However, with organic practices, we rely on natural ecosystem services which cycle nutrients in the soil naturally, making costly synthetic fertilizers unnecessary.

    “And if we want to feed the world, the attention to soil biology, organic matter in soil, and natural nutrient recycling, are the only sustainable and cost-effective approaches.”

    {{Agroecology}}

    Paul Towers, a spokesman for Pesticide Action Network North America, an environmental group, told Al Jazeera about a growing movement towards “agroecology”.

    “Agroecology is the science behind sustainable agriculture, from the ground up. It encourages democratic, decentralised decision-making by farmers and incorporates practical, low-cost and ecology-based technologies for productive farming.

    “Not only do agroecological farming methods strengthen ecological and economic resilience in the face of today’s climate, water and energy crises, they offer a path forward for growing food to feed us all.”

    Farmers are among those affected most by pesticide poisoning.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir pardons 259 rebels

    {Move comes after insurgents released 125 soldiers who fought in Darfur conflict that killed 300,000 people since 2003.}

    Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on Wednesday pardoned 259 rebels captured in fighting with government forces, including dozens who had been sentenced to death.

    Bashir’s order came three days after a prominent insurgent group freed dozens of prisoners, mostly soldiers, it had captured in fighting with government forces.

    “The decision to pardon 259 rebels aims at preparing the environment for achieving lasting peace in the country,” Bashir’s office said in a statement.

    Those pardoned include 66 rebels who had been sentenced to death.

    Of the 259 rebels to be released now, dozens were captured in 2015 after fierce fighting in war-torn South Darfur between government forces and rebels.

    Although the presidency did not specify which group these rebels belonged to, government forces in 2015 fought pitched battles with the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) in South Darfur.

    Forty-four rebels also among those pardoned were captured in the city of Omdurman in 2008 after similar clashes between government forces and JEM fighters.

    “The decision to pardon is a progressive step and would help in the ceasing of hostilities,” Nur Ahmed al-Nur, editor-in-chief of Assayha newspaper, told AFP news agency.

    On Sunday, another prominent rebel group, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N), freed at least 125 prisoners, mostly soldiers.

    The prisoners had been captured in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, where the SPLM-N has been fighting government forces for years.

    Sudanese rebel group releases 127 prisoners

    The conflict in Darfur, a region the size of France, erupted in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Bashir’s Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, accusing it of marginalising the region economically and politically.

    At least 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur and another 2.5 million displaced since the conflict erupted, the United Nations says.

    In 2011, similar rebellions against Bashir’s regime also broke out in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states.

    Khartoum announced a unilateral ceasefire in June 2016 in all three conflict zones, which it extended by six months in January.

    Bashir, who has ruled Sudan for nearly three decades, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur. He steadfastly denies the charge.

    More than 2.5 people were displaced by fighting during the Darfur conflict.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Lawmaker Abdellatif Merdas shot dead in Casablanca

    {Moroccan police say a suspect has been arrested after member of Constitutional Union party is gunned down near his home.}

    Abdellatif Merdas, a Moroccan member of parliament, has been shot dead in Casablanca, according to police.

    The 53-year-old, a politician with the liberal Constitutional Union party, was gunned down late on Tuesday near his home in the well-off southern district of Californie.

    His assassins fled the scene, but police said on Wednesday they had arrested a 27-year-old man suspected of links to the assault.

    A raid on the suspect’s home came up with two shotguns similar to the one used in the attack, police said.

    The assault is believed to be criminally motivated.

    Initial investigations suggest that the suspect had previously threatened Merdas with death due to alleged personal differences, police said.

    Merdas, who represented the Ben Ahmed district 60km south of the coastal city of Casablanca, was in his official car when he was hit three times by shotgun fire, private news websites reported.

    Hit in the head, he succumbed to his wouds shortly afterwards.

    Local news websites showed photos of the scene and a car with broken windows, surrounded by police officers.

    They said one or more attackers fled in a foreign-registered vehicle.

    Source:Al Jazeera

  • Couple ‘detained in UAE for sex outside marriage’

    {A South African man and his Ukrainian fiancee have been detained in the United Arab Emirates for unlawful sex, a relative says.}

    Emlyn Culverwell‚ 29, and Iryna Nohai, 27, were reportedly arrested after a doctor discovered Ms Nohai, who had stomach cramps, was pregnant.

    They were arrested for sex outside of marriage, which is illegal in the UAE.

    Mr Culverwell’s mother has pleaded for their release, saying “the only thing they did wrong was fall in love”.

    South Africa’s foreign ministry has said that it is not able to help the couple as this is a matter of domestic UAE law, News24 reports.

    The South African government has advised the couple to get legal assistance, the BBC’s Pumza Fihlani in Johannesburg says.

    There was no immediate comment from the UAE government.

    Mr Culverwell and Ms Nohai have reportedly been held since January, but news of their detention has only emerged now.

    Mr Culverwell has been working in the UAE for the past five years.

    His mother Linda told News24 that the family is “trying to get messages to the two to say we love them and that they shouldn’t be worried”.

    The couple have not yet been charged as the authorities are still carrying out tests, Mrs Culverwell added.

    If found guilty, they could face a long jail sentence.

    Emlyn Culverwell and his fiancee Iryna Nohai met while working in the UAE.

    Source:BBC

  • Nigeria closes Abuja airport for repairs

    {Nigeria has closed its main airport in the capital, Abuja, for six weeks to allow badly needed repairs to be carried out.}

    It comes after airlines threatened to stop flying there because of safety concerns over the state of the runway.

    From now, those wishing to travel to Abuja are being encouraged to instead fly to the northern city of Kaduna, 190km (120 miles) away.

    But all but one international airline has refused to fly there.

    Ethiopian Airlines is currently the only company offering international flights to Kaduna, which has been hit recently by a spate of kidnappings.

    The government has set up a dedicated Abuja Airport Closure website, where passengers can book free bus tickets for the two-hour journey by road.

    “The runway has deteriorated to such an extent that it requires complete reconstruction,” the government said.

    “This cannot be done at night. Furthermore, the runway has been maintained mostly through closure at night in the past several years, but is has reached a state where that method will not work anymore.”

    {{What are people going to do?}}

    All domestic flights are being rerouted to Kaduna, a small regional airport.

    The shuttle bus to Abuja will take two hours on a good day, more with traffic. Like most Nigerian roads it is bumpy but the government has undertaken some repairs on it in preparation for the airport commuters.

    On the international front however there are not many options.

    Most international airlines said they were worried about security. Some also expressed concern that the equipment at Kaduna airport was not of a high enough standard.

    Henrietta Yakubu from the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme that plans had been put in place to protect passengers and to transfer them in luxury buses.

    “The police boss has assured members of the public that for each luxury bus on the highway, there will a police patrol vehicle on the front and behind,” she said.

    “A police checkpoint will also be set up every one kilometre on the road between Kaduna and Abuja.”

    {{Is it safe to fly to Kaduna?}}

    In February two German archaeologists were kidnapped while working on a dig near the Kaduna-Abuja road. That sounded the final death knell on efforts by the Nigerian government to convince international airlines to fly there.

    The government has promised extra security on the Abuja-to-Kaduna highway but that will not reassure many passengers or airline bosses.

    Even in Lagos and Abuja they hire police escorts for their crew. Southern Kaduna has also been in the news recently over ethnic clashes between farmers and Fulani herdsmen which may put some passengers off travelling there.

    However that conflict is further west in very rural areas and unlikely to spread to the Abuja-Kaduna road.

    {{Could I go to Lagos instead?}}

    The airport in the commercial capital, Lagos, has more international flights than Abuja but it would be a 12-hour drive to Abuja, at the very least. Though it may be safer, the Abuja-to-Lagos road is in terrible disrepair.

    Some embassies in Abuja have talked about the possibility of flying to Enugu, a six-hour road trip from Abuja, in case of an emergency.

    {{What will the impact be?}}

    It is hard to tell just what impact the closure will have or how many people will choose not to fly. Nigeria’s biggest airline Arik has introduced a reduced schedule.

    But flying in Nigeria is incredibly unpredictable anyway, with flights often delayed for hours and then cancelled.

    Nigerian air travellers are already extremely resilient and will most likely weather this latest storm just fine.

    However, it is also likely to affect Nigeria’s postal service, as 40% of the country’s international mail is transported through Abuja.

    It is bad. There are two major holes in the runway and several serious cracks and bumps.

    In August a South African Airways plane damaged its landing gear when it hit one of the potholes. Although no-one was injured, the plane was out of commission for four days.

    Many of the major airlines threatened to stop flying if the runway wasn’t fixed.

    Why did it get so bad before anything was done?

    Successive governments have ignored the problem for more than 15 years. The runway was supposed to be upgraded in 2002 – it was built in 1982 and was only meant to have a 20-year lifespan.

    That is because of a cocktail of corruption and incompetence on the part of those in charge. But with gaping potholes now posing a real danger, the problem is impossible to ignore.

    Source:BBC

  • Senegal’s Dakar mayor Khalifa Sall in custody for fraud

    {The mayor of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, has been placed in custody for allegedly embezzling public money.}

    A judge investigating $2.9m (£2.3m) in missing city funds has charged Khalifa Sall with fraud, criminal conspiracy and money laundering.

    He denies any wrongdoing and says his arrest is politically motivated.

    Mr Sall, who has been Dakar’s mayor since 2009, has been widely considered a possible presidential contender for elections in 2019.

    He is a member of the Socialist Party, part of the ruling coalition, but he is considered a maverick.

    The mayor was arrested on Tuesday and spent the night in detention, along with at least five members of his staff.

    Under Senegalese law, he will not be eligible for bail and will stay in jail until his trial.

    This is the second high-profile corruption case in Senegal since President Macky Sall was elected into office in 2012 amid widespread popular discontent about corruption.

    In 2015, Karim Wade, the son of the former President Abdoulaye Wade, was sentenced to six years in prison for illegally enriching himself.

    A senior minister in his father’s government, he had been in custody since 2013 and received a presidential pardon last year.

    He now lives in exile in Qatar.

    Just as in Karim Wade’s case, supporters of the Dakar’s mayor say he is a victim of a plot to undermine him.

    “This arrest and detention [are] only to stop Khalifa Sall in his political ambitions,” Mr Sall’s lawyers said in a statement.

    Khalifa Sall was arrested along with five members of his staff.

    Source:BBC