Tag: InternationalNews

{Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun accused of helping target artists critical of impeached President Park Geun-hye.}

South Korea’s culture minister resigned after being arrested for allegedly creating a “blacklist” of nearly 10,000 artists who voiced criticism of impeached President Park Geun-Hye.

Cho Yoon-Sun – the first minister in active service arrested in South Korea – is accused of creating the vast catalogue to starve the artists of government subsidies and private investment, and place them under state surveillance.

The list’s existence sparked widespread anger, raising the spectre of Seoul’s 1960-80s army-backed rule – including under dictator Park Chung-hee, the impeached leader’s late father – when news, the arts, and entertainment were heavily censored.

Shortly after her arrest, Cho tendered her resignation, which was immediately accepted by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn, Yonhap news agency said.

The Seoul Central District Court said it issued a warrant to arrest Cho on charges of abuse of authority and perjury following a request from prosecutors.

The court also ordered an arrest warrant for Kim Ki-choon, a powerful former chief of staff for Park. Kim is accused of ordering Cho to create the list of “left-leaning” artists.

Kim, 78, a former top intelligence official, came under fire for his alleged involvement in human rights abuses committed under Park’s father.

“Charges are verified … and there are risks of the accused seeking to destroy evidence,” a court judge said in a statement issuing the warrants for Cho and Kim.

Prosecutors questioned Cho and Kim as part of their probe into a wider political scandal involving Park and her secret confidante, Choi Soon-sil, who is currently on trial for abuse of power and coercion.

Park stands accused of colluding with Choi to coerce top local firms, including Samsung, to “donate” nearly $70m to non-profit foundations Choi allegedly later used for personal gain.

Park was impeached by parliament last month and Seoul’s Constitutional Court is currently reviewing the validity of the motion, with the frequency of hearings sparking speculation it might reach a verdict before mid-March.

The scandal has seen a number of former senior officials and presidential aides arrested.

But the Seoul Central District Court this week rejected a prosecution request for the arrest of Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, who is accused of bribing Choi in a bid to seek governmental favours, citing lack of evidence.

{Changes, subject to a referendum, are to expand president’s powers as head of executive while abolishing prime ministry.}

Turkey’s parliament has approved a draft bill that would dramatically expand the president’s powers – paving the way for a referendum later this year.

The government insists the proposal to create an executive presidency will ensure simpler, more stable and more effective administration, but critics say it will give Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more power that is unchecked.

Erdogan became Turkey’s first president elected by popular vote in 2014, after serving three terms as prime minister. If passed, he could stay in office until 2029.

“A new door in Turkish history and in the lives of the Turkish people has been cracked open today. With our people’s ‘yes’ vote, this door will be completely opened,” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag wrote on Twitter.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), said after the voting that his party would fight the changes in their referendum campaign.

“This is a betrayal by the parliament of its own history. Our people will certainly thwart the game that was played in parliament… We will go from door to door and explain this to our people,” Kilicdaroglu said.

Parliament approved the 18-article constitutional change, which was submitted in December, with 339 “yes” votes. The number of MPs who voted against the bill was 142.

Since last month, each article of the bill was put to vote in the 550-seat parliament, where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) enjoys a comfortable majority with 317 seats.

At least 330 votes, a three-fifths majority, were needed to adopt the constitutional change.

The AK Party passed the bill with the support of most MPs from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

The changes were also opposed by the pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party (HDP).

Immediately after the bill was approved, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the “last word” would be had by the people in a referendum, expected to be held in April.

“No one should have any doubt of this: On the issue of constitutional change, the most correct decision will certainly be given by the people,” he said.

The bill would create an executive presidency for the first time in modern Turkey and give the president the power to appoint and fire ministers.

In addition, the post of prime minister will be abolished for the first time in the country’s history and replaced by a vice president, or perhaps several.

The president will be allowed to issue decrees and retain ties to a political party. Also he or she will have broad authority over the high council of judges and prosecutors.

If the changes are passed in the referendum, Turkey would head to general and presidential elections together in November 2019, and proposed powers would be granted to the president elected.

The bill indicates a person can be elected president for two, five-year terms. Erdogan’s existing time as president will not be counted.

{Malaysia PM Najib Razak warns that Rohingya could be ‘infiltrated’ by ISIL if their plight is not solved.}

Malaysia has called for an organisation of Islamic countries to help end the persecution of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority, while Indonesia has offered to be a facilitator to find a solution to the ongoing crisis.

Prime Minister Najib Razak told the opening of a special meeting of foreign ministers from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that the violence against Rohingya, which has galvanised Muslims in Southeast Asia, was no longer Myanmar’s internal affair as it has fuelled an exodus of refugees that could destabilise the region.

He claimed that the violence must end otherwise armed groups including the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, as know as ISIS) could infiltrate the Rohingya.

“OIC member states are well aware that terrorist organisations such as Daesh could seek to take advantage of this situation,” Najib said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

Security forces in Buddhist-majority Myanmar are accused of widespread abuses against the Rohingya, including killings, rape and the burning of thousands of homes that have driven an estimated 65,000 refugees across the border into Bangladesh in the past three months.

Myanmar’s army began the latest crackdown in Rakhine state in October after nine policemen were killed along the border with Bangladesh.

The government and the army have rejected accusations of abuse, saying they have been conducting operations to clear the area of armed elements.

‘Rohingya Muslims cannot wait’

Najib urged Myanmar to stop all discrimination and attacks and repeated calls for the free delivery of aid and safe return of refugees.

“This must happen now … The government of Myanmar disputes the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing,’ but whatever the terminology, the Rohingya Muslims cannot wait,” he said.

Najib said Malaysia will donate another 10 million ringgit ($2.25 million) for humanitarian aid and social projects in Rakhine, where most of the Rohingya have lived for generations. They are denied Myanmar citizenship.

Najib added that Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya – tens of thousands of whom have languished in displacement camps since communal riots in 2012 – was a “stain” on the 10-member Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN.

Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on the sidelines of the meeting that Jakarta was “more than ready to play a bridging role” to help Myanmar and its Muslim minority.

Marsudi said she will be flying to Yangon on Friday to meet with Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi and plans to travel to Rakhine on Saturday.

OIC Secretary General Yousef Al Othaimeen said Myanmar must halt “ongoing discrimination and the unwarranted systematic abuse against the Rohingya.”

Rohingya villagers and activists say hundreds of civilians have been killed since October, although figures cannot be verified because authorities have limited access for aid workers and journalists. Recent satellite images showed thousands of houses were burned.

A small group of Rohingya gathered at the building where the OIC ministers were meeting and repeated calls for an independent investigation into their plight.

{Two girls committed suicide in Ontario after Ottawa turned down local request for funding to stop youth ‘suicide pact’.}

Indigenous leaders in Canada are calling for a national strategy to combat a suicide crisis in their communities, after two 12-year-old girls committed suicide earlier this month.

Wapekeka First Nation in northern Ontario is “in a state of shock, grief, and crisis” after Jolynn Winter and Chantel Fox, both 12, died after committing suicide on January 8 and 10, respectively.

Local leaders say they discovered that several youths in the fly-in Oji-Cree community had entered into a “suicide pact” last year.

But they say that the federal government turned down their request for additional health funding to prevent the suicides.

“Our community plan was turned down by government and now two are dead,” said Joshua Frogg, a spokesman for the community, in a statement on Wednesday.

Located in northwestern Ontario, about 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Wapekeka First Nation is home to about 430 residents.

“I can’t believe I had to bury my daughter. It was so hard to say goodbye,” said Sandra Fox, Chantel’s mother. “I honestly didn’t think I could survive losing Chantel.”

Since the girls’ deaths, four other local children were flown out of the community – it is not accessible by road – to be placed on 24-hour suicide watch, while 24 others have been identified as high risk for suicide.

“Every community member is deeply affected. These children could be alive today and their deaths preventable,” Frogg said.

Health Canada did not immediately return Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Thursday.

Earlier this week, a Health Canada official told CBC News that the agency had received a funding proposal from Wapekeka in September, but it was dated for July 18.

That was an “awkward time” in the government’s funding cycle, said Keith Conn, the regional executive for Ontario with the First Nation and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada, and all the money had already been allocated.

“We just didn’t have the funding to support the programme,” he told CBC News. “We don’t have necessarily a flexible fund that we hold back for different projects.”

First Nations leaders condemned that response, and have since called on the federal government to develop a national strategy to combat the suicide crisis.

“When is it the right time? When is it the right time for this government to act and support our communities, especially our youth and children?” said Alvin Fiddler, grand chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), which represents 49 First Nations communities across northern Ontario.

Fiddler said more than 500 people have died from suicide in NAN territory since the late 1980s. “This is not new,” he said during an emotional press conference in Ottawa Thursday morning.

Suicide is also five to six times more likely among First Nations youths aged 15 to 24 than non-Aboriginal youth in Canada.

“How many more families, friends and communities are going to go through this?” said Jonathan Solomon, grand chief of the Mushkegowuk Council, which represents seven First Nations in northern Ontario, including Attawapiskat First Nation.

Attawapiskat declared a state of emergency in April 2016 after 11 people tried to kill themselves in a single night, and more than 100 suicide attempts were recorded in a seven-month period.

“Our frontline workers are burned out. Our communities are tired. Yes, the government may announce initiatives, but sadly they are dragging their feet while we continue to bury our loved ones. Certainly, actions would speak louder than words,” Solomon said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada published a federal framework for suicide prevention in November 2016.

“But a framework is a hollow substitute for a strategy,” the Centre for Suicide Prevention, an arm of the Canadian Mental Health Association, said in a recent position paper.

“It does not identify the necessary jurisdictional mandates or resources; responsibilities are not defined in a clear way, and there are no definitive timelines. Simply put, a framework does not have the sheer weight or power of an official strategy,” the group said.

{Spain has arrested computer programmer Stanislov Lisov on an FBI warrant issued through Interpol on hacking allegations.}

Spanish officials have announced the arrest of a Russian computer programmer wanted by the United States on hacking allegations while a decision is made on whether to extradite him.

The National Court said on Thursday that Stanislav Lisov, 31, was jailed on January 13 after Civil Guard police arrested him at Barcelona airport on an FBI warrant issued though Interpol.

The court said a Madrid judge questioned him by video over charges of criminal conspiracy in connection with electronic and computer fraud for which he is wanted by the US.

It said he was ordered to be jailed because of the seriousness of the offences and the risk of him fleeing justice, as he had done previously in the US.

Lisov was arrested as he prepared to take a flight out of Spain with his wife.

Darya Lisova, his wife, told the state-controlled Russia Today television station: “We were detained at the airport in Barcelona when we came to return a rented car before flying out to Lyons to continue our trip and visit friends.”

She added: “We’ve already had two lawyers. The first could not cope with the responsibilities, so we hired a second. He is now familiarising himself with the case. So far, we have not been able to figure out what exactly they suspect him of doing.”

Russia hacking allegations

The arrest comes at a time when tensions between the US and Russia have increased after accusations that Russia carried out a cyber-attack campaign against Democratic Party groups before the November 8 presidential election.

A declassified report released in early January by US intelligence officials said Russian President Vladimir Putin “ordered” a campaign to influence the 2016 US presidential election.

OPINION: The Kremlin and the US election

The 25-page public version of the report was released on Friday after the officials briefed President-elect Donald Trump and top politicians on Capitol Hill on a longer, classified version.

The report said Russian efforts to meddle in voting represent the most recent expression of Moscow’s long-standing desire to undermine the US-led liberal democratic order.

It also noted that the scope of Russia’s activities was significantly larger compared with previous operations.

Trump subsequently said that hacking by foreign powers did not affect the final outcome of the November presidential election, after being briefed on the intelligence report.

{Russia’s defence ministry says its fighter jets teamed up with Turkish warplanes to hit ISIL in northern Syria’s Al Bab.}

Russian and Turkish jets have carried out joint air raids against ISIL fighters in the town Al Bab in northern Syria, according to Russia’s military.

Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior defence ministry official, said on Wednesday that nine Russian and eight Turkish fighter jets had together struck targets in the town, located northeast of Aleppo.

“Today the Russian and Turkish air forces are conducting their first joint air operation to strike [ISIL] in the suburbs of Al Bab,” Rudskoi said.

“The assessment of the initial results … showed the strikes were highly effective.”

The joint operation, the closest cooperation between the two countries in Syria to date, marks a dramatic warming of ties between Turkey and Russia, once strained by the shooting down of a Russian jet by a Turkish warplane in 2015.

“Turkey and Russia signed a memorandum of de-confliction in Moscow at the end of last week,” Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Gaziantep on the Turkish side of the Syria-Turkey border, said.

“They agreed to communicate when it comes to the aviation airspace, because the airspace above Syria is very busy with many different countries flying.”

The two countries have backed opposing sides in the nearly six-year Syrian conflict, but are now the main organisers of a new round of peace talks due to take place in Kazakhstan on January 23.

They have set aside their differences over the political fate of President Bashar al-Assad to try to forge a wider Syria deal.

US involvement

Separately, US-led coalition jets also struck ISIL positions in Al Bab on Tuesday and Wednesday, according to coaliton spokesman Colonel John Dorrian.

“These strikes were the result of continued cooperation with Turkey, and we saw a window of opportunity where it was in our mutual interests to get those targets destroyed,” Dorrian said.

Turkey has previously criticised the US for not helping it in its attempts to capture the area from ISIL, which stands for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Earlier this month, Mevlut Cavasoglu, Turkey’s foreign minister, had hinted about cutting off US access to the Incirlik air base, in southeastern Turkey, if it did not support its fight against ISIL, also known as ISIS.

Turkey launched an anti-ISIL push in northern Syria in August after the group carried out multiple attacks targeting civilians security forces across the country.

Dubbed Operation Euphrates Shield, the offensive is composed of Turkish-trained Free Syrian Army (FSA) units backed by Turkish special forces, armoured divisions and fighter jets.

Despite early success in capturing territory from ISIL, such as in the towns of Jarablus and Azaz, the offensive has met stiff resistance in the town of al-Bab.

Turkey lost 16 soldiers in a suicide bombing in the town in December and has lost 49 troops since the launch of the operation.

{{Battling ISIL}}

A number of forces, often rivals themselves, are fighting ISIL in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

In Iraq, Kurdish and Iraqi forces – backed by the US-led coalition – have succeeded in pushing the fighters out of most of the major cities it once held, but are facing stiff resistance in Mosul, the group’s last urban stronghold in the country.

In Syria, the group managed to wrest the historic city of Palmyra from Syrian government control in December and this week made gains in the eastern city of Deir Az Zor.

ISIL captured most of the territory it now holds in Syria and Iraq after a series of rapid offensives starting in early 2014.

{Government says move is needed to reduce overcrowded prisons, but opposition allege it will set back anti-graft drive.}

Thousands of Romanians have protested against government plans to grant prison pardons and decriminalise some offences through emergency decrees that could weaken an anti-corruption drive.

In the capital, Bucharest, about 3,000 people carrying signs that say “We see you” and chanting “In a democracy, thieves stay in prison” marched toward the government building on Wednesday.

The government, which took office after a December parliamentary election, has cited a need to get the criminal code in line with recent constitutional court rulings.

It has also said granting pardons would help ease the burden of Romania’s overcrowded prisons.

Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu wants to implement the measure through an emergency ordinance which would bypass parliament and would not require the president’s signature

Critics have raised concerns about legislating via decree rather than going through parliament, where the government has a solid majority but would face a challenging debate. Decrees come into effect immediately.

Earlier on Wednesday, President Klaus Iohannis urged ministers not to amend the criminal code via decree and sought to ease concerns about backsliding on commitments to tackle corruption.

“There are two elephants in the room and no one is talking about them: the emergency pardoning decree and the decree that changes criminal codes,” Iohannis, a centrr-right leader, said at the start of the cabinet meeting.

“I stress that … the prime minister is committed not to introduce such issues overnight at any government meeting.”

The drafts of the decrees showed an intent to pardon convictions of less than five years for several crimes. The government also aims to decriminalise abuse of power that has caused budget damage of less than $47,522.

The proposal could affect 2,500 prisoners.

Prisoners over 60, pregnant women and inmates with young children would see their sentences halved, regardless of their conviction.

Judges, the prosecutor general and chief anti-corruption prosecutor have all criticised plans to amend criminal legislation without consulting the judiciary.

Abuse of power accounts for a third of anti-corruption investigations. Ruling Social Democrat Party leader and parliament lower house speaker Liviu Dragnea is currently on trial in an abuse of power case. He is also serving a two-year suspended jail sentence in a vote rigging case.

The European Commission keeps Romania’s legal system under special monitoring.

It has praised magistrates’ efforts to fight widespread graft, but noted Romanian politicians have a history of trying to pass legislation to weaken investigative powers.

Grindeanu, the prime minister, told reporters the two decrees were not on the agenda this week, but that they could be once the judiciary is consulted.

“It is just as constitutional as the president attending a government meeting for us to issue emergency decrees in all areas that the law allows us to,” he said.

Raluca Turcan, leader of the opposition Liberal Party, accused the government of trying to sneak the measure in. She called it “an abuse of trust, an act that favors the criminal, an act against the general public”.

Media mogul Dan Voiculescu, a government supporter, is another possible beneficiary of the proposal. The 70-year-old is currently is serving a 10-year sentence for money laundering.

{Two Palestinians and one Israeli police officer killed during home-demolition operation in southern Bedouin village.}

Israeli police officers shot dead a Palestinian who they allege tried to ram them with his car during a protest against home demolitions in southern Israel.

A policeman who was struck by the vehicle later died of his injuries, according to the Israeli media.

However, residents of the Bedouin village of Um Al Hiran, in the Negev Desert, said that the driver was simply heading to the scene to talk with authorities in an attempt to halt the demolitions.

Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Um Al Hiran, said one other Palestinian was killed during clashes that broke out after the incident.

Ayman Odeh, a Palestinian member of the Knesset (Israeli parliament), was injured in the head by police during the confrontation, a parliamentary aide who was with him said.

{{Conflicting narratives}}

Israeli police said several officers were injured during the early-morning incident, without providing further details.

“A vehicle driven by a terrorist from the Islamic Movement intended to strike a number of officers and carry out an attack,” Micky Rosenfeld, police spokesperson, said in a statement.

A later Israeli statement confirmed that the alleged attacker was dead.

However, Raed Abu al-Qiyan, an Um Al Hiran activist, denied that the driver of the car was seeking to harm police.

Identifying the man as a member of his Bedouin clan by the name of Yacoub Abu al-Qiyan, told AFP news agency: “The Israeli narrative is a lie. He was a revered school teacher.

“He was in his car and they shot at him from everywhere.”

The injured Palestinian politician Odeh heads the Joint List, a coalition of mainly Arab parties and the third-largest bloc in the Knesset.

“They attacked the MP and other people – demonstrators – with stun grenades, tear gas directly in people’s faces,” Odeh’s aide, Anan Maalouf, told Israeli army radio.

“There was no car-ramming attack here. There were no clashes here between the demonstrators and police.

Israeli authorities regularly carry out demolitions of Bedouin homes they deem to have been built illegally.

However, building permits are nearly impossible to obtain, according to residents and activists, who say Jewish Israelis are given preferential treatment.

Israel plans to demolish the whole of Um Al Hiran and replace it with a Jewish village by the name of Hiran.

Um Al Hiran is just one of about 40 “unrecognised” Bedouin villages in Negev scheduled for demolition despite being home to tens of thousands of residents.

Because of their “unrecognised” status, many of them are denied access to electricity, water and other municipal services.

Earlier in January, Palestinian citizens of Israel announced a nationwide strike after Israeli authorities demolished 11 Palestinian homes in the city of Qalansawe in central Israel.

These homes were also demolished on the pretext that they were built without a permit.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Yousef Jabareen, a Knesset member and professor of architecture, said half a million Palestinians face displacement in Israel and East Jerusalem.

During the past two decades about 5,000 Palestinian homes in Israel have been demolished, Jabareen estimates.

“There is an obvious plan to halt any prospect of Palestinian cities naturally developing and expanding as our population grows. There is systematic ghettoisation of our towns and a strategy to confine us within our existing spaces.”

Palestinians have jurisdiction over only 2.3 percent of the entire state’s land, causing severe overcrowding in towns and villages and the building of houses without the required permits.

Since the creation of the Israeli state in 1948, no new Palestinian towns or cities were built, in contrast to the 600 Jewish municipalities that have been developed, according to Adalah, the legal centre for Arab minority rights in Israel.