Tag: InternationalNews

{Fighters killing thousands of members of religious minority in Syria and keeping women as sexual slaves, UN says.}

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) are committing genocide against the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria, UN human rights investigators say.

More than 3,200 Yazidi women and children are held mostly in Syria by the fighters who keep them as sexual slaves, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a report on Thursday.

“Genocide has occurred and is ongoing,” commission chairman Paulo Pinheiro said in Geneva.

“ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities,” he said.

According to the UN report, ISIL fighters exterminated Yazidis in mass killings when fighters based in Iraq and Syria attacked the Iraqi region of Sinjar in August 2014.

Based partly on interviews with survivors, the report found that ISIL “sought to erase the Yazidis through killings, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment.

“Girls as young as nine were raped, as were pregnant women,” said the report.

“Most of those interviewed reported violent daily rapes by their fighter-owners,” the commission added.

ISIL fighters were also actively preventing births among Yazidis, by separating women and men, and by sexually traumatising females, it charged.

The UN rights investigators said the UN Security Council should consider steps to stop these crimes under its powers to impose military or economic coercive measures.

The Yazidis are neither Muslims nor Arabs and follow a unique faith abhorred by ISIL.

The United States and the EU Parliament earlier this year accused ISIL of committing genocide against minorities in Iraq and Syria.

{Divers find Lane Graves’ drowned body after alligator snatched child in its jaws at popular tourist destination.}

The body of a two-year-old Nebraska boy who was snatched off a Walt Disney World beach by an alligator and dragged underwater has been recovered, ending a ghastly search at one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations.

Divers on Wednesday found the body of Lane Graves about 16 hours after authorities first got the call that a reptile had taken the boy from the water’s edge at Seven Seas Lagoon despite his father’s frantic attempt to save the child.

Sheriff Jerry Demings said it appeared the alligator pulled the child into deeper water and drowned him, leaving the body near the spot where he was last seen. An autopsy was planned.

“Of course the family was distraught, but also I believe somewhat relieved that his body was found intact,” Demings told a news conference.

The boy’s parents were identified as Matt and Melissa Graves of Elkhorn, Nebraska, a suburban area of Omaha. A family friend released a statement on behalf of the couple thanking well-wishers for their “thoughts and hope-filled prayers.”

CEO Michael Iaccarino of Infogroup, a marketing company where Matt Graves is chief data officer, said Grave’s family “is the light of his life.”

In a statement from Disney World Resort President George A. Kalogridis, the company said it was “doing what we can” to help the family.

Disney World closed beaches around Seven Seas Lagoon during the search, and it was not immediately clear when they would reopen.

{{‘No swimming’ signs}}

While “no swimming” signs are posted at the beach where the boy was attacked, no signs warn about alligators.

A company representative said it would “thoroughly review the situation for the future.”

Demings said his agency and state wildlife officials would look into the issue of warning signs. The sheriff said that investigators would also review whether the boy’s parents should be charged, but it’s not likely.

“There nothing in this case to indicate that there was anything extraordinary” in terms of neglect by the parents, Demings said.

Wildlife officials said the attack was a rarity in a state with a alligator population estimated at 1 million. But it still spooked visitors in a city built on tourism.

“We have been to Yellowstone and encountered grizzly bears, but this is just freaky,” said Minnesota tourist John Aho, who was staying at the park with his wife, Kim, and their 12-year-old son, Johnny.

The child had waded no more than 1 or 2 feet into the water around nightfall Tuesday when he was taken from a small beach, authorities said.

The boy’s father desperately tried to fight off the gator, suffering lacerations on a hand, but he could not save his son. Neither could a nearby lifeguard, officials said.

No other alligator attacks have been reported on the man-made lake, according to Demings.

{{‘Why are alligators there?’}}

Some visitors were surprised to learn the reptiles lived on the property.

“My question is why are there alligators in there?” said Michelle Stone, who lives near Detroit and was visiting Disney for 10 days with her two children.

The sheriff said the company has a wildlife management system and has “worked diligently to ensure their guests are not unduly exposed to wildlife here in this area.”

Nick Wiley with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said witnesses estimated the alligator was 4 feet to 7 feet long. Crews removed five gators from the lake during the search, and officials said one could have been the animal that attacked the boy.

Though Florida has grown to the nation’s third-most populous state, fatal alligator attacks remain rare. Since 1973, 23 people had been killed by wild alligators in Florida, according to data compiled by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The boy makes 24.

{Utility company says there has been broad reduction in water supply to large parts of Palestinian territory.}

Israel’s national water company has denied cutting crucial water supplies to large parts of the occupied West Bank during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, saying there was only broad reduction in water supply to the Palestinian territory.

“As a result of the shortage of water supply in the West Bank …, we have made a broad reduction of the supply to all residents in the area,” utility company Mekorot told Al Jazeera late on Wednesday.

“All the facilities are working and the capability to supply is less than the rate of consumption. The water authority recently approved a master plan for the water sector and accordingly we will build the systems that will meet the West Bank’s required consumption,” the company added.

On Tuesday, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, an NGO focusing on water and sanitation issues, told Al Jazeera that water was totally siphoned off in some Palestinian areas before and during Ramadan days.

“Some areas had not received any water for more than 40 days,” Ayman Rabi said.

“People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity,” he said.

“Families are having to live on two, three or 10 litres per capita per day,” he said, adding that in some areas they had started rationing water.

Authorities in the city of Jenin, which has a population of more than 40,000 people, said its water supplies had been cut by half, and warned that it would hold Mekorot solely responsible for any tragedies resulting from water shortages during the hot summer months.

{{Pipe burst}}

Israeli military coordinator in the Occupied West Bank told Al Jazeera that a pipe that supplies water to various villages was burst, causing shortage of water.

Israel cuts water supply to West Bank
“Israeli civil administration teams spent hours repairing it. It was fixed, The water flow has been regulated since then and is currently up and running,” the coordinator told Al Jazeera.

According to the UN, 7.5 litres per person per day is the minimum requirement for most people under most conditions but in some areas of Palestine – where temperatures exceed 35C – the minimum requirement is much higher.

Since 1967, Israel has limited the water available to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since its forces occupied the territories.

Israelis, including settlers, consume five times more water than Palestinians in the West Bank, 350 litres per person per day in Israel compared with 60 litres per Palestinian per day in the West Bank.

{Donald Trump signalled that he could support banning people on terror watch lists from purchasing guns.}

Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump signalled that he could support banning people on terror watch lists from purchasing guns, a move that would place him in opposition to members of his own party.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, regularly touts his support for the constitutionally enshrined right to bear arms.

He has said after terrorist attacks, including the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida on Sunday, that death tolls would have been lower if private citizens had been armed and able to shoot back.

But he suggested on Wednesday that he is prepared to consider restrictions on gun purchases after it was revealed the Orlando shooter legally bought a rifle and handgun in Florida despite having been investigated by the FBI about possible extremist ties.

Trump’s announcement may have placed him on a collision course with the National Rifle Association (NRA), which tweeted on Tuesday that “restrictions like bans on gun purchases by people on ‘watch lists’ are ineffective, unconstitutional, or both.”

But instead, the group opened the door to the Republican flagbearer, saying they would be “happy to meet” with Trump.

The NRA, a politically influential lobbying group that claims more than four million members and has played a key role in thwarting gun control legislation in the US Congress, endorsed Trump on May 20.

According to Senate Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen was placed on a terrorism watch list from 2013 until 2014.

Republican lawmakers and the NRA previously refused to support legislation that would deny weapons to people on such lists, arguing that such a bill would infringe on the Second Amendment rights of everyday Americans, including those who may have been placed unfairly on watch lists or no-fly lists.

“Many Republicans can’t accept a situation where the president of the US is deciding, without any oversight of the courts, who goes on the no-fly list and therefore restricting the access of many Americans to buying guns,” said Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, reporting from Washington DC.

But Trump may be feeling “cornered” and may be willing to compromise with the Democrats, Fisher said.

“Clearly, Trump has been concerned by some of the publicity over the past 48 hours and concerned as well that the Democrats are going to push very hard on the fact that if you are on the no-fly, there should be a no buy when it comes to guns.”

Frustrated Democrats took to the Senate floor on Wednesday to launch a filibuster – a procedural obstruction – and call for action to restrict suspected terrorists’ access to guns.

{{‘No fly – No buy’}}

“What we are going to hear a lot about over the next few days, is something called ‘no fly-no buy’,” Fisher said.

“It means if you are in a no-fly list, you shouldn’t be allowed to buy a weapon.”

“It’s something that Barack Obama has said on several occasions.”

A US government report shows that known or suspected terrorists have passed background checks for gun sales more than 90 percent of the time under the current legislation.

{Russian Foreign Ministry warns that further stoking of anti-Russian sentiments could damage Russian-French relations.}

The Russian foreign ministry has summoned the French ambassador to Moscow over the detention of Russian football fans during the Euro 2016 championship in France.

“The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert,” the ministry said on Wednesday.

It warned that “further stoking of anti-Russian sentiments over Russia’s participation in the championship could significantly aggravate the atmosphere in Russian-French relations”.

A group of Russian football supporters have been detained in France prior to their deportation because authorities fear “they will cause trouble” during football matches.

It is believed the Russian supporters intended to travel to the northern city of Lille, where Russia play Slovakia on Wednesday.

The checks come after the English Football Association expressed concern that France was not doing enough to crack down on Russian fans following the mass fighting between English and Russian supporters in Marseille on Saturday.

The European football governing body, UEFA, has handed the Russian team a suspended disqualification until the end of the tournament, which could become a full disqualification should the scenes at Saturday’s match be repeated.

Russia was also charged over fan racism and fireworks being set off during the game and was fined $169,000 by UEFA.

French prosecutors have said 150 Russian supporters, who were “extremely well-prepared” and “extremely violent”, evaded arrest in Marseille.

UEFA acknowledged that segregation problems at Marseille’s Stade Velodrome contributed to Russian fans attacking their English rivals after the 1-1 draw.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, on the other hand, has told the Russian parliament that, while some Russian football fans behaved in an “unacceptable manner”, it is impossible to ignore “outrageous provocations” by English football fans.

“You have probably seen the outrageous images on TV when the Russian flag is getting stamped on,” he said on Wednesday, referring to images of an England supporter jumping on a Russian flag.

“You certainly should not respond with force but we cannot ignore those provocateurs,” the foreign minister said.

{Statement leaves open the possibility of keeping troops in Arabian Peninsula nation for “counterterrorism operations”.}

The United Arab Emirates says the “war is over” for its troops in Yemen, though it may continue to keep them there for “counterterrorism operations”.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, carried the announcement on his official Twitter account late on Wednesday.

He was quoting Anwar Gargash, UAE’s junior minister for foreign affairs, who had given a speech saying the “war is over for our troops”.

The statement left open the likelihood that Emirati troops would remain in the Arabian Peninsula country, where they operate in the southern province of Hadramawt and the port city of Aden.

The spokesman for the Arab coalition assembled by Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In his remarks, Gargash defended the UAE’s decision to go to war in Yemen, saying that all political means had been exhausted in the crisis and that Iranian “interference” and support for the Houthis required decisive action.

‘Empowering Yemenis’

The coalition accuses Iran of arming and supporting the Houthis, while Iran says it has only given the group political support.

Gargash was speaking to a private audience of guests invited by the crown prince to his royal gathering space, or “majlis,” as it is referred to in the Gulf, as part of a nightly series of lectures given during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Gargash was also quoted as saying the UAE was “monitoring political arrangements” and “empowering Yemenis in liberated areas”.

The UAE has been among the most active members of the Arab coalition that intervened more than a year ago to help forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government roll back gains by Shia Houthi rebels, who still control the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen.

Yemeni security officials told the Associated Press news agency that Emirati troops were still guarding the airport and presidential palace in Aden on Wednesday, where the government of exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has been operating from.

Hadi’s government was driven out of Sanaa in late 2014. Emirati troops also have a camp in Aden.

Continued fighting on several fronts killed at least 48 people over the past day, according to Yemeni security officials.

Another 65 people were wounded in combat between rebels and government forces around the besieged city of Taiz as well as in Shabwa, Jawf and Marib provinces.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to journalists.

In addition to fighting the Houthis and their allies in Yemen, the UAE helped the Arab coalition drive al-Qaeda from the southern coastal city of Mukalla in April.

The US has provided military support, intelligence, ships and special operations forces to help the ongoing operations against al-Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

American special operations forces have also been advising the Yemeni, Emirati and Arab coalition forces in the region.

The UAE, which has one of the best-equipped militaries in the region, suffered numerous losses over the past year of fighting in Yemen, including four pilots killed in two separate helicopter crashes this week.

Government media reports say more than 80 Emirati soldiers have been killed since operations there began on March 26, 2015.

In September, 45 Emirati troops were killed by a rebel missile attack, marking the deadliest day for its military in its 44-year history.

The government has not made clear the numbers of Emirati troops serving in Yemen.

The UN said in February that at least 2,800 civilians have been killed and more than 5,300 have been wounded since the coalition operation began.

The coalition has been criticised by rights groups and aid organisations for the deaths of hundreds of Yemeni civilians in air strikes.

{Larossi Abballa posted a video on Facebook during attack referencing call by ISIL to carry out attacks during Ramadan.}

The man who killed a French police officer and his partner in a stabbing attack outside their home near Paris was inspired by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, according to a video he posted on Facebook during the attack.

Larossi Abballa filmed himself with the couple’s child, calling for more attacks and referred to ISIL spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, who called for attacks on Europe and the United States during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

French prosecutor Francois Molins on Tuesday said Abballa told negotiators that he had sworn loyalty to ISIL three weeks earlier.

Molins said police had found a hit list at the scene naming police, dignitaries, journalists and rappers to be targeted.

ISIL (also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the killings shortly after the attack.

‘Scourge of terror’

In Monday night’s assault, Abballa, who was under surveillance after serving time for links to armed groups in Pakistan, stabbed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and took the police commander’s partner Jessica Schneider and the couple’s three-year-old son hostage before killing the woman by slitting her throat.

Three associates of Abballa have been arrested over the attack, Molins said, one of them among a group convicted alongside him in 2013 over their involvement in the same network.

French President Francois Hollande spoke by phone with his US counterpart Barack Obama to discuss the threat facing both countries.

“Both leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to degrading and destroying ISIL and standing against the broader scourge of terrorism,” the White House said in a statement Tuesday.

The couple’s deaths are the first police fatalities in an attack since January 2015 when gunmen attacked the Charlie Hebdo satirical newspaper, a Jewish supermarket and the police, killing 17 people including three officers.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Monday’s killings showed the gravity of the threat to security forces “who are paying a heavy price to ensure the safety of the French”.

Police unions announced they had secured the right for officers to remain armed while off duty, which has until now only been allowed under the state of emergency declared after November’s Paris attacks.

France has increased security across the country as it hosts the Euro 2016 football tournament.

{Tens of thousands of Palestinians are left without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month.}

Israel’s national water company has cut crucial water supplies to large areas of the occupied West Bank, leaving tens of thousands of Palestinians without access to safe drinking water during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Mekorot, the main supplier of water to Palestinian towns and cities, siphoned off water supplies to the municipality of Jenin, several Nablus villages and the city of Salfit and its surrounding villages.

Ayman Rabi, the executive director of the Palestinian Hydrology Group, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that in some areas people had not received water for more than 40 days.

“People are relying on purchasing water from water trucks or finding it from alternative sources such as springs and other filling points in their vicinity,” he said.

“Families are having to live on two, three or 10 litres per capita per day,” he said, adding that in some areas they had started rationing water.

The city of Jenin, which has a population of more than 40,000 people, said its water supplies had been cut by half, and warned that it would hold Mekorot solely responsible for any tragedies resulting from water shortages during the hot summer months.

Mekorot did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

According to the UN, 7.5 litres per person per day is the minimum requirement for most people under most conditions but in some areas of Palestine – where temperatures exceed 35C – the minimum requirement is much higher.

Since 1967, Israel has limited the water available to Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip since its forces occupied the territories.

Israelis, including settlers, consume five times more water than Palestinians in the West Bank, 350 litres per person per day in Israel compared with 60 litres per Palestinian per day in the West Bank.

{US president responds to criticism of his administration for not using phrase ‘radical Islam’ as political taking point.}

US President Barack Obama has called the debate surrounding “radical Islam” a political distraction, stressing that calls for tougher talk on terrorism and a strict ban on Muslim immigration would make Muslim Americans feel betrayed by their government.

Obama told reporters after meeting with the US National Security Council on Tuesday that the Orlando shooting that left 49 people dead, or any attack organised by groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS), was not possible to prevent by using the label.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump respond to Orlando shooting
“The killer was an angry, disturbed, unstable, young man who became radicalised,” he said, adding that Islam had nothing to do with the attack.

“What exactly would using that label accomplish? What exactly would it change? Would it make ISIL less committed to trying to kill Americans? Would it bring in more allies? … The answer is: none of the above,” he said.

“Calling a threat by a different name does not make it go away. This is a political distraction.”

He said US intelligence and military staff know well who the enemy is and they work countless hours to protect “all Americans including politicians who tweet and appear on cable news shows”.

Obama said the idea that the administration is confused about the enemy “would come as a surprise to the thousands of terrorists who we’ve taken off the battlefield”.

While parrying his political foes, Obama also sought to show Americans that the war against the ISIL in Syria, Iraq and Libya, while slow, was being won.

He said the number of foreign fighters joining the armed groups was plummeting.

“ISIL lost nearly half of the populated territory it had in Iraq and it will lose more. ISIL continues to lose ground in Syria as well,” Obama said.

“In short, our coalition continues to be on offence. ISIL is on defence.”

Obama’s remarks were his first reaction to Donald Trump’s speech on Monday after Sunday’s mass shooting, and perhaps his strongest yet on the threat he sees the Republican candidate poses to the US politics and security.

Obama said Trump’s plan to bar foreign Muslims from entering the US ignored America’s history of targeting ethnic and religious groups amid period of anxiety and would undermine American values.

“If we ever abandon those values, we would not only make it a lot easier to radicalise people here and around the world, but we would have betrayed the very things we are trying to protect.” Obama said. “And then the terrorists would have won and we cannot let that happen. I will not let that happen.”

Obama said that treating Muslim-Americans differently would not make the US safer.

“Are we going to start treating all Muslim Americans differently? Are we going to start subjecting them to special surveillance? are we going to start discriminating them because of their faith?”

“We’re starting to see where this kind of rhetoric and loose talk and sloppiness about who exactly we’re fighting, where this can lead us.”

The US president said it would make the country less safe by fuelling the notion among followers of ISIL that the West hates Muslims.

“They want us to validate them by implying that they speak for those billion-plus people, that they speak for Islam. That’s their propaganda, that’s how they recruit,” he said.

“And if we fall into the trap of painting all Muslims with a broad brush and imply that we are at war with an entire religion, then we are doing the terrorists work for them.”

{UN delivers 99 percent of aid to government-controlled territories and must “restore impartiality”, rights group warns.}

A report released by rights group The Syria Campaign accuses the United Nations of delivering 99 percent of its aid to government-controlled territories, and calls on the UN to “restore its impartiality”.

The report, based on interviews with aid workers, including current and former UN staff, finds the UN in Syria in breach of its humanitarian principles and at risk of fuelling the conflict.

Entitled Taking Sides: The United Nations’ loss of impartiality, independence and neutrality in Syria, the report documents how from the beginning of the conflict in Syria, the UN provided the Syrian government “with an effective veto over aid deliveries to areas outside of government control, enabling its use of siege as a weapon of war”.

The organisation’s fear of having visas revoked or being asked to leave Damascus has led to far-reaching and unnecessary capitulations to the Syrian government by the UN, the reports states, describing “a culture of compliance” among agencies in Damascus.

The UN’s failure to set red lines for its operation has weakened its negotiating power with the Syrian government and allowed humanitarian aid to become party to the conflict in Syria, according to The Syria Campaign.

The report stated that “the UN has allowed the Syrian government to direct aid from Damascus almost exclusively into its territories.

“In April 2016, 88 percent of food aid delivered from inside Syria went into government-controlled territory. Twelve percent went into territories outside the government’s control.”

The reported added that “in August 2015, the government directed over 99 percent of UN aid from inside the country to its territories”.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric, told Al Jazeera that “to describe the UN humanitarian work in Syria as not being impartial or not being fair, discredits the amazing work of our colleagues, mostly Syrians, are doing every day to try to deliver aid to the Syrian people”.

‘Systematic failure’

“There has been a systematic failure in the UN-led response. Rather than basing its response on need, it has developed into a billion-dollar response programme that is largely controlled by the regime and its proxies,” Roger Hearn, former head of UN agency UNRWA in Damascus, said.

Assaad al-Achi, director of Baytna Syria (Syria is our home), accused the UN of losing its credibility in the conflict in Syria and called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to “restore the UN’s credibility by setting conditions on its relationship with the Syrian government”.

Backers of the report are calling on Ban to “draw a line” and set conditions for its relationship with the Syrian government aimed at protecting its humanitarian principles.

If those conditions are not met, then the UN must withdraw cooperation with the Syrian government, the report states.

The report was signed by groups such as the Syria Civil Defence, known as the “White Helmets”, Basmeh and Zeitooneh, the Syrian Network for Human Rights, the Violations Documentation Center and dozens of Syrian humanitarian organisations, local councils and civil society groups.