Blinken arrives in Haiti to show US support for fighting gang violence

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille speak to the press at the US Chief of Mission Residence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (AP Photo)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Blinken arrives in Haiti to show US support for fighting gang violence

  • Blinken arrived a day after Haiti’s government extended a state of emergency to the entire country
  • Blinken is scheduled to meet with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille and a nine-member transitional presidential council

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Thursday in Haiti to reaffirm the US government’s commitment to a multinational mission to fight gangs in the Caribbean country and push for long-awaited general elections.
Some 400 Kenyan police have been deployed to Haiti to lead a UN-backed mission to quell gang violence in the Haitian capital and beyond, but concerns have grown that the mission lacks enough funding and equipment.
Brian Nichols, US assistant secretary for Western Hemisphere affairs, said Wednesday that the US government is considering a UN peacekeeping operation as one way to secure money and resources to fight gangs that control 80 percent of Haiti’s capital.
Blinken arrived a day after Haiti’s government extended a state of emergency to the entire country. It had been imposed earlier in the year in the capital and surrounding areas in an attempt to stem the ongoing violence.
Blinken is scheduled to meet with Haitian Prime Minister Garry Conille and a nine-member transitional presidential council that was created after former Prime Minister Ariel Henry resigned. He also planned to meet with unspecified political party leaders.
Blinken also will meet with the head of the multinational mission and the chief of Haiti’s National Police.
“Our goal is to recognize the positive progress made toward improving security and encourage efforts to appoint the provisional electoral council so Haiti can move toward elections,” Nichols told reporters ahead of the trip.
Haiti last held elections in 2016, and officials since then have blamed gang violence and political upheaval for preventing them from holding new ones.
In July 2021, former President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated, and gang violence since then has surged. In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks on police stations and the main international airport, which remained closed for nearly three months. They also stormed Haiti’s two largest prisons, releasing more than 4,000 inmates.
The violence subsided somewhat before the first contingent of Kenyan police arrived in late June.
“We are seeing a dramatic increase in patrols and operations designed to restore security and sense of normalcy in Haiti,” Nichols said.
However, gangs continue to attack communities surrounding the capital of Port-au-Prince.
After meeting with officials in Haiti, Blinken is scheduled to fly Thursday night to the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.
On Friday, he is scheduled to meet with Dominican President Luis Abinader and other officials before returning to the US later that day.
Nichols said the talks with Abinader will focus on three priorities: strengthening economic ties, advancing values including respect for human and labor rights and promoting increased security in the region, especially in Haiti.
Abinader has come under fire in recent years for his administration’s treatment of Haitian migrants and those born in the Dominican Republic to Haitian parents.
He also has largely closed the airspace with Haiti and is building a wall between the two nations.


Heated debate on Amsterdam violence in Dutch parliament

Updated 4 sec ago
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Heated debate on Amsterdam violence in Dutch parliament

The Netherlands is still dealing with the political fallout from last week’s violence in Amsterdam
Far-right MP Geert Wilders said the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans“

THE HAGUE: Dutch parliamentarians clashed Wednesday in a heated debate to discuss the attacks on Israeli fans after a football match last week, with some lawmakers pointing fingers and others urging unity.
The Netherlands is still dealing with the political fallout from last week’s violence in Amsterdam, when fans of Tel Aviv Maccabi were assaulted by men on scooters in several parts of the capital.
Five Macabi fans were briefly hospitalized after being beaten up following a match with the local Ajax team last Thursday, in what Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof termed an incident of “unadulterated anti-Semitism.”
After the match, groups of men on scooters engaged in “hit-and-run” attacks on Maccabi fans in areas of the city.
Police said the attackers were mobilized by calls on social media to target Jewish people.
Far-right MP Geert Wilders, leader of the biggest party in the coalition government, said the perpetrators of the violence against Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were “all Muslims” and “for the most part Moroccans.”
The anti-Islam Wilders called for the attackers to be prosecuted “for terrorism.”
“For the first time since the Second World War there was a hunt on Jews,” Wilders said, adding “I am sick of being criticized when I tell the truth.”
But the firebrand MP drew the ire of opposition parties, who accused him of “adding fuel to fire.”
While unanimously condemning the violence, left-wing parties have called for dialogue with the Muslim community instead of “dividing the country.”
“I share the condemnation of the violence in Amsterdam and yes, there was indeed anti-Semitic violence,” left-wing opposition leader Frans Timmermans said.
“You are simply stoking the fires while this country has a need for politicians to unite people and find solutions,” Timmermans told Wilders.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema on Tuesday called the attacks a “poisonous cocktail” of anti-Semitism and hooliganism.
Events ahead of the match heightened tensions, including anti-Arab chants by Maccabi fans, who also set fire to a Palestinian flag on the city’s central square and vandalising a taxi.
After the match, which passed off peacefully, reports emerged of social media calls to attack Jews, Amsterdam police said.
The violence took place against the backdrop of an increasingly polarized Europe, with heightened tensions following a rise in antisemitic, anti-Israeli and Islamophobic attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
The Dutch PM indicated that the government would present concrete steps to tackle antisemitism on Friday.
Eight people remained in custody over the violence.

Italy’s president sharply rebukes Elon Musk over comments on X about migration court rulings

Updated 17 min 55 sec ago
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Italy’s president sharply rebukes Elon Musk over comments on X about migration court rulings

  • Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?”
  • Italy’s head of state demanded respect for the country’s sovereignty, especially from other soon-to-be public officials

ROME: Italian President Sergio Mattarella sharply rebuked Elon Musk on Wednesday for weighing in on Italian court rulings that have stymied the government’s plans to process some asylum-seekers in Albania.
Musk, who is expected to have a top advisory role in Donald Trump’s new administration, wrote Tuesday on X that “these judges need to go.” He was referring to the latest Italian court ruling against right-wing Premier Giorgia Meloni’s Albania immigration deal.
In a subsequent post on Wednesday, Musk wrote: “This is unacceptable. Do the people of Italy live in a democracy or does an unelected autocracy make the decisions?”
The posts concerned a Rome court’s refusal to rule on a formal request to detain seven migrants rescued at sea and transferred to Albania for processing.


Monday’s ruling, which resulted in the men being brought to Italy for processing, was the second judicial setback for Meloni’s much-touted plan to outsource to Albania the processing of some male asylum-seekers.
Mattarella didn’t cite Musk by name but — in an unusually piqued statement — made clear on Wednesday that he was referring to him. Italy’s head of state demanded respect for the country’s sovereignty, especially from other soon-to-be public officials.
“Italy is a great democratic country and … knows how to take care of itself while respecting its Constitution,” Mattarella said in a statement issued by his spokesman.
“Anyone, particularly if as announced is about to assume an important role of government in a friendly and allied country, must respect its sovereignty and cannot attribute to himself the task of imparting prescriptions,” the statement said.
Trump announced Tuesday that Musk, one of the most influential people around the US president-elect, would help lead a Department of Government Efficiency, essentially an independent advisory panel to eliminate waste and fraud.
Musk is a supporter of Meloni and has met with her in Rome on a few occasions, and in September joined her at an awards ceremony on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. Photos of them together made such news that Musk seemingly felt the need to tamp down speculation by posting “We are not dating.”
Musk has a history of making provocative statements and sparring with leaders on X. Earlier this year, he posted messages insulting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and saying the United Kingdom was headed for civil war. He has also clashed with a Brazilian supreme court justice over free speech, far-right accounts and purported misinformation on X, and also accused Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolás Maduro, of “major election fraud” after that country’s disputed election.
The courts’ rulings have raised the ire of Meloni’s far-right-led government, which has been seeking strategies to ease the strain on Italy of the arrival of migrants seeking a better life in Europe. The government had held up the opening of the Albanian centers as a centerpiece of its immigration crackdown, also as a means of deterrence, and said they could be a model for Europe.
In both cases, Italian courts referred the cases to the EU court of justice in Luxembourg to rule if the countries of origin for the migrants are considered safe for repatriation. There is no word on when the European court might rule.
But as a result of the Rome court decisions, no migrant has yet been processed in the Albanian centers, which are budgeted to cost Italy 670 million euros ($730 million) over five years to build and operate.
Italy’s opposition says the money could be much better spent on reinforcing Italian-operated migrant processing centers, while human rights groups say the outsourcing of asylum processing contravenes international law.
The centers opened in October after a months-long delay, because crumbling soil at one of the facilities needed to be repaired. They are run by Italy and are under the country’s jurisdiction, while Albanian guards provide external security.


Sri Lankans set for parliamentary polls, seeking change and new faces

Polling officials and police officers carry election materials after collecting them from a distribution center, a day before th
Updated 32 min 57 sec ago
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Sri Lankans set for parliamentary polls, seeking change and new faces

  • New president Anura Kumara Dissanayake hopes for parliamentary majority to push through promised reforms
  • Many veteran politicians, including from the Rajapaksa family, are staying away from the polls

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is set to choose a new parliament on Thursday in a vote expected to bring new faces to the political stage amid widespread dissatisfaction with established political parties following the island nation’s worst-ever economic crisis.

The election was announced in late September, days after the country’s new leader, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, won the presidential vote and appointed his three-member government.

Sri Lankan ministers are appointed from among members of parliament, in which Dissanayake’s left-leaning National People’s Power coalition had only three seats, limiting his ability to realize his campaign promises.

To boost the NPP’s representation, the president dissolved the parliament and cleared the way for the polls a year ahead of schedule.

 

During a campaign rally on Sunday, he expressed optimism that the 42 percent of the vote he received in the presidential election showed the NPP was “a winning party” which would also translate to a parliamentary victory.

To push through his promised reforms to address corruption, maladministration and the fragile economic situation, Dissanayake needs a two-thirds parliamentary majority. While the 55-year-old leader’s party has never won more than 4 percent, success this time seems likely.

“I would expect at least a simple majority which would be a working majority,” Lakshman Gunasekara, a political analyst in Colombo, told Arab News. “One thing many analysts are arguing is that it is better for the NPP not to have an absolute majority and to be compelled to rely on other parties as well, in order to ensure greater political consensus in governance.”

Dissanayake took over Sri Lanka’s top job as the nation continued to reel from the 2022 economic crisis. The austerity measures imposed by his predecessor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, part of a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund, led to price hikes in food and fuel and caused hardship to millions of Sri Lankans.

During his presidential campaign, Dissanayake said he planned to renegotiate the targets set in the IMF deal, as it placed too much burden on the ordinary people.

“That is the number one motivator in this current election. The economic difficulties ... The elite don’t feel it so much but the masses, nearly one-third of people, are known to be losing at least one meal a day,” Gunasekara said.

“And the next issue is ... the injection of fresh people into the governance system — in parliament and also in the presidency.”

Many veteran politicians, including Wickremesinghe, are staying away from the polls. No contenders will be seen from the powerful Rajapaksa family, including former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was ousted in 2022 and largely blamed for the crisis, or his brother, Gotabaya.

Dissanayake is an outsider to the political dynasties that have dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades.

“We have already a completely new person as the president, coming from a social class never before represented in the presidency level — the rural poor,” Gunasekara said.

“The people want new people in parliament as well ... I think two-thirds of the previous parliamentarians are not contesting.”

Prof. Prathiba Mahanamahewa, lawyer and rector of the University of Colombo, said Sri Lankans — 17 million of whom are expected to vote on Thursday — were “frustrated with the old faces” and this would be reflected in their voting preferences.

The injection of new ones, however, is likely to delay the parliament’s work for some time.

“We have to give one year for the new parliament to study the standing orders, to study the laws, to study the bills,” said Mahanamahewa. “I believe in all the parties, new people will come.”


German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’ll ask for a vote of confidence in December

Updated 56 min ago
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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz says he’ll ask for a vote of confidence in December

  • He declared his plans during a speech in parliament, a week after his three-party coalition government collapsed
  • Germany has been governed since 2021 by a coalition led by Scholz’s left-leaning Social Democrats and which included the smaller pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens

BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday that he will ask for a vote of confidence on Dec. 16, paving the way for early parliamentary elections in February.
He declared his plans during a speech in parliament, a week after his three-party coalition government collapsed.
Germany has been governed since 2021 by a coalition led by Scholz’s left-leaning Social Democrats and which included the smaller pro-business Free Democrats and the Greens.
It was an uneasy and fractious alliance, and it collapsed last week when Scholz fired Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the Free Democrats in a late-night move following disagreements over how to revive the shrinking economy.
“The date at the end of February has now been set and I am very grateful for that,” Scholz said, adding that he would try to pass important legislation through parliament before that, such as financial support for children of poor families, or amendments to the country’s constitution to make the highest court more resilient to possible political interference.
He said he would submit a request for a vote of confidence on Dec. 11, so that the Bundestag can decide on this on Dec. 16. The chancellor had initially wanted to have an early election only by late March — ahead of the vote that is regularly scheduled for September 2025.
However, the center-right Christian opposition pushed for a quicker vote in the parliament to speed up the next election.
In the end, party leaders across the political spectrum agreed on Wednesday on the two dates for the vote of confidence and the new election on Feb. 23.
During his speech, Scholz as well as Friedrich Merz, the head of the main opposition party in parliament, the Christian Democrats, already shifted into campaign mode — though the heated part of campaigning usually only begins around six weeks before an election in Germany.
“There is a great sense of relief in our country. For a week now, the so-called progressive coalition (...) has been history. And that is continuing good news for Germany,” Merz said to the applause of his Christian Democrats as he spoke after Scholz in the parliament.
Four candidates are expected to make their bid for the chancellery with voters in February.
Scholz has said that he wants to run as chancellor candidate again — even though his party has not yet announced his candidacy.
Merz of the Christian Democrats, which are currently leading the polls, was officially nominated as candidate by his party in September.
For the environmentalist Greens, the country’s current economy minister and vice chancellor, Robert Habeck, will lead his party as candidate for chancellor and
The Greens are a small party that lost popularity in recent elections and whose support currently hovers around 10 percent, which means it is unlikely that he would end up as the country’s leader.
The far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has said they would nominate current party leader Alice Weidel next month as their candidate.
Merz’s Christian Democrats have been polling around 30 percent or more in the polls for a year now. Scholz’s Social Democrats, currently the strongest governing party, are on third place with around 16 percent — behind the AfD, which is at around 19 percent.
The main campaign issues are likely going to be the country’s ailing econom y which led to the collapse of the government in the first place, more efficient control of migration, and — when it comes to foreign policy issues — Russia’s war on Ukraine and the next presidency of Donald Trump.


Biden is sending aid to help Ukraine keep fighting next year, Blinken says

Updated 13 November 2024
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Biden is sending aid to help Ukraine keep fighting next year, Blinken says

  • “President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20,” Blinken said
  • The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details

KYIV: The Biden administration is determined in its final months to help ensure that Ukraine can keep fighting off Russia’s full-scale invasion next year, sending it as much aid as possible so that it might hold Russian forces at bay and possess a strong hand in any potential peace negotiations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
“President Biden has committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal will be pushed out the door between now and Jan. 20,” when president-elect Donald Trump is due to be sworn in, Blinken said.
NATO countries must focus their efforts on “ensuring that Ukraine has the money, munitions and mobilized forces to fight effectively in 2025, or to be able to negotiate a peace from a position of strength,” Blinken said during a visit to Brussels.
The US will “adapt and adjust” with the latest equipment it is sending, Blinken said, without providing details.
The almost three-year war has shown no signs of winding down.
Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with a sophisticated combination of missiles and drones for the first time in 73 days on Wednesday. That came a day after the Pentagon said most of the North Korean troops sent to help Moscow’s war effort are fighting to drive Ukraine’s army off Russian soil in the Kursk border region.
Ukraine is also straining to hold back a monthslong Russian onslaught in the eastern Donetsk region.
Political uncertainty over how a US administration under Trump will change Washington’s policy on the war is a key new factor in the conflict. US military aid is vital for Ukraine, but Trump has signaled that he doesn’t want to keep giving tens of billions of dollars to Kyiv.
Air raid warnings blared for hours as Russia targeted eight regions of Ukraine on Wednesday, firing six ballistic and cruise missiles and 90 drones, the Ukrainian air force said.
Air defenses downed four missiles and 37 drones, and another 47 drones were stopped by electronic jamming, the statement said. The damage was being assessed.
The air assault came as most of the more than 10,000 North Korean troops sent by Pyongyang to help Moscow in the war are engaged in combat in Russia’s Kursk border region, according to the Pentagon. A Ukrainian army incursion into Kursk three months ago has succeeded in holding a broad area of land and has embarrassed the Kremlin.
Russia’s military has trained the North Korean soldiers in artillery, drone skills and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing, Pentagon deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told a briefing Tuesday. The cooperation faces challenges, according to the Pentagon, including how to achieve military interoperability and overcoming the language barrier.
Kyiv officials say that Russia has deployed around 50,000 troops to Kursk in a bid to dislodge the Ukrainians.
Russia has in recent months been assembling forces for a counteroffensive in Kursk, according to the Institute for the Study of War think tank, though the timescale of the operation isn’t known.