Algeria’s president is proposing that Libya’s tribal groups hold meetings in a neighboring country to find new solutions to the conflict tearing oil-rich Libya apart.
Fighting among militias, arms and migrant trafficking and extremism in Libya are a big concern to neighboring Algeria and Tunisia, whose presidents met Sunday in Algiers. Both leaders were elected in recent months, and are eager to keep Libya’s lawlessness from further spilling over their borders.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune called for meetings in either the capital of Algeria or Tunisia “with all of Libya’s tribes, to begin a new era for building new institutions, allowing for the organization of general elections and establishment of new foundations of a democratic Libyan state.’’
Any such meetings should have U.N. backing, Tebboune said at a news conference after his talks with Tunisia’s Kais Saied.
Tebboune insisted that any solution to Libya’s conflict should come from Libyans themselves and “protected from foreign interference and weapons flows.’’
Libya is torn between a weak U.N.-recognized administration in the capital of Tripoli overseeing the country’s west, run by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, and the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, based in eastern Libya.
Sarraj’s administration is backed by Turkey and to a lesser degree Qatar and Italy. Hifter’s forces have received support from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as well as France and Russia.
International powers approved plans to restore peace to Libya two weeks ago, but the U.N. envoy for Libya accuses some signatories of stepping up weapons deliveries despite the truce efforts.
As the Syrian government forces continue to advance on the Syrian province of Idlib, the last main rebel stronghold in the country, experts say the northwestern region may no longer serve as a shelter for the Islamic State (IS) fighters who have sought refuge there following their defeat elsewhere in the war-torn country.
Syrian troops, backed by Russia, for months have been trying to take control of parts of Idlib.
Last week, Syrian regime forces recaptured the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib, which had been under rebel control since 2012.
Idlib is home to nearly 3 million people, including many who have been displaced from other parts of Syria over the last eight years of war in the country.
Relocated IS fighters
A recent report published by the U.N. Security Council said the Syrian province remains dominated by extremist groups affiliated with al-Qaida and the Islamic State terror groups.
Idlib “also plays host to relocated ISIL fighters and dependents,” the U.N. report added, using another acronym for IS.
Following the military defeat of the terror group in eastern Syria in March 2019, many IS militants and their families moved to Idlib, fleeing from U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Experts say that IS, also known as ISIS, would inevitably face the same fate as many rebel and Islamist factions based in Idlib.
“If the Syrian regime retakes Idlib province, the ISIS members who have taken refuge in the Islamist dominated enclave will be killed or flee into Turkey,” said Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
“The Alawite leadership of Syria regards ISIS as a lethal enemy because ISIS regards Alawites in the same category as Yazidis — unbelievers whose women can be taken as slaves and whose men should be killed or converted,” Landis told VOA.
Alawites are a sect of Islam that are largely based in Syria. They make up about 10% of the country’s population. Alawites are the backbone of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite himself.
Mistrust
In addition to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the largest Islamist group in Idlib, which previously was al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, there are other extremist factions that are active in the northwestern province.
Huras al-Din is one of several al-Qaida-linked groups that have maintained a significant presence in parts of Idlib. Other Turkey-backed rebel groups also have a foothold in the province.
Western intelligence agencies believe that thousands of foreign fighters affiliated with different radical groups are active in Idlib.
Some experts believe that the ever-changing military dynamics in Idlib could determine the presence of IS militants in the Syrian province.
IS “fighters that relocated to Idlib are in a precarious position because few local Syrian rebel groups trust them,” said Nicholas Heras, a Middle East expert at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington. “The ISIS presence in Idlib is facilitated by the group’s access to large sums of money, which for all intents and purposes allows it to bribe local Syrian rebel groups to abide its presence,” he told VOA.
Heras added that many IS fighters who relocated to Idlib are also Syrian nationals from the western parts of the country who have family networks there that facilitate their presence.
Baghdadi’s death
In October 2019, U.S. Special Forces carried out an operation in Idlib that killed the leader of the group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
The former IS leader reportedly had been hiding in Idlib for months after moving between towns across eastern Syria as his so-called caliphate was crumbling.
The fact that “Baghdadi got to Idlib shows there was an active smuggling route from their former areas to Idlib,” said Seth Frantzman, director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis.
He said IS members who have fled to Idlib in the last two years have largely remained inactive there.
They were “part of the collapse of the ‘caliphate,’ sometimes seeking to find a way to get to Turkey or Idlib from Raqqa and then Baghuz as ISIS strongholds fell,” Frantzman told VOA.
‘Not center of gravity’
Analyst Heras of ISW says at this point Idlib doesn’t hold any strategic importance for IS as the terror group seeks to reorganize itself following the death of Baghdadi and the appointment of its new leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi.
“Idlib is not ISIS’s center of gravity in Syria; that remains the Badiya [region] of the central desert region and in Deir al-Zour,” he said. “The future of ISIS will not be Idlib, which is slowly and surely falling to Assad, it is the eastern parts of Syria that border Iraq and where ISIS has the most robust local networks of support,” Heras noted, adding that IS “can sustain an insurgency for years in eastern Syria.”
Analyst Frantzman believes that any takeover of Idlib by Syrian government forces could breathe new life into IS in other parts of the country.
“If it weakens the HTS and other Syrian extremist groups, then it might make ISIS appear to be the sole extremist group still active in marginal areas,” he added.
The dust has yet to settle from the Taal Volcano, which shot magma and ash miles above a Philippine island last month and displaced more than 200,000, but residents are starting to return as the crisis now enters a recovery phase.
Aid money has poured in and Filipinos are leaving evacuation centers as authorities say the threat has decreased of another eruption from the volcano, which is in a lake on an island in a second lake, on yet a third island. The Philippines was worried about more aftershocks from the eruption, because it had already set off earthquakes, destroyed roads and bridges, and killed wildlife and vegetation from horses to pineapples.
With the threat of a Pompeiian disaster decreased, locals now face the worry of whether in the long term they can live and have a livelihood near the volcano, which has erupted dozens of times in history. The local economy depends on tourism, agriculture and fishing. The latest eruption, which started Jan. 12, has already caused economic losses of $150 million, according to the Philippines National Economic Development Authority.
“We cannot live on donations for a long time because we need to provide for our families, sustain the education of our students,” said Daniel Reyes, mayor of Batangas, the capital of the province where Taal is. He was appealing for aid from the Philippine House of Representatives, which is preparing to vote on an aid package.
“We beg you to rebuild a fortified and a more resilient community,” he said.
Meanwhile residents are depending on donations of things from food to diapers to power generators, and assistance from the Red Cross with such things as medical care, evacuations and animal rescues.
Besides donations in kind, government aid includes $830,000 from the European Union, $200,000 from South Korea, and $150,000 from China.
The EU wants to help “ensure affected people get protection and have enough means to survive through this difficult time and get back to their feet at the earliest possible,” Janez Lenarcic, the EU commissioner for crisis management, said.
Beyond the cash aid, Filipinos will have to deal with broad issues such as government services, infrastructure, and public health. There were no apparent deaths caused directly by the eruption, although dozens have been reported dead in the aftermath, such as those who suffered heart attacks at evacuation centers.
The Philippines Health Department is advising residents to wear surgical masks and be alert for effects from the volcanic ash and dust. Some have already been treated for such consequences as respiratory infections, skin lesions and flu.
The department ordered hospital staff to stay on standby and freeze prices on basic medicines in the province, including antibiotics, cardiovascular and antibacterial drugs, and disinfectants.
“We are continuously monitoring the developments of the eruption and will respond to the health needs of the people,” Health Secretary Francisco Duque said.
American football teams the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs will face off in Miami Sunday in the National Football League’s championship game – the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs (12-4 in the regular season) are making their first trip to the Super Bowl since 1970 — 26 years before their star quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, was born.
The 49ers (13-3 in the regular season) are looking to score a record-tying sixth Super Bowl win Sunday. San Francisco has not won the championship since 1995.
The 49ers’ quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, is looking for his first Super Bowl win as a starter. He was part of two winning New England Patriots teams, playing as a backup to quarterback Tom Brady, before moving to San Francisco.
More than 100 million Americans are expected to tune in for Sunday’s game, which ends the NFL’s 100th season.
Entertainer Demi Lovato will sing the national anthem and singers Shakira and Jennifer Lopez headline the halftime show. The game starts at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2330 UTC) at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium.
“Parasite” has continued its march through Hollywood’s awards season by winning the best original screenplay honor at Saturday’s Writers Guild Awards.
The Nazi satire “Jojo Rabbit” took home the best adapted screenplay honor.
The Writers Guild Awards were roughly a week before the Academy Awards, where both films will compete in the best picture category.
The “Parasite” win went to Bong Joon Ho, who is also the film’s director and Han Jin Won. Taika Waititi won for “Jojo Rabbit,” a film he also directed and starred in.
HBO swept the top television awards, winning the drama category for “Succession,”the comedy category for ”Barry” and the best new series honor of “Watchmen.”
The premium cable network’s limited series also won the original long form prize, while FX’s ”Fosse/Verdon” won the adapted long form award.
Saturday’s awards were handed out in concurrent ceremonies in New York and Beverly Hills, California.
Iran has banned air travelers from China in an effort to keep out the coronavirus, crippling an already-faltering Iranian program to boost Chinese tourism as a way of stimulating an economy crushed by U.S. sanctions.
In a tweet Friday, Iranian Health Minister Saeed Namaki said an emergency meeting of government officials had approved his request to ban all flights to and from China until further notice.
خوشبختانه پیرونامه اینجانب به دکتر جهانگیری و پیگیریهای انجام شده، جلسه اضطراری تشکیل و مصوب شد تمام پروازها به چین تا اطلاع ثانوی ممنوع شود. شهروندان ایرانی که در چین هستند و قصد بازگشت به کشور را دارند نیز به همراه تیم پزشکی و تحت مراقبتهای ویژه به کشور بازگردانده میشوند.
Namaki also said Iranians who want to leave China, the center of a deadly coronavirus outbreak labeled a global health emergency by the World Health Organization, will have a medical escort back to Iran.
Friday’s announcement was the biggest blow yet to a 6-month-old Iranian government initiative to massively increase Chinese visitors and tourism to the country, which has seen its other economic sectors greatly weakened by U.S. sanctions that have been tightening since 2018.
Iranian state news agency IRNA acknowledged the coronavirus as one of a “series of recent crises” to hit Iran’s tourism industry in an article published Thursday.
FILE – In this Sept. 18, 2016, photo released by the office of Iran’s supreme leader, Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran.
Other crises that afflicted Iran in January included its most intense outbreak of fighting with the U.S. in their decades of tense relations, with the U.S. killing Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani in a strike on Baghdad and Iran retaliating with a missile attack on an Iraqi base housing U.S. troops. Iranian forces also mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet shortly after it took off from Tehran en route to Kyiv, killing all 176 people on board.
The turmoil prompted China’s tourism ministry to issue a Jan. 9 alert, advising Chinese citizens in Iran to pay close attention to the regional security situation and take greater precautions for their personal safety.
Iranian officials had been more optimistic about their prospects for ramping up Chinese tourism last July, when they unilaterally scrapped visa requirements for Chinese citizens and allowed them to stay in Iran visa-free for 21 days after each entry.
Iranian Tourism Minister Ali Asghar Mounesan, left, speaks to reporters on a visit to Beijing in November 2019, as Iranian Ambassador to China Mohammad Keshavarz-Zadeh looks on. (Credit: IRNA)
At the time, Iranian Minister of Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Ali Asghar Mounesan told IRNA that Tehran was seeking to boost its non-oil revenues through tourism, an industry it deemed impervious to U.S. sanctions. Iran has relied for years on oil exports as its primary revenue source, but has seen that revenue dwindle since the U.S. unilaterally banned all nations from buying Iranian oil last May.
In announcing the visa waiver program, Mounesan said it was Iran’s goal to bring 2 million Chinese tourists and business travelers to the country annually in the coming years. That would be a huge increase from the 52,000 Chinese visitors whom Iranian officials have said entered the country in 2018.
When Mounesan traveled to Beijing in November for a tourism conference, IRNA quoted him as somewhat tempering that goal, saying Iran wanted to expand Chinese tourism to 1.5 million visitors annually over a period of four to five years.
In a sign that the visa waivers were not doing much to move Iran toward that lofty target, Mounesan’s deputy, Vali Teymouri, told Iranian state media that Chinese visitor arrivals remained low in the months after the program’s launch.
Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua noted the incremental nature of the visitor growth on a trip to northeastern Iran’s Golestan province in November. Iran’s tourism ministry website quoted him as saying, “the number of Chinese tourists in Iran has increased … but is still far from the desired goal.”
Chinese Ambassador to Iran Chang Hua, left, meets the governor of Iran’s Golestan province Hadi Haqshenas on a visit to Golestan in November 2019 (Credit: Iranian tourism ministry)
Disappointed visitors
Iran long has been a problematic destination for Chinese visitors.
One of them, a well-travelled Chinese blogger who goes by the name Atlantic Eel, posted a Jan. 6 commentary titled: “Why I don’t recommend traveling to Iran.” In the blog, filled with photos of Iran from his recent visit, he said its religiously conservative society undermined his travel experience by making opportunities for secular activities such as eating, drinking, listening to music and accessing the Internet “extremely scarce.”
Ahmad, a Tehran-based Iranian guide for Chinese tour groups, told VOA in a phone interview that he had seen an increase in Chinese visitors during the summer months of mid-2019, but noticed they were not happy with the service they received from what he called Iran’s under-developed tourist infrastructure.
“Chinese tourists tend to prefer receiving information in their mother tongue, but Iran has not done much to provide them with Chinese-language brochures and guidebooks,” he said.
Ahmad said gaps in cultural understanding between Chinese visitors and their Iranian hosts were another problem.
Chinese tourists visit an Iranian bazaar in this undated photo published by the Tehran Times newspaper in November 2019 (Credit: Tehran Times)
“Most female Chinese visitors complained about the Islamic headscarf they were required to wear in public and some of them had difficulties in doing so,” he said.
The Iranian tour guide said he recently had traveled with one Chinese group from Iran into neighboring Turkey.
“They felt like they had been freed from a prison when they arrived in Turkey, with many Chinese restaurants to choose from and a better understanding of their needs,” he said.
For many people in China, Iran is seen as destination for the adventurous or those with business interests.
Jack Huang, founder of a Beijing-based education start-up company, told VOA Mandarin that not many people travel to Iran besides those who work for Chinese state-owned oil companies or weapons manufacturers.
“In general, Chinese people prefer go to countries where travel is cheap, you can shop and it is safe,” he said. “The security situation in Iran indeed is a big concern for us.”
Atlantic Eel, the Chinese blogger, wrote that when he asked fellow Chinese travelers in Iran if they liked the country, most answered yes. But when he asked if they would choose to live there, he said most of them hesitated and said they preferred only to visit. “
if you really liked a country, you would have a desire to live there,” he opined.
This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. It was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Mandarin Service and Extremism Watch Desk.
The impact of climate change on Australia’s unprecedented bushfire crisis will be examined by an independent inquiry set up by the New South Wales state government.
The six-month inquiry will look at the causes of the bushfires, as well as how the state of New South Wales prepared and reacted to them.
It will examine the role climate change played in the disaster, as well as the effects of a long drought and lack of hazard reduction, which is the process of setting controlled fires to burn off vegetation during the cooler months to deny wildfires fuel when the weather heats up.
While global warming is not the direct cause of Australia’s bushfire crisis, scientists have warned that a hotter, drier climate would contribute to the blazes becoming more intense and frequent.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian attends a news conference at Rural Fire Service (RFS) Headquarters in Sydney, Jan. 4, 2020.
Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian says the independent inquiry will start within days.
“We want the process to be robust and comprehensive,” she said, “but we also want it to be meaningful so that government can adopt any recommendations ahead of the next bushfire season.”
Bushfires in New South Wales have killed 25 people since September and damaged thousands of homes.
The investigation will be led by Dave Owens, a former senior police commander, and professor Mary O’Kane, a scientist and engineer.
However, with fires still raging, there is criticism that the probe is starting while the crisis continues.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, condemned for his handling of the bushfires and underplaying the role of climate change, has yet to announce the terms of any federal investigation.
Fires Saturday continue to threaten the capital, Canberra. Authorities have declared a state of emergency for the first time since 2003.
The Afghan Taliban’s turbulent negotiations with the United States on a peace deal have ground to a halt over differences on how to reduce insurgent violence.
The latest standoff in the peace process, being hosted by Qatar, comes amid a sharp increase in Taliban attacks on U.S.-backed Afghan government forces over the past week despite a very harsh winter. The violence has killed scores of combatants on both sides and caused more civilian casualties across Afghanistan.
Suhail Shaheen, who speaks for the Taliban’s negotiating team, told VOA on Friday that the U.S. side was to be blamed for the latest challenges facing the talks.
“We agree to provide a secure environment during the days of the signing of the agreement, but the Americans put forward do-more demands,” Shaheen said. “This has created hurdles in the process.”
FILE – Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, speaks to the media in Moscow, May 28, 2019.
Insurgent operations
Shaheen was indirectly referring to a Taliban proposal of scaling back insurgent operations for one week in order to sign the long-anticipated agreement with the U.S. The two adversaries have negotiated the document over the past year to end the 18-year-old Afghan war, America’s longest.
No U.S. reaction was immediately available to Friday’s Taliban assertions about the fate of negotiations.
Washington has been demanding the insurgent group commit to a “significant and lasting” reduction in violence before the peace deal is signed. But the Taliban are opposed to extending their weeklong offer of reduction in insurgent hostilities.
The U.S.-Taliban peace agreement, if signed, would allow about 13,000 American troops stationed in Afghanistan to gradually withdraw from the country. It would also open direct Taliban-Afghan negotiations to discuss a nationwide cease-fire and political power-sharing.
Alice Wells, a senior Trump administration diplomat for the region, told reporters in Washington last week that U.S. chief negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad and his team were “encouraging the Taliban to make a commitment to a reduction in violence that would allow Afghans to sit at a negotiating table.”
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, right, meets U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Islamabad, Pakistan, Jan. 31, 2020. Khalilzad has met with Pakistan’s foreign minister to find a peaceful solution to neighboring Afghanistan’s war.
Pakistan’s role
Meanwhile, Khalilzad traveled Friday to Pakistan where he discussed with civilian and military officials details of his latest engagements with Taliban interlocutors in Qatar.
Khalilzad held meetings with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistani military chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
“Mr. Khalilzad thanked Pakistan for facilitating the process towards the mutual objective of peace in the region,” noted a post-meeting military statement.
Qureshi’s office quoted him as emphasizing the need for an early conclusion of U.S.-Taliban negotiations and peace deal “in the larger interest of the (Afghan) peace process and for preventing spoilers from playing a negative role.” The statement did not elaborate further.
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad issued a statement after Khalilzad’s meetings, saying he discussed U.S. efforts to facilitate a political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan.
“He welcomed Pakistan’s ongoing efforts to support a reduction in violence that will pave the way for a U.S.-Taliban agreement, intra-Afghan negotiations, and a comprehensive and permanent cease-fire in support of a sustainable peace.”
A senior Pakistani official privy to the discussions with Khalilzad told VOA the U.S.-Taliban negotiations have stalled because both sides continue to differ on the “definition of reduction in violence” and got bogged down because of persistent mutual “trust deficit.”
Since embarking on his Afghan peace mission in late 2018, Afghan-born veteran American diplomat Khalilzad has made frequent trips to Islamabad for mutual consultations and has credited Pakistan for facilitating the U.S.-Taliban talks.
The Pakistani military in particular is believed to have maintained close contacts with insurgent leaders living along with their families among nearly 3 million Afghan refugees still hosted by the neighboring country.
Pakistan was one of only three countries in the world that had recognized the Taliban government in Afghanistan before it was toppled by a U.S.-led military invasion in 2001.
Відео обвалу даху комплексу «Петербурзький» в Росії.
У російському Санкт-Петербурзі під завалами демонтованих конструкцій спортивно-концертного комплексу знайшли тіло людини, повідомляють російські ЗМІ з посиланням на МНС Росії. Повідомляється, що загиблий – 1990 року народження. Інформації про інших постраждалих немає. 31 січня у Санкт-Петербурзі під час демонтажу спортивно-концертного комплексу «Петербурзький» впав дах і частина будівлі. На відеотрансляції, яку вів російський сайт «Фонтанка», було видно, що дах почав обвалюватися несподівано, і один з робітників не встиг застрибнути у будівельну люльку і впав разом з конструкцією. Спортивно-концертний комплекс «Петербурзький» зносять, щоб побудувати на його місці нову льодову арену. При цьому раніше повідомлялося про можливість реконструкції будівлі. Активісти боролися проти знесення комплексу, зведеного 1979 року
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Відео підпалу автівки журналістки Радіо Свобода у Львові.
У нашому розпорядженні опинилось відео, на якому невідомий чоловік підкладає до лобового скла машини журналістки пакети, підпалює їх і тікає. За даними журналістів, палій досі не затриманий, також не ідентифікована його особа. Опівночі 30 січня у Львові невідома особа підпалила автомобіль, що належить журналістці Радіо Свобода Галині Терещук. Ніхто не постраждав
Для поширення вашого відео чи повідомлення в Мережі Правди пишіть сюди,
або на email: pravdaua@email.cz
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