Новини

An airstrike carried out by American forces in eastern Afghanistan has mistakenly killed at least four Afghan soldiers and injured six others.

A provincial police spokesman said the overnight incident occurred in the troubled Logar province during clashes between Afghan security forces and Taliban insurgents.

Shahpoor Ahamadzai told VOA the fighting erupted Monday night after insurgents assaulted a security outpost near the provincial capital of Pul-e-Alam.

The Taliban attack prompted the Afghan National Army (ANA) to call in U.S. air support, which resulted in the “friendly fire” incident, Ahmadzai explained.

A U.S. military spokesman told VOA it was aware of reports an American airstrike conducted in support of Afghan forces may have resulted in ANA casualties.

“U.S. and Afghan forces are working closely together to develop a shared understanding of this event. A joint investigation is ongoing,” the spokesman said.

Separately, the provincial police confirmed a U.S. convoy was struck by a suicide car bomber near a foreign military base just outside Pul-e-Alam.

A U.S. military spokesman confirmed the attack, saying it only killed the assailant driving the vehicle.

“No U.S. or Coalition service members were wounded or killed in the attack. We are investigating the incident,” the spokesman added.

There were no claims of responsible from the Taliban, which often claims attacks against U.S. and NATO forces stationed in Afghanistan.  

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Exiled Cambodian opposition leader Sam Rainsy said Tuesday the European Union’s assessment of whether to suspend trade privileges for his country will add momentum to efforts to restore democracy despite a government crackdown.

The EU finalized a preliminary report Tuesday that Sam Rainsy said would be the basis for suspending trade privileges for Cambodia. The EU announced earlier this year that it would begin a monitoring process to decide on the ending of preferential duty-free and quota-free imports from the Southeast Asian nation. It said it acted on concerns that Cambodia was limiting human and labor rights.
 
The EU did not immediately make the report public but said it had been sent to the Cambodian authorities.
 
The report comes amid several developments that have shaken the Cambodian political scene.
 
Sam Rainsy made a well-publicized trip in which he vowed to return to his homeland to spark a popular movement to unseat long-serving authoritarian Prime Minister Hun Sen. Cambodia’s government had said he and other exiled colleagues were unwelcome, and managed to hinder them from entering on Saturday, their intended date.
 
However, as Sam Rainsy found himself stuck in Malaysia, a Cambodian court announced Sunday that it was releasing from house arrest Kem Sokha, his co-leader in the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, who had been detained without trial for more than two years on a treason charge widely seen as specious. It retained the charge against him and barred him from political activity.
 
The release of Kem Sokha suggested that Hun Sen, whose hard line included detaining scores of opposition supporters accused of supporting Sam Rainsy’s return plan, may be seeking to assuage his critics — especially the EU — by projecting an image of compromise.
 
The possibility of the EU junking Cambodia’s trade privileges is perhaps the greatest leverage the opposition holds over the situation, as an economic downturn could erode the support Hun Sen has earned with Cambodia’s economic growth.
 
“If they don’t want Cambodia to face an economic crisis, with hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs, they must restore democracy,” Sam Rainsy told a news conference outside Malaysia’s Parliament building after meeting a group of Malaysian lawmakers.
 
The EU initiated its move after Hun Sen’s ruling party won a sweeping victory in 2018 elections. The EU and others said the polls were not free and fair because the Cambodia National Rescue Party — the sole credible opposition force — was dissolved in 2017 by Cambodia’s Supreme Court, which is seen as being under the government’s influence.
 
Sam Rainsy insisted Tuesday that the timing was now right for peaceful resistance to topple Hun Sen’s government due to the “unique combination of internal pressure and external pressure.”
 
Phnom Penh’s release of Kem Sokha from house arrest was an indication of mounting pressure on the government, he said.
 
Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Sar Kheng said Sunday on his Facebook page that Sam Rainsy was now allowed to enter Cambodia but would have to face a raft of charges and standing convictions. Sam Rainsy did not say Tuesday when he might make the journey.
 
“I will stay in the region because the situation can change very quickly, and I will go back to Cambodia,” he said.
      

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One brother is considered a shoo-in for the job of Sri Lanka’s president in elections this weekend and another is eyeing the prime minister’s post when that election becomes due early next year.

Two other brothers are political strategists for their Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna party and one of them is considering a shot at becoming the speaker in parliament. Three men of the family’s next generation are also in politics.

The Rajapaksas, best known for the brutal defeat of separatist Tamil rebels and then drawing Sri Lanka into China’s orbit when the West and India shunned the Indian Ocean island, are back at the centre of the nation’s deeply divisive politics and it is stoking fear.

While there are no formal opinion polls, former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa is the hot favorite to win the presidential election this Saturday. His chief opponent Sajith Premadasa, a government minister, is seen to be trailing.

Gotabaya led the operations against the Tamil Tigers when his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was president. Gotabaya has faced lawsuits in Sri Lanka and in the United States over allegations of staged killings of Tamil separatists, critics and journalists during the war.

Both brothers deny the allegations as part of a Western conspiracy to interfere in the island nation of 22 million that sits astride vital shipping lanes and has long been a tinder-box of tensions between the dominant Sinhalese Buddhists and minority ethnic Tamils.

In recent months, Sinhalese hardliners have also targeted the tiny Muslim community.

Mahinda lost the 2015 presidential election to a Cabinet colleague who turned against him — Maithripala Sirisena. After his ouster, the family’s fortunes fell into decline.

But Easter Sunday bombings on hotels and churches, in which more than 250 people were killed, derailed Sirisena’s presidency, and he has announced he will not contest this year.

The attacks, claimed by Islamic State, have rekindled support for the Rajapaksas and their brand of Sinhalese nationalism.

Mahinda is barred from running for president again, and is on the stump for Gotabaya, bringing an affable touch to the campaign against the rather gruff manner of his brother, more known for his military machismo.

Another brother, Basil, handles the party finances and striking deals with rival groups while a fourth brother and former speaker, Chamal, campaigns in the family borough in the south of the island.

Family prospect

Mahinda, who is currently leader of the opposition in parliament, is the obvious choice for prime minister when parliamentary elections are held early next year, said Keheliya Rambukwella, spokesman for the Gotabaya campaign.

Chamal Rajapaksa would be the choice for parliament speaker, a position he has previously held, political experts say. In all, seven members of the family are involved in politics, and some of the others could also end up in parliament.

“We are going to see family rule again, and all the excesses that came up with it the last time,” said Health Minister Rajitha Senarathne, who is opposed to the Rajapaksas. “They will suppress all dissent.”

In a front page editorial, the state-run Sunday Observer said it was “afraid” of a Gotabaya presidency and appealed to voters to make the “right choice.”

“A wrong choice will send the country hurtling toward authoritarianism and iron-fisted rule,” it said.

Gotabaya’s spokesman dismissed warnings of family rule, saying the candidate was quite clear merit will be only consideration for top political jobs.

“When Gotabaya comes to power he will appoint people with qualification to the positions, irrespective of their ties to him,” Rambukwella said.

On the campaign, Gotabaya has been uncompromising about the need to strengthen security, repeatedly raising the circumstances that led to the Easter Sunday attacks.

At a campaign rally in Wellawaye in central Sri Lanka Gotabaya said during his time as defense secretary, he had raised special military and intelligence units to tackle extremism, drug trafficking networks and the underworld. These cells had since been weakened, he said.

“There can be no higher priority than national security,” he said.

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Ugandan police said Monday that in an operation around Kampala’s city center, they arrested 120 people suspected to have been using narcotics. However, members of the LGBT community say it was a health meeting that police interrupted.

Patrick Onyango, the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson, tells VOA they received intelligence information that the site of the raid — The Ram Bar — is used as a massage parlor during day and for smoking opium and shisha during the night.

Both products are outlawed in the Tobacco Control Act 2015 and people found guilty of using them are liable for a fine of $130 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

“We are charging them under the Tobacco Control Act,” said Onyango. “We have started the process of screening and recording statements from them. There are those we shall give police bonds, students, and those who claim that they are innocent. They were just there for a dance and they were not participating in the smoking.”

At the Central Police Station in Kampala, friends and members of the local LGBT community move around, seemingly worried. Among them is Sean Mugisha a paralegal who is trying to secure bail for the arrested members.

Mugisha tells VOA that Ram Bar is the only safe place that the LGBT community has in Kampala.

“But most importantly it is a center for most outreaches.,” he said. “All these guys who give health care services, when they want to do outreaches for the community, it’s one of those venues that they have been accessing.  So, last night there was an arrest. I consistently got calls. I decided to come and follow up what is here.”

Frank Mugisha, the executive director Sexual Minorities Uganda, says the arrests Monday are based on trumped up charges by the police.

“We don’t know what will happen next. I think we are still looking at the worst. I think its totally aimed at intimidation of the LGBT Community,” he said. “The police is coming up with trumped up charges. I don’t think all 120 people were publicly smoking. So, we are waiting for court tomorrow and see what happens.”

This is the second time in less than a month that Ugandan police have raided a place frequented by members of the LGBT community. Last month 16 members of the LGBT Community were arrested but later released on police bond.

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U.S. President Donald Trump renewed his attacks Monday against the impeachment investigation, two days ahead of public hearings targeting him for allegedly abusing his office to help himself politically.

Before observing the annual Veterans Day tribute to the U.S. military at a New York ceremony, Trump claimed on Twitter, without offering any evidence, that Congressman Adam Schiff, the leader of the impeachment probe in the House of Representatives, had “doctored” transcripts of eight officials who have testified in recent weeks behind closed doors in a secure room at the U.S. Capitol.

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Trump Assails Impeachment Hearings as ‘Disgraceful’

US leader complains that Democrats have blocked testimony from the unnamed whistleblower who touched off inquiry about Trump’s pressuring Ukraine to open investigations to help him politically

According to the transcripts, the current and former diplomatic and national security officials have detailed how Trump and his aides pressed Ukraine to launch investigations of one of his chief 2020 Democratic presidential challengers, former Vice President Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden’s work for a Ukrainian natural gas company and a debunked theory that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election, not Russia, as the U.S. intelligence community concluded.

“Republicans should put out their own transcripts!” Trump demanded.  

Shifty Adam Schiff will only release doctored transcripts. We haven’t even seen the documents and are restricted from (get this) having a lawyer. Republicans should put out their own transcripts! Schiff must testify as to why he MADE UP a statement from me, and read it to all!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019

Trump, in a late July call, asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for “a favor,” to carry out these investigations, at a time he was temporarily withholding $391 million in military aid Ukraine wanted for its fight against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. Trump eventually released the assistance to Kyiv in September without Ukraine opening the investigations.

The impeachment inquiry was touched off by a complaint from an anonymous government whistleblower who said he was troubled by Trump’s request to Zelenskiy for the Biden investigations, since it seemed the president was seeking the help of a foreign government in next year’s election.

Trump, who has often described his call with Zelenskiy as “perfect,” tweeted that the impeachment investigation should be ended and that “the Whistleblower, his lawyer and Corrupt politician Schiff should be investigated (sic) for fraud!”

The lawyer for the Whistleblower takes away all credibility from this big Impeachment Scam! It should be ended and the Whistleblower, his lawyer and Corrupt politician Schiff should be investigared for fraud!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2019

In early 2017 as Trump assumed power, Washington attorney Mark Zaid, the whistleblower’s lawyer, tweeted that a “coup has started” and that “impeachment will follow ultimately,” later saying, “We will get rid of him, and this country is strong enough to survive even him and his supporters.”

It is only the fourth time in U.S. history that impeachment hearings have been opened against a president. In the previous three times, two presidents (Andrew Johnson in the mid-19th century and Bill Clinton two decades ago) were impeached but acquitted in Senate trials, while a third president, Richard Nixon, resigned ahead of all-but-certain impeachment in the 1970s.

As the hearings start Wednesday before Schiff’s House Intelligence Committee, two U.S. State Department officials, William Taylor and George Kent, are set to testify how Trump and his aides pressured Zelenskiy to open the investigations of the Bidens. Republicans are hoping to pinpoint any inconsistencies in their testimony and have temporarily named a staunch Trump supporter, Congressman Jim Jordan, to the panel to defend the president.

Trump on Monday and Sunday complained about the impeachment hearing rules adopted by the Democratic-controlled House, saying on Twitter that Schiff “will not allow a White House lawyer, nor will he allow ANY of our requested witnesses. This is a first in due process and Congressional history!”

Corrupt politician Adam Schiff wants people from the White House to testify in his and Pelosi’s disgraceful Witch Hunt, yet he will not allow a White House lawyer, nor will he allow ANY of our requested witnesses. This is a first in due process and Congressional history!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2019

Under the rules, Trump will be able to have a lawyer representing him when the House Judiciary Committee considers possible articles of impeachment against him in the coming weeks, and, if the full House impeaches him, at a trial in the Republican-majority Senate.

But the rules do not call for Trump legal representation at the House Intelligence panel’s hearings.

“The call to the Ukrainian President was PERFECT,” Trump tweeted. “Read the Transcript! There was NOTHING said that was in any way wrong. Republicans, don’t be led into the fools trap of saying it was not perfect, but is not impeachable. No, it is much stronger than that. NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG!”

The call to the Ukrainian President was PERFECT. Read the Transcript! There was NOTHING said that was in any way wrong. Republicans, don’t be led into the fools trap of saying it was not perfect, but is not impeachable. No, it is much stronger than that. NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2019

Trump for weeks has denied his late July call with Zelenskiy amounted to a quid pro quo — the military aid in exchange for an investigation of the Bidens.

Schiff invited Republicans to submit a list of witnesses they want to question. But Schiff has rejected the two most prominent figures on the Republican wish list: Hunter Biden and the unnamed whistleblower.

Under U.S. law, the identity of inside-the-government whistleblowers alleging wrongdoing is protected from disclosure.

Trump, however, has urged that the whistleblower be named and says he should be able to confront his accuser. Democrats have voiced concerns about protecting the whistleblower’s safety and note that much of what he alleged has been corroborated by government officials who heard Trump’s call or were directed to push for the Ukraine investigations of the Bidens. In addition, a rough transcript of the Trump call with Zelenskiy released by the White House quoted Trump asking the Ukrainian leader for the Biden probes.

Calling in the whistleblower to testify would be “redundant and unnecessary,” said Schiff.

“The committee … will not facilitate efforts by President Trump and his allies in Congress to threaten, intimidate and retaliate against the whistleblower who courageously raised the initial alarm,” Schiff said in a letter to the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, Congressman Devin Nunes. ” … The whistleblower has a right under laws championed by this committee to remain anonymous and to be protected from harm.”

Schiff said that after weeks of behind-closed-doors testimony, his inquiry “has gathered an ever-growing body of evidence – from witnesses and documents, including the president’s own words in his July 25 call record – that not only confirms but far exceeds the initial information in the whistleblower’s complaint …. In light of the president’s threats, the individual’s appearance before us would only place their personal safety at grave risk.”

Washington Gearing Up for Public Impeachment Hearings This Week

Teaser Description

Democrats say the president abused power by withholding military aid to Ukraine in exchange for dirt on a political foe

Schiff said the public impeachment hearings “will not serve as vehicles” for what he called “sham investigations into the Bidens or debunked conspiracies about 2016 U.S. election interference that President Trump pressed Ukraine to conduct for his personal political benefit.”

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Iraqi protesters took to the streets of at least half a dozen major towns and cities Monday, clashing with security forces in Baghdad, Nassiriya and Basra, while blocking roads in Karbala, Najaf, Hilla and Kut. United Nations envoy to Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, also met with Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, urging reforms and an end to violence against protesters.

Hundreds of protesters chanted slogans against Iran and its Shi’ite proxy militias Monday in Nassiriya, while blocking three major bridges in the city. Large protests were also reported in the capitals of Baghdad, Najaf, Karbala, Hilla and Kut.

Iraqi military spokesman Gen. Abdel Karim Khalaf told a press conference that most Iraqi protesters are peaceful but that violent groups have infiltrated the protests, claiming that they had used live ammunition against security forces in Baghdad and set fire to at least three government buildings.

He says that there is a difference between the peaceful protesters in (Baghdad’s) Tahrir Square and those who are blocking roads and bridges. Blocking roads and bridges, he insists, is a crime, even if the government is trying not to use force or inflict casualties.

Despite Khalaf’s claim, Arab media showed amateur video of a teenage protester being shot while filming demonstrations in Nassiriya. It was not clear if he survived.

Khalaf claimed the foreign press is being unfair in criticizing Iraq over its use of force, saying that countries “like France and the U.S. use force when facing security threats.” He also claimed that (outside parties) are “using the internet to try and overthrow the government.”

Iraqi media reported that the U.N.’s top envoy, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, met Shi’ite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani Monday, urging Iraqi political leaders to carry out reforms that “meet the demands of protesters.”

Iraqi TV showed Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mehdi meeting with journalists Monday, telling them that economic reforms are a priority, including increasing revenues from non-oil sources and creating jobs not funded by the government.

Hilal Khashan, who teaches political science at the American University of Beirut, tells VOA that “Iraqi Shiites are rediscovering that they are Arab,” as they protest “against Iran’s meddling in their country.”

Dr. Paul Sullivan, a professor at the U.S. National Defense University, argues that “some Shi’ites in Iraq “toe the Iranian line, [while] others do not. The lines between these groups,” he says, “seems to be hardening,” and “Iran and its proxies are making the situation much worse.”

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Hong Kong police opened fire on protesters early on Monday, Cable TV reported, as chaos erupted across the city, a day after officers fired tear gas to break up rallies as activists blocked roads and trashed shopping malls in the financial hub.

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Hong Kong Protesters Vandalize Subway Station, Storm Mall

Police made arrests across Hong Kong amid anger over demonstrator’s death and arrest of pro-democracy lawmakers

Police fired live rounds at protesters on the eastern side of Hong Kong island, local media reported.

Police declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

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Chancellor Angela Merkel led a series of commemorations in the German capital over weekend to mark the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which divided the city during the Cold War until 1989. The wall was built by Communist East Germany to prevent its citizens fleeing to the capitalist west. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the hope and optimism in the years following the wall’s destruction have been replaced with fears over the resurgent tensions between Russia and the West

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Australian officials are warning of “catastrophic fire danger” as dozens of bushfires blazed in the state of New South Wales.

As of early Monday, 64 fires were burning the New South Wales Rural Fire Service said in a tweet. Of those, more than 40 were out of control. 

At 6am there’s 64 bush and grass fires across NSW, 40 not yet contained. Many of these fires won’t be contained ahead of tomorrow’s dangerous fire weather. Catastrophic fire danger has been declared for Tuesday in Sydney and Hunter areas. Use today to get ready. #nswrfspic.twitter.com/Qto5IF8PUH

— NSW RFS (@NSWRFS) November 10, 2019

It warned residents in the area to expect conditions to get worse as high temperatures and gusting winds are forecast for Tuesday.

“Don’t wait for the last minute and ring for a firetruck because it may not get there,” said Jeremy Fewtrell, deputy commissioner of New South Wales Fire and Rescue. “We just don’t want to lose more people.”

Three people have been confirmed dead and more than 150 homes have been destroyed.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a state of emergency Monday. It will stay in place for at least a week.  

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A strong cyclone made landfall early Sunday in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of people have moved to shelters across the low-lying delta nation’s vast coastal region.

Packing winds of up to 120 kilometers (75 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 130 kph (80 mph), Cyclone Bulbul weakened when it started crossing Bangladesh’s southwestern coastal region, dumping incessant rains across the country. No casualties were reported immediately.

The weather office said the cyclone slammed ashore at Sagar Island in the southern part of India’s West Bengal state. Its path included the southwestern Khulna region, which has the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans, which straddles the Bangladesh-India border.

Up to 1.8 million people were expected to be evacuated by Saturday evening, said Enamur Rahman, Bangladesh’s junior disaster management minister. More than 5,000 shelters had been prepared.

The weather office said coastal districts were likely to be inundated by storm surges of 1{-2 meters (5-7 feet) above normal tide because of the impact of the cyclone.

Several ships from Bangladesh’s navy and coast guard were kept ready in parts of the region for an emergency response, the TV station Independent reported.

The storm is also expected to impact parts of northeastern India, where precautions were being taken.

Rahman said the government suspended weekend leave for government officials in 13 coastal districts.

On Saturday, volunteers used loudspeakers to ask people to move to shelters in Chittagong and other regions, according to the Disaster Management Ministry. In the Cox’s Bazar coastal district, tourists were alerted to stay in their hotels, while a few hundred visitors were stuck on Saint Martins Island.

Authorities suspended all activities in the country’s main seaports, including in Chittagong, which handles almost 80% of Bangladesh’s exports and imports. All vessels and fishing boats were told to stop operating.

Local authorities ordered school buildings and mosques to be used as shelters in addition to dedicated cyclone shelters — raised concrete buildings that have been built over the past decades.

Bangladesh, a nation of 160 million people, has a history of violent cyclones. But disaster preparedness programs in recent decades have upgraded the country’s capacity to deal with natural disasters, resulting in fewer casualties.

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