Today In International News: November 30, 2017

Courtesy of Politico

• The Trump administration is holding talks on providing nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia — a move that critics say could upend decades of U.S. policy and lead to an arms race in the Middle East.

• Palestinian farmer, Mahmoud Odeh, 47, was shot by an Israeli settler while on his private agricultural land in the village of Qusra. He was a father of 10 children.

• U.S. President Donald Trump is considering a plan to oust Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson would be replaced by CIA director Mike Pompeo, known as a Trump loyalist.

• A string of corporate giants have said that they would give back to shareholders any gains they make from corporate tax cuts proposed in the GOP's tax plan, undercutting Republican claims that the revenues will quickly trickle down to workers.

• The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is seeking to appeal to western governments as a reformist while cracking down on the very women inside the country who have been campaigning for an end to systematic discrimination.

• Libya has reached a deal with European and African leaders to allow the emergency repatriation of refugees and migrants facing abuse in detention camps in the North African country.

• The Republican drive to push sweeping tax legislation through the U.S. Senate picked up momentum with the endorsement of Senator John McCain, as party leaders pursued behind-the-scenes deals to secure enough votes for passage. This tax bill is incredibly unpopular with the majority of American population.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has rejected the US call to cut ties with North Korea after Pyongyang launched ballistic missiles. 

• Dutch police have launched a criminal investigation into the death of the Bosnian Croat commander Slobodan Praljak, who swallowed poison as his appeal verdict was being streamed live around the world.

• Senator Lisa Murkowski (R) says she supports the Republicans’ sweeping tax package, now that it would allow oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

• Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) unveiled a $146 billion relief package for Puerto Rico, which is still recovering after a hurricane tore through the island earlier this year.

• Young Rohingya girls who have fled Myanmar are being forced to marry when they reach Bangladesh simply to secure more food for themselves and their families.

Today In International News: November 29, 2017

Courtesy of Washington Examiner

• Slobodan Praljak, a commander of the Bosnian Croat forces during the Bosnian War has died from drinking what he claimed to be poison at the war crimes court for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague

• A federal jury in the United States has cleared Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who was accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2012, Benghazi attack that killed Christopher Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, and 3 other Americans. He was acquitted of murder, but convicted on lesser terrorism-related charges.

• US President Donald Trump has sparked shock and outrage on social media after sharing videos posted by a British far-right activist, known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric, on Twitter. The US leader shared 3 videos by Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen, who was convicted by a British court in 2016 for harassing a woman wearing a hijab.

• Pope Francis has met Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi but avoided directly addressing the ongoing Rohingya crisis.

• United Arab Emirates has barred Egyptian 2018 presidential candidate from traveling.

• Senior Saudi Arabian prince Miteb bin Abdullah, has been freed after agreeing to pay over $1 billion to settle corruption allegations against him.

• Kuwait will go ahead and host an annual Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit next month, despite an ongoing rift between some member states.

• US President Donald Trump vowed to slap "major sanctions" on North Korea after the communist country test-launched its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile yet, with a range capable of striking Washington DC.

• Egypt's president has told the military to restore "security and stability" to the Sinai peninsula within 3 months, after an attack on a mosque there last week left 305 people dead.

Libyan Black Slave Trade in 2017

Courtesy of BBC

Quick History of Slave Trade in Libya:

• Libya, a country that is as big as France, has a long history of slavery which had a lasting impact on the Libyan culture —
• It is closely connected with the wider context of slavery in North Africa.

• The indigenous Tuareg and other indigenous people —
• Facilitated, taxed, and partly organized the trade from the South along the trans-Saharan trade routes.   

• In the 1830s, a period of time when slave trade flourished — 
• Ghadames (an oasis town) was handling 2,500 slaves a year. 
• Although the slave trade was officially abolished in Tripoli in 1853, in practice it continued until the 1930s.

Slavery in Post-Gaddafi Era: 

• Since the NATO-backed overthrow of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on October 31, 2011— 
• Libya has been plagued by disorder and the migrants with little cash and no papers have become vulnerable.  




• After a clampdown on sea crossings from Turkey >> Libya is a major exit point for African migrants heading to Europe —
• International Organization for Migration (IOM) published a report in April 2017 showing that >>
• Many of the migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa heading to Europe are sold as slaves after being detained by:
• People smugglers
• Militia groups

• African countries geographically below Libya were targeted for slave trading and transferred to Libyan slave markets instead.

• According to the victims, the price is higher for migrants with skills like painting and tiling. 

• Slaves are often ransomed to their families and in the meantime until the ransom can be paid are:
• Tortured
• Forced to work -- sometimes to death.
• Eventually executed -- or left to starve if they can't pay for too long.   
• Women are often raped and used as sex slaves and sold to brothels and private Libyan clients.
• Many child migrants also suffer from abuse and child rape in Libya.
• Migrants are buried without being identified with families back home uncertain of their fate.

Video Footage of a 2017 Migrant Slave Auction:

• Footage uncovered by CNN in November 2017 —
• CNN witnessed a dozen men being auctioned off for as little as $400 each.
• There are slave markets at 9 locations across Libya

• A large number of the African migrants that are being traded in these slave markets, most being subjected to sexual exploitation, while others are left to starve in Libya are mostly from: 
• Nigeria
• Niger
• Senegal
• Gambia
• Ghana
• Ivory Coast
• Burkina Faso
• Guinea

• West African migrants have recounted being bought and sold in garages and car parks.
• They are traded for between $200 and $500.
• Are held on average for 2 or 3 months.

• The Mediterranean sea between Libya and Italy has become the main crossing point for asylum seekers in Europe.
• The United Nations estimates there are now between 700,000 and a 1,000,000 migrants in the country.
• Migrants languish in unsanitary, disease-ridden detention centers, which Unicef described in its report as “no more than forced labor camps ... and makeshift prisons”. 
• Migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean have shared stories about:
• Beatings
• Rapes
• Kidnappings
• Enslavement

Not Enough International Outcry:

• United Nations:
• UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that "slavery has no place in our world and these actions are among the most egregious abuses of human rights and may amount to crimes against humanity”.

• France: 
• President Emmanuel Macron branding the auctions a crime against humanity.
• Requested an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council.
• Protests outside of the Libyan embassy in France.

• Burkina Faso: 
• Foreign Minister, Alpha Barry told the press that he had summoned the Libyan ambassador to the capital Ouagadougou for consultations. 
• The issue has since been added to the agenda of next week's African Union meeting in Ivory Coast.

• Ivory Coast: 
• Representatives of the Ivorian government said that the health of those migrants returned from Libya was in a "deplorable state.”

• Mali:
• Protests outside of the Libyan embassy in Mali.

• Guinea:
• Protests outside of the Libyan embassy in Guinea.

Today In International News: November 27, 2017

Courtesy of AP News

• Elders of a village in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where militants killed 305 people in a mosque had been warned by Islamic State operatives to stop collaborating with security forces and to suspend rituals associated with Islam’s mystical Sufi movement security officials and residents said.

• At least 80 people have been killed in just over 24 hours in suspected Russian and Syrian government shelling in the eastern and southern parts of Syria. 

• A political dispute in Greece over a controversial arms deal with Saudi Arabia is deepening, with opposition politicians and critics decrying plans to sell 66m euros ($78.7m) worth of surplus missiles and bombs to the Arab Gulf country. 

• Police in Trump-supporting-towns aid immigration officials in immigration crackdown. Dozens of police departments in the United States have been granted new powers, or are seeking them, to check the immigration status of people they arrest. 29 departments have joined a special program under which they are deputized to perform some tasks of immigration agents, doubling its size in 10 months.

• President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a new reform plan to protect women from physical and sexual abuse will be rolled out by Turkey's government in the coming months.

• Pope Francis has met Myanmar's military chief, as he begins the first papal visit to a country widely accused of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims. He has been urged by governments and rights groups to pressure them over their treatment of the Rohingyas.

• A senior U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau official filed suit late trying to prevent President Donald Trump from naming an acting head of the watchdog agency, but its top lawyer concluded Trump had the power to do so.

• Security camera footage obtained by Reuters tells a different story of what happened just after midday on October 11 in Barangay, Philippines. Anti-drug officers shot and injured 3 men in this poor district of the Philippine capital, then “rushed” them to hospital where they were pronounced dead on arrival. 

• U.S. President Donald Trump will not campaign for Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican Senate candidate who is facing allegations of sexual misconduct with children.

• Hondurans remain on edge hours after polls closed in the presidential election as official results were suspended and 2 candidates declared themselves the next president of the Central American country.

• Sudanese authorities have arrested the powerful militia leader, Musa Hilal, who is suspected of human rights abuses in the Darfur region.

• US President Donald Trump has mocked a political rival, Elizabeth Warren, as Pocahontas - as he welcomed Native Americans to the White House.

Today In International News: November 22, 2017

Courtesy of Reuters

• A U.N. tribunal convicted ex-Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity for massacres of Bosnian Muslims and ethnic cleansing campaigns to forge a “Greater Serbia”, and jailed him for life.

• New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is investigating what he calls a massive scheme to corrupt the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with fake public comments on net neutrality.

• A retired Alabama police officer said police were told in the 1970s to make sure now-GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore stayed away from high school cheerleaders.

• The former head of a U.S. government ethics watchdog said he had filed a complaint claiming senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway violated a law barring executive branch employees from engaging in political activity when she spoke on television against a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

• The United States has for the first time called Myanmar's campaign against the Rohingya "ethnic cleansing”.

• Pyongyang also said that putting North Korea back on the terrorism blacklist will only strengthen its resolve to further develop the its nuclear weapons program.

• Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) founder, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attack, has been set free by a Pakistani court.

• Lebanon’s Saad al-Hariri placed his decision to resign as prime minister on hold at the request of President Michel Aoun, easing a crisis that had deepened tensions in the Middle East.

• Zimbabwe’s former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as president on Friday, marking a new era for the country ruled by Robert Mugabe from independence nearly 4 decades ago until his swift downfall this week. "We want to grow our economy, we want peace, we want jobs, jobs, jobs," Mnangagwa told a cheering crowd in Harare. 

• Syrians in the besieged enclave of Eastern Ghouta are so short of food that they are eating trash, fainting from hunger and forcing their children to eat on alternate days. 

• A video released by the U.N shows a North Korean border guard briefly crossed the border with the South in the chase for a defector last week - a violation of the ceasefire accord between North and South.

• A U.S. Navy transport plane carrying 11 people crashed in the Philippine Sea south of Japan.

• Multiple countries are launching probes into Uber after a report revealed that it had covered up a massive cyber attack that exposed the data of 57 million passengers and drivers last year.

• The Pentagon says it is investigating allegations of misbehavior by 3 service members during President Donald Trump’s trip to Asia earlier this month. The Army personnel are under investigations for claims they broke curfew and had improper contact with foreign women during Trump’s stop in Vietnam.

Today In International News: November 21, 2017

Courtesy of Reuters

• After obtaining footage of a human auction in Libya, The UN secretary-general said he is "horrified" at reports showing African migrants sold as slaves and called for immediate investigations. 

• Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has resigned after a rule of 37 years, parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda has said.  A letter from Mr Mugabe said that the decision was voluntary and that he had made it to allow a smooth transition of power.

• Ajit Pai, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unveiled plans to repeal a landmark 2015 order that barred internet service providers from blocking or slowing down consumer access to web content, and said the regulator will prevent states and cities from adopting similar protections.

• Tillerson breached the Child Soldiers Prevention Act when he decided in June to exclude Iraq, Myanmar, and Afghanistan from a U.S. list of offenders in the use of child soldiers. A group of about a dozen U.S. State Department officials have taken the unusual step of formally accusing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating a federal law designed to stop foreign militaries from enlisting child soldiers.

• Investigators found additional human remains in early November of U.S. Army Sergeant La David Johnson, who was killed in an ambush last month in Niger along with three other U.S. soldiers.

• The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block telecomms giant AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, which is the owner of CNN and HBO.

• The US is to terminate a program that gives more than 50,000 immigrants from Haiti protection against deportation. Immigrants from the Caribbean nation received protected status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake.

• Syrian President Bashar al-Assad thanked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for "saving" his country and for Russia's support in Syria during a rare visit by his Syrian counterpart. Mr Putin told Bashar al-Assad the military campaign was "wrapping up", but there was still "a long way to go”.

• The Palestinian leadership has reportedly cut off communications with the Trump administration.  The move comes after the White House last week warned it could close the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) office in Washington.

• Israel plans to deport tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda, a third country in Africa, under threat of indefinite detention. A move that local human rights activists say violates international and Israeli laws.

• A new ground-breaking report by Amnesty International has described the situation of the Rohingya living in Rakhine State as one of "apartheid”. "They live under a system of repression that is upheld through the intricate web of laws, policies and practices, imposed by state officials at all levels - township, district, state and nation-wide.”

• President Trump appeared to throw his support behind child molester, Roy Moore, despite allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against the Republican Alabama Senate candidate.

Today In International News: November 20, 2017

Courtesy of CNN

• President Donald Trump designated North Korea a state sponsor of terrorism, allowing the United States to impose additional sanctions and penalties against Pyongyang as it continues to pursue nuclear weapons programs.

• China called for a ceasefire in Myanmar’s Rakhine State so that Rohingya Muslim refugees can return from Bangladesh, proposing a three-stage approach to the crisis as diplomats from 51 mostly Asian and European countries gathered in Myanmar.

• North Korea may conduct additional missile tests this year to polish up its long-range missile technology and ramp up the threat against the United States.

• Residents on the Greek island of Lesbos went on strike to protest against European policies they say have turned it into a “prison” for migrants and refugees.

• Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF will discuss the impeachment of President Robert Mugabe, its chief whip said, after a noon deadline expired for the 93-year-old to resign and bring the curtain down on nearly four decades in power.

• Iraq’s Supreme Federal Court ruled a Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum was unconstitutional and the results void, strengthening Baghdad’s hand in a stand-off with the Kurdish region watched closely by neighboring Turkey and Iran.

• The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said he believes he could help Afghan forces drive back the Taliban enough to control at least 80 percent of the country within 2 years, compared with about two-thirds today.

• The top nuclear commander in the U.S. said he would refuse an order to conduct a nuclear strike from President Trump if he thought the launch was illegal.

• After a breakdown in coalition talks plunged the country into political crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she would prefer new elections to leading a minority government.

• An investigation is ongoing after a leak in the major Keystone XL energy pipeline spilled nearly 795,000 litres of oil onto farmland in the US state of South Dakota.

• A regulator in the US state of Nebraska has granted a final permit to build the contentious Keystone XL oil pipeline that has faced staunch opposition for years in both Canada and the US.  

• Robert Mueller is looking for information related to Trump’s firing of FBI director James Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the entire Russia inquiry.

Today In International News: November 17, 2017

Courtesy of Haaretz

• Russia is opposed to a Japanese-drafted United Nations Security council resolution to renew for one month an international inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria.

• North Korea ruled out negotiations with Washington as long as joint U.S-South Korea military exercises continue, and said that Pyongyang’s atomic weapons program would remain as a deterrent against a U.S. nuclear threat.

• Ex-Lebanese Prime Minister, Saad al-Hariri is leaving Riyadh for France, but will not return directly to Beirut after the visit.

• Israel 'willing to share' Iran intelligence with Saudis. Israel has increasingly been making a public alliance with Saudi Arabia following the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president earlier this year.

• Syria's SANA state news agency says an ISIL car bombing has killed at least 20 people and wounded 30 others at a site where displaced families are camped near the city of Deir Az Zor in eastern Syria.

• Iraqi forces say they have recaptured Rawa, the last town in the country controlled by so-called Islamic State.

• An Argentine military submarine with 44 crew members on board was missing at sea, prompting a massive search to locate the vessel which may have suffered a communication error.

• The Trump administration formalized a new policy allowing hunters to bring back parts of African elephants that they killed in Zimbabwe.

• Saudi authorities are striking agreements with some of those detained in an anti-corruption crackdown, asking them to hand over assets and cash in return for their freedom.

• A young Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney, Brett Talley, is sailing through the confirmation process in the Senate for a lifetime seat as a federal district court judge in Alabama, despite the fact that he has no trial experience and has never filed a motion in court.  The American Bar Association gave him the rare “not qualified" rating two days before the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 along party lines to send his nomination to the floor for a vote.

• Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe appeared in public for the first time since the army took charge, as the ruling party made plans to force him to step down after more than 3 decades in power.

• Qatar’s foreign minister criticized “reckless leadership” in the Gulf for a number of crises including the Gulf rift and Lebanon, taking apparent aim at Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Kingdom Purge--Facts Explained

Courtesy of Al-Jazeera

What Happened the Night of November 4, 2017?

• A few hours after the creation of Saudi Arabia's anti-corruption committee >> 
• 32-year-old Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, rounded up a number of opposition within his own royal family-- this list includes but is not limited to: 

• 11 prominent Saudi Arabian princes--some examples include:
• Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal --Billionaire businessman
• MASSIVE shareholder of Apple, Twitter, 21st Century Fox, Citigroup, Uber
• Prince Mutaib bin Abdullah -- Contender for the crown; Former Head of Saudi Arabian National Guard
• Prince Turki bin Abdullah -- Former Governor of Riyadh Province
• Prince Turki bin Nasser Al Saud -- Former Head of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment
• Prince Fahd bin Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Saud -- Former Deputy Defense Minister

• Politicians
• Khaled al-Tuwaijri -- Highest ranking non-prince; former Head of the Royal Court
• Adel Fakeih -- Former Economy and Planning Minister
• Admiral Abdullah bin Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Sultan -- Royal Saudi Navy Commander

• Business men
• Bakr bin Laden -- Half-brother of Osama bin Laden; Chairman of the Saudi Binladin Group
• Mohammed Hussein Al Amoudi -- Billionaire businessman

• Dead
• Prince Mansour bin Muqrin -- Former Deputy Governor of the Asir Region; businessman; son of former Crown Prince
• Muqrin was killed while allegedly attempting to flee the country with his private helicopter when it went down and disappeared from radar on November 5, 2017.

• MBS summoned Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri --
• When Hariri arrived in Riyadh, he promptly resigned his post as Prime Minister in Beirut from Riyadh.

• Riyadh’s private airport was shut down so private planes would not provide an escape.

• Saudi Arabian banks have frozen more than 1,700 domestic accounts as part of the crackdown.

• The Saudi government is targeting cash and assets worth up to $800 billion.

• More than 200 people had been rounded up in the ongoing sweep
• They are being held at the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh.

• The purge has been supported by the:
• Council of Senior Scholars
• Citizens in general >> especially the young

Allegations Include:

• Money laundering

• Bribery

• Extorting officials

• Taking advantage of public office for personal gain

Why Did This Happen--2 THEORIES:

TO CONSOLIDATE POWER>> 

• Experts say that the MBS, who is heir to the throne, is jailing potential rivals to cement his own power.

• MBS wants to secure his own position as the architect of Saudi policy for the remainder of his father’s reign.

•  MBS's arrests are seen as a complete consolidation of control to ALL 3 branches of the security forces --
• Making him the most powerful man in Saudi Arabia since his grandfather, the first King, Ibn Saud.

• The goal?
• To be a fundamental transformation of the Saudi political system--previously based on consensus within the royal family and compromise with the religious establishment--into a more centralized system in which power is more heavily concentrated in the hands of the monarch.

CORRUPTION >>

• Like many petro-states, corruption is rampant in Saudi Arabia>>
• Bribes, embezzlement, and lavish kickbacks have long been an integral part of doing business in the world's richest oil-producing nation.

• Many of those appointed to key positions amassed ASTRONOMICAL wealth>>
• In some cases running into $BILLIONS of dollars far beyond their government salaries.
• Much of it stashed away in offshore accounts.

• MBS wants to send a signal that the old way of doing business is no longer acceptable>>
• Saudi Arabia needs to reform and modernize if it is to survive as a successful nation in the 21st Century.

• The Saudi government would love to get its hands on some of these offshore private assets>>
• Estimated to total as much as $800 billion.

• The country can't afford this in the long run>> 
• It has a young, fast-growing population.
• Needs to find meaningful jobs for them and fund projects that will employ them.

Mohammed bin Salman--Good or Bad?

• The most common description of bin Salman in the international press is “reformer”:  
• Typically described as a young man looking to bring Saudi Arabia into a new age.

• Public rhetoric focuses almost obsessively on the need to move Saudi Arabia away from its dependence on the oil industry and moderate the religious establishment’s brand of Islam.

• April 2015 >> Was the driving force behind Saudi Arabia’s decision to intervene in neighboring Yemen’s civil war in April 2015
• The intervention has largely been a disaster -- thousands dead, millions displaced, and no end to the conflict in sight.

• Yemen has suffered greatly due to a Saudi blockade and airstrikes that have destroyed hospitals, schools, and other civilian infrastructure. 

• Roughly 20 million Yemenis need humanitarian assistance to meet basic needs, out of a prewar population of 28 million. 

• Yemen is now the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, eclipsing even Syria.

• April 2016 >> MBS stripped the religious police of their right to arrest individuals
• A clear attack on the power of Saudi Arabia’s powerful Islamist religious establishment.   

• February 2017 >> The Saudi government launched an ambitious $50 billion investment plan in renewable energy to move away from oil. 

• September 2017 >> Lifted its longtime ban on women driving.

• June 2017 >> He convinced his father to dismiss then-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and appoint him as his father’s new successor.

• July 2017 >> Led a coalition of Gulf monarchies in cutting off economic and diplomatic relations with Qatar.
• An attempt to force Doha, which had been trying to chart a course independent of Riyadh’s influence, in line with his vision for the region. 

• His aggressive approach within the Middle East is popular with the Trump White House--
• President Trump has been openly shifting US policy and rhetoric to align more closely with Saudi Arabia and more strongly against Iran. 

• Ties are also warming on the personal level: 
• In late October 2017 --just a few days before the massive unrest--MBS met with senior Trump aide Jared Kushner in one of many meetings between the 2 men.