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Germany Ceases Arms Exports To Saudi Arabia Indefinitely Due To Political Instability After Death Of King Abdullah

BERLIN — Germany has decided to stop exporting arms to Saudi Arabia, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag said today (Jan 25), citing government sources as saying the kingdom was “too unstable” for it to be receiving deliveries of weapons.

The newspaper said Germany’s national security council, which holds its meetings in secrecy and is made up of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel and seven other ministers, had made the decision on Wednesday.

The German economy ministry declined to comment on the article and said it would publish its report on 2015 arms exports next year. But it added that would only include exports that had been approved, not those which had been declined.

The council members all declined to approve arms export to Saudi Arabia or deferred their decision until further notice, Bild am Sonntag said.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah died on Friday and his successor, King Salman, takes charge at a time of uncertainty in the kingdom. The Middle East is in tumult and the Saudis are nervous about both Iranian influence and the spread of Islamist militants.

In October, a document showed Germany’s national security council approved the export of arms to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other countries in the Middle East. Arms approved for Saudi Arabia included six weapons systems for testing and electronic surveillance equipment.

In contrast, two-thirds of proposed arms export licenses were declined May 2014, according to media reports, including to Arab states.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany was the world’s third-largest arms exporter from 2008-2012, behind the United States and Russia.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 26, 2015
Fighting Between Police And Muslim Rebel Groups in Philippines Results In Death Of At east 30

MANILA – At least 30 people were killed in heavy fighting between police and Muslim rebels in the Philippines on Sunday, military and local officials said, threatening a year-old peace agreement and shattering a ceasefire that held for three years.

The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the largest rebel group in the Philippine south, accepted an autonomy offer in March 2014 from the government, ending 45 years of conflict in which 120,000 people were killed and 2 million displaced.

Under the deal, brokered by Malaysia, the Moro rebels were to surrender their weapons and disband after the government had set up a new autonomous government in the south and granted the Muslim minority wider economic and political power.

But Sunday’s clashes, which lasted nearly 12 hours near Mamasapano town, Maguindanao, are likely to be a major setback in the implementation of the deal as Philippine Congress deliberates a new law on Muslim autonomy.

Army sources said police had entered a Muslim community where MILF and its rival faction, Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, are believed to be operating. The Philippine National Police did not give any statement.

Zacaria Guma, a MILF commander, in a statement said the police did not coordinate with a joint government and rebel ceasefire panel.

Police had wanted to arrest Zulkifli bin Hir, a Malaysian bomb expert who has a $5 million bounty on his head from the U.S. State Department, an army spokesman said.

Local officials in Mamasapano said 27 police officers and five rebels were killed. Seven more police officers were unaccounted for and a further eight captured by Muslim rebels.

The death toll could reach 50 people, most of them from the police, the army sources said. Colonel Restituto Padilla said no army unit was involved but they were helping recover police casualties in the area. Nine had been retrieved.

Government and rebel peace panels are now holding informal talks to defuse tension and prevent the incident from escalating and spilling out and threaten the entire peace process.

The last time the MILF clashed with security force was in November 2011 when troops raided a supposed Islamist militants lair. The peace talks with MILF nearly collapsed then.

Source: www.todayonline.com

January 26, 2015
12 Dead After Violent Clashes Between Police And Islamist Protesters In Egypt

Authorities had tightened security in Cairo and other cities after Islamists called for protests against the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former army chief who ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Demonstrators, mostly Islamist backers of Morsi, clashed with police, leaving 12 protesters dead in Cairo and another in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, a health ministry official told AFP.

Officials said the protester in Alexandria was shot dead by police after he opened fire on them.

Hundreds of other protesters who denounced both Islamists and the government also clashed with police in central Cairo.

The interior ministry said protesters shot dead a police conscript in the clashes in two north Cairo neighbourhoods that are strongholds of Islamist protests. Three other officers were wounded.

At least 150 people were arrested across the country as police dispersed protests which saw many leftwing demonstrators also participating, security officials said.

In downtown Cairo, police fired shotguns and tear gas against hundreds of protesters who tried to march on the central Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the early 2011 revolt that ousted Mubarak.

Armoured vehicles were stationed around Tahrir, but despite extra security in the capital jihadists managed to set off a bomb in Cairo that wounded two policemen.

The interior ministry said the bomb exploded in eastern Cairo’s Alf Maskan neighbourhood, where a similar blast on Friday wounded four policemen and a civilian.

Jihadist group Ajnad Misr (Soldiers of Egypt) claimed both blasts.

Two suspected militants were also killed when they mistakenly blew themselves up in an attempt to sabotage an electricity tower in the Nile Delta province of Baheira, the interior ministry said.

Tensions had surged ahead of the anniversary, and a female demonstrator was killed in clashes with police during a rare leftwing protest in Cairo on Saturday.

Shaima al-Sabbagh, who friends said was 34 and the mother of a five-year-old boy, died of birdshot wounds, a health ministry spokesman said.

Fellow protesters said she was hit by birdshot when police fired to disperse the march. Prosecutors have launched a probe into her death.

An 18-year-old female protester was also killed on Friday in clashes in Alexandria.

Egypt has been gripped by political turmoil since Mubarak’s ouster, and by violent unrest since his successor Morsi was overthrown by then army chief Sisi.

Sisi toppled Morsi in July 2013 and has since led a crackdown on his supporters that has left hundreds dead.

Jihadist militants have in turn regularly targeted security forces, killing scores of policemen and soldiers.

– ‘Funeral of the revolution’ –

Ahead of the anniversary, police had warned they would “decisively” confront protests. Morsi’s supporters often hold small rallies that police quickly disperse.

Cairo’s streets were largely deserted, although a few Sisi supporters gathered outside Tahrir waving Egyptian flags and chanting “Long Live Egypt!”

Plainclothes police checked identity cards and stopped people from heading to the square.

Security was beefed up elsewhere in the capital, with machinegun-wielding police deployed on key streets.

“This is the funeral of the (2011) revolution,” Mamdouh Hamza, a prominent figure from the anti-Mubarak uprising, told an AFP correspondent in central Cairo.

“The murderer kills, and then joins the funeral procession. Nothing has improved or changed since Sisi took over.”

Activists, including those who spearheaded the anti-Mubarak revolt, have accused Sisi of reviving much of Mubarak’s autocratic rule.

Sisi and his supporters deny such allegations, pointing to his widespread popularity and support in Egypt for a firm hand in dealing with protests, which are seen as threatening economic recovery.

The revolt against Mubarak erupted on January 25, 2011, with hundreds of thousands of protesters taking to the streets across Egypt for 18 days until he stepped down.

The anti-Mubarak revolt was fuelled by police abuses and the corruption of the strongman’s three-decade rule, but the police have since regained popularity amid widespread yearning for stability.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

January 26, 2015
Japan PM Speechless After IS Released Video Indicating One Japanese Hostage Killed

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s prime minister said Sunday he was “speechless” after an online video purportedly showed that one of two Japanese hostages of the extremist Islamic State group had been killed, and he demanded the release of the other.

Shinzo Abe told Japanese broadcaster NHK that the video was likely authentic, though he said the government is still reviewing it. Abe offered condolences to the family and friends of Haruna Yukawa, a 42-year-old adventurer taken hostage in Syria last year.

He declined to comment on the message in the latest video, which demanded a prisoner exchange for the other hostage, journalist Kenji Goto. He said only that the government was still working on the situation, and reiterated that Japan condemns terrorism.

“I am left speechless,” he said, stressing he wants Goto released unharmed. “We strongly and totally criticize such acts.”

Yukawa’s father, Shoichi, said he hoped “deep in his heart” that the news of his son’s killing was not true.

“If I am ever reunited with him, I just want to give him a big hug,” he told a small group of journalists invited into his house.

President Barack Obama condemned what he called “the brutal murder” of Yukawa, saying in a statement that the United States stands by Japan and calling for Goto’s release.

The Associated Press could not verify the contents of the message, which varied greatly from previous videos released by the Islamic State group, which now holds a third of both Syria and Iraq.

The Islamic State group had threatened on Tuesday to behead the men within 72 hours unless it received a $200 million ransom. Kyodo News agency reported that Saturday’s video was emailed to Goto’s wife.

Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said U.S. intelligence officials were also working to confirm whether it was authentic.

Abe said after a Cabinet meeting late Saturday that the government of Japan will not succumb to terrorism and will continue to cooperate with the international community in the fight against terrorism.

Japanese diplomats left Syria as the civil war there escalated, compounding the difficulty of reaching the militants holding the hostages.

Abe spoke by phone with Jordanian King Abdullah II on Saturday, the state-run Petra news agency reported, without elaborating on what they discussed. He also called the two hostages’ families.

Goto’s mother, Junko Ishido, told NHK that in the purported message her son “seemed to be taking seriously what may be happening to him as well.”

“I’m petrified,” Ishido said. “He has children. I’m praying he will return soon, and that’s all I want.”

But Ishido also was skeptical about the voice claiming to be Goto. “Kenji’s English is very good. He should sound more fluent,” she said.

Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said the audio was still being studied, but there was no reason to deny the authenticity of the video.

One militant on the Islamic State-affiliated website warned that Saturday’s new message was fake, while another said that the message was intended only to go to the Japanese journalist’s family.

A third militant on the website noted that the video was not issued by al-Furqan, which is one of the media arms of the Islamic State group and has issued past videos involving hostages and beheadings. Saturday’s message did not bear al-Furqan’s logo.

The militants on the website post comments using pseudonyms, so their identities could not be independently confirmed by the AP. However, their confusion over the video matched that of Japanese officials and outside observers.

Japanese officials have not directly said whether they are considering paying any ransom. Japan has joined other major industrial nations in opposing ransom payments. U.S. and British officials said they advised against paying.

Nobuo Kimoto, a business adviser to Yukawa, told NHK: “I was hoping he would be released, or at least that his life would not be taken.”

“I wish this was some kind of a mistake,” he said.

Yukawa was captured last summer, and Goto is thought to have been seized in late October after going to Syria to try to rescue him.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Mari Yamaguchi, Ken Moritsugu, Kaori Hitomi and Elaine Kurtenbach in Tokyo, and White House Correspondent Julie Pace at Ramstein Air Base, Germany contributed to this report.

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/

January 26, 2015
Eric Cantona On Fanaticism, Freedom Of Speech and Charlie Hebdo

Eric Cantona has kept himself busy since retiring from football in 1997. The Manchester United legend has turned his hand to acting and film-making and his latest venture is a documentary titled, “Football and immigration – a 100 years of common history”.

Speaking to euronews to promote his new film, Cantona has shared his thoughts on the issues of immigration and racism, as well as the latest tragedy to befall France, last week’s Charlie Hebdo massacre.

“It’s shocking, it’s very regrettable, but unfortunately it’s not the first time that the freedom of expression has been attacked,” he said.

“In October 1988, the Saint Michel Theater was set on on fire during an attack. Inside there were people watching Martin Scorsese’s film “The Last Temptation of Christ”. The attackers belonged to a Catholic, integralist group and it was in 1988, in France, in Paris. 40 people were injured, four seriously and it was a criminal attack, the aim was to burn alive 50 people.”

“What I want to say is that today, what just happened doesn’t have to be used against Islam. Fanaticism is everywhere, but it concerns just a minority of people. The rest are just simple Catholics, Buddhists, Muslims.

“I think that it’s important to take the long or historical view. If we just focus on current affairs, if we limit our view to today’s news, it’s like things never happened before. It’s important to recall that all this has already occured, it’s already happened with terrorist groups which were not Islamic.”

In the wake of the attack, Cantona said it was important that not all Muslims are tarred with the brush of terrorism.

“The danger would be to say that all Muslims are like that, but I’m convinced that 90% of Muslims feel very uncomfortable today and are ashamed of what’s happened,” he added.

“It’s important not to say, that a Muslim, is “moderate”, if he’s just a citizen like you or me. What does “moderate” mean anyway? Does it mean that Islam is an extremist religion? This is a latent provocation, you see? And it’s very dangerous. We don’t have to paint everybody with the same brush. That’s the danger I think.”

Asked whether he was afraid of the rise of extremism, Cantona suggested that the growth in support for the far right was a reflection of the depressed economic times.

“It seems to me that all this is linked to the economic crisis,” he noted. “It seems to me that if there hadn’t been a crisis in 1929 then Hitler would never have obtained power. And unfortunately, during crises, people fall into despair, they don’t know anymore what to hang on to and all this gives birth to extremism.

“What is dangerous, once again, is to take advantage of the despair of some people, to spread crazy ideas. Those who do it, create and develop hate for political purposes, for power purposes. And I think it’s sad and reprehensible.”

Asked whether football could help with social integration, Cantona said it had a role to play but that away from the pitch, even successful players still suffered discrimination.

“Yes, I think that sport in general, and football in particular, can do it,” he continued. “Because in sport, if you’re better than someone else, you play. This is what is beautiful in sport. What is regrettable, as Tigana says at the end of the documentary, is that as soon as you leave the football field – among managers, or within national football associations, the situation becomes like it is in the rest of society: if the colour of your skin “doesn’t correspond”, you might not have the place that you deserve.

“If in the rest of the society there were models, if youngsters in inner city schools, difficult schools, if only they had successful role models as businessmen, or lawyers who made it… But today they don’t have such models. They don’t exist, because our society is unfair, I think.”

Maverick and outspoken, Cantona continues to chart his own course. Last year he launched a withering attack on UEFA president Michel Platini for his support for the Qatar, but also for the Frenchman’s decision to award the European Under-21 Championships to Israel.

“Blatter begins to say it’s true Qatar is a bad idea, but it was an idea of Platini. It was also Platini who gave the European Championship under-21 in Israel, which is also disrespectful to the level of human rights,” Cantona told Le Parisien.

Source: www.worldsoccer.com

January 25, 2015