| China accuses UN rights chief of inflaming Hong Kong unrest Posted: 30 Nov 2019 05:01 PM PST  China accused the U.N. high commissioner for human rights of emboldening "radical violence" in Hong Kong by suggesting the city's leader conduct an investigation into reports of excessive use of force by police. The U.N. commissioner, Michelle Bachelet, wrote in an opinion piece Saturday in the South China Morning Post that Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's government must prioritize "meaningful, inclusive" dialogue to resolve the crisis.
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| Johnson Plans Major Review of U.K.’s Defense, Foreign Policy Posted: 30 Nov 2019 04:01 PM PST ![Johnson Plans Major Review of U.K.'s Defense, Foreign Policy]( "Johnson Plans Major Review of U.K.'s Defense, Foreign Policy") (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson pledged a full-scale review of Britain's security, defense and foreign policy if his Conservative Party wins this month's election, and called on international leaders meeting in London this week to modernize the way NATO is run.The prime minister wants to evaluate how a vast section of Whitehall will work post-Brexit: from the role of the armed forces and British diplomacy to the legal framework for the nation's security forces, and how to upgrade technology to combat terrorism. The review will be led from Johnson's office at 10 Downing Street, according to a statement on Sunday.His comments, coming days after a terror attack on London Bridge and less than two weeks before the election, are set to sharpen the debate over whether his Conservatives are better placed than the Labour Party to keep the country's citizens safe.Johnson's already promised to stop the automatic early release of people convicted of terror crimes after the suspect in Friday's stabbing rampage was revealed to be out on parole. Many of the latest polls, taken before the attack, show the Tories still leading but with the gap narrowing.With NATO leaders set for what threatens to be a fractious meeting, Johnson emphasized the need for the military alliance to maintain its unity even as he plots for his country to quit the European Union."While we are leaving the EU, we must strengthen cooperation with Europe on security," Johnson said. "The foundation of European security since 1949 has been the NATO and, on its 70th anniversary, we need to modernize it rather than abandon it."Johnson's review plan also adds another leg to his party's manifesto document. Buried on page 48, it promised to set up a commission "to look at the broader aspects of our constitution: the relationship between the Government, Parliament and the courts; the functioning of the Royal Prerogative; the role of the House of Lords; and access to justice for ordinary people."Foreign Minister Dominic Raab went a step further than the PM in linking the need to bolster NATO with the fallout from the London Bridge attack. Calling on all NATO members to pay their way, Raab said the organization needs to forge an even stronger Transatlantic unity of purpose."Ultimately, keeping terror off our streets and deepening our security cooperation with our NATO partners are two sides of the same coin," Raab wrote in the Daily Telegraph.To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Labour Narrows Gap With Ruling Conservatives Ahead of U.K. Vote Posted: 30 Nov 2019 02:38 PM PST ![Labour Narrows Gap With Ruling Conservatives Ahead of U.K. Vote]( "Labour Narrows Gap With Ruling Conservatives Ahead of U.K. Vote") (Bloomberg) -- The Labour Party gained on the ruling Conservatives in four of five polls with two weeks until the U.K. election, with one of them signaling a possible hung parliament.With the vote on Dec. 12, a BMG Research poll for The Independent on Saturday showed support for Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives slipped 2 percentage points to 39%, while backing for Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party jumped 5 points to 33%, the poll said. That 6-point lead is less than half the margin in BMG's Nov. 21 survey. It was the smallest gap among five polls to be published Sunday.Click here for more on the U.K. election and current polls"The shifts we have witnessed in our headline voting intention figures take the Conservative lead from a likely majority into possible hung parliament territory," Robert Struthers, BMG's head of polling, told the Independent.Other polls showed the Tories with a lead as wide as 15 points, with Labour picking up as much as 5 points. One survey showed a 1-point drop for Labour.A Savanta ComRes survey for The Sunday Telegraph put the Conservatives at 43%, up 2 points since last week, and 10 points ahead of Labour, which fell 1 point to 33%. The Brexit Party dropped 1 point to 4%. The Liberal Democrats were unchanged at 13%. ComRes did an online survey Nov. 27-28 among 2,025 people.John Curtice, a polling and election analyst, said in the Telegraph that the findings suggested an "apparent erosion of the Conservative position may now have come to a halt."In the YouGov survey for the Sunday Times, the Tories were unchanged at 43%, but a 2-point gain for Labour put Corbyn's party at 34%. The Liberal Democrats were unchanged at 13% and the Brexit Party lost 2 points, to 2%. Polling was conducted Nov. 28-29 with 1,680 adults.Conservatives had a 15-point lead over Labour in the Opinium survey conducted for The Observer, 46% to 31%, after the opposition gained 3 points. Liberal Democrats were at 13%. The poll interviewed 2,018 U.K. adults nationally Nov. 27-29.The BMG poll is the first to show a significant narrowing of the Conservatives' lead, which had held in double digits for weeks. It contradicts one of the mostly closely watched surveys of the campaign, a YouGov study released last week using a technique that more closely predicted the surprise 2017 election result. That survey showed the Conservatives would win a 68-seat majority in Parliament in the upcoming vote.Dominic Cummings, Johnson's senior adviser who was instrumental in the success of 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, in a blog last week warned the Tories not to be complacent and said there was a "very real possibility" of a hung Parliament.The new BMG poll, which surveyed 1,663 voters Nov. 26-27, also shows a 5-point drop in support for Liberal Democrats, to 13%, while the Brexit Party gained 1 point to 4%.The BMG poll indicates no political fallout from Corbyn's widely criticized BBC interview on Nov. 26, where he avoided apologizing for incidents of anti-Semitism linked to the party. The questions from the BBC came in response to a scathing editorial by the U.K.'s chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, in which he wrote that Corbyn's pledges that the party was confronting anti-Semitism amounted to a "a mendacious fiction" and that he was unfit to lead the U.K.The dust-up distracted Corbyn and Labour from focusing on pledges to overhaul the U.K. economy and expand investment in the health care system that had begun to resonate with voters. He plans to speak about the public health at a rally in Leeds on Saturday and deliver a major speech on foreign policy on Sunday.To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Davis in London at abdavis@bloomberg.net;Giulia Camillo in New York at gcamillo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Giulia Camillo at gcamillo@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Tony CzuczkaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Johnson Seeks Change to Sentencing Rules After Terror Attack Posted: 30 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST ![Johnson Seeks Change to Sentencing Rules After Terror Attack]( "Johnson Seeks Change to Sentencing Rules After Terror Attack") (Bloomberg) -- A majority Conservative government will stop the automatic early release of people guilty of terror crimes, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, levering the fallout from Friday's incident on London Bridge to make law and order one of the key issues before next month's general election.The man who went on a stabbing rampage in the capital has been identified by police as Usman Khan, who was released from prison on parole in December 2018. He was one of nine people convicted in 2012 for offenses ranging from a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange to planning a terrorist training camp.Khan originally received an indeterminate sentence, which was changed on appeal in 2013 to 16 years. Johnson said he was sentenced under laws passed in 2008 that established automatic release. The Labour Party was in power at the time."If you are convicted of a serious terrorist office, there should be a mandatory minimum sentence of 14 years -- and some should never be released," Johnson said in a statement Saturday. "Further, for all terrorism and extremist offenses the sentence announced by the judge must be the time actually services -- these criminals must serve every day of their sentence, with no exceptions."With voters set to go to the polls on Dec. 12, the Conservatives are using the revelation that the attacker was a former convicted terrorist to emphasize what they consider one of their stronger cards -- crime prevention.Johnson, who has pushed for a tougher penal code for months, even indirectly linked Friday's events to the fact that the latest Parliament blocked his minority administration's attempts to drive through his Brexit deal."Due to the broken hung parliament that was preoccupied with blocking Brexit, we could not do more," he said. "We need a government that can act."To contact the reporter on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Linus ChuaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Merkel coalition in balance as ally loses SPD leadership race Posted: 30 Nov 2019 11:22 AM PST  The future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition was thrown into question on Saturday as her deputy chancellor and finance minister lost the leadership race of his centre-left party SPD. The humiliating defeat for Olaf Scholz marks another sign of discontent within the Social Democrats over their partnership with Merkel's centre-right party. Scholz said the party must now "stand behind the new leadership".
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| The SPD's new leaders: an 'anti-Merkel coalition' duo Posted: 30 Nov 2019 11:14 AM PST  Relative unknowns just days ago, Nobert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken were elected Saturday by their centre-left SPD as leaders of the party, junior partner in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government. The duo, branded by German media as the "anti-Merkel coalition" pair, soundly beat Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and his running mate Klara Geywitz.
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| Merkel’s Coalition Shaken to Core By Partner’s Choice of Leader Posted: 30 Nov 2019 11:03 AM PST ![Merkel's Coalition Shaken to Core By Partner's Choice of Leader]( "Merkel's Coalition Shaken to Core By Partner's Choice of Leader") (Bloomberg) -- Germany's Social Democrats threw Chancellor Angela Merkel's government into doubt by electing new leaders who have threatened to pull out of her coalition.SPD members chose a pair of government critics, 67-year-old Norbert Walter-Borjans and lawmaker Saskia Esken, 58, to lead their party instead of a pro-Merkel ticket led by her finance minister, Olaf Scholz. The result may signal the party's willingness to pull out of Germany's grand coalition after years of paying the political costs for keeping the chancellor in office.In his victory speech on Saturday evening, Walter-Borjans insisted he'd rather improve the coalition than pull it down. But he demanded Merkel review her cherished balanced-budget policy to ramp up investment on tackling climate change and on supporting poorer Germans as a condition of his support. Party delegates will vote next weekend on whether to stay in government when they gather for their annual convention."I never said we need to leave," Walter-Borjans said after the results of the election were announced on Saturday evening. "We must improve the policies and perhaps loosen the black zero," he said -- a reference to Merkel's budget pledge.The result pushes 65-year-old Merkel a step closer to the exit after 14 years in power and leaves Europe's biggest economy approaching a crossroads. Growth is faltering and populism is on the rise while Merkel has found herself overshadowed by the hyperactive French President Emmanuel Macron and caught between a hostile U.S. and an increasingly assertive China.The decision signals a prolonged phase of political uncertainty in Germany that could hamper the European Union's efforts to chart a path forward after Brexit and to wield its influence on the global stage.Merkel is due to meet Macron, Donald Trump and other NATO leaders in London next week to confront Turkey over its offensive in Syria and after that she's due to sit down with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Paris to talk about ending the violence in Ukraine.Scholz is supposed to be in Brussels on Wednesday to broker a plan to complete the European banking union. In Berlin's political establishment on Saturday questions were asked as to whether he will stay on as finance minister after losing out by 53% to 48%.After a tumultuous year in which the SPD and Merkel's Christian Democrats both faced intense power struggles and the economy flirted with recession, Germany's political and business elites had hoped for a period of calm and continuity. Indeed, Merkel this week had made an unusual plea to see the alliance through to 2021, saying there was still much to be done.But Walter-Borjans managed to tap the dissatisfaction of many Social Democrats who say their party has abandoned its working-class origins and should leave an alliance with conservatives.BreakupAny breakup may become a drawn out process. In addition to a straight vote on leaving the coalition there will be proposals at the convention setting out conditions for staying, potentially paving the way for prolonged negotiations.Merkel's CDU said on Saturday that it still expects the SPD to honor last year's coalition agreement. CDU Leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer told delegates at its convention in Leipzig last week that she would refuse to renegotiate the coalition agreement that the two factions completed in March 2018.The SPD leadership will also have to weigh the merits of facing a possible snap election when they've slipped to around 14% in the polls. The party is running neck-and-neck with the far-right Alternative for Germany which elected a new co-chair at its own convention in Braunschweig on Saturday.Tino Chrupalla, a 44-year-old tradesman from the former communist East -- where the anti-establishment party enjoys strong support -- gives the group a fresh face. Chrupalla enjoys support of the party's extreme-right wing but took a moderate tone, saying the party didn't need "drastic language" to win conservative voters who feel abandoned by Merkel's bloc\--With assistance from Tony Czuczka, Chris Reiter and Arne Delfs.To contact the reporter on this story: Birgit Jennen in Berlin at bjennen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote Posted: 30 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote]( "UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote") Opponents of the coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won a vote for the leadership of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) on Saturday, raising questions over the future of the government. The SPD said Norbert Walter-Borjans and his running mate Saskia Esken won about 53% of the vote by members. The pair have said they want to renegotiate the coalition deal to focus more on social justice, investment and climate policies.
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| UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPDR leadership vote Posted: 30 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPDR leadership vote]( "UPDATE 1-Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPDR leadership vote") Opponents of the coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel conservatives won a vote for the leadership of Germany's Social Democrats (SPDR) on Saturday, raising questions over the future of the government. The SPDR said Norberto Walter-Borjans and his running mate Saskia Esker won about 53% of the vote by members. If Merkel conservatives refuse to co-operate, it could lead to a snap election or a minority government could be triggered - unappealing options for both the SPDR and conservatives.
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| Future of Merkel's government uncertain after shock victory for Leftists in coalition leadership vote Posted: 30 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  Angela Merkel's political future was hanging in the balance on Saturday evening after the junior party in her coalition government voted to remove its leader. Members of the Social Democrats, Germany's oldest party, caused a political earthquake by electing a new Leftist leadership duo who have threatened to collapse the government. The shock election result will see Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, relative political novices, take power. Olaf Scholz, the current acting leader and Mrs Merkel's finance minister was defeated with his running mate Klara Geywitz. The final result of 53 percent to 45 percent in the poll of 425,00 party members proved a smack in the face for Mr Scholz, a centrist who has made much of his working relationship with Mrs Merkel. Given that almost the entire Bundestag faction backed Mr Scholz, the result also raises questions about how the winning duo plan to work with hostile MPs. The result is a blow for Merkel, who is serving her last term Credit: ODD ANDERSEN/AFP Ms Esken and Mr Walter-Borjans made clear during hustings that they are not prepared to remain in a coalition with the veteran Chancellor unless her party accede to a series of high-stakes demands, including extra billions in spending on infrastructure and a hike in the minimum wage. The choice of whether to negotiate or not lies outside Ms Merkel's hands. After handing over the party leadership to her protege Annagrete Kramp-Karrenbauer last year, her future rests on whether the younger woman is prepared to talk, something she has shown no intention of doing. Already walking a tightrope between compromising with centre-left policies and placating their restive base, the CDU have little room for manoeuvre. In recent days Ms Kramp-Karrenabuer warned the coalition deal would "certainly not be renegotiated." The SPD's new leadership still needs to be confirmed by delegates at party conference next weekend, where they will also flesh out demands for the future coalition with the CDU. If no agreement can be reached the CDU will have to decide whether to continue as a minority government or call fresh elections. Ms Merkel has made clear she will not run again at the next election. With both parties slumping in the polls, pundits speculate that neither side is relishing the prospect of early elections. Speaking after the result, Mr Walter-Borjans emphasised that the task ahead of them was to reach out to moderates, saying "this is not about winning or losing. Our common task is to bring this great party together." Wounded by an election rout in 2017, the SPD had initially sought to go into opposition, but allowed itself reluctantly to be coaxed into renewing an alliance with Mrs Merkel. Many within the party however remained wary of continuing to govern in Mrs Merkel's shadow, and the coalition has lurched from crisis to crisis. The SPD has also been battered by a series of regional and European election setbacks this year. The leadership race was triggered by the departure of the party's previous leader, Andrea Nahles, after the party's poor showing in European Parliament elections.
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| Blow to Merkel coalition as ally loses SPD leadership race Posted: 30 Nov 2019 09:35 AM PST Germany's Deputy Chancellor and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Saturday lost the leadership race of his centre-left SPD party, throwing the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition into question. Scholz and his running mate Klara Geywitz obtained only 45.33 percent of the vote of the party's rank and file, soundly beaten by challengers Norbert Walter-Borjans und Saskia Esken, who won with 53.06 percent. The humiliating loss for Scholz marks another sign of discontent within the Social Democrats over their partnership with Merkel's centre-right party.
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| The Latest: Merkel’s partners choose left-leaning leadership Posted: 30 Nov 2019 09:15 AM PST ![The Latest: Merkel's partners choose left-leaning leadership]( "The Latest: Merkel's partners choose left-leaning leadership") Members of Germany's junior governing party have chosen Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Eskenn as its new co-leaders, a decision that raises new questions about the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's government. The left-leaning duo beat the rival team of Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz in a runoff ballot of the Social Democrats' members. Results released Saturday showed that Scholz and Geywitz won 53% support.
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| Crowd in DRC lynches two suspected militants as UN envoy visits Posted: 30 Nov 2019 09:14 AM PST  A crowd in eastern DR Congo on Saturday lynched two people they suspected of being members of a militia blamed for the killing of more than 100 civilians over the past month, an AFP journalist said. The killings came on the same day that the United Nations peacekeeping chief visited eastern DR Congo where anti-UN protests have erupted since the militia attacks. Munitions were found in the bags of the two people, a man and a woman dressed in civilian clothes, in the town of Beni.
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| Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote Posted: 30 Nov 2019 09:10 AM PST ![Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote]( "Critics of Merkel coalition win German SPD leadership vote") Two sharp opponents of the coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives won a vote for the leadership of Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) on Saturday, raising questions over the future of the government. The SPD said Norbert Walter-Borjans and his running mate Saskia Esken won about 53% of the vote by members.
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| Iraqi Premier Calls on Parliament to Accept His Resignation Posted: 30 Nov 2019 08:45 AM PST ![Iraqi Premier Calls on Parliament to Accept His Resignation]( "Iraqi Premier Calls on Parliament to Accept His Resignation") (Bloomberg) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi called on parliament to accept his resignation and move quickly to find a successor, saying the country needs a new leader to end two months of violent, anti-government protests."I have no doubt that the council and its members will be diligent in finding a suitable replacement as soon as possible as the country in its current state can't rely on a daily caretaker government," he said during a meeting with the National Security Council broadcast on Al Arabiya TV.The initial announcement Friday that he would step down sparked celebrations in the capital, Baghdad, and rallies in the southern city of Basra as protesters welcomed the apparent climb down. Mahdi, who's backed by neighboring power Iran, had offered to quit earlier but then insisted he'd only go once lawmakers agreed on a replacement.On Friday, the prime minister said that once he departs, parliament can "review its options and act to preserve the interests of Iraq." The alternative could be a "vortex of violence, chaos and destruction," he said.His move followed a call from an influential Shiite cleric for lawmakers to promptly hold "free and honest" elections to prevent the OPEC member from slipping into deeper chaos.Sheikh Ahmed Al-Safi, who speaks on behalf of Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, also renewed calls for officials to end the violent crackdown against protesters a day after security forces killed at least 25 people and wounded scores more in the southern city of Nassiriya, and demonstrators burned Iran's consulate in the holy city of Najaf.Iraq will "pay dearly" for any delay by parliament in holding elections that "express the people's will," Al-Safi said in a Friday sermon.At least 380 people have died in clashes between security forces and protesters since Oct. 1, Ali Al-Bayyati, a member of Iraq's independent High Human Rights Commission, said in a text message.Violence Against Iraqi Protesters Is Rising, Rights Group SaysIraqis, mostly from the Shiite majority population, are protesting against government corruption, poor services, and wide-ranging Iranian political influence, calling for an overhaul of the ruling class.To contact the reporters on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.net;Souhail Karam in Rabat at skaram10@bloomberg.net;Nadeem Hamid in Washington at nhamid3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Andrew Davis, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New Strawberry-Flavored HIV Drugs for Babies Are Offered at $1 a Day Posted: 30 Nov 2019 07:19 AM PST  About 80,000 babies and toddlers die of AIDS each year, mostly in Africa, in part because their medicines come in hard pills or bitter syrups that are very difficult for small children to swallow or keep down.But on Friday, the Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla announced a new, more palatable pediatric formulation. The new drug, called Quadrimune, comes in strawberry-flavored granules the size of grains of sugar that can be mixed with milk or sprinkled on baby cereal. Experts said it could save the lives of thousands of children each year."This is excellent news for all children living with HIV," said Winnie Byanyima, the new executive director of UNAIDS, the United Nations agency in charge of the fight against the disease. "We have been eagerly waiting for child-friendly medicines that are easy to use and good to taste."Cipla revolutionized the provision of AIDS drugs for adults almost two decades ago, pricing them at $1 a day. The new pediatric formulation will likewise be priced at $1 a day. The announcement by Cipla and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, an offshoot of Doctors Without Borders that supported the development of the drug, was timed to coincide with World AIDS Day, which is Sunday.Despite big advances in the prevention of mother-child transmission of HIV, about 160,000 children are still born infected each year, according to UNAIDS, mostly in the poorest towns and villages of Africa. Almost half of them die before age 2, usually because they have no access to drugs or cannot tolerate them.Quadrimune is still under review by the Food and Drug Administration, and FDA approval almost inevitably leads to rapid certification by the World Health Organization. The company hopes to get a decision by May.Trials in healthy adults showed that the new formulation gets the drugs into the blood; the four drugs in it were approved in the 1990s and are used in many combinations.A clinical trial in HIV-infected infants, run by Epicentre, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders, is now underway in Uganda to prove to African health ministries that children accept the new formulation. Most of the research costs have been paid by UNITAID, a Geneva-based organization set up by France, Norway, Brazil and some other countries which imposed special taxes on airline flights that are dedicated to bettering global health.Currently, the most common pediatric drug combination includes a syrup that is 40% alcohol, has a bitter metallic taste that lingers for hours and must be transported in cold trucks and then kept in a refrigerator -- something that many poor rural families do not own."Some families try to bury it in wet sand or dirt to keep it cool," said Dr. Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the neglected diseases initiative. "And the children are vomiting it on a regular basis."Moreover, each drug must be squirted into a child's mouth with a separate syringe, so a mother must have up to four syringes on hand and clean them for each subsequent use. Children generally have to take the medicines twice a day for the first four years of life. When liquid versions are unavailable, some pills cannot be crushed and mixed in juice; they must be swallowed whole.In contrast, Quadrimune contains four HIV drugs: ritonavir, lopinavir, abacavir and lamivudine. The granules are coated first in a polymer that does not melt until it reaches the stomach, and then with sweet, fruity flavoring.Dr. Kogie Naidoo, who heads treatment research at Caprisa, an AIDS treatment and research group based in Durban, South Africa, who was not involved in Quadrimune's development, said the new formulation could solve many problems she and her colleagues encounter while treating children.Cipla, founded in 1935, was the first generic drug company to offer HIV drugs in Africa. In 2001, its chairman, Yusuf K. Hamied, upended the global pharmaceutical industry by offering to supply a three-drug combination to Doctors Without Borders for $1 a day.At the time, multinational drug companies were charging up to $15,000 for their regimens and refusing to lower prices except in secret negotiations with a few countries and were working to block generic competitors from the market. An estimated 25 million Africans were then infected and thousands were dying every day. (The industry was also suing South Africa's president, Nelson Mandela, over a law he had signed authorizing the government to cancel drug patents and award them to generic-makers.)In 2001, Hamied said he was losing money at the $350 a year price; his break-even point was $600, he said, and he offered it to other buyers for that.But he said he acceded to requests from AIDS activists for the $1 a day price to deliver a shock to his Western competitors and because such a nice round figure was likely to make headlines (a gambit he is clearly repeating now).In the decades since, increased generic competition has driven the price of triple therapy in poor countries to below $100 a year."Over the past 20 years, Cipla has pioneered fixed-dose combinations for children and I do believe our Quadrimune could be a winner," Hamied said in an interview this week.Because all four drugs in the formulation are older and no longer patented, Cipla might eventually offer it in wealthy countries too, he said. But that market is quite small because most pregnant women in the West are tested for HIV and immediately put on antiretroviral drugs, which reduces to near zero the chances that they will infect their babies in the womb, during birth or through breastfeeding.The $1 a day price is for Quadrimune doses appropriate for children of between 20 and 30 pounds, he noted, so the cost for newborns would be even lower.Paradoxically, treating infants with HIV has actually become harder in recent years than it was two decades ago.In the early 2000s, Cipla produced Triomune Baby and Triomune Junior, two pediatric formulations of the world's first adult three-in-one pill, introduced in 2001.But they contained nevirapine, a drug that in those days was often given to pregnant women to prevent mother-child transmission. As a result, many babies were born with nevirapine-resistant forms of the virus, and the efficacy of pediatric Triomune fell by about half, Pecoul said.Some nevirapine substitutes that work in adults do not work well in children and the combination that does work has the bitter taste.Nowadays, many pediatric HIV specialists are frustrated that they cannot prescribe some of the newest drugs, such as tenofovir and dolutegravir, because there is little or no data on how safe they are in small children. The major drugmakers have little incentive to test their products in children because there are so few customers who can pay high prices.If a child's virus develops resistance to any regimen, a new one must be tried, so more research is needed, said Naidoo, the AIDS researcher in Durban.But by any measure, she said, Cipla's new, gentler formulation for children is a major advance: "This is indeed great news for treating pediatric HIV."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| 10 things you need to know today: November 30, 2019 Posted: 30 Nov 2019 06:50 AM PST ![10 things you need to know today: November 30, 2019]( "10 things you need to know today: November 30, 2019") 1.A 28-year-old man who had previously been jailed for his role in a plot to blow up the London Stock Exchange in 2012 carried out a stabbing attack at London Bridge that resulted in the deaths of a man and a woman Friday and injuries to three others. Police believe that Usman Khan, who is affiliated with an al-Qaida-inspired terrorist group, acted alone in the attack, which is considered a terrorist incident. Khan was shot dead by police after civilians restrained him. Khan was reportedly wearing a GPS police tag and was out on parole. Police are now investigating how he was able to launch the attack despite authorities monitoring his movements. Police confirmed that, prior to the attack, Khan was attending a Cambridge University conference on prisoner rehabilitation. [BBC, The Guardian] 2.President Trump has until Dec. 6 to alert the House Judiciary Committee if his counsel intends to call witnesses and introduce evidence in the committee's upcoming impeachment hearings as the inquiry transitions away from the House Intelligence Committee to the judiciary panel. Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) set the deadline in a letter sent to the president Friday. Nadler also set the same deadline for Republican lawmakers on the Democrat-led committee to let him know about any intended witnesses and evidence they wish to involve in the hearings. The lawmakers will then have a meeting on Dec. 9. Trump has also been invited to attend the committee's initial hearing scheduled for Dec. 4. He must decide by Sunday evening if he will accept. It is unclear how Trump or his counsel will respond to either request. [Reuters, The Washington Post] 3.Neither the Taliban nor the Afghan government indicated the sides were close to a cease-fire agreement, despite President Trump's assertion while visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan for Thanksgiving on Thursday that the Taliban was ready to strike a deal. "We are ready to talk, but we have the same stance to resume the talks from where it was suspended," the Taliban said in a statement in response to Trump's announcement. Talks between Washington and the Taliban sputtered in September without any formal conclusion. Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani, said "it is too early to comment on any changes or any perceived changes" in negotiations. [The Washington Post, The New York Times] 4.Danielle Stella, a Republican challenging Rep. Ilhan (D-Minn.) for her Congressional seat, had her Twitter account permanently suspended for repeatedly violating the social media platform's rules, a Twitter spokesperson said. Most notably, Stella wrote Tuesday that Omar should be tried for treason and "hanged" if a baseless claim that the congresswoman passed sensitive information to Iran was proven to be true. She reportedly later added a link to a blog post that included a drawing of a stick figure being hanged. Omar said Stella's tweets are the "natural results of a political environment where anti-Muslim dogwhistles and dehumanization are normalized by an entire political party and its media outlets." [CNN, Fox News] 5.About 1,000 secondary school students and senior citizens joined together for a peaceful march Saturday in Hong Kong as part of the city's pro-democracy, anti-government movement. It was the first of several rallies planned for the weekend, as protesters continue to push back against what they consider to be police brutality and unlawful arrests. The demonstration was reportedly organized to show that Hong Kong's demands for freedom and democracy are cross-generational. Police authorized the march, which took place a week after the pro-democracy movement dominated the polls in Sunday's elections, taking 17 of the city's 18 district councils. One student said it was "inspiring to see that we are all striving for the same ideologies" despite the age gap. [The South China Morning Post, Reuters] 6.Two 15-year-old girls and a 13-year-old boy were injured Friday by a male suspect in a stabbing attack Friday in the Dutch city, The Hague. The victims have since been released from the hospital. The attack took place in the city's main market square while shoppers were out during Black Friday, which led to unusually large crowds. Police are still hunting for the suspect, and the motive remains unclear. An earlier description of the suspect was later rendered incorrect. Police have asked for patience and said that the complexity of the case means it will take time. [BBC, Deutsche Welle] 7.The initial public offering from Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco has drawn total bids of $44.3 billion so far from retail and institutional investors, about 1.7 times the amount the kingdom plans to reel in. The sale is on pace to be the world's largest listing when it formally prices next week. Most of the bids came from Saudi investors, however, hinting that international investors are wary about the state-owned company's valuation of $1.6 to $1.7 trillion set by the government. The Saudi government is aiming to sell a 1.5 percent stake and raise $25.6 billion, which would beat out Alibaba's $25 billion IPO in 2014. The IPO is a central part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's plan to diversify the Saudi economy. [Al Jazeera, The Wall Street Journal] 8.Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Friday announced his resignation following Wednesday's firebombing of the Iranian consulate in Najaf and weeks of antigovernment protests that have left hundreds dead. In a statement, Mahdi said that his decision would allow Iraq to "preserve the blood of its people, and avoid slipping into a cycle of violence, chaos, and devastation," although his successor has not been named. At least 400 protesters have been killed since the beginning of October, with 40 shot dead by security forces in three cities Thursday and early Friday. [The New York Times] 9.A massive winter storm that has already prompted warnings from Arizona to Wisconsin will be lumbering east in coming days, almost certainly interfering with Thanksgiving return-travel plans for millions. By the time it's finished, the storm, created by the same conditions that caused the "bomb cyclone" in California and Arizona earlier in the week, could pummel an area stretching from the Sierra Nevadas to New England — where a nor'easter is predicted to begin on Sunday night. [The Washington Post] 10.Arizona Cardinals cornerback Josh Shaw received an indefinite suspension from the NFL that will at least last through the 2020 season for betting on NFL games multiple times this season. Shaw has not played for the Cardinals this season after landing on injured reserve in August following a shoulder injury. As a result, he reportedly hasn't been around the team very much during the season. The league did not find that Shaw used any inside information to bet on games or that any game was compromised. Shaw's teammates and coaches were also reportedly unaware of his gambling and were not involved. Betting on football is prohibited for anyone who works for the NFL in any capacity. Shaw is the first player to be suspended for gambling by the league in 36 years. [ESPN, CBS Sports]More stories from theweek.com God's gift to America? 5 scathingly funny cartoons about the Trump-ified GOP Democrats are running into Trump's economic buzzsaw
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| UN peacekeeping chief visits restive eastern DR Congo after protests Posted: 30 Nov 2019 05:47 AM PST The United Nations peacekeeping chief arrived on Saturday in eastern DR Congo where anti-UN protests have erupted after militia attacks that have left more than 100 people dead since the start of the month. The arrival of UN Under-Secretary General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix in Beni came several days after an angry mob stormed a UN base in the town in protest over a perceived failure of peacekeepers to stop militia violence.
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| Iran opposition leader compares supreme leader to shah Posted: 30 Nov 2019 05:16 AM PST  A long-detained opposition leader in Iran on Saturday compared a bloody crackdown on those protesting government-set gasoline prices rising under its supreme leader to soldiers of the shah gunning down demonstrators in an event that led to the Islamic Revolution. The comments published by a foreign website represent some of the harshest yet attributed to Mir Hossein Mousavi, a 77-year-old politician whose own disputed election loss in 2009 led to the widespread Green Movement protests that security forces also put down. Mousavi's remarks not only compare Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the toppled monarch whom Khamenei to this day refers to as a tyrant.
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| London Knife Attack Overshadows U.K. Election: Weekend Reads Posted: 30 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn agreed to pause their election activities in the capital after a man killed two people in a knife attack in the London Bridge area yesterday afternoon. Police shot dead the 28-year-old assailant, who'd been released from prison on parole a year ago after a 2012 terrorism conviction. The assault came as a hotly anticipated YouGov poll showed Johnson's Conservatives are likely to win a comfortable majority in parliament in the Dec. 12 general election that will allow him to take the U.K. out of the European Union. Elsewhere, the leaders of the world's two biggest economies have been sparring again, with China warning it may retaliate against the U.S. after President Donald Trump signed bills backing Hong Kong's protesters just as they're close to reaching agreement on the first stage of a trade deal. Dig deeper into these and other topics and take a look at some of Bloomberg's most compelling political photos from the past week. Terrorist Kills Two in London, Putting Vote Campaign on HoldA man previously jailed on terrorism charges killed two people in a knife attack in the heart of London yesterday, disrupting the U.K.'s general election campaign. Jessica Shankleman, Greg Ritchie and Kitty Donaldson report.The Big Question on Hong Kong: How Will China Hit Back at Trump?China is threatening to retaliate against the U.S. for supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. But its failure to flesh out the details despite having weeks to prepare shows the difficulties Beijing faces in hitting the U.S. without also hurting its own economy. Personal Income Booms in States With Decisive Role in 2020 RacePersonal income growth has been surging in some U.S. political battlegrounds, including a third of the counties in Pennsylvania, which Donald Trump narrowly won in 2016. Alex Tanzi and Wei Lu explain that Trump's re-election campaign will appeal to those who are seeing the benefits of growth. Rudy Giuliani Has Curious Links to a Jewish Village in UkraineIt doesn't look like much: a muddy site roughly four football fields long with a dozen buildings on the grim outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. But as Stephanie Baker and Daryna Krasnolutska report, Anatevka has at least a walk-on role in the Trump impeachment drama. Chile's Billionaire President's Legacy Swept Away by UnrestChilean President Sebastian Pinera has watched his political agenda go up in smoke during the biggest street protests and riots since the return of democracy in 1990. Philip Sanders writes that his promises to expand the private pension system, cut taxes for the rich and clamp down on crime have been swept away.Europe's Last Soviet Economy Approaches Its 'Hour of Reckoning'Call it the Belarus exception. Almost 28 years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this deeply cautious nation of 9.5 million has kept alive many of the industrial jobs and social ecosystems that centrally planned factory budgets once supported across the bloc. Marc Champion and Aliaksandr Kudrytski explain.China Avoids Calls for Bold Action as Climate Warnings EscalateAs the United Nations warns that countries must do more to stave off the worst impacts of climate change, the world's biggest carbon emitter, China, has little to offer in the way of stronger action. The Man Stoking Nationalism in India Could Succeed Modi One DayAmit Shah has been a behind-the-scenes soldier for India's Hindu right for more than three decades. Fresh from having helped Narendra Modi secure to a second landslide win in national elections, Bibhudatta Pradhan writes, Shah's increasingly public profile has raised questions about whether he might one day look to succeed the prime minister. Erdogan Plots an Overhaul of Political Realm as Challenges MountWith his rivals running Turkey's most important cities and ex-allies who helped build his political empire on the verge of becoming opponents, it's time for a rethink for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As Firat Kozok and Selcan Hacaoglu report, his party is planning a "grand congress" to rejuvenate decision-making by electing younger officials and women. And finally … Europe's winemakers are facing major challenges from rising temperatures and extreme weather events associated with climate change, Stefan Nicola, Charles Penty and Megan Durisin report. "You have to reinvent yourself every year," says Almudena Alberca, technical director at Spain's Grupo Bodegas Palacios 1894. Some 15,000 diplomats and environmentalists are meeting in Madrid next week to discuss the threats posed by climate change at a United Nations conference. To contact the author of this story: Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Winfrey at mwinfrey@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iraqi PM formally submits resignation amid more violence Posted: 30 Nov 2019 04:50 AM PST  Three anti-government protesters were shot dead and at least 58 others wounded in Baghdad and southern Iraq on Saturday, security and medical officials said, as Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi formally submitted his resignation to parliament. Lawmakers were expected to either vote or accept outright Abdul-Mahdi's resignation letter in a parliamentary session Sunday, two members of parliament said. The prime minister announced Friday he would hand parliament his resignation amid mounting pressure from mass anti-government protests, a day after more than 40 demonstrators were killed by security forces in Baghdad and southern Iraq.
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| Relic thought to be from Jesus’ manger arrives in Bethlehem Posted: 30 Nov 2019 04:47 AM PST  A tiny wooden relic that some Christians believe to be part of Jesus' manger arrived Saturday in its permanent home in the biblical city of Bethlehem 1,400 years after it was sent to Rome as a gift to the pope. Sheathed in an ornate case, cheerful crowds greeted the relic with much fanfare before it entered the Franciscan Church of St. Catherine next to the Church of the Nativity, the West Bank holy site where tradition says Jesus was born. The return of the relic by the Vatican was a spirit-lifting moment for the Palestinians.
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| Your Weekend Reading: The Upper Hand Posted: 30 Nov 2019 04:30 AM PST ![Your Weekend Reading: The Upper Hand]( "Your Weekend Reading: The Upper Hand") (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive a daily news briefing, including this weekend edition, in your inbox every day? Sign up hereMarkets seem to suggest the U.S. has the upper hand in its trade war while financial warning signs flash across China. The world is waiting to see how Beijing will hit back after President Donald Trump signed Congressional legislation in support of Hong Kong democracy protesters. In the U.K., Boris Johnson is planning what's being called a "form of Trumpian protectionism." Only, he doesn't want any help from its namesake in the coming election.The U.K. general election on Dec. 12 is all about Brexit. Subscribe to our daily newsletter, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our podcast.What you'll want to read this weekendThe window for action on climate change may be closing. China isn't doing much to address its status as the world's biggest carbon emitter. But America's beef industry, a massive driver of global warming, is hoping to wash away some of its image to look more green.Holiday sales are upon us but don't believe the hype. Maybe ditch the whole thing and save the world. For Bitcoin fans, November was bad news. For bankrupt Barneys New York, this was the last Black Friday.The CFA exam is known as Wall Street's toughest test, but not for some. As for the U.S. college admissions scandal, one judge isn't buying this dean's defense.Looking for somewhere to live in Europe? Germany and Austria top a ranking of financial well-being. But for American expats, taxes are a nightmare.Take a look inside the cloak-and-dagger operation that whisked Trump off to Afghanistan for a Thanksgiving photo-op. It's a short reprieve from his impeachment crisis, though. Trump's personal lawyer, Rudulph Giuliani, has links to a village in Ukraine that are curious to say the least.What you'll need to know next weekImpeachment hearings move to the House Judiciary committee. International leaders gather in Madrid for climate talks. Everyone is arguing even before they get to the NATO summit. Saudi Aramco's rocky IPO is set to price. OPEC ministers are expect to stick to the status quo.What you'll want to see in Bloomberg GraphicsThe billionaire playgrounds of Jackson Hole and Aspen are getting richer. Per-capita income in Teton County, Wyoming, topped $250,000, the only county to have done so in data going back to 1969.To contact the author of this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Germany: Merkel’s partners choose left-leaning leadership Posted: 30 Nov 2019 04:18 AM PST  Members of Germany's junior governing party have chosen a left-leaning duo as its new leaders, a decision that could endanger the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's troubled coalition. Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken beat the rival team of Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Klara Geywitz in a runoff ballot of the Social Democrats' members, according to results announced Saturday. Walter-Borjans and Esken won the support of 53% of members who voted, with just over 45% supporting their rivals.
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| America's troubled alliance with Ukraine Posted: 30 Nov 2019 03:35 AM PST ![America's troubled alliance with Ukraine]( "America's troubled alliance with Ukraine") How did the U.S. become so involved with this former Soviet republic? Here's everything you need to know:How did modern Ukraine emerge? Ukraine's history is intertwined with Russia's. Both cultures descend from the medieval Slavic empire Kievan Rus, founded by Vikings in the 9th century with a capital where Kyiv stands today. After the empire was overrun by Mongol invaders in the 13th century, the Rus leadership moved northeastward, to a small trading outpost called Moscow. The lands around Kyiv were carved up by competing powers, who prized the fertile plains and rich, dark soil that later earned Ukraine the nickname "the breadbasket of Europe." Poland and Lithuania dominated the country for hundreds of years, but by the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire had taken the eastern lands, while the western were controlled by the Austro-Hungarian Empire -- a division that resonates to this day. Both empires collapsed at the end of World War I, and in 1917 a Ukrainian state was declared, but it was quickly swallowed by the communist Soviet Union. It was only in 1991, after the Soviet Union dissolved, that the modern borders of Ukraine were established. Russia has never really accepted Ukraine's independence, and Ukraine has been careening between pro-Western and pro-Russian leaders ever since.Why do Russians still see it as theirs? The cultural and Orthodox religious ties between the two peoples go back centuries. But perhaps more importantly, Russia has no natural mountain or river borders to protect its western front, and it has long seen Ukraine as a vital strategic buffer. "Russia without Ukraine is a country," explains Daniel Drezner, an international politics professor at Tufts University. "Russia with Ukraine is an empire." Russian President Vladimir Putin wants at all costs to keep Ukraine out of the European Union and NATO, and he has used Ukraine's dependence on Russian natural gas as a weapon -- cutting off supplies in 2006 as Ukrainians froze in the winter cold. Ukraine is bitterly divided between Ukrainian speakers in the west, who mostly want to align their country with the West, and Russian speakers in the east.Why did the U.S. get involved? Since 1991, the U.S. has sought to guarantee Ukraine's independence and security, seeing it as a key bridge between East and West. When the USSR dissolved, Ukraine inherited the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, with some 1,900 strategic nuclear weapons pointed at the United States. Keen to avoid a proliferation of nuclear powers, the U.S., U.K., and Russia in 1994 signed the Budapest Memorandum, which transferred the weapons to Russia in exchange for a commitment by Washington, Moscow, and London to "respect the independence and sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine" and to "refrain from the threat or use of force" against it. Russia continued meddling in Ukrainian politics, though, and overtly broke the treaty in 2014.What did Russia do? Ukraine's 2004 election was a showdown between pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko and pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych. During the campaign, Yushchenko was disfigured by dioxin poisoning widely attributed to Russia, and after the vote was rigged for Yanukovych, Ukrainians rose up in the Orange Revolution, which culminated in a revote and a victory for Yushchenko. In the 2010 election, though, Yanukovych came roaring back to win the presidency with the help of both Russia and American political consultant Paul Manafort. In 2013, Moscow forced Yanukovych to cancel the country's bid to move closer to the EU, leading to an uprising that forced Yanukovych out. In the tumult that ensued, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and later sent troops into Ukraine's eastern regions to start a separatist war. The Obama administration punished Russia with sanctions, but chose not to send weapons to Ukraine out of fear of triggering a larger war.How is the war going? Armed by Russia and supported by Russian paramilitaries, two Russian-speaking Ukrainian regions collectively called the Donbass declared independence in 2014 and have been fighting with Ukraine ever since. An estimated 13,000 people have been killed and some 1.5 million displaced. In 2018, then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other aides persuaded a reluctant President Trump to send $400 million in military aid to Kyiv, including counter-artillery radar systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles. Without that aid, Mariya Omelicheva of the Pentagon's National Defense University told The Atlantic, the 300-mile-long front line in the eastern Donbass region "would have been moved further west into Ukraine, and Russia-backed rebels would have controlled more Ukrainian territory." That's why the possibility of U.S. aid being held up -- the subject of the impeachment inquiry -- is so important to Ukraine. Ukraine's new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, finds himself caught in a struggle between Democrats and Trump -- who has reportedly been echoing Vladimir Putin's claim that Ukraine is corrupt and "not a real country."Americans cash in As Ukraine emerged from communism and struggled to build a rule-of-law economy, politically connected Americans saw ways to make money. Paul Manafort, President Trump's former campaign manager, earned at least $13 million -- and possibly much more -- working for pro-Russian Ukrainian oligarchs. His consultancy for a pro-Russian party that tried to undermine the U.S. alliance with Ukraine was crucial to the triumph of Yanukovych in the 2010 election. Manafort is now serving 7½ years in prison for tax fraud over those earnings. Joe Biden's son Hunter joined the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company, in 2014 at a reported salary of tens of thousands of dollars a month, although there is no indication that either Biden broke any laws. Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, the president's personal lawyer, had a 2017 security-consulting contract with the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and in 2018 he began working with two Soviet-born American executives, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, Republican donors who wanted to sell gas to Ukraine. Federal prosecutors have indicted Parnas and Fruman for illegal campaign contributions and are now reportedly investigating whether Giuliani "stood to profit personally from a Ukrainian natural-gas business" pushed by those two men.More stories from theweek.com God's gift to America? 5 scathingly funny cartoons about the Trump-ified GOP Democrats are running into Trump's economic buzzsaw
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| UN tries to cut numbers at EU-funded migrant center in Libya Posted: 30 Nov 2019 02:42 AM PST ![UN tries to cut numbers at EU-funded migrant center in Libya]( "UN tries to cut numbers at EU-funded migrant center in Libya") The U.N. refugee agency plans to cut the number of migrants staying at an overcrowded transit center in Libya's capital, a spokesman said Saturday. Libya is a major waypoint for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to Europe. "The situation is very difficult, and we do not have the resources" because the center in Tripoli is at about twice its capacity, with some 1,200 migrants, Charlie Yaxley, a UNHCR spokesman, told The Associated Press.
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| Syria Faces a New Foreign Invasion: Travel Bloggers Posted: 30 Nov 2019 02:03 AM PST  Niels van Gijn/GettyBarefoot, ecstatic, and in high definition, Eva zu Beck, a 28-year-old travel vlogger from Poland with an impressive social media following and sponsorship deal with Samsung, walks across a courtyard in one of the city's most "iconic" spots. "People here are really kind and really, really generous," she raves in a video now watched more than half a million times. She samples old-world delights at a hole-in-the-wall bakery, and tastes what looks to be pistachio ice cream at a bustling market, or "souk" as it's known in Damascus. Curious young boys surround her, an attraction in her own right—a tourist in a country better known for producing refugees. "It's too much," she exclaims, a keffiyeh in the style of the Syrian flag draped around her neck.Eva, who graduated from Oxford before working as a social media professional at a media startup in London, wasn't in Syria to do journalism, work for the United Nations, or—in a break from past visitors—express solidarity with Bashar al-Assad, whose regime responded to a mass uprising in 2011 by releasing terrorists, shooting civilians, and burning the country. No, she's an oddity in a country still very much at war: a tourist, one of several adventure-seekers with a high-profile presence on YouTube and Instagram who have recently gone on excursions in this blood-soaked part of the Levant."I have been to other places that, potentially, you could say have 'viral potential' or whatever you want to call it," Eva told The Daily Beast. Iran. Iraqi Kurdistan. But, when going far off the beaten path, for a Western travel blogger, she said the motive isn't money. "I went to Syria because I am personally interested in the country," having met Syrians who told her about a homeland they themselves cannot visit, she said, "not because I was thinking about [YouTube] views or anything like that."Such a trip would not be unusual in 2010, when 8.5 million tourists reportedly visited Syria. "Discover wonderful old Damascene houses, admire the mesmerizing gold mosaics of Umayyad Mosque, or savour the silence of the Palmyra ruins," states a travel guide from Lonely Planet, last updated more than a decade ago. A lot has happened in that time. For one, there are now more ruins.At least 400,000 people had been killed as of April 2016, when the United Nations stopped counting; a month before, the international governing body accused the Syrian government of carrying out a policy of terror—of barrel bombs, sarin and chlorine gas—that amounts to the crime of "extermination." Many of the 259,000 people who worked in tourism in 2010, according to the Syrian government, are dead or in exile; all had to find other work.Khaldoun Al-Alamy, 53, never left Damascus and is now in a position to benefit from the fact others are, slowly, coming back. From the start of the year until the end of August 2019, a spokesperson for the Syrian Ministry of Tourism said 1.5 million people visited the country, up 61 percent from the same period a year before. Al-Alamy runs a travel agency, Golden Target Tours, and he's the one who arranged Eva's trip. He told me he's been fielding a slew of inquiries since she gave him a shout out, online.Hosn Castle, also known as Krak des Chevaliers.Mohamed AzakirOver the phone, he gave the same pitch he's been desperately giving the last few years about Syria's historical sites and friendly people, when his career became more a passion. "You can visit the biggest mosque in the area, the bazaar, the oldest church, old houses, everything," he said. There's an ancient Roman amphitheater, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, south of the capital in Bosra, and a medieval castle, Krak des Chevaliers, up north, near the border with Lebanon. His most popular tour, however, is for three nights in the capital. This, he said, has been his best year since war destroyed whatever business he had."When you see the people coming and visiting and shopping, and the restaurants are all full," he said between fits of coughing, "that gives you a really very nice, very positive feeling. You feel like life is returning. Life is normal. That there's a future."Tourists began returning in larger numbers after the Syrian regime crushed what was left of the armed resistance in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, and Daraa, a province just south of the capital and considered by many to be the seat of the revolution. In early 2011, schoolchildren there were arrested over anti-regime graffiti—for telling "the doctor," their opthamologist turned dictator, that he would be next to fall in the Arab Spring. One was subsequently tortured to death, the return of their 13-year-old body causing the town to erupt in protest, believing a better world was possible. In Syria, at least, it wasn't, the world watching as the doctor set the country ablaze.* * *Today's visitors are different than those who came before the war, when Syria was repressed but enjoying a false peace. "Most of them are young people, educated," al-Alamy told me. "This is very important, because those people will be our ambassadors, let's say, outside," he said. And most are happy to fill that role; to boast of their adventures in a place that's been barrel-bombed off the map of most other travelers.In Damascus, what's long been a police state has long since been militarized. "There's a checkpoint on every corner," Joan Townsend Torres, a 31-year-old Spaniard who visited in 2018 and has authored a guide for those who wish to follow in his footsteps. And there are other military installations, he recalled, that make traditional tourist activities, like snapping photos of everything, a bit more risky, especially in a locale that associates photography with journalism—with subversion."I always walk around with my big camera hanging from my shoulder," Joan told me. And he had a number of conversations with soldiers asking him what he was up to, and insisting on a review of his photos. Most people, he said, are just happy to learn he's not a reporter; that he's a tourist, instead, "means that the country's changing."Outside the country, Joan said, the response is different."You receive a lot of emails and messages from people… [who] are really, really angry that [someone] went to Syria because it's, like, supporting the government and it's unethical," Joan acknowledged. Still, "I don't think there's anything bad about it. I mean, I didn't take selfies with destroyed buildings behind me."The actual number of visitors cannot be independently verified, and one tour operator in Damascus, "Ayoub," requesting anonymity as "the situation is very sensitive," said the government's figures are almost certainly inflated, counting anyone who crosses the border, for any reason, as a "tourist." But more are in fact coming. Excluding Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, just under 142,000 foreigners officially stepped foot in Syria during the first two-thirds of 2019, according to the Ministry of Tourism, up 17 percent from the year before."We don't have a lot of tourists," the tour operator in Damascus noted. "But now we have more."Before the conflict, it was, generally, history—those ancient ruins in Palmyra, since desecrated by ISIS—that brought the tour groups. And history, generally, attracts an older crowd. During the height of the war, when rebel mortars still threatened neighborhoods in Damascus, visitors still came, but in solidarity: fascists who see allies in Baathism; anti-imperialists who see the leading contributor to violence in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, as a victim of a failed international conspiracy to forcibly change his regime.A general view shows ruins in the historic city of Palmyra, Syria March 4, 2017.Omar Sanadiki"The main reason for tourism now, it's just, like, to show off, you know?" the Damascus tour operator told me. It's a younger, more online set, eager to "show off on the social media to get some followers [and] a lot of likes."It's not inherently evil, that. Who doesn't want to be liked? Nor is it fair to say those who go to Syria have not grappled with the ethics of that decision; they have ultimately decided it is okay, of course, but they are not oblivious. The question is really whether Syria is exceptional — that is, while visitors insist they are not doing politics, is it possible not to? Or, as some maintain, is it really no different than visiting anywhere else in the world with a less than stellar head of state? There is a difference, of course: almost nowhere is as bad as Syria, a condemnation of its regime more than absolution for any other. And there are millions in a diaspora who cannot do what a white tourist can: step foot in their homeland. On an emotional level, the tourists I interviewed understood this, even if they ultimately rejected the logic for boycotting travel to Syria. It's not lost on their tour operators, either."Yeah, I know this," the Damascus tour operator confessed, after a pregnant silence, when I asked if he could understand some Syrians' anger toward the mostly European tourists who purchase his services. "I lost my home during the war," he said, and "a lot of my friends" are now abroad, most in Germany. They cannot enter regime-held Syria, suspected of opposition sympathies or wanted for military service—or subject to arrest just for leaving the country without permission.Native-born Germans, on the other hand: "When they start seeing the refugees, they get more curious to go to that country to see where these people came from," he said. "They meet a Syrian and they start talking and they [the Syrian] tell them, like, 'I wish I could go back to my country.'" And so they, the Germans, visit on their behalf "and bring him something from the ground."Others, on the "influencer" end of the spectrum, can sometimes be less admirable, treating the source of so much pain in this young and brutal 21st century as a playground—another stop on a social media tour, with an expectation that with Insta-fame comes generosity, toward them. One, the operator said, "chose to arrive here on Ramadan, because they give a lot of [free] meals. And she stayed on CouchSurfing with a Syrian girl. And so she traveled without spending any money."He himself would like to travel to Italy someday, but that would cost something far beyond the means of most Syrians; they are lucky to make $100 a month these days, down from $1,000 before the war, or what most in government-controlled areas term "the conflict," so as to not suggest parity between sides. And so this tour operator, in school to become the sort of licensed guide to this police state's foreign visitors, has never been a tourist himself. "I grew up during the war," he explained. "I didn't have a chance."Most refugees are destitute, and while some who stayed behind were able to do so thanks to their wealth and power, not fearing arbitrary arrest or worse, many others lacked the means to head somewhere not at war. And it's too late now. In an age of militarized borders, where the hypocrisies of liberal internationalism have given way to the open malice of right-wing authoritarianism, where would they go? Doors are closing, and many of those who did make it out can never return in the absence of a change in regime. Those who can safely visit Syria are those with no public record of criticizing the government, or any demonstrable ties to those who have. A wrong bet—a mistaken faith in Damascus' haphazard talk of reconciliation—can result in one disappearing in a torture chamber like Sednaya, a prison where "Syrian authorities have quietly and methodically organized the killing of thousands of people in their custody," according to Amnesty International. A correct assessment of the risk, however, can also lead one to sip wine and post selfies to Instagram just outside that detention center, like Russian state propagandists and French fascists, such guests of honor spared the need for a regime minder.The contradiction between sight-seeing and immense human suffering is not lost on all who come. After the normalcy of Damascus, Eva visited Aleppo to see ruins that weren't on any tourist's agenda prior to 2011. Her tone, as she walks among the half of the city once occupied by rebels, and destroyed by the government, is markedly different: "This isn't fun," would be any viewer's takeaway."I just felt, frankly, quite saddened by the whole situation," Eva told me later, speaking as she walked the streets of her latest stop, Mexico City. "And I think it is absolutely tragic that people who are from the country cannot come back." She's been to other politically fraught destinations, including Iran and Yemen. But her pre-war interest in Syria, she said, was renewed by a flight from Dubai. The man in the seat next to her was originally from Syria, and unable to return. "You can probably go as a foreigner," she recalls him saying. "Just, if you go, can you please just kiss Aleppo for me?""I think that Syria is a destination that you can only visit if you're prepared to be uncomfortable," Eva told me, "and potentially be in a situation that is not safe—and be prepared to be extremely sensitive," said, "because this is not a beach in Thailand."The Syrian government has, in its haphazard way, promoted the idea that it kind of is, though. On its YouTube channel, the Syrian Ministry of Tourism posts footage of young people in bikinis enjoying the emerald waters off the coast of Latakia; amid the 2016 siege of Aleppo, Syrian state media published video boasting of the "thriving nightlife" in the government-held Western half of the city.Tourists who visit tend to highlight the same things as the regime's propagandists: the good, not the bad. This isn't because most are shills for a government that is largely responsible for the worst bloodshed most of us have seen in our lifetime. It's the limits of the genre: travel bloggers are not journalists, and travel blogging is not journalism.But isn't it, really? Going to a foreign land and reporting back on what you saw is awfully close to what someone called a "reporter" would do. In this age of mass media layoffs, however, the role of the professional is increasingly filled by independent amateurs. That the Syrian state allows in the latter may not be an explicit propaganda strategy, but that some tourists are active and influential on social media—and uninterested in politicizing their experience or explaining who killed who, if they even know enough to speculate—is undoubtedly a service to the cause of normalizing a rogue, murderous state.Eva is no apologist for tyranny in Syria anymore than she, by visiting the United States, is a de facto supporter of Donald Trump. She is, again, a travel blogger eager to describe her excursions, which often take her to places with complex political realities on which she does not opine. Indeed, when it comes to politics and travel, "I don't know [that] there's a relation between those two things," she told me.Perhaps it is unfair to expect sophisticated political analysis from a tourist on a short excursion; perhaps, in fact, it is better that they refrain and save us and them the embarrassment of a half-baked perspective, informed by taxi drivers and Wikipedia. But its absence speaks, too.I, for one, was initially unfair toward Eva, answering her video from Damascus with social media posts of my own, thinking her engaged in propaganda, conscious or not. How ghoulish, I maintained, to omit the war—to assert from the start that this elephant would not be discussed—while celebrating a capital, bloated by the internally displaced from wrecked suburbs, as a tourist destination like any other. But in her eyes, and in her approach, that is exactly what it was and remains: a place on Earth, unique, with beautiful sites, friendly people and messy politics.* * *Syria isn't really like any other place, though. More than half its population has been displaced. Activists aren't just spied on and harassed by police, but tortured and killed—just blocks away from where you, the useful traveler, may have raved about the dessert.If something is perceived as propaganda, does it matter then if that was not the intent? If it's unthinking, that may just mean it's more effective."I mean, I don't think it's possible to be apolitical in this context!" said Yasmin Fedda, a filmmaker whose 2012 documentary, A Tale of Two Syrias, explored the lives of pre-war Damascenes, and the brutality and hardship that precipitated an uprising. "It's very naive to think so and shows a lack of understanding."Fedda is one of nearly 100 Syrian filmmakers who signed an October 14 open letter signed by decrying the "increasingly common" practice of regime-approved, foreign directors using unreconstructed war zones in their productions. "These devastated towns and cities [are] transformed into cinematic backdrops," they wrote, the scene of war crimes and forced displacement "used as movie sets for regime-sponsored films."Tourists may be subject to less intensive vetting, but they are welcomed for the same reason: to be, as the tour operator al-Alamy said, "ambassadors"—to promote a positive image of the country abroad; to do what travel bloggers do everywhere they go: present their experiences in a generally pleasant light that makes others want to do the same, and a touch jealous that they haven't already.Kristyan Benedict, a campaigner at Amnesty International, thinks likewise. "Any organised tourism will almost certainly be controlled by the Assad regime, which will seek to profit from it financially while using it as a PR tool as part of its campaign to claim Syria is back to normal," he told me. At the same time, "Tourists who venture into Syria should be aware of the very grave risks—including kidnapping and car bombs—and be prepared to massively self-censor or risk falling foul of Assad's intelligence forces," he told me. Going at all, he argued, is to lend credibility to a regime eager to use foreign visitors "as a PR tool in its campaign to claim Syria is back to normal."But after eight years of war, that is also what many Syrians desire: a return, if not to "normal," to the mundane, everyday repression of a hereditary dictatorship—less cruel, while perversely brutal, if only because it was more confident. A false peace is, at the end of a civil war, preferable to death.* * *Jamila, a 20-something who works as a translator in Damascus, has long been enchanted by the world outside of her own troubled slice of it. She's never been beyond Lebanon, lacking the opportunity and the money to go any further, but some years back she joined Couchsurfing, a networking website for international travelers. Typically, as the name may suggest, it works like this: tourists find locals willing to put them up, and then they sleep on their couch. Damascus has almost 1,900 such "hosts," according to the site, but hosting a foreigner in Syria is risky business: it's not really legal."I didn't know it was dangerous," Jamila told me over the phone. She signed up as a teenager, looking to meet people from abroad and practice her English. But she has never actually hosted a traveler; inviting a stranger into your home may be a typical act of Syrian hospitality, but letting them sleep there? Until the suburbs of Damascus were subdued, Jamila said military patrols would go door to door, demanding to see each household's "family book"—a ledger of inhabitants registered with the state. Anyone not on the page, but inside the house, could be perceived as a draft dodger or a terrorist, which is to say a member of the opposition. So, instead of letting anyone surf her couch, Jamila has used the site as a social network, offering foreigners advice on what to see and do, and meeting up with them when they arrive.That can be dangerous too. Who are these people? Until recently, such visitors would be journalists who, if perceived as critical, would be subject to all the surveillance a police state can muster. And while paranoia has lessened somewhat, there are stories Jamila shared about such encounters that cannot be published without risking her liberty, even with the relative freedom of anonymity.You needn't do anything wrong to end up in trouble with the Syrian authorities. Someone further up in the hierarchy of power could decide to haul you in for an interrogation, because that foreigner you spoke to could be perceived as a spy, or a journalist, or they just might need someone to blame for a screw up—someone being allowed into the country that shouldn't have been, sometimes just in hindsight—who isn't further up than them.Tour operators can't take any chances; running afoul of the state could mean, at best, no more visas for your customers. For that reason they can't just rely on the government's background check when considering whether to admit a traveler; they scour social media, from LinkedIn to Instagram, to ensure that Western influencer isn't actually a Western journalist. "I Google the name," said Ayoub, the Damascus tour operator, "because if I discover that you work with international organizations, or journalists—especially the journalists—and they have not discovered this in the Department of Immigration, when trouble happens I'm going to be responsible."It's happened before. All the tour operators I spoke to, and most of the tourists, were familiar with a story from late 2018, which changed everything—or at least made explicit who would be blamed for a heavy-handed police state doing what heavy-handed police states do. A young German tourist, in some tellings a "journalist," was taking photos on the outskirts of Damascus. While it might be okay to take photos of some damage, and impossible not to encounter it on one's journey, entire suburbs have been decimated during the course of the war—and access to them highly curtailed, for propaganda purposes. "I was the tourist who encountered significant problems, and thought an explanation was in order," Felix Mechnig-Giordano, posted to the private Facebook group, Every Passport Stamp. "While walking around Damascus I came across one of the destroyed suburbs and asked a soldier if it was possible for me to enter," he wrote. "While no one was concerned at first, this ended up with me being blindfolded, handcuffed and thrown into a secret police van." He spent the next five days in a military prison at the Mezze military base, where leaked photos from a regime defector show that thousands have been executed since 2011, just a few miles from bars and restaurants."At some point, someone had accused me of being a spy," Mechnig-Giordano wrote. The interrogation soon revealed that to be untrue, but that is not what saved him: his nationality did. "[I]t demonstrated how vulnerable foreign visitors remain to arbitrary detention, and that at basically any opportunity anyone can accuse [anyone] of pretty much anything, leading to arrest and worst." And, he continued, "While my German passport protected me from any sort of physical harm, the same could not be said for the hundreds of Syrians I saw being held and tortured. As the secret police so loved reminding me, you are pretty much screwed and at their mercy with no possibility of consular assistance once you are detained."His travel agent fled the country, which didn't help appearances. After that incident, an unspoken rule became an explicit requirement that all Western tourists—shorthand for about everyone outside Syria's immediate neighbors—be accompanied by a guide at all times. These are not government agents, but they serve a purpose: keeping an eye on the guests and steering them and their interlocutors away from the problematic.But the sanitized version of Syria on display in some content is not the product of state censorship nor of malice on the creator's part. It's the form; these are vacation highlights, accenting the virtues of a destination and its people. And there is an argument for not letting 18 million people be defined solely by their relationship to a hereditary war criminal."When we hear 'Syria,' we tend to think of all the negative things we've been hearing in the news, on TV," Stefan Gentsch says in one of his YouTube videos. A 33-year-old travel blogger who resides in Singapore, he visited Damascus for the first time in late 2018, his visa sponsored by an old friend. His experience, as presented online, is a rejoinder of sorts—to the idea that Syria is defined only by its war and its dictator. His videos showcase the Syrian people's legendary hospitality (most people think he's Russian), and in one he travels outside Damascus to a town called Maaraba, which is unlikely to be on anyone else's itinerary. There he tours a bread factory and gets invited to a wedding where he is peer-pressured into dancing."Being in Syria, being at this wedding, I witnessed something that even before my trip, I might not have imagined Syria to be like. People dancing and enjoying themselves… It's such a contrast to what think of as Syria."He had a good time, and there's a powerful argument that human beings should not be divided by borders, or cede the inalienable right to cultural exchange because crossing a line on a map might be perceived as a political act.But it's what Stefan told me over the phone about his trip to Maaraba that I found most interesting: an omission, not the product of malice, that might have altered the viewer's perception of Syria, and bolstered the latter's infamy as a bastion of arbitrary oppression. He was detained—by police or the military he isn't sure. "I did get in a little bit of trouble," he told me. His Syrian friend, and visa sponsor, walked into a shop in Maraaba, a town, held by rebels until early 2018, where tour operators I asked said no tourist should be ("Tourists go to the touristic sites. Why are you going to empty places?" an alarmed al-Alamy said. "You are putting yourself in a bad position."). As his friend was shopping, Stefan was on the street, snapping photos of nothing in particular, as tourists do. That's when a man in uniform approached him speaking Arabic, a language he did not understand. Still, he got the gist. "He didn't like that I had taken a picture." And so the officer took him to a station, where was detained for a couple hours. "I was just sitting there, smiling," he said. "I was not concerned about ending up in prison. My concern, or my biggest concern, was that maybe my phone will be confiscated and I would lose all the pictures I had taken on the trip." While it was what led to his detention, "there's nothing special about the photo, it's an ordinary photo on the street to Maaraba," said Gentsch.Stefan GentschThere is no video of the incident, which ended with a superior, upon concluding that he was not in fact a spy or a one-man ISIS splinter cell, saying he could take all the photos he wants ("You're a tourist!"). Accordingly, it is not on YouTube, and the impression, thus, is one of a country not quite as totalitarian as it was in reality. It is not propaganda, by any means. Still, Stefan told me he's noticed his content being exploited by partisans who comment on his videos. "They might say something like, 'Oh, if a German tourist can go to Syria, then why do Syrian refugees have to be let into Europe?'" And supporters of the Syrian regime—there is some crossover—will say "Assad is the greatest, he made this beautiful country safe again."There are Assad's opponents, too. They'll say, "How can you report about how beautiful your experience was in Damascus, when 100,000 people have died under Assad's rule?" Stefan said. It is a question he thought about. "The conclusion that I always tend to reach whenever I think about is that I'm traveling as a tourist, I know I do, and I don't have any political motivation," he told me. "I'm simply there to walk onto the streets to talk to everyday people, and to see what life is like." Some do, however, intend to challenge the prevailing narrative on Syria—not just by humanizing people typically relegated to the status of voiceless bystander, or by simply leaving out an unpleasant encounter. Some are more consciously political, even if they still lean more tourist than activist. "Sitting in Damascus, having a beer, you had jet flights flying over head, fighting in the suburbs," said Christian Lindgren, a 31-year-old Norwegian who visited in 2017. "There were no tourists in the country whatsoever." The next year, when he returned following the regime's military conquest of the suburbs, "it was much, much calmer. Like being in a different country."But it still has its rules, like any other. Christian noted what happened to Felix, whom he described as a friend he met through travel forums online. "Wrong place at the wrong time," is how he described his friend's detention. "When you go there, any war zone with a lot of military and police, there's places you shouldn't take pictures of. It's that simple."But you should still try to visit. "When you go there, you'll never trust Western media again," he insisted. Indeed, his blog on his latest trip insists "there's far less destruction in Aleppo than what the media has been telling us." And there is, despite the tight controls on where one can visit and what one can do there, a sort of freedom, if only perceived: "I was granted full access," he maintained. "I was even allowed to visit a school that Desh (ISIS) and al Qaeda used as headquarters." (ISIS and al Qaeda were bitter opponents, and the former did not have a significant presence in rebel-held Aleppo).When I asked how he could be so sure he was getting the straight news in one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist, he told me a rule he's picked up in his travels. "Go to a bar, have a few drinks with the locals, and you'll really get an honest answer," he said. "In any country in the world, it's the same." "I've gone to so many places that seemed dangerous, in the media," Christian explained, "and I've gotten so much criticism for it. But none of those people that gave criticisms have been to those places."* * *Sarah Hunaidi has been to Syria. She lived there until 2014; like millions of others, she was forced to flee her home over the crime of opposing state-sanctioned murder. She does not necessarily oppose others doing what she cannot—set foot in the place she called home—but she does think that with privilege comes certain responsibilities."Touring Syria and meeting Syrian people and buying goods to benefit them is one thing," Hunaidi told me, "and taking vlogs and video and 'reporting' about 'the truth' is another." The main difference between an ethical tourist and, frankly, an asshole, is conscientiousness—being aware of where, exactly, you are. "By existing in a war zone, you are part of the war," she told me. And one can't avoid politics when your being there, while journalists and refugees cannot, as approving of your presence was itself a political decision by those who started that war.Shiyam Ghalyon is a Syrian-American who works for the War Resisters League, an anti-imperialist organization in New York City. Her sin, in the eyes of Damascus, is being too consistent—opposing war crimes in Syria, no matter the party that carried them out. That means, primarily, condemning the leading perpetrator of violence since 2011: the government that stamps the passports. And that means, in turn, accepting that she cannot step foot in any territory that government controls."I do not have a blanket opposition to go to Syria, but I do think it should be a requirement to be very purposeful and intentional," Ghalyon said. "In general, one should be thoughtful of how they move between local communities—but especially when the local communities are experiencing severe and systemic government brutality."Many travelers are thoughtful (some a good deal more than others) and do express a conscious familiarity with where they are from, the privilege that affords them, and where they have been: a devastated country full of traumatized people who could go to jail, or worse, if they were to provide a complete stranger, from abroad, a truly authentic experience in Syria. Self-censorship is not an allegation, but a fact of life, awareness of which is the prerequisite sought by many in the Syrian diaspora."I never brought up the subject of politics," said Joan, the Spanish travel blogger. He has a business relationship with a local tour operator, to whom he refers prospective visitors; he isn't naive when it comes to where he's sending them, and why the people there may offer a gentler-than-mainstream take on the head of their police state. "Usually, most people would say that they like Bashar al-Assad," Joan recounted, "but I mean, there's a very simple reason: the people who don't like him are either dead or they escaped from the country."In fact, he told me, Syria is a bit like Spain—"when we were under military dictatorship, led by Franco," who, like Bashar's father, ruled until death, after killing tens of thousands. In Franco's Spain as in Assad's Syria, it would be wrong to confuse post-war resignation with anything more than a desire to return to something approaching normal."I mean, regardless of whether he's a murderer or not, he brought now stability to the country, right? It was a civil war going on. And he won. And now, finally, he's rolling," Joan said.* * *There's a thin line between exposure and exploitation. Traveling to a war-torn nation and posting footage of the destruction could raise awareness, or it could be an exercise in showcasing the traveler's superior empathy—crass, superficial and gross. It's a delicate balance that some avoid by omitting the war altogether. By focusing on the positive amid the rubble, though, one runs the risk of the same offense: failing to capture the gravity of the situation. Is it actually more perverse to carry on as if nothing is wrong?Xavier Raychell Blancharde, a British-Polish college student who visited Syria as an 18-year-old, stressed that when I asked about the upcoming tour he's arranging. For $1,300, tourists can accompany him on a January 2020 trip to Damascus, Maaloula, Krak de Chevaliers and Bosra al Sham, a Roman amphitheater recently re-opened to tourism. "I've been to Syria twice now," he told me. "While we will certainly not attempt to hide the tragedy that has taken place in the country, we will also not specifically be heading to destroyed neighborhoods as a tourist group, for I personally find this extremely disrespectful and immoral. It is not 'war tourism.'"In a video on a recent trip to coastal Latakia—which comes with the disclaimer that it "is NOT intended to be political"—he too compared the nation to Spain. But, again, it wasn't political, at least not overtly. "The landscape is really similar, I think, to some places I've been to in southern Spain. And I think very few people would actually imagine that this is Syria…. People have a stereotyped image of the place, and this just completely breaks down that stereotype," he said.That Syria has beautiful places cannot be denied. Focusing on that may be a travel blogger's purview, but it is also no doubt a coup for the regime whenever natural beauty, and not human-wrought destruction, is the focus of a Westerner's piece of content.Jamila, the Syrian Couchsurfer, said most visitors don't try to get into matters of death and punishment. "They all know that we cannot speak a lot about politics. They would just maybe comment, 'We didn't know people loved your president.' These would be the comments. But they wouldn't ask too much."That many in the Syrian diaspora object to tourists taking selfies in Damascus (with rubble or otherwise) is understandable, to her, but she welcomes these visitors, and is happy more than just reporters are showing up these days. "I understand them completely," she said. "They think of tourists coming back as funding the government and they are against the government. They would say you're helping the government kill the Syrian people."Still, she argued, "most Syrians who live in Syria want tourists, and most people who don't live in Syria don't want tourists" At the very least, it's good for the economy. "Our life is not even the minimum life," she told me. "We are like really, really poor. Everyone here is really poor. Tourism would benefit people who are living here." And, she said, "Whether we like it or not, the government did win."But most of those Syrians outside the country couldn't come back, even if they didn't already object to foreigners touring their former home. Syrians who left the country are inherently suspect. Why would you go? And according to the Syrian Association for Citizens' Dignity, two-thirds of those who have returned, to live if not to visit, say either they or a relative are wanted for arrest by the regime, which remains hungry for conscripts to fight in a country very much at war. Most, overwhelmingly, regret their decision to return. Others could not be asked: since coming back they have disappeared. It's the insensitive traveler who Jamila wishes would avoid her country. "I think there's a type where they see us Syrians as aliens, as just like their little research project," she told me. She had one white guy in mind. "He treats our misery as an experience. He treats our war, and the things we've been going through, as a thrilling experience." And this type also believes a holiday can be a fact-finding mission. In truth, "We cannot speak a lot about politics, and if we spoke we're not going to say everything we're thinking about, because we're not free to say whatever we want."So don't do that, if you go. Don't expect your eyes and ears will always receive the truth; sometimes the ground can obstruct the senses. And know one thing: whatever your troubles, you are the lucky, privileged one in every interaction. Maybe that, more than any expose beyond the paygrade of the amateur or uninitiated, is what any traveler to Syria has a responsibility to convey. If you go, in other words, speak the truths that might prevent you from ever going back. Syrians could relate to that."Syria is safe for foreigners, 100 percent, and yes, come please and support us because we need every single penny," Jamila told me. "But," she stressed, "it is not safe for Syrians."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Iran disputes 'exaggerated' protest death tolls Posted: 30 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  Iran on Saturday disputed death tolls issued abroad for bloodshed that erupted during protests in the country over fuel prices, after a rights group said over 160 demonstrators were killed. The demonstrations flared in mid-November, after the price of petrol in the Islamic republic went up overnight by as much as 200 percent. Officials in Iran have yet to say how many people died in the ensuing violence that saw banks, petrol pumps and police stations set on fire.
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| Germany's SPD pick new leader with fate of Merkel coalition at stake Posted: 30 Nov 2019 01:56 AM PST ![Germany's SPD pick new leader with fate of Merkel coalition at stake]( "Germany's SPD pick new leader with fate of Merkel coalition at stake") Germany's Social Democrats (SPD) will on Saturday announce the winner of a party leadership ballot, whose first task will be to decide whether to quit the ruling coalition with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives. The oldest party in Germany is in turmoil after a run of dismal regional and European election results and a six-month long leadership race which has left them trailing in polls.
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| Huawei's Meng Wanzhou fear cameras in Canadian court would trigger threats from Donald Trump Posted: 30 Nov 2019 01:30 AM PST  Lawyers for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou are fighting an application to allow video broadcasting of her extradition battle in a Canadian court, saying it could draw the attention of Donald Trump and risk his making a "threatening and intimidating" intervention in her case.The argument came in response to a bid by a media consortium that includes the South China Morning Post to allow cameras into the British Columbia Supreme Court.Meng, who was arrested in Vancouver last December, is attempting to thwart a US bid for her extradition from Canada to face fraud charges related to Huawei's alleged breaching of US sanctions on Iran.The documents were released this week, as well as more details of how Meng plans to fight the extradition case by arguing that it fails the test of "double criminality".This approach requires that the alleged offences in an extradition case must be capable of amounting to a crime in Canada, and not just the requesting state.Meng is due to return to court on January 20, when her lawyers say they will argue that the US "cannot show double criminality", and is instead trying to "dress up ... a sanctions-breaking complaint as a case of fraud".The Post and 12 fellow media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN, Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper and others, have applied to allow cameras to cover those proceedings.Lawyer Daniel Coles, representing the consortium, said in a submission that allowing the broadcast would further the "open court principle" that using cameras in Canadian courts is a longstanding practice, and public interest in Meng's case is significant.The broadcast would be carried out by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, on behalf of the consortium.US President Donald Trump might try to make a "threatening and intimidating intervention" in Meng Wanzhou's extradition trial if it were broadcast, the Huawei CFO's lawyers have argued. Photo: AP alt=US President Donald Trump might try to make a "threatening and intimidating intervention" in Meng Wanzhou's extradition trial if it were broadcast, the Huawei CFO's lawyers have argued. Photo: APBut Meng's lawyers and those for the Canadian attorney general who seek Meng's extradition on behalf of the US are united in opposition to the request. Their arguments were released on Tuesday."If the Respondent's [Meng's] extradition hearing is broadcast, this will only increase the public scrutiny she faces and the attention her matter receives from officials in the United States," Meng's lawyers said.Such a broadcast "amplifies the risk that the President of the United States will once again intervene in the Respondent's case, or harbour resentments that are both threatening and intimidating," they added.That was a reference to US President Trump's previous comments, in which he suggested he might intervene in the case to help strike a trade deal with China.Meng's lawyers said he "politicised and sensationalised these proceedings by making public statements to the effect that the Respondent is merely a bargaining chip in geopolitical relations between the world's two superpowers, the United States and Canada".Lawyers for Canada's attorney general said in a submission that they shared Meng's concerns that a broadcast risked "distorting the proceedings and the serenity of the court process"."The Attorney General of Canada acknowledges that there is significant interest in this matter, but that alone does not justify the request for live broadcasting of the proceedings," they said.Meng, the chief financial officer of telecoms giant Huawei and the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested at Vancouver's international airport on December 1 last year, at the US' request, triggering outrage from Beijing.Her detention, which came amid the ongoing trade war with the US, has thrown China-Canada relations into turmoil. Canadian ambassador John McCallum was fired last January after he told journalists that he thought Meng had a strong case and listed arguments she might make to thwart extradition.Meng remains under partial house arrest in Vancouver after she was detained last year at the behest of American authorities. Photo: AP alt=Meng remains under partial house arrest in Vancouver after she was detained last year at the behest of American authorities. Photo: APOne plank of Meng's case is the double criminality test. In a submission made on November 13 but only released on Thursday, her lawyers said the accusation of fraud against her would have represented no crime in Canada.Similar arguments have been sketched out in preliminary hearings.The US alleges that Meng lied to banking giant HSBC about Huawei's relationship with Iran-based affiliate Skycom, causing the bank to process transactions that it otherwise would have not, because of the risk of breaching US sanctions on Iran.But because Canada does not enforce sanctions on Iran, "under Canadian law [Meng's alleged actions] caused no risk of deprivation in Canada".Meng's lawyers said they only accept the US' claims about Meng's actions for the purpose of making the double criminality argument."[The] transactions processed by HSBC for Huawei were not illegal in Canada. The USA had unique sanctions laws against Iran that proscribed HSBC's transactions, but Canada did not," the lawyers said.The meeting with HSBC in which Meng discussed Skycom took place in Hong Kong. But had it occurred in Canada "HSBC would not face any potential liability under Canadian sanctions law", her lawyers said.Meng's extradition case is currently scheduled to continue until October 2020. She remains in Vancouver where she is living in her C$13 million (US$9.7 million) home under guard. She is allowed to travel around the city while wearing a GPS monitor on her ankle, but must comply with a curfew, and she is banned from going near the city's airport.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2019 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2019. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| RPT-INSIGHT-Threats, arrests, targeted killings silence Iraqi dissidents Posted: 29 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PST ![RPT-INSIGHT-Threats, arrests, targeted killings silence Iraqi dissidents]( "RPT-INSIGHT-Threats, arrests, targeted killings silence Iraqi dissidents") After armed men raided the home of Hussein Adel al-Madani and his wife Sara Talib last year, the Iraqi activists spent months of self-imposed exile in Turkey, changed address upon returning home and ceased participating in protests, according to two friends of the couple. On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi announced his resignation following weeks of protests calling for the removal of a government viewed as corrupt and the powerful Iran-backed paramilitary groups that support it.
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| Nigerian justice struggles with rising number of sex abuse cases Posted: 29 Nov 2019 09:56 PM PST  A dozen officers are squeezed into the dimly lit Lagos State Police Gender Unit between worn desks and witnesses writing statements, as the force struggles to cope with an increasing number of reports of sex abuse in Nigeria. Recent figures are scarce but according to the United Nations, one in four women in the country experiences sexual abuse before they turn 18. Lagos is the only one of the 36 states in Africa's most populous nation with a force dedicated to tackling gender-based violence.
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| Iran's Coming Military Revolution Posted: 29 Nov 2019 08:00 PM PST  While others discuss competing against China's AI and systems development, Iran isn't far behind.
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| Feds: U.S. Programmer Virgil Griffith Helped Sell N. Korea on Cryptocurrency Posted: 29 Nov 2019 05:45 PM PST  Jack Taylor/GettyA former computer hacker who styles himself as a corruption-buster has been charged with flouting U.S. law to give North Korea advice on evading American sanctions by using cryptocurrency.Virgil Griffith, 36, was once dubbed an "internet man of mystery" by The New York Times. He has an Ph.D from the California Institute of Technology and works for Eretheum, which produces a digital currency token that's a rival to Bitcoin.According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, Griffith sought permission from U.S. authorities to attend the Pyongyang Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Conference in North Korea in April.He was denied but allegedly went anyway and recruited others to travel to North Korea to aid the government there, as well.The Justice Department alleges that, while giving a presentation titled "Blockchain and Peace," Griffith described how North Korea could "launder money and evade sanctions" and "use these technologies to achieve independence from the global banking system." Griffith—an American citizen who has been living in Singapore—hoped the cryptocurrency made by his own company, unnamed in the complaint, would be North Korea's choice, the feds charged.The North Korean regime allegedly approved his talk. Governments across the world, including the United States, have largely shut the country out over human rights abuses and efforts to build nuclear weapons. Prior the conference, Griffith allegedly exchanged messages with an associate about North Korea's potential use cryptocurrency that appear to demonstrate he knew the illegality of what he was doing."I need to send 1 unit of [Cryptocurrency-1, which belonged to Griffith's company] between North and South Korea," he wrote."Isn't that avoiding sanctions," his associate asked."It is," Griffith wrote, according to the complaint.He was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport Thanksgiving Day and arraigned Friday. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted. An Alabama native, Griffith reportedly became a hacker in college then invented WikiScanner, which exposes anonymous edits to Wikipedia entries, after graduation.A website that appears to belong to him, but which has not been updated since 2016, says: "My goals are to expose corruption, curb abuses of power, and with 'gloves off' ensure the digital age never becomes a digital dystopia."The magazine, 2600: The Hacker Quarterly called Griffith's arrest "an attack on all of us.""Yes, we are biased because we know this person and his motivations, which align with hacker culture: explaining tech, visiting weird places, & being honest. These are not crimes in our eyes," it said in a tweet.2600 editor Emmanuel Goldstein said in a tweet that Griffith did not believe he had done anything wrong."Crap. He insisted on going to the @FBI and telling the truth w/o a lawyer. I kept warning him it was a trap. What's ironic is that afterwards, he was convinced they totally got where he was coming from," he wrote.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Smog in Iran shuts schools, universities Posted: 29 Nov 2019 04:55 PM PST  Air pollution forced the closure of schools and universities in parts of Iran on Saturday, including Tehran, which was cloaked by a cloud of toxic smog, state media reported. The decision to shut schools and universities in the capital was announced late Friday by deputy governor Mohammad Taghizadeh, after a meeting of an emergency committee for air pollution. "Due to increased air pollution, kindergartens, preschools and schools, universities and higher education institutes of Tehran province will be closed," he said, quoted by state news agency IRNA.
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