Saturday, 31 August 2019
The News,World
DOHA: US and Taliban negotiators are "at the threshold of an agreement" to end 18 years of conflict between them, Washington´s top negotiator said Sunday as he concluded their latest talks.The foes have been meeting in Doha to conclude a deal under which the Taliban would give security guarantees in return for sharp reductions to the 13,000-strong US force in Afghanistan."We are at the threshold of an agreement that will reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together to negotiate an honourable and sustainable peace," tweeted Washington´s special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.Khalilzad added that he would travel to Kabul later Sunday "for consultations" following the end of the eighth and final day of the latest round of talks.US troops were first sent to Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks carried out by Al-Qaeda, which was sheltered by the former Taliban regime.Washington now wants to end its military involvement -- the longest in its history -- and has been talking to the Taliban since at least 2018.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo previously said he hoped a deal would be finalised before September 1 ahead of Afghan polls due later this month, and next year´s US presidential vote.The Taliban´s spokesman in Doha Suhail Shaheen said Saturday that a deal "is near to finalised" but did not specify what obstacles remain to its conclusion.The agreement will centre on the US withdrawing troops in exchange for a Taliban guarantee that Afghanistan will not be used as a jihadist safe haven.Negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, and an eventual ceasefire, will also be key pillars of any deal.Such a deal would help foster "a unified, sovereign Afghanistan that does not threaten the United States, its allies, or any other country," Khalilzad added in his Sunday tweet.The apparent final phase of talks follows an excruciating few months for Afghans.The war-torn nation´s people have watched on largely voiceless as US negotiators cut a deal with the Taliban while largely sidelining the government of President Ashraf Ghani.This ninth round of talks has also progressed to a backdrop of persistent violence with the Taliban staging a brazen attack on the northern city of Kunduz on Saturday.Afghan security forces say they have "repelled" the coordinated assault.
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Friday, 30 August 2019
The News,World
BEIRUT: The United States on Friday blacklisted the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya following repeated warnings over its valuable oil cargo.Previously known as Grace 1, the ship has been bouncing around the Mediterranean after being held for six weeks by Gibraltar on suspicion its cargo was bound for Syria.Despite Washington´s efforts to keep it detained, it was released by the British territory and its every move is being followed with intense speculation.The US Department of Treasury on Friday said the vessel is "blocked property" under an anti-terrorist order, and "anyone providing support to the Adrian Darya 1 risks being sanctioned". The ship´s captain, Akhilesh Kumar, was also blacklisted under the order, which generally prohibits dealings with blocked property by US persons.Lebanon had earlier dismissed Turkish claims that it would receive the ship, which has a cargo of 2.1 million barrels worth around $140 million.While Iran has denied selling the oil to its Damascus ally, experts said the likely scenario was for a ship-to-ship transfer, with a Syrian port as the final destination.Maritime traffic monitors had shown that the Adrian Darya´s latest listed destinations, which are not necessarily the next approved port of call, were in Turkey.After tracking sites showed Mersin as its destination, it then switched to Iskenderun, prompting a reaction from Turkey´s foreign minister Friday."This tanker is not heading actually to Iskenderun (in Turkey), this tanker is heading to Lebanon," Mevlut Cavusoglu said during a visit to Oslo.Lebanon swiftly dismissed the scenario, stressing that it never buys crude oil because it simply does not have refineries.No refinery in Lebanon "The energy ministry does not buy crude oil from any country and Lebanon does not own a crude oil refinery," Energy Minister Nada Boustani said in a statement.She added that Lebanon had not received any docking request from the tanker."There is also no request for the Adrian Darya 1 oil tanker to enter Lebanon," Boustani said.According to maritime traffic monitoring websites, the huge tanker is currently just west of the island nation of Cyprus.Iran said Monday it had "sold the oil" aboard the tanker and that the owner will decide the destination.It did not identify the buyer or say whether the oil had been sold before or after the tanker´s detention in the Strait of Gibraltar, on Spain´s southern tip.The ship was seized by Gibraltar police and British special forces on July 4 and held on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in breach of European Union sanctions.But Iran denied the charge and said it could not name the actual destination due to United States "economic terrorism" and its sanctions on Iran´s oil sales.In July, Iran´s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps impounded a British-flagged tanker in strategic Gulf waters. Britain called it a tit-for-tat move but Tehran denied any connection.A court in the British territory ordered the tanker´s release on August 15, despite a last-minute legal bid by the United States to have it detained.'Aimlessly moseying'The Adrian Darya 1 set sail for the eastern Mediterranean three days after it was released.According to maritime traffic monitoring websites, the huge tanker has changed direction multiple times, following no apparent logic.The specialised TankerTrackers social media account noted Friday after the vessel listed Iskenderun as its destination that little could be read into it."Consider this just a record update rather than anything substantial. We believe a transfer is still a few days away. Turkey will not import this oil," it said.It earlier described it as "aimlessly moseying around the Med".Tensions between arch-enemies Iran and the US have soared ever since Washington stepped up its campaign of "maximum pressure" against Tehran and reimposed sanctions after leaving the landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year.Syria, which has ports on the Mediterranean, is also under a raft of US and European sanctions over its eight-year-old conflict.Russia, which together with Iran, is Damascus´s key ally in the conflict announced Friday that a ceasefire would come into force in the northwestern region of Idlib.
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Thursday, 29 August 2019
Wednesday, 28 August 2019
The News,World
Myanmar pair await final appeal ruling over Brit killings in ThailandNONTHABURI: Two Myanmar migrant workers sentenced to death for the murder of two British backpackers on a Thai holiday island will learn their fate Thursday when the verdict on their final appeal is delivered.Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, and of killing David Miller, 24.The pair´s battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September 2014.Prosecutors insisted the evidence against the men from Myanmar´s impoverished Rakhine state was clear, and a lower court upheld their conviction in 2017.But during the proceedings, the defence said authorities mishandled the investigation and DNA evidence, not allowing independent analysis of samples and using confessions the pair said were coerced.Police were accused of buckling to pressure to solve a crime that made global headlines and threatened to damage a tourism sector that accounts for a fifth of Thailand´s economy.Andy Hall, an international adviser to the defence, said the evidence was "unreliable"."The death penalty sentence against the two accused and their conviction should be reversed and quashed."Thailand´s legal system is notoriously opaque, with some cases flying through the courts while others take years.The 2017 appeal decision was presented to the two men with no translator and without lawyers present, according to the defence.If the Supreme Court´s verdict on Thursday upholds the ruling their last hope is the possibility of a royal pardon.Last year Thailand carried out its first execution since 2009, a sudden resumption of the death penalty that was condemned by rights groups who hoped the country was moving towards abolishing the practice.The verdicts on the 2014 double killing divided relatives.Miller´s parents backed the court´s conviction, but Witheridge´s family were more cautious in drawing conclusions while her sister Laura later called the investigation "bungled".
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The News,World
WASHINGTON: Amazon said Wednesday more than 400 US police departments had joined its "Ring Neighbors" network, a program aimed at curbing crime using video from the company’s smart doorbell that has raised civil liberties concerns.The program represents an unusual partnership between the US technology giant and law enforcement agencies, which have offered discounted or free Ring devices to residents as part of crime prevention efforts.Ring, the device maker purchased by Amazon for $839 million, said the video-enabled smart doorbell and its associated Neighbors applications help improve communication between residents and their police departments."Today, 405 agencies use the Neighbors portal, which is an extension of the Neighbors app that allow law enforcement to engage with their local community," Ring chief executive Jamie Siminoff said in a blog post.This includes "posting important information about crime and safety events in their neighborhoods" and "viewing and commenting on public posts as a verified law enforcement officer," as well as "asking for help on active investigations by submitting requests for video recordings," Siminoff said."Neighbors and local law enforcement have achieved amazing results by working together through the Neighbors app, from getting stolen guns off the streets to helping families keep their children safe, and even recovering stolen medical supplies for a diabetic child."But the program has also raised fears of expanded surveillance by police without safeguards on how videos and other data are collected and stored.‘Two powerful institutions’ Jay Stanley, a policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the program risks leading to vast amounts of data delivered to the Amazon cloud that may be accessed by law enforcement without privacy protection."You have two powerful institutions, Amazon and the police, cooperating to push for increased surveillance in American communities, and that’s kind of spooky and disconcerting," Stanley said."And Amazon has gotten police officers to promote Ring, serving as publicly funded sales agents."Matthew Guariglia of the Electronic Frontier Foundation said the system appears to prey on people’s fears of crime."By sending photos and alerts every time the camera detects motion or someone rings the doorbell, the app can create an illusion of a household under siege," Guariglia said in a recent blog post."This creates a vicious cycle in which police promote the adoption of Ring, Ring terrifies people into thinking their homes are in danger, and then Amazon sells more cameras."Amazon responded to what it called "misleading" news on the Neighbors program."We want to set the record straight -- customers, not law enforcement, are in control of their videos," the company said in an emailed statement.Amazon said videos are shared only if a customer gives consent or posts it publicly, and that law enforcement agencies "must go through the Ring team when making a video request to customers.""Customers can choose to opt out or decline any request, and law enforcement agencies have no visibility into which customers have received a request and which have opted out or declined," Amazon said.
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Tuesday, 27 August 2019
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