Category: Foreign

President Donald Trump on Friday lobbed barbs at protesters who kneel during the national anthem, after NFL quarterback Drew Brees apologised for remarks he made about the practice.

Brees said this week he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag,” referring to the possibility of players kneeling during the “Star-Spangled Banner” in the upcoming NFL season.

Brees apologised on Thursday, saying his words “lacked awareness and any type of compassion or empathy.”

The kneeling pose, popularised by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, has become a symbol of the fight for racial justice in the United States.

Trump tweeted on Friday that Brees “should not have taken back his original stance.

“We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute or a hand on heart,” Trump wrote. “There are other things you can protest but not our Great American Flag – NO KNEELING!”

READ ALSO: Donald Trump has one problem

The kneeling pose has been seen at protests in cities across the country in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, while in police custody in Minneapolis.

Brees’ initial remarks angered top athletes, who objected to the equating of the protest with disrespecting the American flag.

The New Orleans Saints player responded to Trump Friday night in a lengthy social media post in which he said “we can no longer use the flag to turn people away.

“We must stop talking about the flag and shift our attention to the real issues of systemic racial injustice, economic oppression, police brutality and judicial & prison reform,” Brees wrote on Instagram.

Kaepernick popularised the move in 2016, appearing on NFL sidelines first sitting and later kneeling during the customary pre-game airing of the U.S. national anthem.

Trump was an early critic of the protest and in 2017, Vice-President Mike Pence walked out of an NFL game when some of the players knelt on the sidelines during the anthem.

(Reuters/NAN)

Senior lawmakers, from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling conservative bloc, on Saturday, criticised President Donald Trump’s decision to order the U.S. military to remove 9,500 troops from Germany.

The move would reduce U.S. troop’s numbers in Germany to 25,000, from 34,500.

“The plans once again show that the Trump administration is neglecting an elementary leadership task: the involvement of alliance partners in decision-making processes,’’ Johann Wadephul, foreign policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told Reuters.

All NATO partners benefited from the cohesion of the alliance, and only Russia and China gain from discord, Wadephul said, adding: “This should be given more attention in Washington’’.

Wadephul also spoke of a “further wake-up call” to Europeans to position themselves better in terms of security policy.

READ ALSO: Merkel rejects Trump’s invitation for G7 summit in Washington

The German Foreign Ministry declined to comment.

Andreas Nick, like Wadephul a member of the parliamentary foreign relations committee, told Deutsche Welle the indications were that “the decision was not a technical but a purely politically motivated decision’’.

A U.S. official, who did not want to be identified, said on Friday the move was the result of months of work by the top U.S. military officer, General Mark Milley, and had nothing to do with tensions between Trump and Merkel, who thwarted Trump’s plan to host a G7 meeting this month.

The withdrawal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is the latest twist in relations between Berlin and Washington, which have often been strained during Trump’s presidency.

Trump has pressed Germany to raise defence spending and accused Berlin of being a “captive” of Russia due to its energy reliance.

(Reuters/NAN)

Joe Biden formally clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Saturday, setting him up for a bruising challenge to President Donald Trump that will play out against the unprecedented backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest.

“It was an honour to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded,” Biden said in a statement today.

“And I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party.”

The former vice president has effectively been his party’s leader since his last challenger in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, ended his campaign in April. But Biden pulled together the 1991 delegates needed to become the nominee after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries on Wednesday.

Biden reached the threshold three days after the primaries because several states, overwhelmed by huge increases in mail ballots, took days to tabulate results. Teams of analysts at The Associated Press then parsed the votes into individual congressional districts.

Democrats award most delegates to the party’s national convention based on results in individual congressional districts.

READ ALSO: Obama slams ‘despicable’ attack advert on Joe Biden

Biden now has 1993 delegates, with contests still to come in eight states and three US territories.

The moment was met with little of the traditional fanfare as the nation confronts overlapping crises. While Biden has started to venture out more this week, the coronavirus pandemic has largely confined him to his Wilmington, Delaware, home for much of the past three months.

The country faces the worst rate of unemployment since the Great Depression. And civil unrest that harkens back to the 1960s has erupted in dozens of cities following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.

It’s a confluence of events that no US leader has faced in modern times, made all the more complicated by a president who has at times antagonised the protesters and is eager to take the fight to Biden.

“This is a difficult time in America’s history,” Biden said today.

“And Donald Trump’s angry, divisive politics is no answer. The country is crying out for leadership. Leadership that can unite us. Leadership that can bring us together.”

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

China has advised its citizens not to travel to Australia amid an increase in anti-Chinese sentiment in the island nation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There has been a sudden rise in discriminatory and violent actions against Chinese and Asian nationals due to the coronavirus outbreak recently,” the Ministry of Culture and Tourism said in a statement issued on Friday night.

“The ministry reminds Chinese tourists to raise their awareness of safety precautions and avoid travelling to Australia,” it said.

READ ALSO: Britain has ‘colonial mentality’ toward Hong Kong, says China

The Australian government on Saturday refuted the charges.

“Millions of tourists from all corners of the world demonstrate their confidence in Australia as a safe, welcoming and amazing destination by visiting each year, often returning multiple times,” Canberra said.

“We reject China’s assertions in this statement, which have no basis in fact. Our rejection of these claims, which have been falsely made by Chinese officials previously, is well known to them.”

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Russia on Saturday reported 8,855 new cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total number to 458,689.

According to the country’s emergency task force, 197 new fatalities were registered, with 8,708 recoveries over the past 24 hours.

The death toll in the country rose to 5,725, while a total of 221,388 people have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic.

Last week, the Russian government started lifting coronavirus restrictions inside the country, saying the situation had stabilized and proceeded to reopen economy.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced a three-phase plan to overcome the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, suggesting stabilization by the end of the year, complete restoration in the first half of 2021, and achieving sustainable growth in late 2021.

READ ALSO: Four dead as Russian helicopter crashes

The government has yet to decide on resumption of travel and tourism, with both international air and railway traffic still suspended and borders closed to foreigners.

The pandemic has claimed more than 395,00 lives in 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit countries.

Over 6.74 million cases have been reported worldwide, while nearly 2.75 million people have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

US President Donald Trump has approved a plan to withdraw 9,500 American troops from bases in Germany by September, US media say.

Mr Trump, who has long complained that European members of Nato should spend more on their own defence, reportedly wants US troop levels capped at 25,000.

Troops would either be redeployed elsewhere or return home, US media report, citing a government official.

Tensions between the US and its Nato allies have increased under Mr Trump.

The president has said that Europe’s North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) members should no longer be relying so heavily on the US to shoulder the costs of maintaining the alliance.

On Friday, Mr Trump directed the Pentagon to permanently remove almost a third of the country’s troops currently based in Germany, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing an unnamed administration official.

READ ALSO: Triple crises test Trump’s support ahead of November’s election

It added that the US Defense Department would need to approve the plan before it could be implemented.

The White House did not immediately confirm the reports, but spokesman John Ullyot said in a statement that the US remained “committed to working with our strong ally Germany” on defence and other issues.

Mr Trump has previously raised the issue of so-called burden-sharing at Nato summits.

The debate focuses around the target agreed by all alliance members that defence spending should reach 2% of GDP (gross domestic product, the total value of goods produced and services provided) by 2024.

Last year, Nato’s civilian and military budget was about €1.67bn (£1.43; $1.84bn), its own figures show.

The US military presence in Germany is a legacy of the post-World War Two Allied occupation of the country. Germany currently hosts by far the largest number of US forces in Europe, followed by Italy, the UK and Spain.

Some US personnel based in Europe support non-Nato operations and US military numbers fluctuate as forces are rotated in and out of Europe.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Libyan army seized on Friday weapons, ammunition, and vehicles purchased by the UAE for warlord Khalifa Haftar.

This was revealed after the Libyan Army announced the complete liberation of the capital Tripoli along with the strategic city of Tarhuna from Haftar militias over the last 72 hours.

The UAE is one of the several countries — along with Egypt and Russia — that have supported Haftar’s militias against Libya’s legitimate government.

Government forces seized an FN-6 man-portable air defense missile system also known as MANPAD, an SPG-9 recoilless anti-tank gun, a Cornet type anti-tank guided missile, as well as mortar and grad missiles.

A large cache of mortars towed howitzers, rockets, anti-aircraft guns, and cannonry were also seized by the army.

READ ALSO: Libyan Army liberates Tripoli, heads towards Tarhuna

According to government sources, in Tarhuna, dozens of tanks, armored vehicles, and arms depots were seized.

The Libyan Army on Friday liberated the strategic Tarhuna city, the last stronghold of Haftar in western Libya.

Tarhuna was a major focal point for the supply lines of Haftar’s militias from Al-Jufra airbase.

The Libyan Army on Thursday announced the complete liberation of the capital Tripoli.

In March, the Libyan government launched Operation Peace Storm to counter attacks on the capital, and recently regained strategic locations, including Al-Watiya airbase, in a major blow to Haftar’s forces.

Libya’s government was founded in 2015 under a UN-led agreement, but efforts for a long-term political settlement failed due to the military offensive by Haftar’s forces.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

French forces have killed the leader of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Algerian Abdelmalek Droukdel, in northern Mali, France’s defence minister said.

Droukdel was killed on Thursday near the Algerian border, where the group has bases from which it has carried out attacks and abductions of Westerners in the sub-Saharan Sahel zone, Defence Minister Florence Parly said Friday.

“Many close associates” of Droukdel – who commanded several affiliate jihadist groups across the lawless region – were also “neutralised”, she added.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged from a group started in the late 1990s by radical Algerian Islamists, who in 2007 pledged allegiance to Osama Bin Laden’s Al Qaeda network.

The group has claimed responsibility for a string of attacks on troops and civilians across the Sahel, including a 2016 attack on an upmarket hotel and restaurant in Burkina Faso, which killed 30 people, mainly Westerners.

France has deployed more than 5,000 troops to combat jihadist groups in the region – a largely lawless expanse stretching over Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, where drugs and arms flow through porous borders.

Northern Mali is the site of frequent clashes between rival armed groups, as well as a haven for jihadist activity.

In 2012, key cities fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda, who exploited an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, leading to a French-led military intervention.

According to the UN, Droukdel was an explosives expert and manufactured devices that killed hundreds of civilians in attacks on public places.

He was sentenced to death in Algeria in 2013 for his involvement in the bombings of a government building and offices of the UN’s refugee committee in Algiers that killed 26 people and wounded 177.

READ ALSO: White House confirms U.S. killed leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen

France also claimed on Friday to have captured a leader of ISIS in the Greater Sahara (EIGS) group, which carries out frequent attacks over Niger’s western borders.

“On May 19, French forces captured Mohamed el Mrabat, veteran jihadist in the Sahel region and an important cadre in EIGS”, Parly said on Twitter.

Operations against EIGS “the other great terrorist threat in the region” are continuing, said Parly.

Mali is struggling to contain an Islamist insurgency that erupted in 2012 and has claimed thousands of military and civilian lives since.

Despite the presence of thousands of French and UN troops, the conflict has engulfed the centre of the country and spread to neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.

A source told AFP that some 500 jihadist fighters had been killed or captured by French troops in the region in recent months, among them several leading figures including commanders and recruiters.

Droukdel’s death is a symbolic coup for the French, a military source said.

He had remained a threat in the region, capable of financing jihadist movements, even though his leadership had been contested, the source added.

His death, and that of other Al Qaeda figures, could leave the group disorganised in the Sahel.

Born in 1971 in a poor neighbourhood of Algiers, Droukdel took part in the founding in Algeria of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

Abdelaziz Bouteflika, elected Algerian president in 1999, managed to convince most of the armed groups in the country to lay down their weapons.

The GSPC, however, refused to do so and Droukdel decided to approach Al Qaeda.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)