Президент Молдови Ігор Додон назвав «антиросійською провокацією» рішення уряду країни вислати трьох російських дипломатів через отруєння колишнього російського розвідника Сергія Скрипаля та його дочки Юлії в британському Солсбері.
Він написав у Facebook, що Молдова не має зобов’язань перед Британією й іншими членами НАТО, щоб «вдаватися до подібних кроків із принципу блокової солідарності».
Додон зазначив, що в НАТО і ЄС є країни, які відмовилися висилати російських дипломатів.
«Удвічі абсурдно вчинення подібного кроку в цей час, після візиту до Молдови заступника міністра закордонних справ Росії Григорія Карасіна, у ході якого представники всіх гілок влади нашої країни висловилися за відновлення нормальних стосунків із Москвою», – заявив Додон.
27 березня Міністерство закордонних справ Молдови повідомило, що держава оголосила персонами нон ґрата й висилає трьох дипломатів посольства Росії.
Загалом до цього заходу вдалися уряди понад 20 країн. Зокрема, президент США Дональд Трамп розпорядився вислати 60 російських дипломатів і закрити російське консульство в Сієтлі. Аналогічні заходи, хоча і менш масштабні, ухвалили і країни Європи. Україна заявила, що видворить 13 російських дипломатів.
27 березня генеральний секретар НАТО Єнс Столтенберґ заявив, що альянс висилає сімох представників російської місії.
Сергій Скрипаль та його дочка Юлія були госпіталізовані 4 березня. Слідчі вважають, що їх отруїли виробленою в Росії нервово-паралітичною речовиною «Новачок». 22 березня суддя Дейвід Вільямс, який видав слідству дозвіл на відбір зразків крові Скрипалів заявив, що може йтися про пошкодження мозку в обох через отруєння. Поліцейського, який теж постраждав від контакту з хімічною речовиною, уже виписали з лікарні.
…
The families of those who died in a massive shopping mall blaze Sunday in the Siberian city of Kemerovo are criticizing President Vladimir Putin for failing to meet with them when he visited the scene of the fire that left at least 64 dead — 41 of them children.
While Putin visited some injured survivors in the hospital, that failed to placate critics. Commentators are branding his visit “cynical,” saying he repeated his mistakes of 18 years ago when he was slow to meet families of sailors who drowned in 2000 when the nuclear submarine the Kursk sank.
“The children are dead already, we can’t bring them back. But we need clear justice,” said a traumatized father of a child who died in the massive fire that’s shocked Russia.
He was speaking to hundreds of protesters, who 48 hours after the blaze had come to mourn their dead collectively — and to call angrily for the city’s mayor and regional leaders to resign.Kemerovo sits in a hardscrabble coal-mining region and is no stranger to unexpected tragedy and loss. This time, though, with many children dead there is no sense of acceptance — tempers are flaring with anger mounting as details emerge about how the emergency exits were blocked or locked, preventing quick flight and obstructing rescue efforts.
The alarm system failed to work, as did the facility’s PA system, possibly switched off for reasons unknown by a security guard, say investigators. Mall workers fled as the fire swept through the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping mall, leaving behind many children trapped in the center’s cinema complex.
President Putin, fresh from re-election, clearly tried get out ahead of the outrage.
On Tuesday, he arrived in Kemerovo, laid flowers at a makeshift memorial, met with with regional authorities and vowed to get to the bottom of what happened. He denounced carelessness and criminal negligence.
But the Russian leader’s avoidance of the bereaved families and protesters complaining about building code violations and shoddy construction angered locals. One woman told the crowd: “We’re asking for the governor, we’re asking for Putin. Why are we being lied to?” She added, according to a local news site: “We give the government their mandate. Let them resign.”
Neither President Putin nor Kemerovo’s regional governor, Aman Tuleyev, addressed the crowd.
Some analysts compared Putin’s visit to Kemerovo with British Prime Minister Theresa May’s first trip to the scene last year of the Grenfell apartment-block fire in London.
Seventy-one people died in that blaze, which has been blamed on the building’s cladding, and May was faulted by the media and lawmakers for avoiding angry family members demanding answers and for spending most of her time with officials and first responders.
She went back to the scene several days later in order to placate the families.
As with May, so with Putin.
“Why are the queen and king safe and sound? Let them come here, get up and answer us,” a protester demanded outside Kemerovo’s regional administration, joining others accusing authorities of obscuring the true scale of the disaster, the deadliest fire in the country since the Soviet era.
When Kemerovo’s mayor, Ilya Serduk, appeared there were cries of with cries of “Resign!” and “Murderer!”
Additional riot police and National Guardsmen troops were deployed as the protest developed. Locals have also questioned the official death toll announced by local authorities and they claim that more than 400 people may have died in the fire. “How many people actually died, why are you lying to us?” Interfax agency quoted one protester as shouting.
As he laid flowers in a tribute to the dead, Putin asked: “How could this possibly happen? What’s the reason? People, children came to relax. We are talking about demography and are losing so many people because of what? Because of criminal negligence, sloppiness.”
“He laid flowers in a spot cleared of people,” said Olga Bychkova, a presenter for radio station Echo of Moscow. “He met with the heads of the region, he met with some activists or public representatives, but there is a huge crowd standing there in Kemerovo and it seems to me still standing, waiting for an answer from the local authorities. Putin did not approach these people.”
Bychkova told VOA there is a sense of deja vu with the visit.
In 2000, Putin remained vacationing at his residence in the Back Sea resort of Sochi as the Kursk drama unfolded. The submarine sank in the Barents Sea on the 97th day of his first term in office with 118 seamen on board and he left for his holiday after being assured by navy chiefs a rescue operation was underway and everything was under control.
He eventually met the relatives as a media storm erupted — and the meeting did not go well as relatives accused him of inaction and the military of incompetence. Some analysts pinpoint the storm over the Kursk as triggering Putin’s decision to bring the media to heel and to orchestrate a crackdown on independent television channels.
Bychkova says Putin’s visit to Kemerovo suggests he didn’t fully learn lessons from the sinking of the Kursk. “No, I do not think so. It does not look like that. To start with, he went to Kemerovo more than 24 hours late. Nearly two days have passed since the time all that happened. That is actually a long time! Because already on Sunday night, Moscow time it became clear that something very serious and very scary had happened,” she said.
your ad hereУ столиці Росії Москві на Пушкінській площі люди зібралися на стихійну акція пам’яті жертв пожежі в кемеровському торговому центрі «Зимова вишня». Кореспондент Радіо Свобода повідомляє, що участь в акції бере кілька тисяч людей.
Захід не був узгоджений з мерією міста, проте влада пообіцяла не розганяти учасників. Кореспонденти Радіо Свобода ведуть пряму трансляцію з акції.
Періодично люди починають скандувати «Путіна – у відставку», «Росія без Путіна», «Кемерово, ми з тобою», «Правду! Правду!» і «Вбивцям дітей не місце в Кремлі».
Водночас, як заявляють ініціатори, акція має мовчазний характер. Учасники жалобного мітингу тримають невеликі плакати з написами «Кемерово 25.03.2018», «Не забудемо 25.03.2018», «Тулєєва у відставку» і «Хабарі вбивають дітей».
Учасники акції спорудили народний меморіал біля підніжжя пам’ятника Пушкіну. Через велику кількість людей на площі, учасники передають одне одному квіти, м’які іграшки і свічки.
Акцію відвідав опозиційний політик Олексій Навальний разом зі своєю дружиною Юлією. Раніше він підтримав ідею провести жалобний захід.
Пожежа в кемеровському супермаркеті «Зимова вишня» розпочався 25 березня. Повідомлялося, що через дії охорони і неспрацювання пожежної сигналізації люди опинилися заблокованими в кінозалах і інших приміщеннях. Серед щонайменше 64 загиблих – багато дітей. Очевидці стверджують, що жертв набагато більше. Родичі загиблих стверджують, що в результаті пожежі загинула 41 дитина.
Слідчий комітет Росії заявив про «кричущі порушення» протипожежної безпеки. Порушена кримінальна справа, триває слідство. Голова Слідчого комітету Росії Олександр Бастрикін найбільш ймовірною причиною пожежі в торговельному центрі в Кемерові називає «замикання електропроводки».
27 березня в Кемерові декілька сотень людей зібралися на стихійний мітинг. Люди вимагають оприлюднити повну інформацію про пожежу, заявляють, що влада применшує її масштаби і кількість жертв, висловлюють невдоволення роботою рятувальників і наполягають на проведенні чесного і ретельного розслідування.
Президент Росії Володимир Путін, який приїхав в Кемерово 27 березня, оголосив 28 березня загальноросійським днем жалоби.
…
Голова СБУ Василь Грицак заявив, що російські розвідники під прикриттям дипломатів дедалі частіше вдаються до провокацій
…
Ув’язненого в Росії активіста українського Євромайдану Андрія Коломійця відвідав консул України, повідомила проекту Радіо Свобода Крим.Реалії його дружина Галина Коломієць.
«Андрій сказав, що до нього приїжджав консул щодо того, що його кілька разів відправляли в штрафний ізолятор. Особливо він нічого йому не міг сказати. Коли приїжджає консул, то сидить начальство. Якщо він поскаржиться, то потім невідомо, у що це виллється. Якби він поговорив віч-на-віч, то було б все по-іншому», – розповіла Галина Коломієць.
За її словами, Коломієць за останній час «сильно схуд».
«Каже, що неможливо їсти те, що дають. Їжа жахлива. Передачі возити теж не завжди вдається», – додала вона.
У червні 2016 року російський суд в анексованому Криму засудив українського активіста Євромайдану Андрія Коломійця до 10 років позбавлення волі в колонії суворого режиму. Коломійця утримують у колонії в Краснодарському краї Росії.
Українця затримали на території російського регіону Кабардино-Балкарії в травні 2015 року за підозрою у зберіганні наркотиків. Після затримання Коломійця привезли до анексованого Криму і звинуватили в замаху на вбивство двох кримських «беркутівців».
Російська правозахисна організація «Меморіал» вважає Андрія Коломійця політв’язнем та вимагає його негайного звільнення.
У квітні 2017 року Коломієць подав скаргу до Європейського суду з прав людини.
your ad hereU.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has strongly criticized Turkey for “large numbers” of detentions for social media postings criticizing the Turkish-led military operation into Syria against a Kurdish militia.
The report claimed the “crackdown violates the right to peaceful expression.” Ankara is facing mounting diplomatic pressure over the country’s wider human rights record.
Since January when Ankara launched the Operation Olive Branch military offensive into the Syrian Afrin enclave, critics claim dissent over the offensive has been crushed.
Citing figures from the Interior Ministry, HRW said 648 people were detained between Jan. 20 and Feb. 26 for social media postings criticizing the operation and expressing support for people holding street protests against the offensive.
The Rights group said the Interior Ministry confirmed that further detentions have continued into March.
“Detaining and prosecuting people for tweets calling for peace is a new low for Turkey’s government,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Turkish authorities should respect people’s right to peacefully criticize any aspect of government policy, including military operations, and drop these absurd cases.”
The report highlighted that many of the detainees included prominent figures of Turkish civil society, four members of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP, as well as academics.
HRW cited as one of most egregious cases the detention of 11 senior members of Turkish Medical Association (TTB), including its chairman, Rasit Tukel, for social media postings expressing concern for the humanitarian situation caused by the Turkish operation in Syria.
Turkish ministers have routinely dismissed concerns over Operation Olive Branch as “terrorist propaganda,” insisting not a single civilian had been killed or injured by its forces.
The 11 doctors were subsequently released after an international outcry. In fact, HRW acknowledged that in most cases, those detained were subsequently released, subject to ongoing investigations.
But the rights group suggested the detentions, which usually occur late at night or in early morning hours, are being used as a means of intimidation.
“I was visible from the outside [to the police]. I was watching TV at the time,” said Nurcan Baysal, a journalist and human rights activist. “They tried to break in the door without ringing the doorbell. About 20 policemen entered my house wearing masks, and trained their automatic rifles on me.”
Baysal’s was one of five cases cited by HRW for being detained for social media postings. The manner of her detention follows a similar pattern, according to the rights group, which accuses authorities of intimidating critics.
“After examining the cases, Human Rights Watch believes that some of the police raids and criminal investigations are being used as a form of punishment rather than out of genuine belief that criminal behavior has occurred,” the HRW report said.
HRW claims its investigations revealed that in all the cases it studied, the social media postings were nonviolent and fell within international standards of freedom of expression. Ankara has so far failed to comment on the report, but has frequently dismissed such criticism as “terrorist propaganda.”
The publication of the report comes as Ankara is under growing pressure from its western allies. At a European Union summit on Monday between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, EU head commissioner Jean Claude Juncker, and European Council president Donald Tusk, human rights concerns spoiled the gathering, which was intended to reset relations.
“What I can say is that I raised all our concerns,” Tusk said. “As you know, it was a long list, including the rule of law and press freedom in Turkey, and Turkey’s bilateral relations with member states. Also the situation in Syria.”
Tusk added: “My position is clear — only progress on these issues will allow us to improve EU-Turkey relations, including the accession process.”
To underline such concerns, police on Monday raided the dormitories of Istanbul’s Bosphorus University and arrested a number of students. This was the second consecutive day of raids at Bosphorus University, one of Turkey’s top schools as police searched for students who protested against the Turkish-led offensive into Syria.
The detentions followed Erdogan’s condemnation of anti-war protests, calling the students “communist, traitor youths,” at a political rally. Observers point out that when Erdogan publicly targets an opponent, arrests invariably follow. The government disputes such accusations, insisting the judiciary is independent.
The student arrests have again prompted international criticism.
“Anti-war protesters labelled ‘terrorists’ by President Erdogan,” tweeted Kati Piri, the European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur. “Critical thinking dangerous endeavour in ‘new’ Turkey.”
your ad hereWhile China and the United States seem to be negotiating in an effort to avert a trade war, Washington is unlikely to relent in its determination to stop advanced technology from leaving America for China.
“I think there is a growing consensus in the United States that Chinese firms should be blocked from certain types of acquisitions of U.S. firms, of getting certain types of U.S. technology,” said AlexCapri, an international trade scholar at the National University of Singapore.
China has come up with a list of U.S. products it will target as part of a retaliatory action against Washington’s plan to raise tariffs on Chinese products. But it has been silent about restricting technology companies.
International action
The European Union already is considering a law that would scrutinize and block Chinese purchases of local firms for the purpose of acquiring new technology. China is worried any U.S. action would embolden European politicians and hasten the process of prohibiting Chinese acquisitions.
“I don’t know that is unique just in the United States. I think there are other European countries, Australia … so, I expect to see a lot more interference, a lot more blockage of acquisitions by either Chinese-owned funds or Chinese-owned tech firms that are looking to grow through acquisitions,” said Capri.
That has been evident in recent months as the U.S. put limits on China’s Huawei technology company and clamped down on Singapore-based Broadcom because it is connected with Chinese companies and can work as a conduit to supply technology information.
“Even in situations where you have tech firms that may not be flying a Chinese flag, if these companies are in fact doing business with other companies, then those acquisitions may be blocked,” Capri said.
It is this concern that led to Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s announcement last week that foreign companies no longer are obliged to share their technology with local partners when they invest in China. Obligatory knowledge-sharing by foreign companies has been the bulwark of China’s technological development in past decades, and also a sore point with western companies and governments.
“China needs some foreign inputs, and to attract … high-end foreign companies,” said Xu Bin, CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) professor of finance. The country also “needs to open more in the areas where China has not been open that much,” he added.
Li’s offer also is colored by the Chinese parliament’s recent decision to remove presidential term limits, which could give President Xi Jinping perpetual rule, Xu said.
Negligible effect
For Beijing, the situation is particularly bad because it has fewer opportunities to retaliate against the U.S. tech companies like Facebook and Google (Alphabet). Twitter already faces closed doors in China.
Speaking on CNBC, Daniel Ives, head of technology at GBH Insights, said the company strongly believes that “Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google are ‘primarily insulated’ from tariff worries and a potential retaliatory trade war with China. Ultimately, the bark is much worse than the bite.”
Beijing also will find it extremely difficult to restrict foreign manufacturing companies and their partners in China, like Apple, which is using a Taiwanese company, Foxconn, to assemble products in Chinese cities. Such a move would hurt local firms and the domestic economy.
“For [Apple CEO Tim] Cook and company, given the tightly-woven integration between Apple and Foxconn in China, we believe there is minimal risk to this relationship,” said Ives. “… And the last thing China is going to do is tinker with the Apple machine and impact its significant billions [of dollars] of investments in the country and major consumer sales within China, despite fears.”
There is another dimension to Li’s seemingly generous offer. Many Chinese companies now want to protect their own intellectual property rights (IPR) as they venture into the U.S. and other countries. These firms have moved up the innovation value chain after starting with borrowed knowledge and are now capable of producing their own set of technologies.
“China positions itself at the forefront of world innovation. So China needs also to protect their own IPR,” said Lourdes Casonova, director at Cornell’s Emerging Markets Institute. “The initial fear that China had when they opened their economy long ago is not there as it was. So they need to protect their own IP.”
At the same time, Beijing is hoping for support from an unlikely quarter — American multinationals that derive a substantial part of their revenues by doing business with China. That was evident last week during a conference attended by American CEOs in Beijing.
“Countries that embrace openness, trade, diversity are the countries that do exceptionally well; and countries that don’t, don’t,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said, adding, “The pie gets larger [when we are] working together. It’s not just a matter of carving it up between sides.”
Investment company Black Rock CEO Laurence Fink gave it a fine point.
“The world needs a strong China and a strong U.S.,” he said. “The world does not need a public fight in which we reduce mutual opportunities.”
…
With a robust U.S. economy, polls show that President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are on the upswing, even as a majority of Americans still disapprove of his 14-month White House tenure.
A pair of polls this week — by CNN and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research — both say that 42 percent of Americans approve of his performance as president, the highest figures the news organizations have recorded in months. CNN says 54 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s handling of the presidency, while AP says 58 percent feel that way.
Real Clear Politics’ national average of several polls shows a similar result, a 53-42 negative rating for Trump.
Trump’s approval ratings, through the first months of his four-year term, have been the lowest among modern U.S. presidents recorded during seven decades of polling. But CNN noted that Trump’s current standing is only marginally lower than that recorded for President Ronald Reagan in the early 1980s and President Barack Obama in 2010 in the earliest stages of their two-term presidencies.
Trump’s White House tenure has been buffeted by a marked turnover of key officials, with Trump firing both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and national security adviser H.R. McMaster in recent days, and allegations of extramarital affairs in 2006 — relationships the U.S. leader has denied took place a decade before the 2016 election.
Both CNN and AP said that Trump’s brightening approval numbers are linked to the performance of the U.S. economy, the world’s largest, where voters give him a favorable assessment compared to his handling of other public issues.
The U.S. unemployment rate has held steady at 4.1 percent, wages for many workers are growing, and the Republican-approved tax cut legislation championed by Trump has added more money to workers’ paychecks.
your ad hereOPEC and Russia are working on a long-term deal to cooperate on oil supply curbs that could extend controls over world oil supplies by major exporters for
many years to come.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Reuters that Riyadh and Moscow were considering extending an alliance on oil curbs that began in January 2017 after oil prices crashed.
“We are working to shift from a year-to-year agreement to a 10-20 year agreement,” the crown prince told Reuters in an interview in New York. ”We have agreement on the big picture, but not yet on the detail.”
Saudi Arabia recruited Russia and other producers to collaborate on oil supply curbs in 2017 after oil prices crashed and the Saudi oil minister said last week Riyadh hoped to extend that deal into 2019.
The crown prince said a flotation of 5 pct of state Saudi oil company Aramco could take place at the end of 2018 or early 2019, depending on market conditions.
…
In her widely watched “60 Minutes” interview, porn star Stormy Daniels explained why she accepted a $130,000 payment she says was intended to keep her silent about her sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006.
Trump has denied the affair, through his representatives. But his lawyer, Michael Cohen, has said he paid Daniels $130,000 out of his own pocket days before the 2016 election. That has prompted questions about whether it was effectively a campaign contribution. Cohen denies the payment was related to the campaign.
Some questions and answers about the payment:
WAS THE $130K ILLEGAL?
The transaction itself does not seem to be illegal, but the failure to report it either as a campaign contribution or on government ethics forms might be.
WHO OBJECTS?
Two complaints have been filed by watchdog groups. Common Cause says in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission that the payment may violate federal campaign finance law in several respects. It said it should have been reported as an in-kind campaign contribution and was far above the $5,400 Cohen could give Trump’s campaign. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington also has asked the Justice Department and the Office of Government Ethics to investigate whether the payment to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, may have violated federal law because Trump did not list it on his financial disclosure forms.
Cohen has said neither the Trump Organization nor the Trump campaign was a party to the transaction with Daniels and he was not reimbursed for the payment. However, Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti told “60 Minutes” he has documents showing Cohen using his Trump Organization email address in setting up the payment and that the nondisclosure agreement was sent by FedEx to Cohen at his Trump Organization office in Trump Tower.
ISN’T THIS JUST A TECHNICALITY?
The groups that filed these complaints say their beef isn’t just about technical violations of obscure election and ethics laws. They say the complaints may open the door to more serious allegations that could force Cohen, and potentially Trump, to testify under oath. Common Cause vice president Paul S. Ryan said Cohen should be asked under oath about Trump’s involvement in the payment. “Michael Cohen knows whether Donald Trump is directly involved in all of this,” Ryan said.
WHAT’S THE PENALTY FOR ILLEGAL CONTRIBUTIONS?
There can be both civil and criminal penalties if investigators determine that the campaign or Cohen intended to keep the payment secret. This is not an easy standard to prove in court. Prosecutors failed to get a conviction against former presidential candidate and Sen. John Edwards on charges that he received illegal contributions and falsified documents to pay for the silence of his pregnant mistress as he campaigned for president in 2008. Ryan said a case against Trump could be stronger because the payment to Daniels was made days before the election when she was likely to go public with her story.
ANY CONNECTION TO THE RUSSIA PROBE?
Russia’s election meddling and the alleged Daniels affair do not appear to be linked. But special counsel Robert Mueller has broad investigative authority, and Cohen has been linked to other aspects of the investigation, including efforts in 2015 to pursue a Trump Tower real estate development in Moscow. If Mueller believed he could leverage Cohen’s testimony about Russian matters, he could have reason to look into the payment to Daniels.
WHAT OTHER LAWSUITS ARE INVOLVED?
Daniels has filed a lawsuit to free herself from the non-disclosure agreement she signed when she accepted the money. Cohen also is pursuing claims through arbitration against Daniels for violating the non-disclosure agreement. Cohen says Daniels could owe $20 million for violating the agreement. It’s possible that if Cohen does not drop the effort, Daniels’ lawyer could try to question Trump about the arrangement.
DOES A SITTING PRESIDENT HAVE TO TESTIFY?
Probably. The Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that President Bill Clinton was not protected from a civil sexual harassment lawsuit filed in federal court by former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones. The high court has never definitively said whether a president must answer questions in a criminal proceeding, including the kind of grand jury that Mueller has empaneled. But it has suggested he would have to comply. Trump also is facing a defamation lawsuit in a New York court that was filed by Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice.” A judge ruled the lawsuit can move forward while the president is in office.
…
The United States is imposing sanctions on seven Pakistani companies for alleged links to the nuclear trade.
The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIC) placed 23 companies —15 from Sudan and one from Singapore, in addition to the seven from Pakistan — on its Entity List.
The Entity List contains companies the U.S. determines are “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States,” according to BIC’s website. Companies placed on the list need special licenses to do business in the United States.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told VOA that the U.S. regularly adds entities to the list.
“It is not country-specific. Entities are looked at on a case-by-case basis, irrespective of national affiliation, and are added based on whether they operate counter to U.S. national security interests,” the spokesperson said.
VOA tried to talk to some of the companies on the list, but they would not comment on their designation.
Pakistan said it would “seek more information” from the U.S. and these companies to better understand the circumstances which led to its listing.
A statement released by Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “Pakistan believes that there should be no undue restrictions on the access to dual-use items and technologies for peaceful and legitimate purposes. Pakistan has always been transparent and willing to engage with the suppliers of the dual-use items.”
Dual-use technologies have both civilian and possible military uses.
The sanctions could potentially hurt Pakistan’s chances to join the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Pakistan wants to join the 48 countries who are members of the NSG, but the United States and some of its European allies oppose the move.
The NSG is dedicated to curbing nuclear arms proliferation by controlling the export and re-transfer of materials that could foster nuclear weapons development.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan applied to join the NSG in 2016, but has made little progress. The U.S. has been concerned about Pakistan’s development of new nuclear weapons systems, including small tactical nuclear weapons, and has been trying to persuade Islamabad to make a unilateral declaration of “restraint.”
Pakistani denials
Pakistani officials have been accused of handing over nuclear secrets to North Korea. The government has denied the accusations, though Pakistan has a poor record on nuclear proliferation.
Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the nation’s “efforts in the area of export controls and nonproliferation, as well as nuclear safety and security, are well known. Pakistan and the U.S. have a history of cooperation in these areas.”
The announcement of sanctions has come as relations between Pakistan and the United States are at a low point. The United States accuses Pakistan of helping militant groups that attack the U.S. and its allied forces across the border in Afghanistan — a claim Pakistan denies.
VOA’s Cindy S. Spang contributed to this report.
…
Talks to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are opening a window of opportunity that might allow the United States, Mexico and Canada to reach a basic deal in the coming weeks, a Mexican private sector business leader said on Monday.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said on March 5 that negotiators had a matter of weeks to reach an agreement “in principle,” and last week industry sources said the U.S. team had withdrawn one of its most contentious demands.
The head of Canada’s Unifor union, Jerry Dias, and others said that Washington had dropped its insistence that all autos made in NAFTA countries have 50 percent U.S. content.
Moises Kalach, head of the international negotiating arm of the CCE business lobby, which represents the Mexican private sector at the talks, said that news had fueled hopes that a deal on NAFTA might be attainable.
“There are positive signs that there is the will, and that the window of opportunity we were looking at, is happening,” he told Reuters by telephone.
Kalach said the United States had yet to put forward a revised proposal for autos, and that it remained to be seen whether U.S. negotiators would drop other “toxic” demands.
However, if negotiators could conclude around eight NAFTA chapters that were close to completion, it would make it easier to focus on the sticking points, he added.
“It gets that off the table. And if there really is the will to get an agreement in principle on the other issues, it’ll be in the coming weeks,” he said. “One needs to be prepared for that.”
Major differences of opinion remain on NAFTA, and Mexican officials have for months been looking forward to close sections of the revamped accord that are still unresolved.
Among those bones of contention are Washington’s desire to limit access to its agricultural markets, to impose a so-called sunset clause that could automatically kill NAFTA after five years and proposed changes to dispute-resolution mechanisms.
Dias of Unifor, a critic of NAFTA who has close ties to Ottawa’s negotiators, said he was skeptical about a deal in principle being agreed with so many issues outstanding.
“I heard the United States was looking for an agreement in principle to work out the details later,” he told Reuters. “What I understand is that it got no traction because I had spoken to the Canadian team and we almost had a chuckle over it.”
Neither the Canadian nor the Mexican government had any immediate comment.
U.S. President Donald Trump says NAFTA has boosted Mexican manufacturing at the expense of U.S. workers, and he has vowed to dump the accord if it is not reworked to his liking.
…
With his job status in danger, embattled Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin sought to lower his public profile Monday as a White House spokesman insisted that President Donald Trump still had confidence in his leadership “at this point in time.”
Shulkin, the lone Obama administration official in Trump’s Cabinet, abruptly backed out of a media availability Monday morning that had been scheduled at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Elsmere, Delaware, as part of an annual Veterans Summit hosted by Democratic Senator Tom Carper. Shulkin told organizers he needed to “get back on the road to Washington.”
“Secretary Shulkin’s singular focus is on finding the best ways to provide care and benefits to our country’s heroes,” said Shulkin’s strategic adviser, Ashleigh Barry, in response to questions about his public plans in the coming days.
Three administration officials told The Associated Press that Trump is planning to oust the Shulkin within the next week or two amid an extraordinary rebellion at the agency and damaging government investigations into his alleged spending abuses. The three officials demanded anonymity to discuss a sensitive personnel matter.
Early Monday, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley sought to dispense with reports of Shulkin’s imminent dismissal as head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the government’s second-largest department with 370,000 employees. He told Fox News Channel, “we hear these types of rumors every day.”
“At this point in time, though, he does have confidence in Dr. Shulkin,” Gidley said. “But as you know, the president wants to put the right people in the right place at the right time and that could change.”
Asked repeatedly Monday about Shulkin’s status, White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters there were “no personnel announcements to make at this time.” Addressing Trump’s relationship with Shulkin, Shah said: “I haven’t asked the president about it today so I don’t want to comment on it too specifically.”
Questionable expenses
Shulkin’s fate has remained in doubt following a blistering report by VA’s internal watchdog in February that found he had improperly accepted Wimbledon tennis tickets and his staff had doctored emails to justify his wife traveling to Europe with him at taxpayer expense. Earlier this month, two people familiar with the White House discussions told the AP that Trump increasingly viewed Shulkin as a distraction as the White House floated the names of possible candidates to replace him, including conservative Fox & Friends contributor Pete Hegseth.
A separate VA watchdog investigation, due out in the coming weeks, is also looking into a complaint that Shulkin asked his security detail to accompany him to a Home Depot store and cart furniture items, according to two people familiar with the allegation who requested anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Last week, as replacement rumors swirled around him, Shulkin did not appear at a major veterans’ event Friday held at the White House to preview a film. Shulkin typically is a regular presence at veterans’ events in Washington, raising some questions among the more than 100 veterans in attendance Friday about his job status.
Joe Chenelly, national executive director of AMVETS, said he worries that a lack of clarity from the White House on Shulkin’s future was hurting veterans’ care. Several major veterans’ organizations were largely standing behind Shulkin as the best guardian of VA amid a planned overhaul of the Veterans Choice program, a Trump campaign priority aimed at expanding private care outside the VA system.
“Saying there are no changes ‘at this point’ each time does not provide the stabilizing moment the Trump administration needs to keep its veterans issues agenda strong,” Chenelly said.
Active vetting
The White House has been actively vetting roughly half a dozen candidates who could replace Shulkin amid his ongoing ethics troubles, according to one person familiar with the White House discussions.
The potential replacements include Hegseth, a former military officer and former CEO of the conservative Concerned Veterans for America; former Rep. Jeff Miller, who had been chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee; retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; Michael Kussman, a former VA undersecretary of health; Toby Cosgrove, a former president and CEO of the Cleveland Clinic; and Leo Mackay Jr., a former VA deputy secretary who is now senior vice president at Lockheed Martin Corp.
In the event of Shulkin’s departure, deputy VA secretary Tom Bowman would serve as acting head of the VA until a nominee is confirmed by the Senate. Bowman has also come under criticism at the White House for being too moderate to push Trump’s agenda of fixing veterans’ care.
The department provides medical care and other benefits to 9 million military veterans in more than 1,700 health facilities around the U.S.
…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday voiced hope that a difficult period in relations between Turkey and the European Union is now in the past.
Erdogan spoke after talks with European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Varna.
“I hope that we have left a tough period in the relations between Turkey and Europe behind us,” Erdogan said and voiced hope that “a first step was taken here toward restoring trust with Europe.”
He also said that EU membership was a “strategic goal.”
Tusk said that the summit’s purpose was to “continue the dialogue in really difficult circumstances.”
“Our meeting today demonstrated that while our relationship is going through difficult times, in areas where we do cooperate, we cooperate well,” he said.
Tusk acknowledged that no concrete compromise or solution had been achieved at the summit, but expressed hope that such would be possible in the future.
“Only progress on these issues will allow us to improve the EU-Turkey relations, including the accession process,” he added.
“We reconfirm our readiness to keep up the dialogue and conversation and work together to overcome current difficulties with a view to unleashing the potential of our partnership,” Tusk said.
On migration and support for refugees, Tusk said that the EU and Turkey remain very close partners.
“I would like to express our appreciation for the impressive work Turkey has been doing, and to sincerely thank Turkey and the Turkish people for hosting more than 3 million Syrian refugees these past years,” he said.
“The EU has lent substantial support to improve the livelihood of these refugees, and this evening we reaffirmed the European Union’s unwavering commitment to continue this support,” Tusk said.
He also said that while the EU understands Turkey’s need to deal effectively with its security, it is concerned that some of the methods used, undermine fundamental freedoms and the rule of law in Turkey.
“It would be a mistake for a Europe that claims to be a global power to keep Turkey outside of expansion policies,” Erdogan said.
Borissov said that “I think that before the end of our EU presidency (the end of June) another EU-Turkey summit will be held.”
In response to European criticism of its cross-border operation to drive out Syrian Kurdish militia from the northwestern Syrian border enclave of Afrin, Erdogan said Turkey expected European backing. He added that Turkey intended to continue with its operations as long as necessary.
“Our operations against terrorism do not just contribute to our and the Syrians’ security, but to Europe’s security as well,” Erdogan said. “On sensitive issues such as the struggle against terrorism, we don’t expect unnecessary criticism but strong support.”
On Cyprus, Erdogan reiterated the Turkish Cypriot community’s rights to Cyprus’ resources and said the EU had “nothing to contribute” to the dispute as long as it does not maintain a “fair” approach.
The summit was held amid an array of issues that have strained ties, including a dispute between Turkey and EU member Cyprus over energy exploration in the Mediterranean.
Turkish warships have prevented a drillship from carrying out exploratory drilling on behalf of Italian company Eni southeast of Cyprus, in a move that the EU criticized.
Turkey objects to “unilateral” gas searches by ethnically divided Cyprus’ Greek Cypriot-run government without the direct involvement of breakaway Turkish Cypriots. The Cyprus government says a gas search is its sovereign right and will benefit all citizens.
Erdogan pressed his European leaders to grant Turkish citizens visa liberalization to allow them to travel to certain European countries without visa restrictions.
“We told the EU side, that it needs to complete its work on this issue… This should not be turned into a political issue, it should not become an issue that shakes the trust of our people,” he said.
…
Canceling the new Mexico City airport would cost about 120 billion pesos ($6.55 billion), the head of the company in charge of the project said on Monday following threats by the presidential election front-runner to scrap it.
Federico Patino, the chief executive officer of Grupo Aeroportuario de la Ciudad de México (GACM), the firm overseeing the $13 billion project, said with 321 contracts put out and around 45,000 people employed on building the airport, the cost would be high.
“There will surely be lawsuits and damages with penalty clauses … and if we add this to the unfortunate cancellation of the labor on top of severance costs … the figure that we have is around 120 billion pesos,” he told a news conference.
The leftist who is leading opinion polls for the July election, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has threatened to abandon the airport. Last week he said he would file legal challenges to block future work, lashing out at the project as “corrupt.”
However, he since softened his stance, calling for a thorough review of the project.
GACM’s Patino dismissed suggestions that the airport was tainted by corruption and said that it was being built in accordance with high transparency standards.
“It’s a glass box through which any citizen can see what’s happening in real time,” he said.
($1 = 18.3100 Mexican pesos)
…
A reshuffled Slovak government led by Peter Pellegrini won a parliamentary confidence vote Monday, a month after the murder of an investigative journalist sparked mass protests and forced long-serving leader Robert Fico to resign.
The new government won 81 votes in the 150-member parliament.
Fico, prime minister for 10 of the last 12 years, bowed out this month amid protests and calls for an early election, handing the three-party ruling coalition to Pellegrini, a long-time senior member of the ruling Smer party.
The new cabinet has adopted its predecessor’s agenda, including plans to reach a balanced budget by 2020. It underwent six personnel changes but only added two people who have not previously held any government post.
Pellegrini has pledged to keep Slovakia on a pro-European and pro-NATO path.
Fico had sought to position Slovakia — a country of 5.4 million that is a European Union member since 2004 and part of the eurozone monetary club — as a pro-EU bastion in a euroskeptic region.
The protests in the last month, the biggest since the end of Communist rule in 1989, have been a blow to Fico although he remains Smer party chairman and has vowed to stay in politics.
Kuciak, 27, and his fiancee Martina Kusnirova, 27, were killed last month at their home outside Bratislava. A prosecutor said on Monday the murder was likely to have been a contract killing. No one has been charged in the case.
Their killings and Kuciak’s last report, which investigated suspected mafia links to Italian businessman in the central European country, swelled public anger over alleged corruption.
In his final report, published posthumously, Kuciak said one of the Italians had past business links with two Slovaks who later worked in Fico’s office.
The Italian was briefly detained in the investigation with six others. He was taken into custody March 13 in an unrelated case of suspected drug trafficking.
Both of Fico’s aides have resigned but deny connections to the murder. Their Italian former business partner has denied having connections with the mafia and the murder.
Pellegrini’s government, which includes the ethnic Hungarian centrist Most-Hid party and center-right Slovak National Party, has already faced public protests though their numbers have fallen. Hundreds protested outside parliament before the vote.
Protesters regard the cabinet shuffle, in which former health minister Tomas Drucker replaced unpopular interior minister Robert Kalinak, as insufficient to safeguard a fair investigation of Kuciak’s murder. Smer was often a target of the reporter’s journalism.
…