Hundreds of people protested in several cities around Iran on Saturday after the military admitted to mistakenly shooting down a civilian Ukrainian plane, killing all 176 on board. VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.

Thousands of Thais joined a run in the capital Sunday in what appeared to be the biggest show of dissent against the government of Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, although he also drew a big show of support at a rival event.

Police estimated nearly 13,000 runners and supporters gathered before sunrise at a park in Bangkok, wearing athletic outfits and colorful shoes, to participate in the “Run Against Dictatorship” event.

Some of them shouted slogans such as “Prayuth, get out!” or “Long live democracy!” while running the 2.6-km (1.6-mile) course amid a sprinkling of security forces. Many also gave a three-finger salute of resistance to authority.

“I want things to be better,” said Bangkok resident Waraporn Waralak, 45, after completing her run. “I want Prayuth to get out.”

Thailand’s government is headed by Prayuth, 65, after an election in March 2019 that the opposition described as having been manipulated to favor the leader’s pro-army party.

“This is the biggest gathering since the coup,” said Anusorn Unno, dean of the sociology and anthropology faculty at Bangkok’s Thammasat University, adding that the harmless nature of the activity had spurred greater participation than usual.

An excited crowd watched as organizers auctioned bibs bearing numbers significant in Thai politics, such as 2475, the Buddhist calendar year of the revolution that ended absolute monarchy in 1932.

To loud cheers, a bib numbered 0044, in reference to the former ruling junta’s Article 44 that gave Prayuth absolute executive power, was ripped in two on stage.

The event was held in line with people’s rights and no laws were broken, a government spokeswoman told Reuters.

The run followed a rally last month staged by Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the 41-year-old leader of the progressive Future Forward Party, who has emerged as the most outspoken opponent of Thailand’s new civilian government.

Thanathorn was charged Friday with breaching a law on public assembly over the December rally, and Future Forward faces dissolution this month by the constitutional court.

Run or walk?

Sunday’s event was called “Wing Lai Loong” in Thai, which translates as “Run to Oust the Uncle,” in an apparent reference to Prayuth’s nickname of “Uncle Tu.”

It prompted a rival “Walk to Cheer the Uncle” event, held in another park, about 14 km (9 miles) away, to show support for Prayuth, where thousands also turned out.

The clashing views of the two camps aroused memories of protests that periodically roiled the Thai capital before culminating in coups in 2006 and 2014.

Supporters of Prayuth, who as army chief, had led the 2014 coup, put nationalism on display by brandishing the Thai flag, while branding Thanathorn and his supporters “nation haters” for their liberal views.

They took turns hitting giant fruit piñatas with a wooden stick, to symbolize frustration at the Future Forward Party, with an orange, for example, signifying the party’s official color.

Both crowds encompassed a wide age range, but Prayuth’s supporters were older on the whole.

“We support the prime minister because he shows loyalty to the monarchy, our king,” said Sorasak Katkonganapan, a 62-year-old retiree at the walk.

Fresh from a landslide reelection victory, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen met Sunday with the de facto U.S. ambassador to Taipei, as China warned that countries should stick with recognizing communist-ruled Beijing as the rightful government of “One China,” including Taiwan.

William Brent Christensen, a U.S. diplomat who is director of the American Institute in Taiwan, congratulated Tsai on her victory and she thanked him for his support.

“The Taiwan-U.S. partnership has already grown from a bilateral partnership to a global partnership. In the future, we will continue to build on the foundation we have created over the past three years to strengthen our cooperation on global issues,” Tsai said, according to a record of the remarks from the U.S. side.

China considers self-governed Taiwan a part of its territory and opposes any official contact with the U.S. as an interference in its domestic affairs. The U.S. does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan but is legally bound to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself against threats.

Pressure from China

Tsai has sought closer relations with the U.S. while pushing back against pressure from China, and the Trump administration has reciprocated.

Since separating from China during civil war in 1949, Taiwan has developed its own identity but never declared formal independence. Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island of 23 million people and threatens to use force to seize control if necessary.

In her victory speech after her rival, Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist Party, conceded defeat, Tsai urged China to resume talks with Taiwan without preconditions while warning against threatening use of force.

“Today I want to once again remind the Beijing authorities that peace, parity, democracy and dialogue are the keys to stability,” Tsai said. “I want the Beijing authorities to know that democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will never concede to threats.”

Setback for Xi

Tsai’s victory is a setback for Chinese President Xi Jinping at a time when Beijing is grappling with an economic slowdown and long-running, sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations in Hong Kong.

After election results were announced late Saturday, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said China is willing to work with the Taiwanese people to advance the “peaceful reunification of the country.”

But he cautioned that China would firmly protect its territorial integrity and opposes any separatist moves and Taiwan independence, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

“We hope and believe that the international community will continue adhering to the One China principle, understand and support the just cause of Chinese people to oppose the secessionist activities for ‘Taiwan independence’ and realize national reunification,” said a statement from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.

The scale of Tsai’s win is a loss of face for Xi and could raise sensitivity from Beijing toward moves to draw closer to Washington and to strengthen Taiwan’s sovereignty, the Eurasia Group said in an analysis.

Opinion polls had showed Tsai leading before the election, but a huge turnout helped her claim more than 8 million votes. She got 57% of the vote to Han’s 39%. Her Democratic Progressive Party also managed to win in areas that often go to the China-friendly Nationalists in central and southern Taiwan. It retained its majority in the 113-seat Legislative Yuan, though the vote was closer there.

Tsai has acknowledged that Beijing may well up its pressure on Taiwan following her victory. But she received a resounding public mandate for her rejection of China’s suggestion for a “one country, two systems” approach to governing Taiwan.

Libya’s east-based forces have announced that they will abide by a cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey that is to start Sunday.

If it holds, the cease-fire would be the country’s first break in fighting in months, and the first brokered by international players. It comes as Libya is on the brink of a major escalation, with foreign backers of the rival Libyan governments stepping up their involvement on the ground.

A spokesman for the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, which are led by ex-general Khalifa Hifter, said in a video statement that the cease-fire would take effect starting early Sunday. Spokesman Ahmed al-Mosmari said any violations of the cease-fire by their fighters would be dealt with “severely.”

It was not immediately clear if Hifter would also agree to a withdrawal of forces from around the capital. His rival, Fayez Sarraj, who is prime minister of the U.N.-supported government in Tripoli, had demanded previously such a pull out as the truce’s condition. Libya is governed by dueling authorities, one based in the east and one in Tripoli in the west, led by Sarraj. Each rely on different militias for support.

Hifter’s eastern-based forces launched a fresh offensive to take the capital in April, sparking international efforts to try to contain the crisis in the North African nation.

Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin released a joint statement after a meeting in Istanbul calling for a Jan. 12 truce. They did not specify what the conditions would be.

The calls for a cease-fire between the warring eastern and western Libyan forces came amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by European powers. The west-based government welcomed the calls for a stop to the fighting. A spokesman for Hifter’s forces said initially that they would continue their push to take the seat of their rivals, Tripoli, from “terrorist groups.”

A U.N. peacekeeping body has welcomed the development. The United Nations Support Mission in Libya said in a statement that it hopes all parties will demonstrate “complete adherence” to the agreement to stop the violence. The United Nations and European powers, along with Libya’s allies in the region, have been calling for a peace summit in Berlin early this year that would bring together the leaders of the rival governments.

The east-based government, backed by Hifter’s forces, is supported by the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, as well as France and Russia. The western, Tripoli-based government receives aid from Turkey, Qatar and Italy.

The fighting has threatened to plunge Libya into violent chaos rivaling the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

In the decade since Gadhafi’s death, the oil-rich nation has increasingly become a setting for proxy battles between regional players vying for influence in the Mediterranean region. Russia and Turkey, with their support of the eastern- and western-based Libyan governments, have become the latest additions.
 

In a defining week for President Donald Trump on the world stage, national security adviser Robert O’Brien was a constant presence at the president’s side as the U.S. edged to the brink of war with Iran and back again.

The contrasts with O’Brien’s predecessor along the way — in secret consultations at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, in the Oval Office and in basement deliberations in the White House Situation Room — could not have been more stark.

While former national security adviser John Bolton spent decades as a conservative iconoclast in the public arena, O’Brien is far from a household name. While Bolton had strong opinions he shared loudly in the Oval Office, O’Brien has worked to establish an amiable relationship with Trump.

And while Bolton’s trademark mustache was a target of Trump’s mockery, the president is drawn to O’Brien’s low-key California vibe and style.

“Right out of central casting,” Trump says of O’Brien.

Rapport with Trump

For all the differences between the two men, though, O’Brien ended up signing off on the same course of action that Bolton had long endorsed: a strike to take out Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani. The decision drew retaliatory missile strikes from Tehran.

The way that O’Brien steered the Trump White House through the process endeared himself to the president and widened his rapidly growing influence in the West Wing.

“He’s a deal guy and the president’s a deal guy,” said Jared Kushner, a senior White House adviser. “A lot of people inside the foreign policy establishment are good at explaining why things are wrong but are petrified to put things in play and take calculated risks.”

The Iran drama was set in motion when Trump summoned O’Brien from Los Angeles to the president’s Palm Beach spread, where Trump was spending a two-week winter holiday. While other top aides, including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, consulted with the president from afar, Trump wanted O’Brien at his side.

“Robert was calm, cool and collected, constantly keeping the president updated,” Kushner said.

More than a half-dozen current and former administration officials and Republicans close to the White House contributed to this account. Many spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

Rise of a new voice

Trump has long been known for tuning out old voices in favor of new ones, but O’Brien’s rise in the president’s inner circle has been rapid. The 53-year-old O’Brien, who has handled scores of complex international litigation, has a corner office on the first floor of the White House, a few steps from the Oval Office.

A sharp-dressing Republican lawyer who worked in the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, O’Brien was appointed by Trump in May 2018 to be the nation’s top hostage negotiator. He successfully worked for the release of several Americans, including pastor Andrew Brunson, who spent two years in a Turkish prison. O’Brien also traveled to Sweden to lobby for the release of rapper A$AP Rocky, imprisoned on an assault charge.

Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser, fell out of favor with the president after a series of sharp disagreements, including over North Korea and Iran policies. He was forced out in September. Trump’s previous national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, never developed a personal rapport with the president, who tuned out on McMaster’s long-winded briefing style.

Bolton had frequently tussled with Pompeo and Defense Department officials and, at times, frustrated the president with his sharp clashes and bureaucratic knife-fighting.

Honest, collaborative

O’Brien, in contrast, makes it a point to collaborate with the State Department and the Pentagon. People familiar with his work style describe an honest broker who is diplomatic but direct. He is known to present the views of Pompeo and top defense and intelligence officials to the president as he would brief a legal client.

Colleagues say he doesn’t try to push his own foreign policy ideas on the president and is more deferential to the views from other agencies than was Bolton. He has a plaque on his desk that says, “There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn’t mind who gets the credit.” It’s a replica of the one President Ronald Reagan kept on his desk in the Oval Office.

Administration officials, at least for now, point to a new camaraderie in the latest incarnation of Trump’s national security team: Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were West Point classmates; Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has grown close to Trump; and O’Brien, unlike Bolton, has not tried to pull an end run around others in the decision-making process.

“I think he’s very comfortable with the idea of the job as a staff job, which I think is the model,” said former Sen. Jim Talent, a Missouri Republican who met O’Brien more than a decade ago when they were advising Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign. “Obviously when the president asks for his advice, he gives his personal opinion.”

Critics see ‘yes’ men without gravitas

Where Republicans see as collegial team, some Democratic critics worry that Trump is surrounding himself with advisers too eager to accede to his views.

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration’s national security team seems to lack “discerning voices.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lamented this past week that Trump’s current team lacked the gravitas of earlier advisers, including former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and McMaster, both retired generals.

“People like Mattis and McMaster, who disagree with the president because he’s so erratic, leave — leaving a bunch of ‘yes’ people, who seem to want to do whatever the president wants,” Schumer said recently on the Senate floor.

After the drone strike on Soleimani, there was a deliberate effort to give the Iranians some space to react without committing the U.S. to a military response. Even as Trump delivered fire and brimstone warnings, the rest of his national security team gave indications that not every Iranian response would send American missiles flying. When Tehran’s rockets left no casualties in attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq, the crisis abated, at least for the moment.

While former advisers such as Mattis and McMaster, attempted to check some of the president’s impulses, O’Brien has been regarded as enabling some of Trump’s high-risk inclinations.

O’Brien’s style has been to offer pros and cons before ultimately agreeing with Trump’s decisions, including the moves to abruptly withdraw U.S. troops from Kurdish-held territory in Syria and the military raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

O’Brien has established good relationships at the White House and on Capitol Hill, said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

“Every time I talk to the president about him — and his name comes up a fair amount when the president and I are talking — the president just always speaks glowingly about him,” said the Utah senator. He added that O’Brien “has a client. He doesn’t have his own agenda that he’s pursuing.”

A night of vigils for the victims of a Ukrainian passenger airliner mistakenly shot down by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps erupted into anti-government protests nationwide Saturday. The eventual acceptance of responsibility for the downed airline after days of cover-up by the Iranian regime angered people who protested in cities across the country against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and the IRGC.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday tweeted support for the Iranian people, in Farsi and in English, as they took to the streets after their government admitted unintentionally shooting down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people aboard. 

“To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran, Trump began on Twitter: 

به مردم شجاع و رنج کشیده ایران: من از ابتدای دوره ریاست جمهوریم با شما ایستاده‌ام و دولت من همچنان با شما خواهد ایستاد. ما اعتراضات شما را از نزدیک دنبال می کنیم. شجاعت شما الهام بخش است.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

 

To the brave, long-suffering people of Iran: I’ve stood with you since the beginning of my Presidency, and my Administration will continue to stand with you. We are following your protests closely, and are inspired by your courage.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

He followed with words of caution for the Iranian government, warning its leaders against cracking down on the protests that erupted. 

دولت ایران باید به گروه‌های حقوق بشر اجازه بدهد حقیقت کنونی اعتراضات در جریان مردم ایران را نظارت کرده و گزارش بدهند. نباید شاهد کشتار دوباره ی معترضان مسالمت آمیز و یا قطع اینترنت باشیم. جهان نظاره گر این اتفاقات است.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

The government of Iran must allow human rights groups to monitor and report facts from the ground on the ongoing protests by the Iranian people. There can not be another massacre of peaceful protesters, nor an internet shutdown. The world is watching.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 11, 2020

On Saturday evening, police dispersed students who had converged on Amirkabir University in Tehran to pay tribute to the victims, after some among the hundreds gathered shouted “destructive” slogans, the Fars news agency said. 

Earlier, in the first official U.S. statement after Iran’s admission, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo posted on Twitter a video of the protests in Tehran. 

“The voice of the Iranian people is clear. They are fed up with the regime’s lies, corruption, ineptitude, and brutality of the IRGC under @khamenei_ir’s kleptocracy. We stand with the Iranian people who deserve a better future.” (Pompeo was using Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s Twitter handle in the tweet.) 

The voice of the Iranian people is clear. They are fed up with the regime’s lies, corruption, ineptitude, and brutality of the IRGC under @khamenei_ir’s kleptocracy. We stand with the Iranian people who deserve a better future. pic.twitter.com/tBOjv9XsIG

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 11, 2020

Even as top Iranian officials and the military issued apologies, protests against authorities spread across Iran, including in Tehran, Shiraz, Isfahan, Hamedan and Orumiyeh. 

“There are once again massive protests in Iran against the regime,” U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told VOA News on Saturday, “and we stand with the brave Iranian people 100%. Protesters are chanting about the shameful actions of the IRGC and are ripping down posters of [Quds Force commander Qassem] Soleimani put up by the regime. They are saying Soleimani was a murderer and so is Khameini. The protesters are right!” 

The new demonstrations followed an Iranian crackdown on street protests that broke out in November against an increase in the price of fuel. Amnesty International has said that crackdown left more than 300 people dead. 

According to media reports, internet access was effectively cut off in multiple Iranian provinces ahead of memorials planned a month after the protests. 

Agence France-Presse, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

Oman’s venerable ruler, Sultan Qaboos Bin Said, who ruled his strategic Gulf emirate — adjacent to Iran — for nearly 50 years, has died after a long illness. The country’s royal family chose the late Sultan’s cousin, Haitham Bin Tariq, to succeed him, in accordance with his last testament.

Oman’s royal family met Saturday, following the death overnight of the late Sultan Qaboos, and appointed his cousin, Haitham Bin Tariq, to succeed him. The appointment was made after top family members and military officials read aloud the last testament of Sultan Qaboos.

A military honor guard fired a ceremonial cannon to honor the late Sultan as his successor presided over the official transition.

Many of the hundreds of Omanis who lined the route of Sultan Qaboos’ funeral cortege broke into tears and sobbed as his body was taken to a royal cemetery for burial. Qaboos, who succeeded his father in a bloodless coup in 1970, was the only ruler most Omanis had ever known.

Qaboos, who studied at Britain’s famous Sandhurst Military Academy, fought a leftist insurgency when he first came to power, and he then presided over one of the more stable nations in the turbulent region. The late Sultan had no children.

Oman’s new sultan, Haitham Bin Tariq, told those gathered to hear his inaugural speech he would follow the path of his predecessor in foreign policy, which he said included “peaceful coexistence between peoples and nations, good neighborly relations, non-interference in the internal affairs of others, respecting the sovereignty of all nations, and cooperation with everyone.”

Sultan Qaboos, whose family has governed Oman since 1741, made a point of keeping good relations with both Iran and all of his Gulf neighbors. He refused to take sides during Iran’s 8-year conflict with Iraq during the 1980s, and he maintained a neutral stance in the more recent conflict between Qatar and Gulf Cooperation Council neighbors Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Oman played a key role in mediation between the U.S. and Iran during negotiations on the 2015 nuclear accord (JCPOA) between the G-5 countries, plus Germany.

Washington-based Gulf analyst Theodore Karasik tells VOA the “passing of Qaboos is a major moment in the region … because of the influence the sultan projected, most of the time very quietly.” Karasik adds that he expects to see “the same pragmatism” under the new Sultan Haitham.

Authorities in Louisiana said Saturday said at least three people have died in connection with a severe storm that is sweeping across parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Southeast.

The Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office said on its Facebook page that the bodies of an elderly couple were found near their demolished trailer by firefighters. A search for more possible victims was underway.

The Sheriff’s Office also said the roof of Benton Middle School was damaged and “that water damage from the sprinkler system has flooded many rooms.”

In Arkansas and Missouri, tornadoes destroyed homes and also caused damage in Oklahoma.

The national Storm Prediction Center said Friday more than 18 million people in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma were at an enhanced risk of storms Friday, including from strong tornadoes, flooding rains and wind gusts that could exceed 80 mph (129 kph), the speed of a Category 1 hurricane. The area included several major Texas cities including Dallas, Houston and Austin.

The storms also unleashed downpours that caused widespread flash flooding. Dallas police said one person died when a car flipped into Five Mile Creek west of downtown Dallas about 7 p.m.

Earlier in the afternoon, a tornado destroyed two homes near Fair Play, Missouri, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) northwest of Springfield. The Missouri State Highway Patrol said no injuries were reported.

Shortly before 3 p.m., a tornado stripped the shingles from the roof of a home near Tahlequah, Oklahoma, about 60 miles (96 kilometers) southeast of Tulsa. No injuries were reported there either.

What the NWS described as “a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado” roared through parts of Logan County, Arkansas, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Fort Smith on Friday night.

At least three homes were destroyed by the Arkansas tornado, said Logan County Emergency Management Coordinator Tobi Miller, but no injuries were reported. Downed trees and power lines were widespread, she said.

Miller said the tornado skirted her home in Subiaco, Arkansas. She said she heard but couldn’t see the rain-wrapped twister in the dark.

Ahead of the storms, Dallas’ Office of Emergency Management asked residents to bring in pets, outdoor furniture, grills, “and anything else that could be caught up in high winds to reduce the risk of flying debris.”

Such strong winds are a key concern in an area at greatest risk: A zone that includes parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, the Storm Prediction Center warned. Weather service meteorologists in northern Louisiana said that such a dire forecast for the area is only issued two to four times each year, on average.

In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said boats, helicopters, medical and rescue teams had been placed on standby in case they are needed.

“I ask that all Texans keep those in the storm’s path and all of Texas’ first responders in their prayers as they deal with the effects of this storm,” Abbott said in a statement.

Wicked weather also will pose a threat to Alabama and Georgia as the system moves eastward on Saturday, forecasters said.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said Friday the state was making necessary preparations ahead of the potential weather.

“At the state level, we continue to closely monitor this storm system, while making all necessary preparations,” Ivey said in a statement. “I encourage all Alabamians to do the same, stay weather aware and heed all local warnings.”

On Alabama’s Gulf Coast, Baldwin County canceled school activities including sporting events for Saturday. The weather service warned of flooding and the potential for 10-foot-high (3-meter-high) waves on beaches, where northern visitors escaping the cold are a common sight during the winter.

Heavy rains also could cause flooding across the South and part of the Midwest.

Many streams already are at or near flood levels because of earlier storms, and heavy rains could lead to flash flooding across the region, forecasters said. Parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana were under flash flood warnings or watches on Saturday.

The French prime minister informed the unions behind a crippling railway strike over pension reform Saturday that he is open to backing down on one of the most controversial proposals: raising the full pension eligibility age to 64.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe wrote to unions one day after the French government and labor representatives engaged in talks that had seemed to end in a stalemate after more than a month of strikes and protests.

Philippe’s letter said that the plan to raise the full pension eligibility age from 62 to 64 – the unions’ major sticking point – was open to negotiation. It was the first time the French government overtly indicated room for movement on the retirement age issue. The overture could signal hope for ending the France’s longest transport strikes in decades.

However, Philippe said any compromise was contingent on first finding a way of paying for the pensions system in a country where a record number of people are over age 90.

On Saturday, protesters in Paris marched through the streets to denounce the French government’s plans.

In scenes that have become all too familiar to Parisians, demonstrators set fire to a kiosk near the Bastille square in the center of the French capital as a minority of demonstrators in the march got rowdy..

Police fired tear gas briefly as minor scuffles broke out.

Two days earlier, hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets nationwide to denounce the government’s pension proposals. The unions planned further actions for next week to keep up the pressure on the government.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Moscow on Saturday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has arrived in Moscow for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid growing tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Merkel and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas traveled to the Russian capital for discussions about international hot spots such as Iran, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Ukraine. Merkel met with Putin in the afternoon.

 Earlier in the week, the German leader’s spokesman described Russia as “indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts” due to its status as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.

“Russia is an important player on the world stage, and as a permanent member of the (U.N.) Security Council it’s also indispensable when it comes to solving political conflicts,” Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman, said earlier in the week while previewing the visit.

Germany is currently a non-permanent member of the Security Council.

 Germany and Russia are among the world powers that have been trying to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran after the United States withdrew from the agreement unilaterally in 2018.

A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan killed at least two American soldiers on Saturday and injured two others.

NATO’s Resolute Support mission said the service members were conducting operations in southern Kandahar province when their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device, or IED.  The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for planting the bomb in an Afghan province that hosts a major U.S. military base.  

The insurgent group stages almost daily deadly attacks on Afghan security forces and their international partners even as it holds peace talks with the United States.  

Last year was one of the deadliest for the U.S. military when it lost at least 19 service members in combat-related Afghan missions.

The conflict has cost Washington nearly $1 trillion and the lives of around 2,400 soldiers since U.S. and coalition partners invaded Afghanistan in 2001 following the 9-11 terrorist attack.  

While Afghan security forces have also suffered tens of thousands of casualties, civilians continue to bear the brunt of hostilities.  

The United Nations has noted in a recent statement that more than 100,000 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured in the last 10 years along.

 

 

 

The United States is hitting Iranian companies and eight senior officials with new sanctions, in response to Iranian missile attacks against bases housing US forces in Iraq. Pressed for the rationale behind killing a top Iranian general last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted General Qassem Soleimani was plotting attacks on US facilities. Pompeo is front and center in the current Middle East crisis, as President Donald Trump’s most powerful and influential national security adviser. VOA’s Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.

BURRAGATE, Australia — Two wildfires merged to form a massive inferno in southeast Australia Saturday, near where a man suffered serious burns protecting a home during a night of treacherous conditions during the nation’s unprecedented fire crisis.

Authorities were assessing the damage after firefighters battled flames fanned by strong winds through the night and lightning strikes sparked new blazes in New South Wales and Victoria, Australia’s most populous states. Conditions were milder Saturday and forecast to remain relatively benign for the next week.

“In the scheme of things, we did OK last night,” Victorian Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said.

New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters that officials were “extremely relieved” the fires were not been more destructive overnight.

Firefighting injuries

A man suffered burns protecting a home near Tumbarumba in southern New South Wales and was airlifted to a Sydney hospital in serious condition to undergo surgery, Fitzsimmons said.

Several firefighters received minor burns, and one suffered shortness of breath but were not admitted to a hospital, he said.

With no heavy rain expected, the 640,000-hectare (1.58 million-acre) blaze that formed overnight when two fires joined in the Snowy Mountains region near Tumbarumba close to the Victorian border is expected to burn for weeks, officials said.

Since September, the fires have killed at least 26 people, destroyed more than 2,000 homes and scorched an area larger than the U.S. state of Indiana.

The crisis also has brought accusations that Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative government needs to take more action to counter climate change, which experts say worsens the blazes. Thousands of protesters rallied late Friday in Sydney and Melbourne, calling for Morrison to be fired and for Australia to take tougher action on global warming.

The protesters carried placards saying, “We deserve more than your negligence,” “This is ecosystem collapse” and “We can’t breathe,” referring to wildfire smoke that has choked both cities.

Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas. Australians are also among the worst greenhouse gas emitters per capita.

On Friday, thousands of people in the path of fires fled to evacuation centers, while some chose to ignore evacuation orders and stayed to defend their homes.

Wake-up call for people

Evan Harris, who lives in the New South Wales rural village of Burragate, said police and fire crews told him he should leave his cottage because of the threat. He told them he wasn’t going anywhere.

Burragate was choked with smoke for several hours Friday and was directly in a fire’s path.

A fire strike team and several members of the Australian Army arrived to try to save properties, and they were prepared to hunker down in a fire station if the flames overran them.

In the end, the winds died down and so did the fire. But crews worry the flames will flare again during a fire season that could continue for months.

Harris said he likes to live off the grid in his remote home, which is made from mud bricks. He has no electricity, instead using batteries to power the lights and a small wood burner to heat water. Harris feels like he has a point to make.

“If this house survives, I think it will be a bit of a wake-up call for people,” he said. “That maybe people should start building like this, instead of over-exorbitant houses.”

Harris prepared for the blazes by tacking sheets of iron over his windows and clearing the area around the house of grass and shrubbery that might have caught fire. He dug a hole away from the cottage to house his gas canisters.

Harris said he was disappointed in the environmental destruction and that people should be paying attention to the more sustainable way that indigenous Australians previously lived.

“This is a result of the human species demanding too much of the environment,” he said of the wildfires.

More than 1 billion animals have been killed in bushfires in the Australian state of New South Wales, according to leading wildlife experts.

Bushfires have had a terrible impact on Australia. Lives have been lost, thousands of homes destroyed and vast areas of land incinerated. The disaster has also had catastrophic consequences for animals. Images of badly burned koalas, Australia’s famous furry marsupials, have come to define the severity of the fire emergency.

The University of Sydney has estimated that more than 1 billion mammals, birds and reptiles, as well as “hundreds of billions” of insects have died in the fires. Experts have warned that “for some species we are looking at imminent extinction.”

They also fear that animals that have survived the fires by fleeing or seeking safety underground will return to areas that will not have the food, water or shelter to support them. 

Saving the zoo animals

At zoos and wildlife reserves, staff risked their lives protecting the animals in their care.

As fires tore through the town of Mogo on the New South Wales south coast on New Year’s Eve, there were grave fears for the animals at the local zoo. Remarkably, they all survived, but the property is badly damaged.

Chad Staples, the head keeper, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation about his decision to stay to fight the flames.

“We have a lot of damaged fences,” he said. “The good thing is that we saved every single animal, there is no injuries, there’s no sickness. We had to stay here and protect them. We knew that this was the best place that we, if we worked hard, could make this a safe place. But, yeah, of course, I think everyone, at [a] different point, was scared out of their wits.”

Farm animals perish

Tens of thousands of farm animals also have likely died in the bushfire disaster.

Farmers have been forced to euthanize injured stock. The losses could run into the millions of dollars.

Only when the fires clear will Australia be able to more accurately assess the full extent of the damage on livestock and wildlife.

Dozens of fires continue to burn across several Australian states.

Two Eritrean asylum-seekers were shot dead in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, days after the U.N. refugee agency pressed them to leave its facility citing overcrowding.

The UNHCR confirmed the deaths in a statement Friday saying it’s “deeply saddened” by the Thursday deaths in Tripoli.

Three refugees told The Associated Press that the men were among dozens forced out of the UNHCR-run Gathering and Departure Facility 10 days ago. The three spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

The facility was promoted as an “alternative to detention” but when the numbers of refugees increased, the U.N. offered money and pressed new arrivals to leave. The slain refugees were among those who accepted the money and left.

They were among thousands held in Libya’s detention centers where abuses are rampant. The country is a major waypoint for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East to Europe.

Taiwanese voters headed to the polls Saturday morning to pick a president in an election dominated by how the government should handle its political rival: China. Some are casting votes for the incumbent Tsai Ing-wen, who takes a tough stance toward Beijing. A lot are going instead for Han Kuo-yu, rising-star mayor who wants closer economic ties with China.

Voters lined up in thick crowds outside Taiwan’s polling stations Saturday morning in an early sign of strong turnout in a presidential election that will chart the future of the island’s relations with China.

The government in Beijing considers Taiwan part of its own territory that must eventually unify with China. But Taiwanese said in surveys last year they prefer today’s democratic self-rule over unification. Anti-China protests in Hong Kong over the past months raised fear among some Taiwanese voters of what life might be like under rule by Beijing. China has ruled Hong Kong for more than 20 years.

Big issue: China

Saturday’s vote in Taiwan is widely expected to reflect sentiments toward China.

Chen Li-chin, a 43-year-old mother from suburban Taipei, decided to vote for incumbent Tsai Ing-wen because the president has shown a willingness to resist China.

Chen says what the government should do is protect Taiwan’s democracy and that’s the most important thing. She said that in comparing candidates, she prefers Tsai Ing-wen. Taiwan’s cooperative relations with China, she adds, can be done state to state as long as China doesn’t take Taiwan to be part of its own country.

Tsai, a 63-year-old U.S.-educated law scholar, advocates dialogue with China only if the communist leadership in Beijing drops conditions that Taiwan considers itself part of China.

She has spoken in favor of Hong Kong’s protesters and said Taiwanese cannot accept the “one country, two systems” type of rule that Beijing uses now to govern Hong Kong. Chinese President Xi Jinping advocate the same scheme for Taiwan in a speech a year ago this month.

Trade and investment

Tsai is running against Han Kuo-yu of the Nationalist party, also called the KMT. Han is the 62-year-old mayor of Taiwan’s chief port city Kaohsiung. He says he wants to start talks with China on trade and investment matters that would benefit Taiwan’s export-reliant economy. His party says that dialogue would not compromise Taiwan’s self-rule.

His policies follow from those of ex-president Ma Ying-jeou. Over Ma’s eight years in office before 2016, China and Taiwan signed more than 20 trade and investment deals while setting aside the political dispute. But by 2014 many Taiwanese feared Ma was getting dangerously cozy with China and staged mass street protests in Taipei.

Some voters, however, still see dialogue as the best solution. Hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese invest in China or sell goods to its vast consumer market.

Voter Tony Hong, a 67-year-old retired public servant from central Taiwan, had picked Han as his candidate.

He says that relations with China are of top importance and that of course the two sides should talk more. He calls dialogue an advantage in peace for both sides but says China should respect Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.

Parliament on ballot

Taiwanese will also elect a new 113-seat parliament Saturday. The legislature now controlled by Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party allocates the foreign affairs budget and can pass laws related to China. Last month parliament approved a bill that outlaws infiltration by China through junkets, campaign contributions and other election influence.

Taiwan’s Central Election Commission halted campaigning Saturday. Campaign rallies, concerts and street parades with booming drumrolls lasted past 11 p.m. Friday. Election tampering or other major voting gaffes are rare in Taiwan. Local television networks showed both major candidates casting ballots with a smile and a wave.

Ballot counting is set to start when polls close at 4 p.m. Election results normally emerge within hours.

The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to allow scaled-back cross-border humanitarian aid operations to continue into Syria, adopting a resolution just hours before the operations were due to expire.

Russia won its push to cut back the number of crossing points from four to two, and to guarantee they continue only for an additional six months, instead of the one year several other council members sought.“

We find ourselves in this situation because the Russian Federation has decided to use deprivation as a weapon against the Syrian people,” U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft said. “This is a crisis of Russia’s making; it is theirs to own.”

The U.N. and its partners have been delivering aid via several border points since 2014, reaching about 4 million needy Syrians. But the government of Bashar al-Assad no longer wants the deliveries to continue, as they try to stamp out the last rebel strongholds.

“ll these cries about imminent catastrophe, disaster, which the northeast faces if we close one cross-border point, is totally irrelevant because humanitarian assistance to that region is coming from within Syria for a long time, and it will continue to come,” Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told reporters. “What we are saying is that the situation on the ground has changed dramatically and we have to reflect it.”

Russia succeeded in getting the Yarubiyah crossing from Iraq into Syria closed, and dropping another crossing point from Jordan that has not been used recently. Two crossings from Turkey into northwestern Syria will remain.

In practical terms, Yarubiyah means medical aid for chronic illnesses, vaccines and trauma cases to about 1.4 million Syrians will not be able to get into northeastern Syria.  

Several council members were bitter about being forced to accept this compromise.

“We supported the resolution to save millions of lives in Idlib, but we strongly voice our discontent for how this result was achieved,” Estonian Ambassador Sven Jurgenson, a new council member, said. “Instead of cooperation, the preferred means of negotiations by the Russian Federation were blackmailing and presenting other parties with ultimatums.”

Britain’s envoy said that while a serious diplomatic effort was made to keep the crossings open, ultimately the deal is “a woefully inadequate response” to the situation on the ground.“

“The exclusion of any border crossing into northeastern Syria is, in our view, deeply regrettable and it puts the lives of thousands of civilians at risk in Syria,” Ambassador Karen Pierce said.  

The council tried last month to broker a compromise effort to extend the mission for another year and keep the two Turkish crossing points, as well as Yarubiyah in Iraq. But it failed after Russia cast its 14th veto since the crisis started in 2011, in order to further the interests of the Assad regime. At the time, China also joined Russia in vetoing.  

On Friday, Britain, China, Russia and the United States all abstained from the vote. All were unhappy with the final draft resolution, but none wanted to be seen to be blocking humanitarian aid operations.  

Until Friday, about 4 million Syrians were receiving aid via cross-border operations. In the northwest, they reached 2.7 million people and another 1.3 million in the northeast.

“We did everything to keep that alive so that these 2.7 million people will continue to get humanitarian aid,” Germany’s ambassador and co-author of the draft resolution said. But he warned that the decision “comes at a very heavy price.“

“Tomorrow morning, 1.4 million people in the northeast of Syria will wake up not knowing if they will be able to continue to get medical aid that they desperately need,” Ambassador Christophe Heusgen said. 

The White House is considering dramatically expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration by President Donald Trump, according to six people familiar with the deliberations.

A document outlining the plans — timed to coincide with the third anniversary of Trump’s January 2017 executive order — has been circulating in the White House. But the countries that would be affected if it moves forward are blacked out, according to two of the people, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the measure has yet to be finalized.

It’s unclear exactly how many countries would be included in the expansion if it proceeds, but two of the people said that seven countries — a majority of them Muslim — would be added to the list. The most recent iteration of the ban includes restrictions on five majority-Muslim nations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as Venezuela and North Korea.

A different person said the expansion could include several countries that were covered in the first iteration of Trump’s ban, but later removed amid rounds of contentious litigation. Iraq, Sudan and Chad, for instance, had originally been affected by the order, which the Supreme Court upheld in a 5-4 vote after the administration released a watered-down version intended to withstand legal scrutiny.

Trump, who had floated a banning all Muslims from entering the country during his 2016 campaign, criticized his Justice Department for the changes, tweeting that DOJ “should have stayed with the original Travel Ban, not the watered down, politically correct version they submitted to S.C.”

Allies may be on proposed list

The countries on the proposed expansion list include allies that fall short on certain security measures. The additional restrictions were proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials following a review of security protocols and “identity management” for about 200 countries, according to the person.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley declined to confirm the plan, but praised the travel ban for making the country safer.

“The travel ban has been very successful in protecting our country and raising the security baseline around the world,” he said in a statement. “While there are no new announcements at this time, common sense and national security both dictate that if a country wants to fully participate in U.S. immigration programs, they should also comply with all security and counter-terrorism measures, because we do not want to import terrorism or any other national security threat into the United States.”

Several of the people said they expected the announcement to be timed to coincide with the third anniversary of Trump’s first, explosive travel ban, which was announced without warning Jan. 27, 2017, days after Trump took office. That order sparked an uproar, with massive protests across the nation and chaos at airports where passengers were detained.

The current ban suspends immigrant and non-immigrant visas to applicants from the affected countries, but it allows exceptions, including for students and those who have established “significant contacts” in the U.S. And it represents a significant softening from Trump’s initial order, which had suspended travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days, blocked refugee admissions for 120 days and suspended travel from Syria.

First order blocked by courts

That order was immediately blocked by the courts, prompting a months-long effort by the administration to develop clear standards and federal review processes to try to withstand legal muster. Under the current system, restrictions are targeted at countries the Department of Homeland Security says fail to share sufficient information with the U.S. or haven’t taken necessary security precautions, such as issuing electronic passports with biometric information and sharing information about travelers’ terror-related and criminal histories.

Under the existing order, Cabinet secretaries are also required to update the president regularly on whether countries are abiding by the new immigration security benchmarks. Countries that fail to comply risk new restrictions and limitations, while countries that comply can have their restrictions lifted.

Trump ran his 2016 campaign promising to crack down on illegal immigration and spent much of his first term fighting lawsuits trying to halt his push to build a wall along the southern border, prohibit the entry of citizens from several majority-Muslim countries and crack down on migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., amid other measures.

He is expected to press those efforts again this year as he ramps up his reelection campaign and works to energize his base with his signature issue, inevitably stoking Democratic anger.

No Ban Act

Just this week, a coalition of leading civil rights organizations urged House leaders to take up the No Ban Act, legislation to end Trump’s travel ban and prevent a new one.

The bill introduced last year by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., with Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., in the Senate, would impose limits on the president’s ability to restrict entry to the U.S. It would require the administration to spell out its reasons for the restrictions and specifically prohibit religious discrimination.

U.S. media are reporting that the United States tried but failed to kill a top Iranian commander in Yemen on the same day a U.S. drone strike killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.

The information, first reported by The Washington Post, indicates the operation that killed Soleimani last week was intended to be broader in scope.

U.S. media reports, quoting anonymous U.S. officials, said the Iranian target in Yemen was Abdul Reza Shahlai, a key commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force. The sources did not give further details about the operation.

The Pentagon declined to discuss the reports.

“We have seen the report of a January 2 airstrike in Yemen, which is long understood as a safe space for terrorists and other adversaries to the United States. The Department of Defense does not discuss alleged operations in the region,” said Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Rebecca Rebarich.

Trump said Thursday that Soleimani, the Iranian general that he ordered killed with a drone strike, had been planning to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Trump and his aides have drawn criticism from opposition Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans for not providing specific evidence to back up the claim that Soleimani posed an “imminent threat” at the time he was killed in the Iraqi capital last week.

Trump administration officials have previously blamed Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force in Iran, for killing American armed forces, including a U.S. contractor who was killed in December, while fomenting unrest in Iraq and Lebanon.

Iranian officials retaliated for the drone strike that killed Soleimani by firing missiles on January 8 at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops. No U.S. troops were killed in the attack.

On Wednesday, Trump gave a White House address in which he concluded that Iran “appears to be standing down” from new conflict with the United States.