【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2OYiL7o Afghans Mark Soviet Withdrawal as US Negotiates Its Own Exit
Afghanistan on Saturday marked the 31st anniversary of the last Soviet soldier leaving the country. This year's anniversary came as the United States negotiates its own exit after 18 years of war, America's longest.
Some of the same Afghan insurgent leaders who drove out the former Soviet Union have been fighting the U.S. and have had prominent seats at the negotiating table during yearlong talks with Washington's peace envoy.
Moscow pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, a decade after invading the country to support an allied communist government. Afghan mujaheddin, or holy warriors, received weapons and training from the U.S. throughout the 1980s to fight the Red Army. Some of those mujaheddin went on to form the Taliban.
The U.S. and the Taliban agreed Friday to a temporary truce. If successful, it could open the way for another historic withdrawal that would see all American troops leave the country.
The chief negotiator for the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, was once an American ally against the Soviets. So was another Taliban negotiator, Khairullah Khairkhwa. He spent 12 years detained at Guantanamo Bay until his release in 2014 in exchange for U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl.
The Taliban are now at their strongest since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan ousted them from power.
No public festivities
Kabul's streets were quiet Saturday, normally the busy start of the Afghan workweek. There were no official public celebrations marking the anniversary, and most people took the holiday off.
Shakeb Rohin was only 7 years old when the Soviets pulled out. Now a graduate of Kabul University's economics department, he said he couldn't remember the Soviet occupation. Since then, he said, he's witnessed only war.
``We are so tried of war, we want a peaceful solution for Afghanistan's problems,'' he said.
Abdul Shakor Ahmadi, 56, recalled how people were very happy on the day of the pullout. But he said the civil war that followed was worse.
With the Cold War over, the U.S. lost interest in Afghanistan. The mujaheddin government — which included many of the warlords in Kabul today — eventually turned their guns on each other in the early 1990s. The fighting killed tens of thousands of civilians. It also led some former mujaheddin to regroup into the Taliban, who rose to power in 1996 and implemented a harsh interpretation of Islamic rule.
Fear for the future
``I hope peace comes this time ,'' Ahmadi said. ``At least once in our lifetime we would be able to see peace in our country. We're so worried about the future of our children.''
It's unclear when newly brokered truce will take effect. The peace deal would call for negotiations between Afghans on both sides of the conflict to start next month. It would also set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and include a commitment from the Taliban not to harbor terrorist groups like al-Qaida.
Amin Mohammadi, a shopkeeper in Kabul, remained pessimistic. ``Most people are jobless. No one has enough money to come and buy things. I don't want to celebrate anything.``
``The Soviets withdrew, but what was the benefit?``
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2SOafZF Trump Looks to Rev Up His Base at Daytona 500
President Donald Trump is out to rev up his appeal with a key voting demographic — NASCAR fans — as he takes in the Daytona 500 on Sunday.
NASCAR drivers may veer to the left during their trip around the oval racetrack, but their fans lean right, which helps explain the regularity with which GOP presidents have made their way to the track.
Trump will be the second sitting president to attend the Daytona 500, after George W. Bush in 2004. Like Trump, he also attended the race during a presidential election year.
Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush also visited the track at Daytona but during races other than the 500.
This year, Trump will serve as grand marshal and give the command for drivers to start their engines.
Two-part appeal
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman under George W. Bush, said the visit should appeal to Trump on two fronts.
``There's a real sense of positive, overwhelming affirmation to hear the roar of the crowd. What politician doesn't want that?'' Fleischer said. ``Secondly, there's what I call the reverberation effect. People watching at home, who hear the roar of the crowd for a president, that can drive them toward some sense of approval or fondness or liking for the president.``
Just in case anyone misses the point, Trump's reelection campaign will run a TV ad during the Fox broadcast of the race and fly an aerial banner near the speedway.
FILE - Then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, accompanied by NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France, left, invites up former NASCAR driver Bill Elliott, right, to speak at a rally in Valdosta, Ga., Feb. 29, 2016.
Trump scored a coup in 2016 when Brian France, then NASCAR's chairman and chief executive, endorsed him in the presidential race. While France's endorsement was a personal matter, some critics said it hurt NASCAR's efforts to boost its appeal among minorities. And Trump didn't help matters when he repeatedly claimed he had received ``NASCAR's endorsement'' rather than France's.
In 1984, Reagan became the first sitting president to attend a NASCAR race. That July, he started the Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, where he gave the command, ``Gentlemen, start your engines!'' from aboard Air Force One. Later, the plane landed at Daytona International Airport behind the speedway in full view of the fans. It was at that race that Richard Petty captured his historic 200th victory.
Reagan stuck around until the end and even did a few laps of radio play-by-play during the race, congratulated Petty and then ate chicken with drivers, crew members, NASCAR employees and their families in the garage area.
FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2004, photo, then-President George W. Bush greets driver Matt Kenseth in the pits at the Daytona 500 NASCAR race in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The senior Bush's trip to Daytona occurred in 1992. As Reagan's vice president, he also served as the honorary starter for the 25th running of the Daytona 500.
President Barack Obama's initial presidential campaign was presented with the opportunity to sponsor a car in a NASCAR race, but eventually declined that chance. However, Obama routinely invited the winners of the NASCAR Cup Series championship to the White House, a tradition Trump has continued.
Penske honored
Last year, Trump took that outreach a step further, awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation's highest civilian honors, to Roger Penske, a businessman and founder of one of the world's most successful motorsports teams.
Democrat Bill Clinton didn't get as friendly a NASCAR reception as the GOP presidents.
During his visit to a NASCAR race as a candidate in September 1992, the question of his lack of Vietnam-era military service was still dogging his campaign. Many fans at the Southern 500 in Darlington, South Carolina, booed and heckled him. By contrast, when George W. Bush attended the Daytona 500, he received rock-star treatment.
About 100,000 people are expected to attend this year's race and millions more will watch on television. About 9 million people took in last year's race on television.
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2HrHVqP Algeria Marks One-year Anniversary of Anti-government Protests
Algeria is marking the one-year anniversary this week of its massive popular uprising pretty much the way it started — with more street protests and a sense that demands for fundamental political change remain unmet.
The political landscape has shifted dramatically. Ailing octogenarian leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika — whose quest for yet another term in office triggered the so-called Hirak protest movement — is out. In prison today are former prime ministers and other once-powerful establishment figures, including Bouteflika's brother, Said.
The current president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, 74, wants to reform Algeria's constitution, among other areas. Even powerful army General Ahmed Gaid Salah, who orchestrated the ouster of Bouteflika and other members of his regime, is out of the picture, having died suddenly in December.
Yet protesters and analysts believe the fundamental pouvoir, or traditional power system of influential military and business leaders, remains in place. And while some suggest there are options for moving forward, the street and the government, for now, are at an impasse.
Not enough impact
"The people in the streets now aren't enough to pressure the government to meet their demands," said analyst Brahim Oumansour of the French Institute for International and Strategic Relations, referring to the dwindling numbers in recent months.
At the same time, he added, "I don't think the Algerian government can continue failing to answer to their demands. The country cannot support such a political blockage."
In the streets and on social media, protesters claim their movement is as strong as ever, and vow another mass demonstration next Friday.
"Fifty-second Friday of protest, the Hirak continues to be mobilized," one Twitter post said, echoing many others.
FILE - People carry a mock hangman with faces of businessman Ali Haddad, former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, and Said Bouteflika, brother of the former president, during a protest against the political structure, in Algiers, Algeria, April 5, 2019.
Establishment figures remain
In other signs of recent changes, an appeals court confirmed this past week a 15-year prison sentence against Said Bouteflika, who was an unofficial "regent" during his brother's later years in office, along with two intelligence chiefs, on charges of plotting against the army's authority. Meanwhile, a controversial media boss once close to the ex-president was arrested on corruption charges.
But other establishment figures remain. Topping the list is Tebboune, a former prime minister and favorite of Algeria's powerful army. He was among a short list of old-regime candidates for Algeria's December election to replace Bouteflika. Protesters called for a boycott of the vote, and even the official turnout was low at just 40 percent.
Since his election, Tebboune has reached out to protesters, calling for dialogue, freeing some detainees and vowing to amend the constitution to give Parliament and the judiciary more power. After a period of focusing inwardly, Algeria is getting more involved in regional issues, including finding solutions to unrest in neighboring Libya and the Sahel region.
But authorities continue to crack down on largely peaceful demonstrations, along with some independent unions, analysts say.
FILE - A wounded protester is evacuated during a demonstration to denounce then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's bid for a fifth term, in Algiers, Algeria, Feb. 23, 2019.
Meanwhile, the protest movement remains unstructured, and some opposition parties refuse to engage in dialogue with the president.
"The Algerian government is functioning but its legitimacy suffers and the country remains at an impasse," wrote expert Robert Ford, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based research organization.
Another combustible mix?
To be sure, the current uprising is radically different from the bloody "Black Decade" of the 1990s, unleashed after the government canceled 1992 parliamentary elections that Islamists were poised to win. The conflict that followed — pitting Islamist militants against the military-backed government — that claimed roughly 150,000 lives was one key reason, analysts say, why Algerians failed to join the wider Arab Spring protests of the past decade.
Today, however, Algeria's struggling, oil-reliant economy, high unemployment and unmet political grievances could prove another combustible mix. For now, the government has kept sensitive subsidies on basic foods and fuel and other key items to avoid more protests. But it might be squeezed to change that policy, analyst Oumansour said.
"If the economic situation leads to thousands of layoffs and inflation, it could perhaps drive the movement into violence," he added, although not on the scale of two decades ago.
Lack of leadership
Complicating the way forward, the protest movement has yet to produce any clear leadership. Some believe that is unlikely to change.
"The Hirak is not a political party, and cannot be structured as such," wrote Algeria's leading independent newspaper, El Watan, in a recent editorial, since the movement "reflects all the currents of opinion of Algerian society."
Nor, the newspaper wrote, do Algerian authorities want the protest to become structured, since it would present a potent threat in the next elections.
But Oumansour believes creating a credible opposition through the ballot box may be one key to ending the impasse. That would mean pushing up the next legislative and municipal votes, currently scheduled for 2022.
"That would allow the Hirak to have its own legally recognized political leaders," he said. "And it gives the government representatives they can negotiate with on the country's future."
The '''Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball statistical leaders''' are individual statistical leaders of the [[Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball]] program in various categories,<ref name=MG>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> including [[Point (basketball)|points]], [[Three-point field goal|three-pointers]], [[Assist (basketball)|assists]], [[Block (basketball)|blocks]], [[Rebound (basketball)|rebounds]], and [[Steal (basketball)|steals]]. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. The Wildcats represent [[Northwestern University]] in the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]]'s [[Big Ten Conference]].
Northwestern began competing in intercollegiate basketball in 1904.<ref name="MG" /> However, the school's record book does not generally list records from before the 1950s, as records from before this period are often incomplete and inconsistent. Since scoring was much lower in this era, and teams played much fewer games during a typical season, it is likely that few or no players from this era would appear on these lists anyway.
The NCAA did not officially record assists as a stat until the 1983–84 season, and blocks and steals until the 1985–86 season, but Northwestern's record books includes players in these stats before these seasons. These lists are updated through the end of the [[2018–19 Northwester Wildcats men's basketball team|2018–19]] season.
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2vxJUr1 US: No Start Date Yet for Temporary Afghan Truce
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Saturday that consultations were still underway on setting a start date for a seven-day trial of reduced violence negotiated with the Taliban in Afghanistan.
"That is a moving date because we are still doing consultations, if you will, ... so I can't give you a hard date right now," Esper told reporters in Munich, Germany, after attending a security conference there.
U.S. officials have said a successful implementation of the temporary reduction in violence would pave the way for a comprehensive peace deal with the insurgent group that could end America's longest war and bring home about 13,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan.
"Where we are right now is on the doorstep of a reduction-of-violence period. If we decide to move forward, if all sides hold up — meet their obligations under that reduction in violence — then we'll start talking about the next part, whether to move forward [with the comprehensive peace agreement]," Esper said.
As part of the short-term agreement, he added, the United States will suspend "a significant part of our operations," though the Pentagon chief declined to discuss details.
U.S. officials say the deal binds the Taliban to halt major attacks, including roadside and suicide bombings, against Afghan and U.S.-led international forces anywhere in the country.
FILE - A captured Taliban insurgent is presented to the media after he was detained with car explosive devices in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, Dec. 10, 2019.
Some risk, but 'promising'
Earlier, Esper told an audience at the Munich Security Conference the reduction in violence was not without risk but looked "very promising" and "we have to give peace a chance."
He went on to reiterate that "the best if not the only way forward in Afghanistan is through a political agreement, and that means taking some risk."
Taliban sources have said the seven-day period will begin February 22 and the comprehensive peace agreement is expected to be signed on February 29.
U.S. and Taliban representatives have negotiated the draft peace agreement during months of meetings in the Gulf state of Qatar. If signed, it immediately could lead to a gradual withdrawal of American forces, bringing the force down to 8,600 personnel in the initial few months. Taliban sources say the agreement will require all foreign troops to leave Afghanistan within two years.
Insurgent sources say international guarantors such as the United Nations, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Germany, Norway and Qatar will witness the signing ceremony.
The agreement will require the Taliban to open negotiations within 10 days with an inclusive Afghan delegation that represents all political and ethnic groups in the country, including the government in Kabul.
That intra-Afghan dialogue will discuss a permanent nationwide cease-fire and power-sharing in postwar Afghanistan. Germany and Norway have both offered to host Taliban-Afghan negotiations, but no final decision has been made.
U.S. officials have stressed the troop drawdown plans, however, will be linked to progress in intra-Afghan negotiations and effective implementation of Taliban undertakings, including a further reduction in insurgent violence.
FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shakes hands with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper alongside at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 14, 2020.
Ghani skeptical
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani also spoke Saturday at the Munich conference and reiterated his skepticism about the U.S.-led peace process.
"The concern that the Taliban could be using a peace process as a 'Trojan horse strategy' is there, but you can't end this war without engaging in a process and testing them," Afghan media quoted Ghani as saying.
Between the signing of the U.S.-Taliban deal and the start of intra-Afghan negotiations, the insurgent group and Afghan authorities would be expected to release prisoners. Taliban officials say they already have given their list of thousands of insurgents being held in Afghan prisons.
The troop drawdown agreement was expected to be signed last September, but continued deadly Taliban attacks on Afghan and U.S. troops prompted President Donald Trump to halt the peace process. The negotiations resumed in December, and marked progress has been achieved since then.
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/3bLhbj9 Harriet Tubman Visa debit card draws backlash, bank responds Bank is accused of pandering to African-Americans customers during Black History Month. February 16, 2020 at 04:55AM
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/39FzSmu Syrian Government Captures Last Stretch of Damascus to Aleppo Highway
Syrian government forces now control all of the strategic Damascus to Aleppo highway, which they had been trying to wrest from Turkish-backed rebels for weeks. As Syrian troops continue to push ahead inside the rebel-held enclave of Idlib, Turkey sent reinforcements to observations posts it occupies, while dispatching its foreign minister to Moscow.
Syrian state TV showed bulldozers and engineering crews clearing rubble from the final stretch of the Damascus to Aleppo highway, which government forces captured from Turkish-backed rebels in Idlib province during the past several days.
Chief Highway Engineer Mohammed Wazzan said that the highway is the main lifeline between Damascus and Aleppo and that government crews were working to reopen the last stretch – which it just captured – despite the bad condition of the roadway.
He says that maintenance crews are working hard to reopen the highway, which has been out of service for five years, clearing earth and rubble from the surface, making sure land mines have been removed, and spreading asphalt in some places.
Rami Abdel Rahman of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Arab media that the Turkish army had brought in more armored vehicles and troops to the 12 checkpoints in Idlib province that it controls, following a Turkish-Russian accord agreed to last year in the resort of Sochi.
Turkish media reported that Ankara was sending its foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to Moscow to discuss the latest developments in Idlib. Cavusoglu, who was at the Munich Security Conference, told journalists that Ankara "wants to resolve its dispute with Russia (which supports Syrian government forces) diplomatically," but added that Turkey "will take decisive steps" if that is not possible.
Arab media showed video of Syrian government troops entering the towns of Orm al-Kubra, Orm al-Sughra and Kufr Naha, which it captured from Turkish-backed rebels within the past 24 hours. Syrian state TV showed the bodies of rebels strewn outside the walls of Orm al-Kubra.
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2OWpMWp Iran's November Gas Price Hike Fails to Ease Fuel Smuggling to Pakistan
Iran's Islamist rulers, who sparked deadly domestic unrest by raising gas prices in November, say their controversial move also has failed to ease fuel smuggling into neighboring countries such as Pakistan, largely because smugglers have shifted to diesel fuel from gasoline.
Iranian authorities tripled the unsubsidized price of gasoline Nov. 15 from 7 to 21 cents per liter, based on Iran's latest unofficial rial/dollar exchange rate of 139,700 published by Bonbast.com.
Shopfront with mini pumps selling smuggled Iranian fuel, Quetta, Pakistan, Feb. 13, 2020. (VOA)
The gas price hike, imposed as Iran's finances worsened under U.S. sanctions, triggered days of nationwide street protests that authorities crushed in a violent crackdown, killing at least 1,500 people, according to U.S. officials. Iran has called that figure exaggerated without disclosing its own death toll.
Gas prices in Iran, a major global oil producer, have long been among the lowest in the world, a phenomenon that has spurred decades of smuggling of Iranian fuel into such neighboring countries as Pakistan and Afghanistan, where legally sold fuel has been relatively expensive. Iran's government has publicly opposed such smuggling, which robs it of revenue from legal fuel exports.
The Iranian state news agency IRNA said in a Dec. 17 article that the November gas price hike had "raised hopes" for a reduction in fuel smuggling across Iran's porous borders. However, the article quoted Majid Mohebbi, an anti-smuggling official in southeastern Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province, as saying the amount of Iranian fuel being smuggled into neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan had remained as high as it had been before the gas price hike.
The IRNA article did not cite any estimate for the amount of Iranian fuel being smuggled out of the province, but another provincial economic official, Alireza Noura, previously estimated that 5 million liters of fuel were being smuggled into Pakistan and Afghanistan daily, according to a November 2018 report by Iranian news site Entekhab.
Iranian officials said the continued high levels of fuel smuggling stem from a switch in what is being smuggled.
Iranian lawmaker Ali Bakhtiar, spokesman for a parliamentary energy committee, told the parliament's ICANA news site this month that there had been a significant shift in the type of fuel being smuggled, from gasoline to diesel. With the price of the latter fuel type remaining low at 2 cents per liter, Bakhtiar noted that diesel was now one-tenth the price of unsubsidized gas and comprised 80% of all fuel being smuggled out of Iran.
Buying gasoline at a PSO petrol station in Quetta, Pakistan, Feb. 13, 2020. (VOA)
Before the November gas price hike, more gasoline was being smuggled out of Iran than diesel, according to Mehdi Aboui, a former deputy head of an intergovernmental task force on smuggling prevention. In September, the Hamshahri newspaper quoted Aboui as saying 30 million to 35 million liters of gasoline were being smuggled across Iran's borders per day, compared to 15 million to 20 million liters of diesel.
Iranian smugglers also appeared to confirm a post-November shift to cross-border smuggling of diesel, in interviews reported by IRNA and Iran's Sazandegi news site in December. The shift to smuggling of Iranian diesel also has been noted in Pakistan's impoverished western Baluchistan province, which borders Iran.
Vehicle Loaded with Containers of Smuggled Iranian Fuel, on Eastern Bypass road of Quetta, Pakistan, Dec. 2018. (VOA)
In a phone interview with VOA Deewa, a Baluchistan-based executive for the state-owned Pakistan State Oil company said diesel has become the most smuggled fuel coming from Iran, with widespread smuggling networks delivering it to provinces across Pakistan.
The diesel smuggled from Iran, where it costs 2 cents per liter, is much cheaper than the diesel sold by Pakistan's PSO and other licensed energy companies, which charge about 80 cents per liter, according to news site UrduPoint. Diesel is used to fuel Pakistani buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles as well as agricultural equipment and deep-well turbines used to pump groundwater to the surface.
Gasoline sold by licensed companies in Pakistan also is more expensive than in Iran, at 76 cents per liter versus 21 cents per liter, although the difference is less than it was before Iran's November gas price hike. A year ago, licensed gasoline sold for 85 cents per liter in Pakistan versus 7 cents per liter in Iran, according to a February 2019 report by Iran's Center for Strategic Studies.
Pakistani driver Jalal filling his vehicle with smuggled Iranian fuel that he said was cheaper legally-sold fuel, on Eastern Bypass road of Quetta.
In Pakistan's Baluchistan, smuggled Iranian fuel is widely sold at so-called mini petrol pumps along highways and crowded city streets. Bayazid Khan, the owner of one such pump in the town of Kuchlak, told VOA Deewa that smuggled Iranian diesel typically sells for around 51 cents per liter, while smuggled Iranian gasoline sells for 65 to 70 cents per liter. The prices for both smuggled fuel types are cheaper than the prices for their Pakistani-licensed equivalents, but the discount for smuggled diesel is substantially greater.
"Smugglers will adjust based on perceived market preferences, and in Baluchistan and across Pakistan, there's strong demand for a variety of fuels, not just gasoline," said Michael Kugelman, a South Asia analyst at Washington's Wilson Center, in an email to VOA Persian.
"The shift in fuels [to smuggled Iranian diesel] underscores both the versatility of the smugglers and the high demand for energy in Pakistan," he added.
Small vehicle transporting smuggled Iranian fuel in Quetta, Feb. 13, 2020 (VOA).
Kugelman said another reason for the failure of Iran to ease fuel smuggling to Pakistan is the strength of the smugglers' supply channels.
"It's easy to understand why this Iranian fuel smuggling is such a flourishing business. Baluchistan is rich in natural resources, but the Pakistani state exerts a heavy hand there and prevents locals, most of whom are poor, from accessing local energy resources," Kugelman said. "For many local residents, supporting cheaper alternatives from Iran is a no-brainer. There's a desire to purchase them and to help smuggle them."
Fuel smugglers also appear to have benefited from permissive attitudes by officials and security forces on both sides of the Iran-Pakistan border.
Some Iranian and Pakistani lawmakers have expressed sympathy for the poor economic conditions that drive many people in their respective border regions into fuel smuggling as one of their only means of survival. Security forces of both nations also have been unwilling or unable to stop the smuggling, fueling perceptions that some seek to profit from the activity themselves.
Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Gas Station in Quetta, Pakistan, Feb. 13, 2020. (VOA)
The fuel smuggling also has come at a cost for Pakistan.
Lives have been lost in recent years as well as a result of dangerous nighttime driving by fuel smugglers seeking to evade Pakistani security checkpoints, and because of dangerous storage of smuggled fuel at mini pumps and other facilities without regard to safety precautions.
Leveraging AI Capabilities for Innovating Brand Storytelling
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/37r9DOV According to recent research by IDC, the total global spending on ArtificialIntelligence (AI) systems will touch US$98 billion by 2023. Nearly 61% of ... February 15, 2020 at 05:26PM
Armenia quake in focus of new study on PTSD early treatment benefits
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/37wGAcG PanARMENIAN.Net - In 1988, a 6.9 magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Armenian city of Spitak. The temblor destroyed cities and is ... February 15, 2020 at 04:52PM
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2UP5IsJ Illums Bolighus
Ramblersen2: /* Rxternal links */
'''Illums Bolighus''' is a chain of furniture and interior design stores headquartered in [[Copenhagen]], [[Denmark]]. Theoriginal Illums Bolighus flagship store is located at [[Amagertorv]] 10 in central Copenhagen. The company was in 205 acquired by an investor group headed by CEO Henrik Ypkendanz and has since then opened a number of new store in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany.
==History== ===Kaj Dessau's BO, 1928-194=== Illums Bolighus was founded under the name BO in 1925 by Danish entrepreneur Kaj Dessau. With its arranged interiors which combined furniturem with textiles, appointments and artworks, it introduced a concept which had not previously been seen.<ref></ref>
===Illums Bolighus=== The store was renamed Illums Bolighus in 1941 when it was purchased by the owners of the nearby A.C. Illum department store. The present building was designed in 1961 by Kay Kørbing.>
Illums Bolighus was later owned first by [[Carlsberg Group]] and later by the private equity fund [[Axcel]]. Illums Bolighus was in 2005 sold to a group of five investors headed by CEO Henrik Ypkendanz.<ref></ref>
==Locations== ===Denmark=== The Illums Bolighus flagship store in Copenhagen is located at [[Amagertorv]] 10. In Copenhagen, Illums Bolighus has also opened outlets in [[Copenhagen Airport]] and [[Tivoli Gardens]]. It has also opened a store in [[Aarhus]].
===Norway=== Illums Bolighus opened its first store abroad in [[Oslo]] in 2005.<ref></ref> It was followed by a store over three floors on the main shopping street in [[Bergen]] in 2013.<ref></ref> A new flagship store opened in Oslo in 2017.<ref></ref>
===Sweden=== The first store in [[Sweden]] opened in [[Stockholm]] in October 2010.<ref></ref> In 2012, a [[Malmö]] store was opened in the new shopping centre Emporia.<ref></ref> A second store in Stockholm, now in the [[Mall of Scandinavia]], opened in 2015.<ref></ref>
===Germany=== On 1 November 2016, Illums Bolighus opened a 1,500 square metre store in [[Hamburg]].<ref></ref>
==Further reading== * Osvald, Lise: ''The story of Kaj Dessau's BO, 1928-194'' i Scandinavian Journal of Design History, vol. 3, 1993.
==References==
==Rxternal links== * [https://ift.tt/2eGKMAs Official website]
[[Category:Furniture companies of Denmark]] [[Category:Shops in Copenhagen]] [[Category:Danish companies established in 1925]]
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2URO8nV Parents of Peshawar Attack Victims React to Terror Group Spokesman's Escape
Parents of the victims of the Peshawar Army Public School (APS) terror attack in 2014 claimed by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) demand to know the whereabouts of Ehsanullah Ehsan, the former spokesperson of the terror group who allegedly escaped from a prison in Pakistan this week.
"Ehsanullah Ehsan was not an average prisoner. He is a notorious terrorist. He was known worldwide as the spokesperson for the Tehrik-e-Taliban — the same TTP that the army told us took responsibility for the attack," Fazal Khan, a parent of one of those killed in 2014, told VOA.
Questions for authorities
Officials in Pakistan have neither confirmed nor denied the report of Ehsan's escape, leaving parents whose children were victims in the attack questioning authorities.
The report of Ehsan's escape has been troubling for parents like Ahmed Ali, who lost his son in the attack.
"My son Muhammad Uzair Ali was shot 13 times and they slit his throat. Except for his face, his entire body was riddled with bullets," Ali told VOA.
Ali told VOA that he and his family have been awaiting justice for more than five years.
On December 14, 2014, six armed militants stormed the APS, a military-run school in Peshawar, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa province. More than 1,000 students, from preschool to high school, were on the campus when the attack began. Militants entered classrooms and auditoriums and opened fire on students and teachers, killing 149 people, of which 132 were children.
Bilal Ahmed Khalil, a survivor of the APS attack, told VOA that he played dead and survived the rampage.
"I was stuck in the classroom. My friends and teacher were shot and killed in front of me. I pretended to be dead as the Taliban walked over me and the dead bodies of my friends on the classroom floor," said Khalil, who lost two of his classmates in the attack.
In response to the attack, Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister of Pakistan, lifted the moratorium on capital punishment in terrorism-related cases and established a 20-point counterterrorism policy measure called the National Action Plan.
Retaliation for military operations
TTP's Maulana Fazlullah claimed responsibility for the attack, stating that it was in retaliation for Pakistani military operations in North Waziristan.
"We selected the army's school for the attack because the government is targeting our families and females … we want them to feel the same pain," Fazlullah said in a video message days after the attack.
At the time of the attack, Ehsan was not the spokesperson for TTP. Ehsan left the TTP under the leadership of Maulana Fazlullah because of some differences with the group and joined Jamaatul Ahrar, a splinter group of TPP, to serve as its official spokesperson.
Families of the APS victims still hold Ehsanullah Ehsan responsible and demand that the Pakistani government punish him in a court of law.
"God will punish whoever else was involved in this attack. This is out in the open, it was admitted to, it was confirmed that he [Ehsanullah] was part of it. … How did he escape jail? How did he escape being punished?" Mohammad Amin, a parent of two APS victims, said to VOA.
FILE - A soldier escorts schoolchildren from the Army Public School that was attacked by Taliban gunmen in Peshawar, Pakistan, Dec. 16, 2014.
Ehsanullah Ehsan allegedly surrendered to the Pakistani military in 2017. It was assumed that he was under official custody until an audio message released this week from a Facebook account previously used by him claimed he had escaped from prison. The audio clip that circulated on social media platforms left many Pakistanis questioning the whereabouts of Ehsan.
The clip reportedly said: "My name is Ehsanullah Ehsan. I was affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and Jamaatul Ahrar. On the 5th of February, 2017, I surrendered myself to the Pakistani intelligence agencies under an agreement. For three years, I fully kept my end of the deal.
"However, these lying Pakistan intelligence agencies went back on their promise and imprisoned me along with my children. I very patiently spent three years under confinement. However, I was compelled to make a plan to escape. On January 11, 2020, Allah helped me and we escaped from the confinement of Pakistani agencies. … Now, it is important to unveil the doings of the Pakistani military, for which I am an eyewitness. I will let tell the world all the information that I know very soon."
VOA could not independently confirm the authenticity of the audio message.
'I am in Turkey'
The News International, a Pakistan-based media outlet, claimed to have spoken to Ehsan, saying he confirmed his escape and told media he was in Turkey.
"I am in Turkey at the moment along with my wife, son and daughter. Don't ask me how I reached here as I can't tell you right now," he reportedly said.
The authenticity of the audio clip and Ehsan's whereabouts have yet to be confirmed by authorities in Pakistan. During a press briefing, VOA asked Pakistan's Foreign Office about the rumors, to which spokesperson Aisha Siddiqui, responded, "This matter pertains to the Ministry of Interior. I would like to refer you to them."
VOA's Rabia Pir and Hashim Ali contributed to this report from Peshawar.
【Move to another page】 Quote https://ift.tt/2OW9wV6 Europe Mulls Forceful Presence in Conflict-torn Sahel
The European Union is being urged to become more militarily involved in Africa's Sahel region amid a possible drawdown of U.S. troops and a fast-growing Islamist insurgency.
Fallout from escalating unrest in the arid scrubland edging the Sahara dessert — threatening to push deeper into sub-Saharan Africa and potentially export instability and migration across the Mediterranean Sea — offers a powerful argument for more European action. That is also the message from France, the United States and the EU's own executive arm.
But it's not clear whether EU member states have much appetite for more military action. And current EU policy in the region, some analysts say, appears disjointed and scattershot.
This pictured taken July 2, 2018 shows the logo of five-nation French-backed anti-terror unit, the "G5 Sahel" force.
"We have more than 20 Sahel strategies from European countries," said Bakary Sambe, director of the Timbuktu Institute, a Senegal-based research group. "That means there is no coordination — while the terrorist groups are coordinating, are trying to support each other and are multiplying their attacks against the countries."
Creating a cohesive European Sahel strategy will be tested next month, during a Brussels meeting that will involve the five African nations most affected by the conflict, known as the G5 Sahel, and EU leaders.
Adding to the pressure are chances the United States may cut troops in Africa — along with a newly released government report describing a U.S. strategic shift from reducing to containing the armed threat in the Sahel. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger make up the G5 Sahel.
The March meeting with G5 leaders "will be the occasion to see how we can have a more effective strategy in the short, medium and long term" in the region, European Council President Charles Michel told Radio France Internationale, or RFI, in an interview this week.
European Council President Charles Michel talks to the media during a news conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, Jan. 24, 2020.
Guns not enough
Experts say guns alone won't solve a spiraling humanitarian crisis that has killed thousands of soldiers and civilians, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and left millions in need of assistance. Attacks in three of the most affected Sahel countries — Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger — have doubled each year since 2015, according to the U.S. government-funded Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
"We begin to fear the very existence of the Sahel states is threatened," African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told Le Monde newspaper, ahead of a recent AU summit that focused on the conflict, among other threats.
French President Emmanuel Macron meets soldiers of Operation Barkhane, France's largest overseas military operation, in Gao, northern Mali, May 19, 2017.
For now, former colonial power France is shouldering most of Europe's military response. Earlier this month, Paris announced it was adding 600 troops to its 4,500-person Operation Barkhane force in the region.
But Barkhane's presence has fueled public protests in the region — a key subject of a January summit in the French town of Pau between French President Emmanuel Macron and Sahel leaders. Moreover, the deaths of 13 French soldiers in a November helicopter collision has fed criticism at home that France is mired in a conflict it cannot win.
A potential U.S. drawdown in the Sahel would mark another setback. Earlier this month, French Defense Minister Florence Parly headed to Washington to lobby against the possibility.
French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon, Jan. 27, 2020.
France's Operation Barkhane "will not collapse if the United States withdraws their military assets," defense expert Elie Tenenbaum told Le Monde, but it would see fewer fighter plane dispatches and reduced intelligence operations, among other changes.
"The position of the United States is very clear — they don't want to be involved in hard strategies, like France," said analyst Sambe. "They invest in soft power. They empower West African countries to develop strategies against violent extremism."
Yet for now, at least, hard power is also in demand.
"We need very strong military actions to stop the jihadist groups before they reach the coastal regions and link up with criminal networks, drugs and weapons," Sambe said, naming countries like Senegal, Ghana and Guinea.
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, greets Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita prior to a meeting at the G5 Sahel summit in Pau, southwestern France, Jan.13, 2020.
Some African countries are responding. Chad was mulling deploying a battalion to the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali that is considered the epicenter of the violence.
Mali plans to recruit 10,000 new soldiers — even as President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told RFI his government was in contact with armed groups as a way to explore other "avenues" to end the violence.
At the same time, the AU announced it would not start using a new fund for security operations until 2023, after it received less than half the contributions it hoped for.
European response
In Europe, France is pushing for greater EU involvement in counterterrorism operations in the Sahel, notably through a new special forces task force called Takuba. But so far, not many EU countries have agreed or expressed interest in joining.
And crucially, analysts say, France is not getting enough buy-in from its most important European partner, Germany.
"France believes Germany hasn't done enough" in the Sahel, Le Monde wrote this week, even as the Germans "reproach France for not working collectively."
"France now wants better engagement from European countries so it can really be seen as cooperation between Sahelian countries and Europe — not just France alone," analyst Sambe said, "but I don't think the European countries are following France in this strategy."
France is not alone in urging greater European participation.
"The French are calling on Europe to step up and do more" in the Sahel, the head of U.S. Africa Command, General Stephen Townsend, said in January, adding, "I absolutely think that is the right thing to do."
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell gives a press briefing after his meetings with Iranian leaders, in Tehran, Feb. 3, 2020.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell offered a similar message last month, saying Europe "must absolutely do more" in the Sahel, while adding the bloc had agreed to enhance its strategic cooperation.
To be sure, the EU has not been inactive. The so-called Sahel Alliance, grouping France, Germany, the EU and development institutions, has designated billions of dollars for regional development initiatives. Overall, the EU counts among the region's biggest humanitarian donors, contributing more than $200 million to the crisis last year alone.
Experts also note that having more boots on the ground is only a partial answer to the jihadist insurgency. What is needed, many say, is better governance and more investment in education and development.
"France has a very military approach in the region," analyst Sambe said. "But I always say you have never seen a Kalashnikov [rifle] killing an ideology."
