NATO: Job done in Afghanistan?

US-led alliance marks the end of its combat mission in Afghanistan after a 13-year war.

 

NATO has formally ended its 13-year combat mission in Afghanistan.
International troops were sent in following the September 11 attacks in 2001 to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda, and to reduce the strength of the Taliban.
NATO's presence has now came to a formal end with a flag-lowering ceremony in the capital, Kabul. The handover was held at an undisclosed location because of the threat posed by the Taliban.
Afghan forces take responsibility for security on January the first.
Thirteen thousand mainly US troops will remain in Afghanistan for up to two years, in a training and advisory role.
But the US will still conduct counter-terrorism operations, and President Barack Obama has authorised the continuation of some air and ground operations in 2015 to protect American interests.
The Taliban is claiming the end of NATO's combat mission as a victory.
Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the withdrawal was "…a clear indication of their defeat," and the US-led alliance had "...rolled up its flag in an atmosphere of failure and disappointment without having achieved anything substantial or tangible."
So has NATO achieved its objectives, and is Afghanistan ready to take charge of its own security?
Presenter
Sami Zeidan
Guests:
Haroun Mir - founder of Afghanistan's Center for Research and Policy Studies.
Mark Kimmitt - a former US Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs.
Helena Malikyar - an Afghani historian and political analyst.

 

Palestinians decide to join ICC

President Abbas requests ICC membership a day after resolution to end Israel's occupation was defeated at the UN.

 

Abbas signed about 20 international agreements a day after a UN Security Council resolution failed [Reuters]

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has signed a document at a meeting in Ramallah requesting membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
President Abbas signed the document on Wednesday, a day after a UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution that had aimed to set a deadline for Israel to end its occupation of territories sought by the Palestinians.
Abbas also signed a raft of about 20 other treaties, aligning Palestine with various international organisations.
The decision sets the stage for filing a war crimes case against Israel for its actions in Gaza. Irael's President Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to take action following the announcement.
The signed statute will now be passed to the UN's secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, who will consider the application to join the ICC. While not guaranteed, legal experts think the process is likely to result in Palestinian membership being approved.
"The one who needs to fear the International Criminal Court in the Hague is the Palestinian Authority, which has a unity government with Hamas, a terror organisation like (ISIL) which commits war crimes," Netanyahu said in a statement.
"Israel will respond and defend the soldiers of the IDF [The Israeli Army] the most moral army in the world.
"We will rebuff this effort to impose a diktat on us, just as we rebuffed the Palestinian efforts in the UNSC."
US State Department spokesman Edgar Vasquez said America strongly opposed the move and warned it would be "counter-productive and do nothing to further the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a sovereign and independent state."
Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor James Bays said the Palestinians had been threatening to sign the Rome Statute for a long time, but had been afraid of the negative response from the United States.
"This could pave the way for things that have happened in Palestinian territory and Israeli being taken to the ICC," he said.
"Potentially Israeli leaders and Palestinian leaders could find themselves in court.

"They can ask for [ICC] investigations, not just from day they signed the statute, but a retroactive investigation into past events.
"There are some legal doubts as to what will be covered, but most legal experts believe fighting in Gaza this summer could be included."
International alligences 
Abbas had warned that if the UN resolution failed, he would resume a Palestinian campaign to join international organisations to put pressure on Israel.
Abbas' decision is expected to trigger a harsh response from Israel.
Israel says all disputes should be resolved through peace talks, and such actions are aimed at bypassing negotiations.
Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Ramallah, said that people were expecting President Abbas to standby his pledges.
"People here wanted a muscular response from the president, and he has made good on his promises as to what would happen if the resolution failed."

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List of international agreements signed by Abbas on Wednesday include:

• Convention on the political rights of women
• Convention on the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards
• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal
• Convention on Biological Diversity and the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety to the Convention on Biological Diversity
• Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions (1949),relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts(Protocol II)
• Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem (Protocol III)
• Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons, including Diplomatic Agents
• United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime
• Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel
• Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel
• United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
• Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity
• Agreement on the Privileges and Immunities of the International Criminal Court
• Convention on Cluster Munitions
• The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
• Declaration in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

 

Italian ferry blaze toll rises to 10

Hundreds of passengers brought to safety after fire on vessel left at least 10 people dead.

 

The number of people who have died in a blaze that left an Italian ferry stricken off Greece's Adriatic coast has risen to 10, the Italian coastguard has said.
Rescue teams evacuated more than 400 people from the car ferry in a 36-hour operation on Monday.
Italian and Greek authorities continued an air search of the sea around the vessel while they sought to verify the number of passengers who had been on board, fearing that many people could be missing.
The fire broke out on Sunday on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry, whose manifest said should be carrying 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles. Rescue efforts were complicated by bad weather.
The fire left at least ten people dead, authorities said. Nine bodies were recovered from the water around the stricken Norman Atlantic on Monday, a day after the body of a 62-year-old Greek man was pulled from the heaving sea.
Many of those rescued said the fire triggered panic which the crew appeared ill-prepared to deal with.
One of the first passengers rescued told reporters after arriving in the Italian port of Bari he had thought he was going to die as parts of the ferry, with 478 passengers and crew on board, became engulfed by thick smoke as it travelled from Greece to Italy.
"We did not know what to do. The staff had no idea how to get people off the boat," he said.
"The lifeboats did not work, there was only one of them in the water and none of the crew were there to help people."
Others said they stayed huddled on the vessel's upper decks, pelted by rain and hail and struggled to breathe through the thick smoke.
A passenger recalled people being awakened by "the smell of burning plastic" and that the heat from the fire felt like the floors were "boiling".
The evacuation was completed nearly 36 hours after the fire broke out on the car deck and left the huge vessel drifting dangerously in high seas off the coast of Albania.
'Mystery'
With the evacuation complete, questions are being raised as to how the fire started and why it was not contained.
Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe announced a criminal investigation which will seek to establish whether negligence contributed to the disaster.
The Italian owner of the boat, Carlo Visentini, said he would cooperate fully.
He insisted that the vessel, which was leased to Greek operator ANEK ferries, had passed a technical inspection which included its firedoors on December 19.
Al Jazeera's Simon McGregor-Wood, reporting from Italian coastal city of Brindisi, said what caused the fire remained a mystery.
"But what we do know from various sources is that the fire took hold in the car deck," he said. "There were 200 vehicles of all kinds including several tanker trucks containing olive oil, which it is expected to have contributed to the fire."

 

Navalny says Putin's regime must be destroyed

Russian opposition leader detained heading to protest after he was given suspended sentence and his brother jailed.

 

 

Navalny's younger brother Oleg [right] was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail [EPA]

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been detained by police after breaking house arrest to join an opposition rally in Moscow.
"I was detained," Navalny said on his Twitter account on Tuesday. "But they won't be able to detain everyone".
A Russian court gave Navalny a suspended sentence for embezzling money but jailed his brother for three-and-a-half years in a case seen as part of a campaign to stifle dissent.
Navalny has been under house arrest since February under the conditions of the ongoing court case.
About 2,000 people rallied near Red Square on the evening after the sentencing, responding to Navalny's call for mass protests to "destroy" President Vladimir Putin's regime.
The gathering near the Kremlin fell far short of the 18,000 who pledged to attend on social media.
Police detained more than 130 demonstrators during the protests according to OVD-Info, a group which tracks arrests.
Many were yelling things like "Freedom!" and "We are the power."
A Moscow judge on Tuesday found both Navalny and his brother Oleg guilty of embezzlement and sentenced them to three and a half years in what is widely seen as a politically motivated case.
The hearing was abruptly brought forward by two weeks in what many see as a bid to prevent protests because demonstrators would not be able to organise the required permission.
But while Navalny's sentence was suspended, his younger brother, who is not involved in politics, was ordered to serve the time behind bars in what observers saw as an attempt to muzzle the Kremlin critic ahead of the 2018 presidential election by taking his brother hostage.
"This regime does not just destroy its political opponents... now they target, torture and torment the relatives of its political opponents," the 38-year-old Navalny said outside court, calling the verdict "the most mean and disgusting" possible.
"This regime has no right to exist, it must be destroyed," he said. "I call on everyone to take to the streets today."
The protest has not received the required authorisation from city hall, which ominously warned that "all unsanctioned actions will be prevented by the security forces".
'Disgrace'
Navalny has become a major thorn in the Kremlin's side over the last few years, first building a massive support base on the Internet as an anti-corruption blogger, then rallying tens of thousands during the 2011-12 anti-Putin protests. He also came second in last year's Moscow mayoral race after a grassroots campaign against the Kremlin-backed candidate.
The Navalny brothers were accused of defrauding French cosmetics company Yves Rocher of nearly 27 million rubles (more than half a million dollars at the exchange rate at the time), although the firm has said that it suffered no damages.
Prosecutors had asked the court to jail Navalny for 10 years and Oleg for eight.
Tuesday's hearing was brought forward two weeks in a move seen as a tactic to avoid massive protests and make it impossible to request authorisation for rallies.
The session took only about 15 minutes, unusual for Russia where judges usually read sentences for hours.
"What are you jailing him for, what sort of disgrace is this? This is to punish me even more?" Navalny yelled, slamming his fists on the table, as the judge announced that his 31-year-old brother, a father of two young children, would be jailed.

Two seamen die in Italian ferry salvage

Two Albanian sailors die while trying to bring back to shores ferry that caught fire and killed 11 people.

 

 

The sailors were part of an operation tasked with salvaging an Italian ferry that caught on fire on Sunday [AP]

Two Albanian seamen have died in an accident while attempting to bring back a stricken Italian ferry to the shores.
Eleven people had earlier died after the Norman Atlantic caught fire on Sunday off the Greek coast.
The sailors were part of an eight-man crew on board a tugboat when the cables attaching it to the stricken ferry snapped, the navy said.
"One man died on the spot when one cable broke after it got stuck in the propeller. The other died on board a few minutes ago when being assisted by a helicopter medical team," a port authority official in Vlore told Reuters.

Hundreds airlifted from stricken Italian ferry

The fire had broken out on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry, which carried 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles.
Italian and Albanian magistrates have ordered the Italian-flagged ferry, which was chartered by Greek ferry operator Anek Lines, to be seized to investigate the cause of the fire.
The aftermath of the rescue has been marked by confusion over the number of victims, with dozens of names on the ship's manifest unaccounted for and no clarity over whether they had drowned or were not on board in the first place.
With the ferry now fully evacuated, the Italian navy has said 427 people have been rescued, leaving the total accounted for well short of the 478 originally thought to be on board.
Some of those rescued were not on the ship's original manifest, and Italy's Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi has said that authorities are looking for a definitive list of passengers to cross-check it with survivors' names, adding that migrants may have been on board.

 

 

Examining 'free speech' in Sisi's Egypt

What does the imprisonment of the network's journalists reveal about Egypt's attitude to freedom of speech?

 

 

December 29, 2014, marks one year since Al Jazeera staff Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste were imprisoned in Cairo on false charges.
Richard Gizbert, the presenter of Al Jazeera's Listening Post programme, examines what the incarceration of the network's three journalists reveals about Egypt's attitude to freedom of speech.

Q&A: Confronting trauma in Gaza City

Al Jazeera spoke to psychologist Hasan Zeyada about the rise in mental health issues among Gazans since the summer war.

 

'Without a real protection for the people, we cannot talk about real recovery' [Hatem Omar/Al Jazeera]

Gaza City - Since this summer's devastating war in the Gaza Strip, the number of patients seeking help from the Gaza Community Centre's mental health programme has jumped by close to 50 percent.
The centre, which previously handled about 15 patients daily, is now seeing up to 25, administrators say - and the Gaza City centre is just one of three branches of Gaza's mental health network. The NGO's psychiatry, social work and physiotherapy services are available for free to residents, but social stigma still prevents an untold number from seeking help.
Psychologist Hasan Zeyada spoke with Al Jazeera about the challenges facing Gazans in the wake of a war that killed 2,200 Palestinians, and amid an ongoing, crippling siege.
Al Jazeera: How has your patient load changed since the summer war?
Hasan Zeyada: We have more cases that are referred to our centres. It's the immediate reaction after war. A lot of people had psychological and behavioural consequences because of the trauma during the military Israeli aggression. A lot of people, they are in need of consultation, they are in need of intervention. We started to do our intervention immediately through field visits for the families who lost their homes and lost their family members, and for the injured people.

We are talking about hyper-arousal, hyper-vigilance; they are easily provoked, less tolerance. There is marked impairment in daily functions and interpersonal relationships, and in work and academic achievements among their children.

The war was brutal and it was for a long time, and it's the third experience for the children here in Gaza, so a lot of people have already developed acute stress disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder. They are in need of intervention.
AJ: What are the most common psychological issues stemming from the war?
HZ: We are talking about sleep disturbances, like nightmares and insomnia; for children we are also talking about night terrors and sleep walking. We are talking also about re-experiencing and flashbacks among people related to the trauma.
There is avoidance behaviour, like thinking about the trauma, avoiding the places and stimulus that will make them remember the trauma. Also we are talking about hyper-arousal, hyper-vigilance; they are easily provoked, less tolerance.
There is marked impairment in daily functions and interpersonal relationships, and in work and academic achievements among their children.
Some of the people have somatic complaints like headaches, back pain, abdomen pain and general fatigue. It's psychological, without any organic cause. It's easier for the people to talk about physical complaints than to talk about psychological pain.
Sometimes they try to communicate with the people around them through their physical complaints, because we still have stigma and sensitivity around coming to a community mental health centre to be served. Because of that we also have our free phone counselling, which is totally confidential. 
AJ: Some of Gaza's young children have been through three wars, and living in a war zone is all they know. How are the impacts compounded for these children?
HZ: For children we are talking about feeling insecure, anxiety about the future, that they are not guaranteed it will not happen again. They have clinging behaviour to their parents - all the time they want to be beside them. Children become more hyperactive and have attention problems and concentration problems; it's one of the main complaints among parents and teachers at the schools, that the children are in need of more time to achieve the same academic level.
Children have nightmares. Some of them have regressive behaviour like bed-wetting. Some of them have somatic complaints, more fighting with other children; some of them refuse to go outside the home alone, they need to be with an adult. 
Children are all the time concerned about the future and how it will be next time, and how they will react. The multi-traumatic losses among the children is one of their main concerns. They are scared that they are about to lose their immediate family members, like their parents, their home, toys, their brothers and sisters, and sometimes they are so worried if their father or family member leaves the home. Some children have stuttering problems.
When there's thunder, all the children react immediately as if it were shelling or rockets or bombs. For a lot of children it is not easy to fall asleep. They want their parents to be beside them.

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AJ: How do you treat someone who has lost their home and family in the war? How does someone recover from that?
HZ: It depends on the severity of the trauma and the character of the child and his resiliency. It depends on the family and social support and family resilience. If the child has his own family and he's socially supported by the family - they can accept the psychological and behavioural consequences and they will contain the child - it's a positive indication that the child will gradually overcome the consequences.
But if the child has lost one of his family members and his home, it will take more time and it will affect him psychologically more than others. 
After the comprehensive clinical assessment, we have our own management plan for them through expressive art therapy and drawing, and sometimes they join their family in family counselling on how they can deal with the consequences. In some cases, we have a combination of psychotherapy, play therapy and drawing, and some medication.
AJ: How many cases of psychological trauma do you think are going undiagnosed in Gaza?
HZ: Our expectation, according to scientific research, is that 35 to 40 percent of the children of the Gaza Strip will develop a post-traumatic stress disorder needing specialised intervention.
According to research we conducted in 2012 about the long-term effects of the second war, 30 percent of the children already developed post-traumatic stress disorder, but after this war, we are talking about 35 to 40 percent of the children.
They are not all coming to this centre. Some of them will have immediate reactions and may be able to overcome through their family, through psychosocial activities in the school. But if the child already has post-traumatic stress disorder, they need specialised intervention.
AJ: The future remains uncertain for Gaza. What does this mean for the mental-health outlook for residents here?
HZ: We are concerned. No-one can guarantee war will not happen again. We are doing our best on the ground to help the people to overcome the consequences, but without a real protection for the people, we cannot talk about real recovery, because the people are still so occupied and worried about the future. 
In Gaza you are talking about a restrictive siege, ongoing trauma, a chronic situation at all levels; this is one of the maintaining factors that the people will keep suffering from their situation.
When we talk about psychological intervention, we try to help the people and the community, but the situation in Gaza will not be healthy if we keep living in the same environment and the same situation. We have to talk about the political context here in Gaza.
There is no psychological well-being without real respect for human rights. And under the occupation, all the time you are talking about human rights violations. The link between mental health and human rights issues is so strong.
We are doing our best to help the people, and we have hundreds of psychosocial and mental health professionals.
But one political decision will affect all the aspects of our lives. The psychological well-being among the people will be improved if you make just one political decision; to end the siege, to end the occupation.
This would have a huge impact.

 

Israel's oil drilling in Golan criticised

Drilling for oil in occupied Golan is part of a larger plan to increase Israeli settlement activity, rights groups say.

 

 

Israeli oil and gas company, Afek, has been granted a license to drill for oil in annexed Golan Heights [Getty Images]

Southern Golan Heights - Heavily subsidised Jewish-only settlements, large Israeli military areas and tanks dot the rolling green hills in this part of the Golan Heights; Syrian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.
In addition to the ubiquitous signs warning of landmines, remnants of Syrian life are everywhere; bombed-out homes, dilapidated schools, crumbling hospitals. Most of the region's indigenous Syrians - an estimated 90,000 Christians, Muslims and Druze - were expelled from the 70 percent of the Golan Heights under Israeli control.
Today, only some 20,000 Syrian Druze live in six villages still standing in the territory, while more than 21,000 Israeli settlers reside in dozens of Jewish-only colonies built atop villages demolished after the war.
It is here that Afek Oil and Gas, an Israeli company, has been granted exclusive license to conduct exploratory drilling for oil. Afek is a subsidiary of Genie Energy Limited, a New Jersey-based company for which former US Vice President Dick Cheney is an adviser.
On September 11, Afek won approval to conduct exploratory drilling in 10 possible locations throughout the Syrian territory. Shortly thereafter, the Israeli High Court froze Afek's efforts due to a petition submitted by environmental activists. The petition remains undecided. 

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Though the project has been harshly criticised by a slew of Israeli politicians from across the political spectrum, the condemnation has also been voiced on nearly uniform environmental grounds.
Dov Hanin, leader of the left-wing Hadash political party, has "particularly expressed concerns for the fate of the nearby [Sea of Galilee]", the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post reported in July.

Opposition to the drilling plans is not about environmental protections as much as Israel's taking resources from the indigenous Syrian population in the Golan Heights. - Aamer Ibrahim, a founding member of the Uploading Conscription

On the other side of the spectrum, centre-right politicians Rabbi Dov Lipman, a member of Yesh Atid, told Al Jazeera that the Israeli public "has no idea" what the environmental impact will be. He further stressed that with sufficient investment, Israel could meet 80 percent of its energy needs through renewable resources by 2040.
"There's no need for [drilling in the Golan]," he said. "There are other avenues we can take."
Aamer Ibrahim, 24, is a founding member of the Majdal Shams-based activist group Uploading Conscription, a reference to what they see as Israel's militarisation of the Golan Heights.
He explained that opposition to the drilling plans "is not about environmental protections as much as Israel's taking resources from the indigenous Syrian population" in the Golan Heights.
"These plans should be seen in the broader context of [Israeli] economic projects in the region, which include its utilisation of both human and natural resources," he added.
Israel claimed to have annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, but, as is the case in East Jerusalem, the international community does not recognise the move. Though Israel offered citizenship to the remaining indigenous Syrian population, the vast majority rejected that offer, and instead, hold Israeli-issued travel documents that classify them as "stateless".
John Quigley, an international law expert and professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, explained that a "belligerent occupant is a trustee for the population of the territory it occupies" and is only permitted to stifle the rights of the indigenous population "for strictly military purposes".
Because the claim to annexation of the Golan Heights is considered "unlawful", Israel "may not extract wealth for its own benefit", Quigley told Al Jazeera.
Israel is regularly criticised for plundering resources in the occupied Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, particularly water and land. Lesser-known, however, is its long history of exploiting natural resources in the Golan Heights.

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According to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the occupied Golan Heights control "the main water sources" of Israel. The BBC reported that the area accounts for a third of Israel's freshwater supply.  
Al Jazeera contacted Afek about possibly violating international law regarding pillaging while drilling for oil in an occupied territory.
In a response approved by its parent company, Genie Energy, a spokesperson wrote to Al Jazeera that: "Afek has obtained all required permits and approvals, and all applicable authorities, including the Ministry of Environment and the Water [Authority]," emphasising its commitment to environmental safety.
When pressed on the issue of pillaging, Afek responded plainly that they were "a private company".  
Golan Heights-based activists and local human rights groups fear the decision to drill for oil is part of a broader trend of increased Israeli settlement activity and strengthening of Israeli institutions and businesses.
According to a report posted on the local Arabs48 news site, Israeli authorities intend to invest greatly in the Golan settlement of Katzrin.
The funds will go to the Ohalo College, an Israeli academic institute, as well as encouraging "local tourism through 19 million shekels [more than $5.5m] worth of financial investments in museums and parks" and religious centres.
In January 2014, Israeli authorities approved a plan to expropriate 30,000 dunams (more than 7,400 acres) of agricultural land in the Golan.
"This plan involves the establishment of 750 farming estates with a $108m investment from the Israeli government to provide agricultural training, water system upgrades, and landmines clearance over the next four years," reports the Majdal Shams-based Al-Marsad human rights group.
Al-Marsad accuses the Israeli government of "a calculated effort to establish 'facts on the ground' in order to solidify their illegal annexation of the Golan in the midst of a brutal and protracted conflict in Syria", which the United Nations estimates has killed more than 191,000 Syrians since violence broke out in March 2011.
Both the Israeli prime minister's office and the interior ministry declined to comment on these allegations.
Yet, Uploading Conscription's Ibrahim echoed Al-Marsad's claims, asserting that plans for exploratory oil drilling in the Golan are "part of this pattern of exploitation".
"The ongoing Syrian civil war and the world's focus on it have provided Israel with an opportunity to expand its presence here [in the Golan] and continue violating international law publicly without much attention from the international community," Ibrahim said.

Iraq's Sunnis may seek Iran help against ISIL

Desperate for arms and military training to fight ISIL, Sunni tribes were considering Iranian assistance as an option.

 

Iraq's Sunnis want a bigger role in the battle against ISIL [Al Jazeera]

Baghdad - Iraqi Sunni tribal sheikhs threatened to resort to the United States' rival in the region, the Islamic Republic of Iran, to get the needed military support in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), if the US did not respond to their demands, warned Iraqi lawmakers and tribal sheikhs.

The warning came during a meeting with US Senator, John McCain, who embarked on a short visit to Baghdad on Friday. 

McCain met with several Iraqi lawmakers and tribal sheikhs representing the Sunni-dominated provinces of Anbar, Saladin, Diyala as well as the towns constituting the belt of Baghdad, to discuss proposed plans to confront ISIL.

Three Iraqi Sunni figures who attended the meeting told Al Jazeera that a list of demands was submitted to McCain asking for US ground troops, weapons and funds to accelerate the liberation of areas seized by ISIL and grant them (Sunni tribes) a bigger role in the battle against ISIL.

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The disgruntled tribal leaders, according to Sunni figures, made it clear that they were considering alternative options to get the much needed military support to drive away ISIL fighters, and that Iran was on top of the list of alternatives.

"[McCain] was told clearly that if the Americans kept watching the situation [in Anbar, Saladin and Diyala provinces] and did not intervene, we will ask another regional power to fill the gap," a senior Iraqi lawmaker who attended the meeting, told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

"We have already opened many channels with Iran and they have offered unconditional support including weapons, funds and even fighters if required," he said.

The attendees have expressed their anger and dissatisfaction at the US and the [US-led] international coalition that does not support them in its war against Daesh [ISIL] while they rose up when Daesh got close to the Kurdish region and quickly, intervened. - Salah al-Joubori, senior Sunni lawmaker

ISIL fighters overran the second largest city in Iraq, Mosul, in June, with hardly any resistance from the Iraqi army. A few days later, ISIL fighters seized the neighbouring province of Salahuddin and vast parts of southern Kirkuk.

They now have control over most of the cities and towns of the Sunni-dominated province of Anbar.

Iran was the first regional country that responded to the Iraqi government's calls for assistance to stop ISIL advances towards the capital.

Iranian military commanders, accompanying Iraqi forces and Shia militias, have played a vital role in gaining control over the border towns of Jalawla and Saadia, in Diyala province, a few weeks ago and driving ISIL fighters from Jurf al-Sakhar, one of the main supply routes for ISIL in southern Baghdad.

Iran, according to analysts, was also quick to cover the large shortage of weapons and ammunition for the Iraqi troops and Kurdish forces.

On Sunday, official Iranian media reported that an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, who was training Iraqi troops and  militia fighting ISIL, was killed in the Iraqi city of Samarra.

McCain, who was mostly just listening during the meeting, according to the lawmaker, asked for clarification relating to that point.

"McCain stopped us a lot when it came to that point, he looked very interested and was asking questions like who, when, where, why and how," the lawmaker said.

The meeting which lasted 90 minutes was held at the house of the Iraqi speaker, Saleem al-Joubori, in the Green Zone, the most fortified area in Baghdad that contains governmental buildings and many foreign embassies including the US and British embassies.

The tribal leaders and lawmakers had also expressed their dismay at the lack of a serious US policy to liberate their lands and "the US' double standards" in dealing with the Sunni tribes in these provinces compared to the Kurds.

"The attendees have expressed their anger and dissatisfaction at the US and the [US-led] international coalition that does not support them in their war against Daesh [ISIL] while they rose up when Daesh got close to the Kurdish region and quickly intervened," Salah al-Joubori, a senior Sunni lawmaker who also attended the meeting, told Al Jazeera.

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Salah al-Joubori, who confirmed that Sunni tribes have threatened to get assistance from Iran, added that McCain did not make any promises or offer any plans to explain how the US will address their demands although the meeting was "frank and realistic".

"The man is a senator and he has nothing to do with the decision-making [related to arming and funding the Sunni tribes]. He will transfer all what he heard, in addition to the written list of demands, to Congress," Joubori said.

US to help Iraq train and arm tribesmen as part of a future National Guard [EPA]

Iraqi Sunni leaders who met McCain, as several senior officials who are familiar with the talks confirmed, were hoping to convince the US administration to put pressure on the Iraqi government to form the long-awaited National Guard troops, arm the Sunni tribes and keep the Kurdish forces and Shia militias away from the Sunni areas.

"US is able to put great pressure on the Iraqi government and force it to form the National Guard, support the [Sunni] tribes and prevent the Peshmerga and Shia militias from entering the Sunni areas," a senior Sunni figure told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity.

"We believe that the Iraqi government is deliberately holding up the formation of the National Guard and does not support the [Sunni] tribes." 

In a briefing held on Saturday at the US embassy in Baghdad, McCain told reporters that the US will train and arm Sunni tribal fighters who will be part of the planned National Guard troops in Anbar.

"The Iraqi government will arm 4,000 tribesmen, in Anbar, within the National Guard troops which will be formed [later], and their training and arming will be through the Iraqi government," he said.

 

Analysis: Saudi Arabia's big oil bet?

Is Saudi Arabia's decision to maintain production output irrespective of oil prices a bold move or a huge gamble?

 

Saudi Arabia offered an insight into the full impact of low oil prices when it released 2015 budget projections on Thursday. The Kingdom, which derives 90 percent of government revenues from hydrocarbons, will rack up a budget deficit of SAR 145bn (US$38.7bn) after seeing oil prices slump by almost 50 per cent since June.
Even so policymakers are keeping the economy in an expansionary state supported by substantial reserves.
A statement issued by the Ministry of Finance forecast the 2015 record government spending at SAR 860bn ($229.3bn) , an increase of 0.6 percent compared to 2014.
According to the statement, revenues would fall to SAR 715bn ($190.7bn) generating a full year deficit of SAR 145bn ($38.7bn). Around SAR 377m of expenditure is allocated to education, health and social affairs.
The scale of the projected 2015 deficit at around 5.2 percent of GDP has caught some analysts by surprise. 
Earlier in a research alert in December Fahad Alturki, chief economist and head of research at Jadwa Investment in Riyadh, forecast a deficit of 2.7 and 5.7 in 2015 whilst estimating real GDP to grow 3.4 percent.

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Irrespective the size of the deficit, Alturki says historical portents mean the government will continue spending for some time to come. "We think the government will maintain elevated spending over the next few years which will keep growth of the non-oil sector above 4 percent for 2015-2016."
In spite of heavy spending, efforts to diversify the economy have had limited success. The private sector is hugely reliant on state spending and any wholesale reduction would have a negative psychological effect, according to Jadwa.
During previous fiscal deficits the government slowed payments to the private sector and delayed new projects.
Still, there is a degree of uncertainty over the actual deficit the Kingdom will accumulate in 2015 as it does not disclose the average oil price it uses to calculate the budget.
Analysts say the Kingdom remains vulnerable to any further deterioration in oil prices and according to a report published on December 4 in Capital Economics in London, Saudi Arabia could see a deficit of 10 percent during a period of prolonged lower oil prices.

In spite of heavy spending efforts to diversify the economy have had limited success. The private sector is hugely reliant on state spending and any wholesale reduction would have a negative psychological effect.

In its Regional Economic Outlook in October, the International Monetary Fund estimates Saudi Arabia needs a fiscal breakeven oil price of $106 a barrel in 2015.
Since details of the budget have been revealed, attention is turning to how the world's largest oil exporter will finance the budget shortfall.
It has been prudent managing revenues when oil prices were high and has amassed substantial capital buffers estimated by Capital Economics at $740bn, to cushion against reduced oil income.
Jason Tuvey, Middle East economist at Capital Economics, says the kingdom has several options although history suggests it will first use its vast reserves.
"When the oil boom of 1970s turned to bust in the 1980s, budget deficits widened dramatically and reached more than 30 percent of GDP. In that instance, the government initially drew down its reserves to finance the shortfall."
If Saudi Arabia were to use its own savings, that would undoubtedly be the cheapest option. Although the Kingdom's understanding of capital markets has evolved significantly and if it was to turn to international bond markets to finance its deficit, it could likely borrow at low yields [the return an investor receives on a bond] and maintain its large reserves. 
Nevertheless, Investors remain uneasy over the opacity of information on Saudi Arabia and indeed there is little data about Saudi bond yields.
However, elsewhere in the Gulf spreads of dollar denominated bonds over US Treasuries have remained close to record lows despite the big fall in oil prices. Most Gulf currencies are pegged to the US dollar and investor sentiment towards that form of borrowing is positive.
Saudi Arabia has one of the lowest levels of government debt in the world, which the IMF estimates will be 2.5 percent of GDP in 2015.
As a source of deficit financing, tapping bond markets may help achieve other objectives including deepening the Kingdom's nascent financial markets.
MSCI (Morgan Stanley Capital International), classifies Saudi Arabia as a Frontier Market and it is clear local bond markets are underdeveloped by emerging market standards.
Issuing government debt would provide more assets to purchase as the authorities prepare to open the market to foreign investors.
Both the UAE and Qatar were upgraded to Emerging Market status in 2014 and many investors believe the Kingdom has taken a significant step to an EM upgrade after the financial market regulator signalled it would open the Tadawul, the Kingdom's $540bn stock market to Qualified Foreign Investors in the first half of 2015.

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Sources close to discussions between the IMF and Saudi officials earlier this year described them as "heated". For some time the IMF has been advocating the Kingdom, along with other Gulf states, rein in expensive energy related subsidies.
For decades Saudi Arabia has maintained a social compact providing citizens a cradle-to-grave welfare safety net in exchange for loyalty and stability.
That contract has been under strain as substantial levels of youth unemployment and a bloated public sector wage bill increasingly take their toll on government finances.

 The Ministry of Finance says salaries, wages and allowances will account for 50 percent of government expenditure in 2015 which, it says, it is attempting to "rationalise".
Saudi Arabia's decision to maintain production output irrespective of oil prices is viewed by some as a bold move to stare down the growing threat from US shale.
Others, however, think it is a huge gamble at a time of regional instability.
There is a lingering unanswered question over the extent the Kingdom is simply responding to supply and demand swings or using oil as a proxy for its geopolitical ambitions.
It is a point noted by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University's Baker Institute; "Saudi officials wish to project an air of normality and avoid any form of concern lower oil prices might harm the economy in order to reassure both the international markets and domestic opinion that they remain in control despite the growing regional volatility all around them."

 

UNSC set to vote on Palestinian resolution

Security Council to vote on ending Israel's occupation and a peace deal at 22:00 GMT on Tuesday.

 

United Nations Security Council is expected to vote as early as Tuesday afternoon on a Palestinian draft resolution that calls for a peace deal with Israel within a year and an end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by late 2017.
Jordan's UN Ambassador Dina Kawar said Arab delegations had agreed the draft should go to a vote as soon as possible. It was later announced that the vote would take place at 22:00 GMT.

 

The ​Police Informant Who Caused a Deadly Pot Raid in Florida Has Outed Himself

Photo via Flickr user WEBN-TV

On May 27, Jason Wescott was killed in a narcotics raid performed by Tampa, Florida, police, and set in motion by an anonymous informant. Anonymous until now, that is. The man who told police that Wescott, a small-time marijuana dealer with one misdemeanor on his record, had weed in the house has identified himself as Ronnie Coogle in a lengthy Tampa Bay Times story.

Coogle is just one of the unknown number of informants who report to police and set drug raids in motion. Some of the more notable SWAT raids of the past decade have been precipitated by informants. Most of the time, their credibility is something known only to police—or they don't exist at all, as in the fatal case of Kathryn Johnston. The public, and every other actor in the criminal justice system, is supposed to trust these people, who are often felons themselves, or who are receiving payment or other incentives for their reporting.

Ronnie Coogle, as the Tampa Bay Times notes, is not exactly trustworthy, even as he cries and explains how guilty he feels about 29-year-old Jason Wescott's death. Coogle is now somewhat like investigative journalist Clifford Irving, who wrote a fake autobiography of Howard Hughes, and then professed to be telling the real story in his follow-up, The Hoax. It sounds good and all, but, well, where's your credibility after everything you've done? 

On the other hand, learning Coogle's identity helps us get a picture of someone who is not a monster—and might even be sincerely regretful—but who still helped cause a man's death. Coogle has a rap sheet, which includes beating a man with a bat, robbery, and threatening to kill his wife. Almost worse is the story he tells about stealing drugs, lying repeatedly, and setting up people like Wescott for a few hundred bucks reward. Wescott and his boyfriend sold a little pot, but they told Coogle that they had no idea where to get the heroin he requested. Coogle admits he told cops a different story.

Regardless of how we feel about Coogle as a person, shouldn't we be more concerned about the story he's telling now? As the article notes, the one undeniable fact is that the Tampa Police trusted Coogle enough to send a SWAT team into a home where Jason Wesott had a gun (ever since being robbed the previous year). For trying to protect himself, Wescott was shot dead in front of his boyfriend. This was ruled justified back in August, since Wescott allegedly pointed a firearm at Officers Officers Eric Wasierski and Edwin Perez as they rushed into his home.

Police found two bucks worth of pot at Wescott's home, and had precipitated maybe $200 worth of sales over months of undercover work. Not exactly worth anyone's life, that. But should Coogle's tale about $5,000 worth of pot and heroin connections have justified a SWAT raid in the first place? No, even though cops claim Coogle told them Wescott sold pot while carrying his gun each time. (Coogle denies this, but it was the final piece of the puzzle.) Drug raids are dangerous, and they are completely unnecessary.

Rare, already-violent situations call for SWAT—that is all. Yet the American Civil Liberties Union found that 62 percent of SWAT raids are carried out over narcotics. Seven percent of deployments are for a hostage situation. Residential raids on homes endanger cops, and endanger homeowners who may or may not be armed, and may fear that a SWAT team is actually a gang of private-sector home invaders.

The only thing worse than having this kind of deadly policy is deploying it at the word of people like Ronnie Coogle. But at least he seems to grasp his part in Jason Wescott's death, while the cops who shot him got off scot-free, and their boss blamed Wescott, suggesting the marijuana—or lack thereof—was irrelevant. Of course, marijuana is not irrelevant if cops think allegations of selling the plant is worth risking someone's life—and when this kind of lunacy is the status quo for policing in America.

Now onto this week's bad cops:

-Let's take it back to 1992, when NYC Mayor David N. Dinkins pushed for an independent civilian police review board for the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Thousands of off-duty cops blocked traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge for an hour in protest, while the cops assigned to, you know, police them did nothing. This rather amazing event is a fascinating artifact to compare and contrast with contemporary police behavior towards protesters—even if you disagree with blocking traffic, knowing that an estimated 10,000 cops once did the same thing for their cause makes irritation seem a bit rich. And yes, this also shows that the NYPD warring with NYC mayors is nothing new.

Still, the backlash against NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is now so bad that hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of cops turned their backs towards him while he spoke at the funeral this weekend for one of the Brooklyn cops who was executed by a crazed gunman. And that, regardless of your feelings towards de Blasio, is not a good thing. Cops need outsiders to hold them accountable, because they keep proving they cannot be trusted to do it themselves. If they're this infuriated by timid comments from politicians, it doesn't bode well for their capacity to learn, grow, and reform their busted institution.

-Hell, NYPD officers even paid to fly an anti-de Blasio banner over the city on Friday. Which they can do, but Jesus Christ, why?

-On Christmas Eve, police in Greenville, South Carolina reportedly Tasered a 34-year-old autistic man. According to a complaint filed by his mother Carolyn, police Tasered Tario Anderson when they saw him walking through his neighborhood and he tried to run away when the cops tried to ask him about a shooting report. Anderson is a big guy, and he's an adult, but he also only speaks a few words, like 'Yes' or 'No.'

Officer Johnathan Bragg has a point that it's not police officers' job to diagnose someone with a mental disability, but they do need to recognize that such people exist, and that they will likely have a difficult time responding to police instructions. Carolyn Anderson also said that police threatened to Taser her if she didn't calm down after seeing her son on the sidewalk, and that he has been charged with resisting arrest and interfering with police work. The correct thing to do at the very least is drop all charges against Tario.

-The former police chief of New London, Connecticut will not be criminally charged for his 2013 solicitation of a then-18-year-old woman arrested for drinking and giving a fake name. A few days after the March 2013 incident, Chief David Seastrand allegedly told Janelle Westfall that if he could photograph her naked, these charges could go away so long as she kept her nose clean for two years. Westfall says she was scared, especially when Seastrand indicated she shouldn't tell anyone, but of course she told her father, who informed state police. Seastrand resigned a month later. He is barred from ever becoming a cop again, yet he hasn't been criminally prosecuted for his disturbing conduct and did not have to admit wrongdoing. Westfall got $70,000 from the city, but she's disappointed that Seastrand more or less got away with it.

-On December 26, a federal judge allowed a wrongful death lawsuit over a 2011 drug raid to go ahead. Framingham, Massachusetts police officer Paul Duncan accidentally fatally shot 68-year-old Eurie Stamps in the head during a raid over Stamps' step-son's alleged crack dealing. Duncan had neglected to turn the safety on during the raid, and he said he tripped and accidentally fired his weapon. The judge said Stamps' constitutional rights might have been violated. At the time, the warrant specified that the retiree was not a threat.

-Twenty-four retired and current black NYPD cops told Reuters about some of the racial profiling they've suffered from their fellow officers while off-duty.

-We picked the folks at the Nashville Police Department as the Good Cops of the Week before, but Chief Steve Anderson's Friday response to a complaint about the kid-gloves treatment dealt out to anti-police protesters garners him his own week of commendation. Maybe protesters shouldn't get taxpayer-subsidized coffee, but Anderson's plea for nuance, understanding, and a sensable police response to what might technically be lawbreaking—but doesn't deserve head-cracking and arrests—is extremely heartening to read. Anderson also manages to mention that the police are intended to be "merely a representative of a government formed by the people for the people—for all people" and then sneaks in a crack about how weird it is that the complainant is pulling the "Won't someone think of the children?!" card. If Anderson is this thoughtful in his everyday life, every damn police chief needs to look at him and start following his example.

What will it take to defeat ISIL?

Kurdish Peshmerga forces say they have regained control over many parts around Sinjar. ISIL had been in control of the town, located about 125 kilometres west of Mosul.
In the Syrian town of Kobane, along the Turkish border, fighting is still continuing against ISIL, with no breakthrough in sight.
Turkey, though it's been reluctant to fight the armed group, has pledged to cooperate with Iraq on ISIL.
But what does it really take to defeat this group?
Presenter: Hazem Sika
Guests:
Cengiz Aktar - Professor of Political Science at the Istanbul Policy Center
Elias Hanna - Retired Army General with the Lebanese Army and Military and Security Analyst
Noreldin Waisy - Kurdish Journalist and Political Analyst

Kiev and rebels complete prisoner swap

Ukraine receives back another four soldiers, completing exchange that involved 222 rebels and 150 troops.

 

Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels have completed a swap of hundreds of prisoners that was agreed in Belarusian capital of Minsk days earlier at peace talks that eventually broke down.
Four Ukrainian soldiers were handed over on Saturday by separatists fighting in Luhansk, following up on a mass prisoner exchange that involved 222 pro-Russian fighters and 145 Ukrainian troops a day earlier.
Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine's president, welcomed the soldiers as heroes on Saturday.
"My heart as that of a president and citizen is brimming with joy that you - as I had promised - will be able to meet the New Year with your families and comrades in arms," Poroshenko said as the released men huddled around him on the tarmac.
He promised to search for and find all of the missing soldiers and "not leave anyone behind".
However, one of the 146 Ukrainian prisoners originally brought by the rebels refused to rejoin his old military unit, and was eventually taken back to Donetsk.
"All of my relatives are in Russia," the ethnically-Russian Alexei Samsonov told the AFP news agency. "I consider what the Ukrainian army is doing not to be right."
The swap
The deal, announced on Friday, was sealed despite Ukraine's decision to cut off key transport links to Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Russia in March.
The exchange began on Friday on a dark and isolated stretch of a road north of the devastated eastern rebel stronghold of Donetsk, and unfolded as negotiators from both sides held video talks on Skype at reviving stalled negotiations.
The two warring sides lined up the prisoners some 100 metres apart in the no-man's land between their frontlines, with heavily-armed soldiers and rebels fidgeting nervously in the dark with their automatic rifles.


Some of the captives expressed surprise and joy at having the chance to go home in time for New Year's Eve - the most cherished of all the holidays celebrated in once-communist eastern Europe.
"They only just told us that this would happen," said a slightly older Ukrainian soldier named Artyom Syurik.
"I am looking forward to seeing my parents and wife. They do not know I am coming."
Yet a rebel named Denis Balbukov sounded defiant as he sat in a Kamaz truck waiting to go home to Donetsk.
"I will go back to fighting," the 21-year-old said. "It was alright once we were moved to the detention centre, but to begin with, they really tormented and roughed us up."
But he too was looking forward to going home, adding: "I want to eat fried potatoes and talk to my relatives."
Smaller such exchanges have been frequent and often involved dozens of men.

Kurdish clashes in south Turkey turn deadly

Tensions run high in southeastern town of Cizre after clashes between rival Kurdish groups.

 

 

Turkish police struggle to contain security with members of PKK blocking roads and tensions remaining high [AFP]

Two people have died and three others wounded in clashes between Islamists and Kurdish youths in Turkey's southeastern town of Cizre, the government has said.

Security sources said clashes erupted on Saturday after midnight between members of the Islamist Free Cause Party (Huda-Par) and youth groups linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

The two groups are historically fierce rivals. Huda-Par draws support from sympathisers of Turkey's Hizbullah group which fought the PKK in the 1990s.

Tensions were still high in the town bordering Syria after the clashes, which the Turkish police had difficulty in containing, the security sources said.
Security forces struggle

The office of the governor of Sirnak province, which announced the two deaths, said in a statement: "Necessary work
is still being carried out in the region with the help of our security forces, armoured vehicles and helicopters."

Thirty-five people died in early October after Kurds rioted in several southeastern cities over what they perceived as the
government's refusal to help Syrian Kurds fighting Islamic State fighters in the besieged town of Kobani across the border.

The violence, the worst seen in the region in many years, was partly driven by intense clashes between Kurds and the
Islamists.

Calm in the region is key to a shaky peace process in which the government is negotiating an end to a 30-year insurgency with the jailed leader of the outlawed PKK who called a ceasefire last year.

Fire spreads at Libyan oil terminal

Volunteer fighters struggle to stave off flames after rocket attack by Fajr Libya consumes increasing number of tankers.

 

The national fire department has refused to assist, prompting volunteer firefighters to come forward [Reuters]

Two full oil tanks caught ablaze at one of Libya's main oil terminals after a rocket attack by Islamist fighters, officials said as the UN denounced attacks on oil installations.
The rocket was fired on Thursday by fighters from Fajr Libya (Libya Dawn), a coalition of Islamist fighters.
One oil tank was hit, said the region's security spokesman Ali al-Hassi, on Saturday, at Al-Sidra, which is in the eastern region known as the "oil crescent" and home to other key terminals, he said.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement on Saturday that it "strongly condemns" attacks on Libya's oil installations.
"The mission warns of the environmental and economic consequences as a result of this violence and destruction in the oil crescent area, and urges the forces on the ground to cooperate in order to allow the fire crews to extinguish the blaze," it said.
Volunteer firefighters
Hassi said the national fire department refused to extinguish the fires, prompting volunteer firefighters to come forward to fight the flames with the help of oil installation guards.
"They are doing their best to extinguish the fire and are working under difficult conditions," Hassi said.
A technician for Waha, the company responsible for running Al-Sidra, said there are 19 storage tanks at the terminal with a total capacity of 6.2 million barrels of oil.
The source, who declined to be named, estimated the amount of crude lost to the fire so far at more than 1.6 million barrels.
In its statement, UNSMIL called attacks on oil installations a "clear violation" of UN Security Council resolutions on Libya.
"Libyan oil belongs to all the Libyan people and is the country's economic lifeline," it said, urging all sides to "desist from any action that endangers this strategic national asset".

 

US-wanted Shabab leader surrenders

The highly sought after Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi has surrendered to government and African Union forces in Somalia.

 

 

A highly sought after al-Shabab leader with a $3m bounty on his head has surrendered to government and African Union forces, a Somali intelligence officer has said.
Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi surrendered to Somali police in the Gedo region where Somalia borders Kenya and Ethiopia, the officer said.
"Zakariya Ahmed was a very senior person who worked with Godane," said regional military official Jama Muse, referring to former Shebab leader Ahmed Abdi Godane, who was killed by a US air strike in September.
"He was in charge of intelligence and finances. He was one of the senior al-Shabab commanders who the Americans put a lot of money on their head," he added.
Another Somali military official, Mohamed Osmail, said the militant was hiding in a house in a border town, and made contact with government officials in order to hand himself in.
Another intelligence source said the surrender was believed to have been motivated by a series of recent bloody splits and purges within the group, with Godane having ruthlessly eliminated many of his rivals and his successor, Ahmad Umar Abu Ubaidah, continuing to maintain strict internal security.
Hersi was one of eight top al-Shabab officials whom the Obama administration offered a total $33m in rewards for information leading to their capture in 2012.
Despite suffering major losses such as losing major cities, al-Shabab remains a threat in Somalia and Kenya.

Syria 'ready' for peace talks with opposition

Foreign ministry says Syria is ready to meet the opposition in Moscow talks due to be held in late January.

 

An estimated 200,000 people have been killed in Syria during the war [Getty]

Syria is ready to meet with the country's opposition in Moscow in an effort to find a way out of the nearly four-year civil war, a government official has said.
"Syria is ready to participate in a preliminary and consultative meeting in Moscow to respond to the aspirations of Syrians who are trying to find a solution to the crisis," the foreign ministry official said on Saturday, quoted by SANA state news agency.
"The Syrian Arab Republic has always been ready for dialogue with those who believe in its unity, sovereignty and freedom of choice," the official said.
It is unclear whether Syria's fractured opposition leaders in exile, or armed rebels on the ground, would attend a conference hosted in a government-controlled area of the country.
Hadi al-Hahra, head of the Turkey-based opposition National Coalition said on Saturday that "there is no initiative as rumoured", dismissing the Russian plan.
"Russia does not have a clear initiative, and what is called for by Russia is just a meeting and dialogue in Moscow, with no specific paper or initiative," Bahra said.
Russia has been trying to relaunch peace talks for Syria that would include meetings between delegates of the regime and the fractured opposition.
Moscow said on Thursday that it planned to host delegations from the Syrian opposition in late January, possibly followed by a visit by regime representatives that could bring the two sides together for talks.
Assad has said he backs the efforts by his key ally.
Syria's war began as a pro-democracy revolt, but escalated into a multi-sided civil war drawing foreign fighters after President Bashar al-Assad's regime began a massive crackdown on dissent.
An estimated 200,000 people have been killed, and half the population have been forced to flee their homes.

 

 

Malaysia and Thailand among countries affected, with more than 180,000 displaced and 13 people killed.

 

Asia-Pacific

Severe flooding hits southeast Asia

Malaysia and Thailand among countries affected, with more than 180,000 displaced and 13 people killed.

Severe flooding has killed 13 people and left at least 180,000 displaced in Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand, officials said. In Malaysia, rescue teams on Saturday were struggling to reach inundated areas in the northeast as victims accus The under-fire-Najib was expected to arrive in Kelantan on Saturday to lead the national flood response after cutting short his vacation in Hawaii, his aide Tengku Sariffuddin Tengku Ahmad told the AFP news agency. The government has allocated about $14m to manage relief centres. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin admitted rescuers were facing challenges with power outages and roads being washed away by the floods. "I admit the situation is challenging to the rescue workers and we are trying our best to make sure that the food arrives to the victims depending on the flood situation," he was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper. Military helicopters and trucks were seen in Kota Bharu area, which is near the border with southern Thailand, but rescue efforts were being hampered by fast rising waters and strong currents while roads to hard-hit areas were impassable. "The severity and scale of the floods had taken the authorities completely by surprise as it was worse than anticipated, overwhelming all disaster management plans and preparations," Lim Kit Siang, veteran opposition MP with the Democratic Action Party said in a statement on Saturday. Muddy lake Kelantan, one of the worst-affected areas, is led by the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) and is one of the poorest states in the country. From the air, parts of the state capital Kota Bharu resembled a vast, muddy lake, with row after row of rooftops peeking out of the murky waters. Tempers flared among people sheltering at a crowded relief centre just outside Kota Bharu, with fears the situation would worsen as it continued to rain in surrounding areas. "I am angry with them [the government]. We don't care about their politics. We just want the government to do what they should do and help us," 23-year-old Farhana Suhada, who works for a courier service, told AFP. Neighbouring Thailand's disaster prevention and mitigation department on Friday declared disaster zones in eight of its southern provinces after floods killed at least 13 people. The zones are in Surat Thani, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Pattalung, Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, Songkhla and also Trang, which has been flooded since mid-December. More than 184,000 households have been affected by the floods and nearly 8,000 displaced, according to the department. Although the water level is receding in Nakorn Sri Thammarat and Surat Thani provinces, authorities are monitoring the situation around the clock ed the government of being slow to provide aid and assistance after the country's worst flooding in decades. Malaysians have vented their anger at Prime Minister Najib Razak after the release of photos which went viral on social media showing him playing golf with US President Barack Obama during the storms. The number of people forced to flee their homes climbed past 120,000 with weather forecasters warning of no respite for the northeastern states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang.

 

Hamas warns of unpaid staff taking to streets

Pressure is mounting in the Gaza Strip for 42,000 employees who have not received salaries from unity government.

 

 

Hamas member Basem Naeem says the salary freeze could prompt 'extreme' reactions [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Gaza City - Thousands of former Hamas employees who have not received a salary in months will likely take to the streets if a solution is not found soon, a Hamas representative has warned.
Basem Naeem, a former health minister and prime ministerial adviser, told Al Jazeera that the status quo "cannot continue", noting the pressure has become too much for many to bear.
"To cut the salary of anyone is like cutting his throat," Naeem said in an interview at his office in Gaza City.
"There will be demonstrations… The police officer, or doctor, or nurse who is working day and night for nothing - you can't expect them, at the end of six or eight months, to be calm and quiet. They will be angry and disappointed. They will act in more and more extreme manners."
 His comments come just days after al-Araby al-Jadeed reported that Israel had scrutinised the list of unpaid employees and vetoed payment for more than 250 people with alleged connections to al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas.
In total, more than 42,000 former Hamas employees have not been paid in more than six months, and in some cases much longer.
Many expected that the situation would change after the Fatah-Hamas unity deal took effect in June. The new government was expected to pay out millions of dollars in salaries owing to Hamas employees, but the Palestinian Authority (PA) has yet to deliver.
The pay freeze affects a broad cross-section of workers, with a majority in the health, education and security sectors, Naeem said.
"They are really suffering. Many of them cannot buy medication for their children when in need… Many are suffering debts at supermarkets, pharmacies," he said.
'Have patience'
Naeem blames the politics of division between Ramallah and Gaza, but Mufeed al-Hasayneh, the public works minister with the new Palestinian unity government, says it is simpler than that: The money is just not available.
"We have to have patience. We can't make it tomorrow… Maybe we'll have good news in the future," Hasayneh told Al Jazeera.
Complicating matters, employees in Gaza who predated the 2007 Hamas takeover of the territory have continued to receive a salary from the PA, albeit at a lower rate than staff in the West Bank, explained Jihad el-Guidi, a doctor at Gaza's al-Shifa Hospital. About 40 percent of Shifa's staff fall into that category, while the rest have not been paid at all.
"They can barely manage to get the essential needs for life. It also reflects psychologically on their kids or wife when they cannot give them what they need," hospital administrator Eyad Zatoot told Al Jazeera from Shifa's rusting, decrepit emergency room.
For now, they will keep working, he added: "It's a very stressful and tense situation, but they belong to this place."