World

A missile fired by Iranian-backed Yemeni rebels hit a Saudi airport on Wednesday, wounding 26 people and ratcheting up regional tensions just as international efforts to avert escalation get underway.

The projectile hit the arrival section at Abha International airport in the southwest of the country, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Yemen’s Houthis said earlier in the day that they had used a cruise missile to target the airport, a claim that couldn’t be independently verified.

The rebels have launched dozens of missile attacks on Saudi targets over the past four years. But the unusually-high casualty toll is the latest signal that the group’s attacks on the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen are becoming increasingly sophisticated.

A drone strike hit a Saudi Aramco facility hundreds of kilometers away from the Yemeni border last month, prompting the oil company to temporarily shut one of its key pipelines.

Saudi officials said that attack was ordered by Iran, but didn’t provide evidence to back their claims. The U.S. has also blamed Iran for sabotaging tankers near the Persian Gulf using naval mines, a claim Tehran denies.

“The Houthi capabilities are getting better,” said Elisabeth Kendall, a senior research fellow at Oxford University. “This is one sign of how the war has backfired on Saudi Arabia. It was intended to reduce Iranian influence but instead it has increased it.”

The prospects of a showdown between the U.S., its Arab allies on one hand, and Iran on the other, have spiked since the Trump administration stopped granting waivers to buyers of Iranian oil early in May. President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. last year from a landmark 2015 agreement meant to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing a nuclear weapon.

Bahrain, a member of the Saudi-led alliance fighting in Yemen, described Wednesday’s incident as a “dangerous escalation carried out by Iranian weapons,” Foreign Minister Khalid al-Khalifa said on Twitter.

Saudi Arabia’s benchmark Tadawul All Share Index trimmed gains after the kingdom’s authorities acknowledged the attack. It was trading 0.4 percent higher at 1:18 p.m. local time. The civil aviation authority said the airport was operating normally, the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television reported around midday.

At least 17 people were injured on Sunday in a blast targeting a tourist bus near the new Egyptian museum close to the Giza Pyramids, Egyptian officials said.

The roadside bomb went off as the bus was being driven in Giza, also causing injuries to Egyptians in a nearby car, medical and security sources said. There were no deaths reported.

"A device exploded and smashed the windows of a bus carrying 25 people from South Africa and a private car carrying four Egyptians," the security source said. 

Video footage captured by AFP showed the bus and car with broken windows on the side of the road.

According to the security source, the wounded were being treated for scratches caused by the broken glass.

A group picture of the tour group from Durban that was onboard the bus.

Ndivhuwo Mabaya, spokesman for South Africa's department of international relations, told AFP that "there might be South Africans involved" but declined to give any figures.

Sunday's incident comes after three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a roadside bomb hit their bus as it travelled near the Giza pyramids outside Cairo in December.

It also comes just little more than a month before the African Cup of Nations hosted by Egypt is to kick off.

Egypt has been battling an insurgency that surged especially in the turbulent North Sinai region following the 2013 military ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was replaced by former army general Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

In February 2018, the army launched a nationwide operation against militants, focusing mainly on the North Sinai region.

Some 650 militants and around 45 soldiers have been killed since the start of the offensive, according to separate statements by the armed forces.

Since first being elected in 2014, Sisi has presented himself as a bulwark against terrorism, promising stability and increased security.

Recently, the country's vital tourism industry has started to slowly rebound after suffering strong blows due to deadly attacks targeting tourists following the turmoil of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.

Figures by the official statistics agency showed that tourist arrivals reached 8.3 million in 2017, compared with 5.3 million the previous year. 

Authorities have gone at great lengths to lure tourists back, touting a series of archaeological finds and a new museum next to the pyramids, as well as enhanced security at airports and around ancient sites.

Donald Trump’s trade wars with China, Mexico and Europe have sent global investment tumbling, according to a World Bank report that forecasts worldwide growth this year will slip back to levels not seen since 2016.

The Washington-based lender to developing world countries said in its half-yearly global health check that spiralling political uncertainty was to blame for a slowdown in trade and a collapse in investment spending that will push down GDP growth to 2.6% this year “before inching up to 2.7% in 2020”.

The decision by the Trump administration to impose higher tariffs on Chinese imports and prolonged Brexit uncertainty were among a string of events to increase the World Bank’s policy uncertainty index to a record high.

The report’s gloomy findings were echoed in a speech on Tuesday by the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who pledged to take “appropriate” measures to protect the US economy from the impact of trade wars.

In what was widely seen as a hint that the Fed could cut interest rates in the coming months if the US economy cools, Powell told a monetary policy conference in Chicago that the central bank was “closely monitoring the implications” of ongoing trade disputes.

He said: “We don’t know how or when these issues will be resolved. As always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion.”

Stock markets tumbled last month as traders began to fear an escalation in Washington’s tit-for-tat with Beijing over import tariffs. Oil prices have tumbled and investors have piled into safe haven assets such as gold – with prices up 4% on Tuesday – and German sovereign bonds.

Trump warned Mexico last week that it could face higher tariffs on all its exports to the US if it failed to reduce migration. Washington said a 5% tariff on all goods would be imposed as early as next week and rise to 25% by October.

Manufacturing output across the world has been especially hard hit, with surveys showing a sharp decline in growth across most regions. In the UK, a major survey found manufacturing contracted last month. The picture was gloomier still across Ireland and continental Europe, where output slowed at an even faster pace.

The World Bank said emerging economies in Asia, South America and Africa were constrained by sluggish investment “and risks are tilted to the downside”.

It said in the report, Global Economic Prospects: Heightened Tensions, Subdued Investment, that rising trade barriers increased the financial stress on trade-dependent economies, such as Turkey, and created sharper-than-expected slowdowns in major economies, especially in Europe.

Developing-world governments have reacted to the fall in private sector investment by borrowing to fill the gap, increasing the risk of financial instability should global growth slow further.

David Malpass, the World Bank group president, said: “Stronger economic growth is essential to reducing poverty and improving living standards. Current economic momentum remains weak, while heightened debt levels and subdued investment growth in developing economies are holding countries back from achieving their potential.”

Malpass, who was appointed earlier this year to succeed previous president Jim Yong Kim, added that developing-world countries should hold back on borrowing further funds unless it was for growth and investment.

“It’s urgent that countries make significant structural reforms that improve the business climate and attract investment. They also need to make debt management and transparency a high priority so that new debt adds to growth and investment.”

Some countries expected by the World Bank to see an improvement in GDP growth this year have already started to go backwards, according to recent figures.

South Africa’s economy suffered its worst quarter since the financial crisis. The economy shrank at an annual rate of 3.2% in the first three months of 2019, knocking it off course from the 1.1% growth expected by the World Bank this year.

South Africa’s manufacturing, mining and agricultural sectors all shrank, in a blow to the newly re-elected president Cyril Ramaphosa. Agriculture contracted by 13%, mining fell 11%, while manufacturing decreased by 8.8% year-on-year.

Australia’s economy has also slowed, forcing the central bank to reduce interest rates to a record low of 1.25%.

TEGUCIGALPA: Five foreigners including the pilot died on Saturday when their private plane crashed into the sea shortly after taking off from Roatán island, a tourist destination on the Atlantic coast of Honduras, local authorities said.

Officials gave conflicting accounts of the victims’ nationalities. Armed forces spokesman Jose Domingo Meza said four of the victims were from the United States and the fifth victim’s nationality had yet to be determined.

Local emergency services initially said the victims included four Canadians and another victim of unknown nationality.

Local authorities did not immediately offer a cause for the accident.

The Piper PA-32-260 plane was headed to the tourist port city of Trujillo, about 80 kilometers (49.71 miles) from Roatan, a picturesque island frequented by tourists from the United States, Canada and Europe, authorities said.

Myanmar police have issued an arrest warrant for Ashin Wirathu, a firebrand monk known as the "Buddist Bin Laden", over alleged incendiary remarks about Aung San Suu Kyi.

Wirathu has long been accused of inciting sectarian violence against Myanmar’s Muslims, in particular the Rohingya community, through hate-filled, Islamaphobic speeches.

The monk, who is at the forefront of Myanmar’s radical nationalist movement, supported the military crackdown on the Rohingya in August 2017 in Rahkine state. The UN has since defined the military violence as ethnic cleansing which was carried out with “genocidal intent”.

The police confirmed on Tuesday that a warrant had been issued for Wirathu’s arrest under article 124(a) of the legal code. It covers sedition, defined as “attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government." The charge carries a three-year sentence.

It is believed to be connected to defamatory comments made by Wirathu about Myanmar state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

The police were still trying to hunt down the monk on Wednesday. He usually lives in his own compound within the Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay but his whereabouts were currently unknown.

If he is charged, this would not be Wirathu’s first time in prison. He was first jailed in 2003 by the military junta but released in 2012 under an amnesty and began touring the country, whipping up hatred against Muslims with his extremist sermons.

While a senior Buddhist council temporarily prevented Wirathu from preaching, over the past few months he has been a regular feature at pro-military rallies, again stirring up anti-Muslim sentiment by calling for boycotts of Muslim businesses and referring to the Rohingya as illegal immigrants.

He has also been banned from Facebook since January 2018 and he was banned from entering Thailand last month.

While Buddhism espouses non-violence, Wirathu has openly said he is "proud to be called a radical Buddhist" and in a 2013 sermon said of Muslims in Myanmar: "You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog."

Speaking at a rally in October, the monk spoke out against attempts by the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate the crimes against the Rohingya in Rahkine. "The day when the ICC comes here," he said, "is the day that Wirathu holds a gun."

Thousands of marriage equality advocates celebrated in the pouring rain outside Taiwan’s legislature on Friday as it easily voted to grant same-sex couples similar marriage rights as those of heterosexual couples.

The law, which allows for same-sex couples to apply for “marriage registration” as part of “exclusive permanent unions,” passed by a comfortable margin and marked a key victory for Taiwan’s LGBT community.

Taiwan’s high court ruled on May 24, 2017 that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates its constitution and gave the legislature two years to pass a corresponding law or see same-sex marriage become legalized automatically. The process frequently stalled amid conservative opposition. In November 2018, Taiwan voted in a public referendum to restrict same-sex couples from full marriage rights.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) responded by submitting legislation designed to comply with both the court ruling and the referendum result. Two competing bills which would be less favorable to the gay community were submitted, but they failed to gain traction.

The law could give the DPP and President Tsai Ing-wen a boost ahead of January 2020s presidential election. Gay rights advocates have long criticized the ruling party for failing to pass legislation sooner, but these concerns were largely absent amid the mood of optimism at Friday’s rally.

Chi Chia-wei, a gay rights activist for over 30 years, said he was “very, very happy” to see Taiwan legalize same-sex marriage, calling the process “a strong demonstration of our democratic spirit.”

A man holds rose with a gay pride ribbon tied to it as he waits outside Taiwan's parliament where voting is taking place on legalising same-sex marriage on May 17, 2019 in Taipei, Taiwan. (Carl Court/Getty Images)  

The law ensured that Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic nation, would stand as an example for Asia’s growing LGBT community. Thailand has proposed a law to recognize civil partnerships, but same-sex unions remain illegal elsewhere in Asia.

Jay Lin, CEO of Portico Media and a gay father of two children, called the law a “beacon of hope” for Asia’s gay community. “I’m very glad that I’m living in Taiwan and I’m a beneficiary of these new laws,” he said.

At least 40 inmates in Brazil have been strangled to death in separate jails - a day after a fight between rival prison gangs killed 15 people.

The latest violence took place across four prisons in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus, and those who died were discovered by staff during routine inspections. Local officials said all of the prisoners showed signs of asphyxia.

A federal task force is being sent to Manaus in an effort to halt the violence.

On Sunday, 15 inmates were killed during a riot at Manaus' Anisio Jobim Prison Complex, where 56 prisoners died in the violence two years earlier.

Family members of inmates pray in front of the Puraquequara Prison facility

The prisoners had begun fighting one another before midday on Sunday and security reinforcements were rushed in and managed to regain control within 45 minutes, local authorities said.

Amazonas state governor Wilson Lima said reinforcements were being sent to "help us in this moment of crisis and a problem that is national: the problem of prisons".

Brazil's far-right president Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to regain control of the country's prisons as well as building additional ones.

However, the vast majority of jails are administered at state level and have been overcrowded and out of control for decades.

Several drug-trafficking and other criminal gangs in Brazil run much of their day-to-day business from prisons.

Prison clashes are known to spread rapidly in Brazil, where drug gangs have de facto control over most jails.

In January 2017, nearly 150 inmates died at the hands of other prisoners during several weeks of fighting among rival crime gang members at prisons in northern states.

Many of those victims had their heads cut off or their hearts and intestines ripped out.

The 2017 deaths were largely gang-related, which prompted authorities to increase efforts to separate factions and frequently transfer prisoners.

PARIS (AP) — Several world leaders and tech bosses are meeting in Paris to find ways to stop acts of violent extremism from being shown online.

They're working all day Wednesday on the "Christchurch Appeal," named after the New Zealand city where 51 people were killed in a March attack on mosques. The attacker streamed the killing live on Facebook.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called the meeting a significant "starting point" for changes in government and tech industry policy. Ardern will run the Christchurch Call event together with French President Emmanuel Macron – who is already “leading” work on this matter.

Officials at Facebook said they support the idea of the appeal, but that details need to be worked out that are acceptable for all parties.

Twitter, Google, Microsoft and several other companies are also taking part, along with the leaders of Britain, France, Canada, Ireland, Senegal, Indonesia, Jordan and the European Union.

Theresa May will resign as leader of Britain’s ruling Conservative Party on June 7, she announced on the steps of 10 Downing Street on Friday morning. She will remain Prime Minister until a new leader is chosen by her party, in a contest which will begin the following week and conclude some time in the summer.

Six people were killed Sunday during mass at a Catholic church in central Burkina Faso, according to state media.

Gunmen on motorcycles stormed the church in Dablo on Sunday morning, killing six men, including the priest, before setting fire to the church and buildings in the area, the Burkina Information Agency reported.

In February, CNN reported that the US was considering sending additional military advisers as well as intelligence and surveillance assets such as drones to Burkina Faso to help combat a growing terrorist threat.

The landlocked country in northwest Africa has been beset by extremist violence in recent months as Islamist terror groups expand their reach.

The number of violent incidents in the country linked to the local affiliates of al Qaeda and ISIS rose from 24 in 2017 to 136 in 2018, according to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

The Trump administration last year announced plans to cut the number of US troops in Africa by around 10%. One defense official told CNN that the planned reductions would eventually lower the number of US counterterrorism troops and their enablers who support operations by approximately 20%.

The US-China trade war that has raged for the past year could cause a disastrous $US600 billion blow to the global economy.

That’s the grim assessment of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which warned a further escalation of the crisis could impact a world economy already weakened by sluggish growth and uncertainty.

In a biannual report released yesterday, the renowned think tank predicted global gross domestic product would fall by up to 0.7 per cent by 2021, with uncertainty hitting advanced economies the hardest.

It expects the world’s GDP to slow to 3.2 per cent in 2019 compared with 3.5 per cent last year and 3.8 per cent in 2017.

“Trade tensions have disrupted growth. With uncertainty high and confidence low, investment has suffered, and the manufacturing sector has taken a hit,” OECD chief economist Laurence Boone said.

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump have been locked in a trade war for months now. Pictures: Fabrice Coffrini, Mandel Ngan/AFP PhotosSource:AFP

Bloomberg Economics has painted a similarly pessimistic picture, agreeing an “all-out trade war” would lower the global GDP by 0.6 per cent or “close to $600 billion” relative to a “no trade war scenario”.

And if the tariffs imposed by both the US and China earlier this month remain in place for the next two years, Bloomberg Economics predicts global GDP could be 0.3 per cent lower by mid-2021.

But according to Chris Richardson, director of Deloitte Access Economics, the news isn’t all bad — especially for Australia.

“The basic thing to remember about trade wars is the two Ds — they are dumb, but they’re not dire,” he said.

“To be clear, there are beautiful win-win gains to be had from trade … including lifting a billion people out of poverty over the last decade and a bit.

“But now we are amid a lot of stupidity — it’s that classic push and shove in the playground stuff.”

Mr Richardson said at the moment, the US-China trade war had not yet notably hurt the global economy, although global trade had started to shrink.

But he said Australia actually stood to benefit from the situation.

“Remember, for Australia, there is this weird side effect which is that, as China slows, they pump stimulus which leads to extra construction and extra demand for things like steel,” he said.

“So, if anything, global trade wars and a slowdown in the global economy is actually good news for Australia because the world gives us a pay rise off the back of it.”

He said Australia stood to “indirectly benefit” from Chinese stimulus, with Australian farmers and the mining sector (coal and iron ore) the main winners, and while the political blowback from the trade wars could negatively affect Australia, the economic repercussions were largely positive.

However, Mr Richardson said the situation could get worse because “egos are involved” — although he said there was a risk of “overstating” just how bad it could get.

“There does remain the chance that if egos are kept under control, the damage to the world economy could still be smaller than people fear — it is dumb but it’s not dire, and there’s a chance of an outcome which is ultimately good for the world,” he said, adding the situation could encourage China to open its economy further.

TRADE WAR

For months now, US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping have been locked in an alarming trade war.

Earlier this month, it stepped up a notch after Mr Trump increased tariffs from 10 per cent to 25 per cent on $US200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

China then retaliated by placing tariffs on $US60 billion of US imports.

Runaway Islamic State bride Shamima Begum could face the death penalty if she is sent to Bangladesh, the country’s foreign minister has said. The teenager would face death by hanging for her involvement in terrorism, according to Abdul Momen.

Bangladesh has said it wants nothing to do with Shamima who cannot return to the UK after Home Secretary Sajid Javid stripped her of her British nationality. She is currently in a refugee camp in Syria after the collapse of the caliphate earlier this year.

The 19-year-old has said she was ‘brainwashed’ by extremists and ran away to join the death cult as a schoolgirl. She fled her home in east London in 2015 with two friends and quickly married Dutch jihadi Yago Riedijk. The couple’s three children all died.
All three of Shamima Begum’s children have died while she lived in Syria (Picture: ITV)

Under international law it is illegal to revoke someone’s citizenship if it leaves them stateless. It was thought Begum had a claim to Bangladeshi citizenship through her family, but Bangladeshi officials have denied this.

Speaking to ITV News, Momen said: ‘We have nothing to do with Shamima Begum. She is not a Bangladeshi citizen. ‘She never applied for Bangladeshi citizenship. She was born in England and her mother is British. ‘If anyone is found to be involved with terrorism, we have a simple rule: there will be capital punishment. And nothing else. ‘She would be put in prison and immediately the rule is she should be hanged.’
Shamima fled her east London home to join the death cult and its self-declared caliphate in Iraq and Syria (Picture: Reuters)

The issue of Shamima’s citizenship emerged after she declared she wanted to return to the UK. She claimed to have been brainwashed by Isis although reports have emerged that she was a member of the feared ‘morality police’

Spy chiefs allegedly believe she was witnessed sewing vests onto suicide bombers so devices couldn’t be removed without detonation. Shamima resurfaced in February this year heavily pregnant at the al-Hawl refugee camp. She gave birth to son Jarrah but he died in March aged just three weeks old.

The UK government faced criticism in the wake of the child’s death, who was a British citizen regardless of his mother’s status. But Mr Javid defended his decision to remove Shamima’s citizenship and said the Government could not assist British nationals in Syria as there is no consular presence there.

Around 900 male and female extremists went from the UK to fight for Isis. Of those, around 200 are believed to have been killed while another 360 have already returned home. Anti-terror police say as many as 200 jihadists who are alive would pose a significant threat to security if they were ever to return.

The UK Government said it would not comment on the individual case of Shamima. But it added that decisions to deprive individuals of their citizenship are based on ‘all available evidence’ and are ‘not taken lightly’.


(Metro-UK)