Day: August 1, 2019

Facebook has removed hundreds of accounts linked to Saudi Arabia’s government as part of an effort to end what it described as “inauthentic behavior,” a Facebook security official said.

A press release says individuals affiliated with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia used Facebook and related social media platforms to publicize government objectives and spread propaganda under the guise of fake accounts.

The social media company says it removed 217 accounts, 144 pages, five groups and five Instagram accounts that were linked to the government of Saudi Arabia.

“Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our review found links to individuals associated with the government of Saudi Arabia,” Facebook Head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher said Thursday.

This is the first time Facebook has identified Saudi Arabia as being behind deceptive social media messages.

The U.S. company said online posts both promoted domestic policies and took aim at regional rivals and were often portrayed as local news outlets.

“Postings focused on, among other things, “Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, his economic and social reform plan, “Vision 2030,” and successes of the Saudi Armed Forces, particularly during the conflict in Yemen,” Gleicher wrote.

“They also frequently shared criticism of neighboring countries, including Iran, Qatar and Turkey, and called into question the credibility of the Al-Jazeera television channel and rights group Amnesty International,” he continued.

According to Facebook, approximately 1.4 million people followed at least one of the accounts linked to Saudi Arabia.  

Facebook also took down 259 accounts, 102 Pages, five groups, four events and 17 Instagram accounts linked to two marketing firms: New Waves in  Egypt & Newave in the UAE. The accounts were not related to Saudi Arabia-backed accounts, however they targeted the same countries.

American regulators and lawmakers have applied increased scrutiny on Facebook as intelligence officials say Russia used social media sites to meddle in U.S. elections.

“We’re constantly working to detect and stop this type of activity because we don’t want our services to be used to manipulate people,” said Gleicher. “We’re taking down these pages, groups and accounts based on their behavior, not the content they posted.”

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Human Rights Watch has accused Kenya’s police force of carrying out extrajudicial killings of at least 21 young men and boys in the informal settlements of Nairobi over the past year. In a report published last week, the human rights group said it has documented the 21 murders but says there are many more. As Sarah Kimani reports from Nairobi, police have not responded to VOA requests for comment. 

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The U.S.-China trade war intensified Thursday after President Donald Trump said he would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on some Chinese products, one day after the two superpowers agreed to continue trade talks next month.

“Trade talks are continuing, and during the talks the U.S. will start, on September 1st, putting a small additional Tariff of 10% on the remaining 300 Billion Dollars of goods and products coming from China into our Country, Trump tweeted. “This does not include the 250 Billion Dollars already Tariffed at 25%.”

Trump also accused China of failing to purchase more U.S. agricultural products and halting the sale of opioid fentanyl to the U.S. “China agreed to … buy agricultural product from the U.S. in large quantities, but did not do so,” he said. “Additionally, my friend President Xi said that he would stop the sale of Fentanyl to the United States — this never happened, and many Americans continue to die.”

While the previous rounds of tariffs have primarily targeted industrial products, the new round of tariffs will target consumer products such as cell phones and apparel.

Trump’s latest salvo came one day after the latest round of trade talks between U.S. and Chinese negotiators ended in Shanghai with an agreement to meet again in September in the U.S.

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The chairman of Pakistan’s Senate has survived a no-confidence vote that has opponents alleging political interference.

At the start of the proceedings Thursday in Islamabad, opposition lawmakers seeking Sadiq Sanjrani’s removal from office had 64 votes in their favor. In a secret ballot a short time later, however, only 50 senators voted to oust him — just short of the 53 needed. Five votes were rejected.

100 senators vote

Pakistan’s Senate comprises 103 members. Of that number, 100 voted. The opposition sought the vote to put pressure on the government. All legislation, except the budget, has to be passed by both houses of parliament. The chairman can play a major role in which legislation is put forward. 

Leading English-language newspaper DAWN called the outcome a “shock victory.” Opposition leaders accused the government of “horse-trading,” using a term that means buying votes, or influence-peddling, in Pakistan.

Rejecting the allegations, Senator Faisal Javed of the Pakistan Justice Movement (the ruling PTI), described the outcome as an end to the dynastic politics of the two leading opposition parties — the Pakistan People’s Party, or PPP, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, or PMLN. Both parties are led by relatives of their founding members.  

“Senators … voted according to their conscience … sending a message that senators won’t behave like slaves any longer,” Javed said.  

Senators defy own parties

Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said the senators who voted against their own parties “rejected their leadership’s corruption.”

Shehbaz Sharif, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Pakistan’s lower house of parliament, blamed the outcome on money changing hands.

“Those who sold their souls and weakened democracy today, we have decided we will identify them and expose them,” he said in a joint press conference with multiple opposition parties. 

The chairman of the opposition PPP, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, echoed similar sentiments, criticizing the vote as an “open attack on a symbol of federation—the Senate.  Zardari, the son of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, pledged to identify the 14 senators who, in his words, “put a dagger in their party’s back.” 

The opposition contends the five votes that were rejected were deliberately cast in a faulty manner.  

Meanwhile, Hasil Bizenjo, the opposition candidate for Senate chairman, blamed his loss on Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI.

“This is a game played by ISI. If today we have lost, we have lost because of ISI,” he said.  

No comment from military

Pakistan’s military is often accused of interfering in politics, mostly through the ISI. VOA reached out to the military’s media wing but received no response.

Several members of the ruling PTI rejected the idea that anyone interfered in Thursday’s process. 

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Poland on Thursday scrapped its personal income tax for young employees earning less than $22,000 a year, as part of a drive to reverse a brain drain and demographic decline that’s dimming the prospects of a country that is otherwise experiencing strong economic growth.

A new law by the right-wing government took effect Thursday, slashing the personal income tax from 18 percent to zero for workers under the age of 26 below the income threshold. It is expected to boost the earnings of nearly 2 million Poles at home, and the government hopes it will also persuade young Poles working abroad to return home.  

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said he hoped it would “prevent a further loss, a bleeding of the population that is especially painful for a nation, a society, when it concerns the young generation.”  

But there were strong doubts if the tax relief would stop the drain of talented and educated young Poles to London, Berlin and other cities that offer higher wages and other opportunities.

”I do not think it would stop me and my peers from leaving,” said Paulina Rokicka, a 19-year-old in Warsaw who works part-time at a TV station. “It seems to me that we will want to leave [anyway] because there are better perspectives abroad than in Poland.”

Introduced ahead of fall parliamentary elections, the exemption is part of a larger package of social benefits that has earned the government strong voter support but raised worries about strains on state finances. They include cash bonuses to families with children and a one-off payment to pensioners.

Morawiecki said that some 1.5 million Poles, a number comparable to the population of Warsaw, have emigrated since the nation of 38 million joined the European Union in 2004. Some other estimates have put that number at 2 million but it is hard to pin down exactly due to the large number of those who go back and forth.

While wages still are far lower than in the West, Poland’s economy is growing at around 4.5% and unemployment had dipped below 6%. In order to fill labor shortages companies have turned to hiring migrants, mostly Ukrainians, some 2 million of whom are estimated to be working in Poland.

The government says it is focusing on innovation where young inventive minds are highly valued.      

Morawiecki recently urged a gathering of young people to “stay here, to take your future in your own hands and be enterprising.”

The government estimates the program will cost the budget some 2 billion zlotys ($519 million) a year.  

Pawel Jurek, the Finance Ministry spokesman, told The Associated Press on Thursday that young Poles will now have more money left in their bank accounts to allow them to start families earlier. But he said the most important aim is to keep professionals in the country.

Maciej Biernacki, another young employee in Warsaw, also voiced doubts that the tax relief would sway many people, calling it only “one small” element that would be considered in people’s life decisions. More important, he said, are issues like business predictability and how the country is run.

”I doubt that this kind of exemption would make anyone stay here in the country if he hesitates about whether to leave or stay,” the 25-year-old public relations manager told the AP.

A recent survey by the National Bank of Poland showed that some 15 percent of Polish emigres would be willing to return home, especially from Britain, where the prospect of a hard Brexit threatens economic pain.

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U.S. immigration officials have added a senior Venezuelan government official to their list of the 10 most wanted fugitives.

Tareck El Aissami is Venezuela’s former vice president and is currently its industry minister.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement posted a picture of El Aissami on its Twitter account Wednesday, captioned, “Have you seen this most wanted fugitive? He’s wanted for international narcotics trafficking.”

The photo comes with a warning to civilians against trying to arrest him or anyone else on the most wanted list.

The U.S. accuses El Aissami of overseeing or partially owning “narcotics shipments of more than 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela on multiple occasions, including those with the final destinations of Mexico and the United States.”

He is also accused of avoiding various U.S. sanctions imposed on Venezuela because of the country’s dire political situation.

The United States and about 50 other countries back opposition leader Juan Guaido’s efforts to drive President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Guaido accuses Maduro of stealing last year’s election for another term and helping drive Venezuela to economic ruin through corruption and failed socialist policies.

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A U.S. delegation led by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner held talks Wednesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II about ways to revive the Mideast peace process. 

The Americans are seeking to finalize details of a proposed $50 billion economic development plan for the Palestinians, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran and senior adviser to the U.S. secretary of state, are part of the delegation, which will also visit Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

In Amman, Abdullah reaffirmed his position that the establishment of a Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel is the only way to resolve the long-simmering crisis, a statement from Jordan’s royal court said.

The king also said that any peace plan needed to be implemented in accordance with the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which called on Israel to pull back from all land it occupied in 1967 in exchange for normalized Israeli-Arab relations. 

Jordanian political analyst Osama al-Sharif said that while Jordan’s position is clear, it isn’t yet known what Kushner is offering on the political front. 

“We only know the Jordanian position. We don’t know what Kushner has proposed with the king,” al-Sharif said.  “Jordan’s position as reiterated by the king is very clear. It is the same position as the rest of the world — Russia, China, EU and Arab countries — in their latest Arab summit resolution. They reaffirmed their Arab Peace Initiative as the benchmark, as well as the U.N. resolutions. We know what the Jordanian position is all about.

“We don’t know the political component of what Kushner has to offer. We know bits and pieces from the unilateral decisions that [U.S. President Donald] Trump had taken from two years with regard to Jerusalem, attempts to defund UNRWA [the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East], the right of Palestinians return to Palestine. These unilateral positions have preempted the political component because they are final-status issues that need to be negotiated between the Palestinians and the Israelis. If these issues are no longer on the table … then what is there to be discussed?”

Arab observers have viewed the U.S. economic plan proposed by Kushner with suspicion, possibly signaling trouble for Jordan because it fails to address key issues, such as an independent Palestinian state, Israeli occupation and the Palestinians’ right to return to homes from which they fled or were expelled after Israel’s creation in 1948.

Jordan hosts millions of Palestinians who poured into the country in two waves, after Israel’s creation and following the 1967 Six-Day War, when Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.

The largely desert country  which has few resources and relies heavily on international donors, including $1 billion a year from Washington, is home to 9.5 million people, more than half of them of Palestinian origin.

Abdullah also has repeatedly ruled out a confederation with the Palestinians, or giving up custodianship of Jerusalem holy sites, calling them “red lines.”

Al-Sharif said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi will present Kushner with similar concerns when they meet in Cairo. Abdullah visited el-Sissi recently to make sure both Arab leaders are in agreement. 

“The joint statement after the king met with Sissi in Cairo two days ago: Jordan and Egypt are on the same page with regard to the Palestinian issue,” al-Sarif said. “At least for the time being, Egypt has sent a couple of messages that it does not want to be involved in the Trump peace plan at this stage and reiterates the common Arab position that there has to be a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. Kushner will meet with Sissi and we don’t know what kind of message will come out from the Egyptian side.”

Jordan and Egypt are the only two Arab countries that have signed a peace treaty with Israel. In Amman, recent protests have been staged against what has been dubbed Kushner’s “deal of the century.” 

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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could see his working majority in parliament reduced to one when voters in a rural Welsh parliamentary seat go to the polls Thursday in his first electoral test as leader.

The pro-European Union Liberal Democrats are the bookmakers’ favorites to win the vote in Brecon and Radnorshire, triggered when Conservative lawmaker Chris Davies was ousted by a petition of constituents after being convicted of falsifying expenses.

Brecon is a region where sheep outnumber people many times over and where the prospect of steep EU tariffs being slapped on its Welsh lamb exports in a no-deal Brexit have prompted widespread concern among farmers.

Wafer-thin majority

Johnson’s government already relies on the support of a small Northern Irish party for its wafer-thin majority, with just a handful of rebels in his own Conservatives needed to lose key votes, as his predecessor Theresa May repeatedly found.

May stepped down after her Brexit deal with the EU was rejected three times by parliament.

Johnson has said he plans to renegotiate that deal but that Britain will leave the bloc Oct. 31 with or without an agreement, potentially setting himself up for a fight with parliament, which has pledged to try to block a no-deal exit.

The Liberal Democrats held the seat of Brecon from 1997 until 2015 when it was won by Davies. In the 2017 snap election he held the seat with a majority of just more than 8,000 votes and is running again for the Conservatives Thursday.

Splitting the pro-Brexit vote

Wales, and the Brecon area, voted to leave the EU at the 2016 Brexit referendum but the pro-Brexit vote is likely to be split between the Conservatives and the Brexit Party, which won the United Kingdom’s European Parliament election in May by riding a wave of anger over the failure to deliver Brexit.

In contrast, in a bid to boost the Liberal Democrats’ chances by concentrating the support of ‘Remain’ voters, other pro-EU parties including the Greens and Plaid Cymru are not standing in the election.

Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds has also sought to focus her campaign on local issues.

“I believe we deserve better from our politicians and the Westminster government. I’ll be a strong voice for everyone who feels let down by those in power,” Dodds, who is also the Liberal Democrats’ leader in Wales, said on her website.

The Conservatives, who have seen their national poll ratings jump since Johnson took over in what has been dubbed a Boris bounce, will be hoping for a last-minute boost from their new leader, who visited the area Tuesday.

But the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) in Wales has warned Johnson of the potential consequences for lamb producers of leaving the EU without a deal.

“The prime minister must prioritize the protection of this core market through securing continued, unfettered access,” its president John Davies said. “The EU is our nearest and largest export market and any interruption to this trade will have catastrophic impacts for Welsh farming.”

The result is expected in the early hours of Friday morning.

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U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky is expected to give testimony in a Swedish court Thursday on the second day of his assault trial after he and two of his entourage were accused of punching and kicking a teenager.

The 30-year-old performer, producer and model, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, pleaded not guilty to a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm on the first day of the trial Tuesday. His lawyer told the court he acted in self-defense.

Mayers was detained July 3 in connection with a brawl outside a hamburger restaurant in Stockholm June 30 and later charged with assault.

On Tuesday, prosecutor Daniel Suneson showed video from security cameras and witnesses’ mobile phones and said following an altercation Mayers threw 19-year-old Mustafa Jafari to the ground, after which he and two of his entourage kicked and punched him.

The prosecutor said a bottle was used to hit Jafari, who suffered cuts and bruises.

Jafari told the court he was pushed and grabbed by the neck by Mayers’ bodyguard outside the restaurant and followed the rapper’s group to get back his headphones. He said he was then hit on the head with a bottle and kicked and punched while on the ground.

If convicted, the accused could face up to two years in jail.

The case has drawn huge media attention, forcing the trial to be moved to a secure courtroom.

Celebrities, including Kim Kardashian and Rod Stewart, have leaped to Mayers’ defense and U.S. President Donald Trump asked Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to help free Mayers.

Sweden’s judiciary is independent of the political system, and Lofven has said he will not influence the rapper’s case.

Mayers, best known for his song “Praise the Lord,” was in Stockholm for a concert. He has canceled several shows across Europe because of his detention.

The trial could run into a third day Friday. The verdict is expected at a later date.

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The United States does not plan to make changes to a military drill with South Korea, a senior U.S. defense official said Wednesday, despite a series of North Korean missile launches intended to pressure Seoul and Washington to stop joint exercises.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries are planning to stage a joint exercise in August, known as Dong Maeng, which is believed to be a slimmed down version of an annual drill once known as Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, which included thousands of U.S. troops.

North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Wednesday after two similar missile tests last week, raising the stakes for U.S. and South Korean diplomats hoping to restart talks on North Korean denuclearization.

No plans to change

“No adjustment or change in plans that we’re aware of or are planning,” the U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.

It is unclear how many U.S. troops will be involved this year, but the official noted that the exercise, as in the past, would have a large computer simulated portion.

“The main thing you want to test, exercise, practice is to make decisions in a combined decision making environment because we have an integrated command structure,” the official said.

U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met June 30, but Pyongyang has since accused Washington of breaking a promise by planning the military exercises and warned the drills could derail talks.

North Korean State news agency KCNA repeated calls for the United States and South Korea to end their “hostile” joint drills, but did not mention the missile launches.

South Korea denies promise broken

South Korea has said previously that the joint military exercise would go ahead, denying Pyongyang’s charges that holding it would breach an agreement made between Trump and Kim.

“We have to do two things: We have to give the diplomats appropriate space for their diplomacy and help create an environment that is conducive to the talks when they resume … and we have to maintain readiness,” the U.S. official said.

Newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper will be making his first official visit to Seoul, which the Pentagon said Tuesday was scheduled as part of a tour through Asia in August.

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