08-03-2018

INTERNATIONAL
THURSDAy, MARCH 8, 2018
7
Sri Lanka's security forces stand near a vandalized building in Digana, a suburb of Kandy, Sri Lanka,
March 6, 2018. Buddhist mobs swept through the town on Monday, burning at least 11 Muslimowned
shops and homes. Sri Lanka's president declared a state of emergency Tuesday amid fears
that anti-Muslim attacks in the central hill town could spread. Pradeep Pathiran AP : Photo
Sri Lanka blocks social media as
anti-Muslim rioting flares
MULLEGAMA : Religious violence
flared anew in the hills of central Sri
Lanka on Wednesday despite a state of
emergency, with Buddhist mobs
sweeping through towns and villages,
burning Muslim homes and businesses
and leaving victims barricaded inside
mosques, reports UNB.
The government ordered popular
social media networks blocked in an
attempt to stop the violence from
spreading, and thousands of police and
soldiers spread out across the worst-hit
areas.
The police also ordered a curfew
across much of the region for a third
straight day, trying to calm the situation.
Hundreds of Muslim residents of
Mullegama, a village in the hills of central
Sri Lanka, barricaded themselves
inside a local mosque after Buddhist
mobs attacked their homes Wednesday
morning accusing them of stealing the
donation box of a nearby temple. At
least 20 Muslim homes appeared badly
damaged and flames engulfed one twostory
home.
The Muslims hiding in the mosque,
speaking on condition of anonymity
because of fear of reprisals, said police
prevented them from saving their property
and did nothing to stop the attackers.
One Sinhala Buddhist man who
was part of the attack died in an explosion
and another man was injured,
according to the men in the mosque. A
local Buddhist man said the Muslims
were using improvised explosives,
which the men in the mosque denied.
The police officials said they could
not immediately identify what caused
the explosion or who was responsible.
Mullegama Piyaratana , a Buddhist
monk at the temple, said the attacks on
Saudi women
take the wheel,
test-driving a
new freedom
JIDDAH : Fatima Salem giggles
with hesitation when it's
her turn to drive through a
small parking lot lined with
bright orange cones and
arrows. Like millions of Saudi
women, she plans on
applying for a driver's
license when the kingdom
lifts its ban on women driving
in June. But first, she has
to learn how to drive, reports
UNB. "I'm a little nervous,"
the 30-year-old master's
student said.
Francesca Pardini, an Italian
former racecar driver,
helps calm her nerves,
reminding Salem to check
the mirrors and buckle up.
Once on the road, Pardini
reached over to help
straighten out the wheel
after a left turn, and they
both lurched forward when
Salem stepped on the brakes
before a stop sign.
The right to drive, which
people in other countries
gain as teenagers after a similar
ordeal - derisively
referred to as driver's ed -
has been denied to Saudi
women. Dozens who dared
to protest and defy the ban
over the years were jailed,
prosecuted and stigmatized.
A stunning royal decree
issued last year by King
Salman announcing that
women would be allowed to
drive in 2018 upended one
of the most visible forms of
discrimination.
the Muslim homes took place after
some people pelted the temple with
rocks late Tuesday. He would not identify
who attacked the temple.
In the nearby small town of Katugastota,
Ikram Mohamed, a Muslim, stood
outside the wreckage of the textile shop
where he worked, after Sinhalese Buddhist
mobs set it on fire. He and the
owner had closed the shop Wednesday
morning when police announced the
curfew. They returned to find it
destroyed, and clothing and dressmaker
dummies smoking in the ruins.
"There are many good Sinhalese people,"
he said. "This is being done by a
few jealous people."Muslims own many
of the small businesses in Sri Lanka, a
fact that many believe has helped make
them targets as Buddhist-Muslim relations
have worsened in recent years
amid the rise of hard-line Buddhist
groups, which accuse Muslims of forcing
people to convert and destroying
sacred Buddhist sites.
Area residents said mobs swept
through at least two towns in the central
hills Wednesday, attacking two
mosques and a string of Muslim-owned
shops and buildings. An internet company
official, meanwhile, said the government
had ordered popular social
media networks blocked in areas near
the violence, and slowed dramatically
across the rest of the country.
The official, speaking on condition of
anonymity under company policy, said
the order was for Facebook, Instagram,
Viber and WhatsApp. Some of those
networks appeared to be blocked in
Colombo, the capital, while others
worked sporadically and very slowly.
President Maithripala Sirisena
declared the state of emergency on
Tuesday, though a day later details of
the decree remained unclear. While the
hills were flooded with soldiers and
policemen ordering people off the
street, little, if anything, appeared to
have changed elsewhere in the country.
While government officials have not
directly accused Buddhist extremists of
being behind the violence, many comments
appeared aimed at them.
The government will "act sternly
against groups that are inciting religious
hatred," Cabinet minister Rauff
Hakeem said Tuesday after a meeting
with the president.
The emergency announcement came
after Buddhist mobs swept through
towns outside Kandy, burning at least
11 Muslim-owned shops and homes.
The attacks followed reports that a
Buddhist man had been killed by a
group of Muslims. Police fired tear gas
into the crowds, and later announced a
curfew in the town.
The U.N. office in Colombo condemned
the violence. "The United
Nations urges authorities to take
immediate action against perpetrators
and to ensure that appropriate measures
are swiftly taken to restore normalcy
in affected areas," it said in a
statement Wednesday.
Sri Lanka has long been divided
between the majority Sinhalese, who
are overwhelmingly Buddhist, and
minority Tamils who are Hindu, Muslim
and Christian. The country remains
deeply scarred by its 1983-2009 civil
war, when Tamil rebels fought to create
an independent homeland.
While the rebels were eventually
crushed, the Buddhist-Muslim religious
divide has taken hold in recent
years.
Afghan official
among 3 killed in
suicide bombing
KABUL : An Afghan official says a suicide
bomber has killed three people
including the local head of the Ministry
of Haj and Religious Affairs, in eastern
Nangarhar province, reports UNB.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for
the provincial governor, says another 16
people were wounded in the attack
Wednesday afternoon in Jalalabad, the
provincial capital.
The attacker was on foot and apparently
targeted Abdul Zahir Haqqani, the
local religious affairs official, Khogyani
said.
Khogyani says: "The attacker who was
on foot and probably waiting for his target,
when Haqqani's vehicle arrived,
suddenly the attacker detonated his suicide
vest in front of his vehicle."
No one immediately claimed responsibility
for the attack, but the Taliban and
a rival Islamic State affiliate are active in
Nangarhar, where they regularly attack
local officials and security forces.
Afghan policemen inspect the site of a suicide car bombing in Kabul,
Afghanistan, on Aug. 10, 2015. In another car bomb attack Saturday Aug. 22,
2015, at least 12 people were killed, Afghan officials said. Photo : AP
Papua New
Guinea quake
death toll at 55 as
aftershock hits
WELLINGTON : A powerful
earthquake that struck
Papua New Guinea last week
has left at least 55 people
dead and authorities fear the
toll could exceed 100, as survivors
faced more shaking
early Wednesday from the
strongest aftershock so far,
reports UNB.
Southern Highlands Governor
William Powi said
people were feeling traumatized
from the disaster and
ongoing aftershocks. The
latest large temblor was a
magnitude 6.7 quake that
struck just after midnight
Tuesday.
It was the strongest shake
since the Feb. 26 deadly
magnitude 7.5 quake that
destroyed homes, triggered
landslides and halted work
at four oil and gas fields.
The central region where
last week's quake struck is
remote and undeveloped,
and assessments about the
scale of the damage and
injuries have been slow to
filter out. Powi said he didn't
know if the latest aftershock
had caused more injuries or
damage, but he said it had
added to the distress people
were feeling.
"It is beyond the capacity
of the provincial government
to cope with the magnitude
of destruction and
devastation," he said. "Our
people are traumatized and
finding it difficult to cope."
Powi said provincial
authorities were trying to
prioritize the greatest needs
by getting people with severe
injuries to medical centers
and providing water and
medicine. He said help from
abroad and from local aid
agencies was slowly coming
in.
"It's a mammoth task.
Most of the feeder roads are
washed away or covered
with landslips," he said.
"People's livelihoods are
devastated, their personal
property is gone."
Powi said 39 people died
in his province after families
were crushed by their collapsing
homes or buried by
landslides during last week's
earthquake. He said death
reports were still coming in
from remote places, and he
feared the death toll would
rise to over 100.
A spokeswoman at the
National Disaster Centre
said the official death toll is
currently estimated at
between 55 and 75, although
they don't yet have firm
numbers. The U.S. Geological
Survey said Wednesday's
quake was centered 112 kilometers
(70 miles) southwest
of Porgera at a shallow depth
of 10 kilometers (6 miles).
Ten aftershocks in the hours
since ranged between magnitude
4.7 and 5.2.
Anti-Muslim riots
flare anew in Sri
Lanka despite
emergency
COLOMBO : Residents say
anti-Muslim rioting has
flared anew in central Sri
Lanka despite a state of
emergency, with Buddhist
mobs burning mosques and
Muslim-owned shops in at
least two towns. The police
ordered a curfew across
much of the region Wednesday
for a third day, trying to
calm the situation, reports
UNB.
An area resident who
requested anonymity, fearing
reprisal attacks, said two
mosques and some Muslimowned
shops were attacked
Wednesday in two towns in
the central hills. The extent
of the damage could not be
verified.
Anti-Muslim riots began
Monday after a Buddhist
Sinhalese man died after
reportedly being attacked by
a group of Muslim youths.
Sri Lanka has long been
divided between the
majority Sinhalese, who
are overwhelmingly Buddhist,
and minority Tamils
who are Hindu, Muslim
and Christian.
EU ready to retaliate against
Trump’s proposed trade tariffs
BRUSSELS : The European Union says it is
ready to retaliate against the U.S. over President
Donald Trump's proposed tariffs on
steel and aluminum, with counter-measures
against iconic U.S. products like Harley
Davidson motorcycles, Levi's jeans and
bourbon, reports UNB.
Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem
said Wednesday that the EU, the world's
biggest trading bloc, rejects Trump's reasoning
that the tariffs are backed by the international
legal right to protect national security.
Should tariffs be introduced, the EU and
other partners would take the case to the
World Trade Organization, she said. The EU
is circulating among member states a list of
U.S. goods to target so that it can respond as
quickly as possible.
"We cannot see how the European Union,
friends and allies in NATO, can be a threat to
international security in the U.S.," Malmstroem
told reporters. "From what we understand,
the motivation of the U.S. is an economic
safeguard measure in disguise, not a
national security measure."
Trump has long railed against what he
deems unfair trade practices by China and
others, and last week declared that his government
would levy penalties of 25 percent
on imported steel and 10 percent on aluminum
imports. The tariffs, he said, would
remain for "a long period of time," but it was
not clear if certain trading partners would be
exempt.
Malmstroem said Trump's motives do not
appear compatible with WTO rules and that
this means the EU can activate safeguards to
protect its own markets.
She confirmed that the EU's countermeasures
would include tariffs on U.S. steel
and agricultural products, as well as other
products like bourbon, peanut butter, cranberries
and orange juice.
"This is basically a stupid process, the fact
that we have to do this. But we have to do it,"
EU Commission President Jean-Claude
Juncker had said last week. "We will now
impose tariffs on motorcycles, Harley Davidson,
on blue jeans, Levi's, on bourbon. We
can also do stupid."
The list of U.S. goods to target is being circulated
among EU member states for
approval.
The EU exported about 5.5 million ton of
steel to the U.S. last year. The Commission
also has plans in case steel from other producers
is dumped on European markets.
EU Council President Donald Tusk, who
chairs summits of presidents and prime
ministers, said the bloc's leaders will discuss
the issue at their next meeting on March 22-
23.
He rejected Trump's assertion in a tweet
that trade wars are good and easy to win.
"The truth is quite the opposite: trade wars
are bad and easy to lose," said Tusk. He
urged politicians on both sides of the Atlantic
"to act responsibly."
In Berlin, Germany's economy minister
warned that "the situation is serious."
Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries, whose
country is Europe's economic powerhouse,
said the EU will "be ready to react appropriately.
However, it is our goal to avoid a trade
war."
Zypries said in a statement she hopes
Trump will change his mind.
"Trade creates wealth, when it is based on
exchange and cooperation," she said. Referring
indirectly to the surprise resignation of
Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn
Tuesday, she added that "advocates for this
in the U.S. administration are very important.
Therefore the current signals from the
U.S. make me worried."
Malmstroem underlined that the real
problem is oversupply of steel and aluminum
in the global market, and she urged
Washington to work with the Europeans to
address the root causes.
She recalled that similar U.S. action on
steel in 2002 by then president George W.
Bush "cost thousands and thousands of U.S.
jobs" and said she hoped that Washington
has not forgotten this. At that time, the EU
compiled a list of items for retaliatory tariffs
that included steel products, but also orange
juice, apples, sunglasses, knitwear, motor
boats and photocopying machines. It represented
$2.2 billion in U.S. exports to the EU.
Bush withdrew the steel tariffs and the list
was never acted upon.
European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstroem speaks during a media
conference at EU headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. The
European Union will set out its strategy Wednesday on how to counter potential
U.S. punitive tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Photo : AP
Korean president says
talks won’t ease pressure
on North
SEOUL : South Korean President Moon
Jae-in on Wednesday downplayed concerns
that the resumption of inter-Korean
dialogue will be accompanied by an easing
of international sanctions and pressure
on North Korea over its nuclear program,
reports UNB.
Moon made the comments in a meeting
with political party leaders a day after
South Korea announced an agreement
with the North to hold a rare summit in
April. Senior South Korean officials who
met with North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un in Pyongyang on Monday also said the
North expressed a willingness to hold
talks with the United States on denuclearization
and normalizing ties.
Conservative opposition leaders
expressed concern during Wednesday's
meeting at Seoul's presidential palace
that North Korea could use the talks as a
way to reduce the pressure, and also questioned
whether the North in genuinely
interested in abandoning its nuclear
weapons. "The sanctions and pressure on
North Korea aren't maintained by South
Korea alone - these are actions based on
U.N. Security Council resolutions, and
then there are strong unilateral sanctions
imposed by the United States," Moon
said, added that the pressure on the
North could only be reduced by "substantive
progress" on denuclearization.
"These international efforts (to pressure
the North) cannot be loosened by inter-
Korean dialogue. We don't aim for that to
happen and it's also impossible."
Moon's presidential national security
director, Chung Eui-yong, who led the
South Korean delegation that met with
Kim, is to leave for the United States on
Thursday to brief U.S. officials on the outcome
of his trip to the North. Chung told
reporters on Tuesday that he received a
message from North Korea intended for
the United States, but didn't disclose what
it was.
Japan has responded cautiously to the
South Korean announcement of summit
talks, saying Tokyo's policy of keeping
maximum pressure on North Korea is
unchanged.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga
said Wednesday that dialogue for dialogue's
sake is meaningless and that the
allies "should fully take into consideration
lessons from our past dialogues with the
North, none of which achieved denuclearization."
He said Japan is on the
same page as the United States, citing
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as saying
Washington's pressure campaign is
unchanged, with all options still on the
table.
China, which is North Korea's only
major ally, cheered the exchanges
between the Koreas and called for a
return to six-nation talks on denuclearization
that it previously hosted.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng
Shuang told reporters Wednesday that
China was "pleased to see the positive
outcomes from those exchanges and
interactions between the two sides. ... We
hope the North and South will earnestly
implement their consensuses and proceed
with the process of reconciliation
and cooperation."