22-01-2019

INTERNATIONAL TUESDAy,
jANUAry 22, 2019
7
People chant slogans during a demonstration in Khartoum, Sudan.
Photo : AP
Sudan protesters show resilience,
employ Arab Spring tactics
The anti-government protests rocking
Sudan for the past month are reminiscent
of the Arab Spring uprisings of
nearly a decade ago. Demonstrators,
many in their 20s and 30s, are trying to
remove an authoritarian leader and
win freedoms and human rights,
reports UNB.
Activists challenging President Omar
al-Bashir's autocratic rule say they have
learned from their Arab Spring counterparts
and introduced tactics of their
own. That and their persistence appear
to pose a real threat to the 29-year rule
of the general-turned-president.
Sudan did not experience the mass
street protests that swept several Arab
nations in 2011. At the time, Sudan was
preoccupied with the secession of the
mainly animist and Christian south,
which was taking with it most of the
China plans major
cut in number of
Everest climbers
China will cut the number of
climbers attempting to scale
Mount Everest from the
north by one-third this year
as part of plans for a major
cleanup on the world's highest
peak, state media reported
Monday, reports UNB.
The total number of
climbers seeking to summit
the world's highest peak at
8,850 meters (29,035 feet)
from the north will be limited
to less than 300 and the
climbing season restricted to
spring, the reports said.
The cleanup efforts will
include the recovery of the
bodies of climbers who died
at more than 8,000 meters
(26,246 feet) up the mountain,
they said.
Parts of Everest are in China
and Nepal. Each year,
about 60,000 climbers and
guides visit the Chinese north
side of the mountain, which
China refers to by its Tibetan
name, Mount Qomolangma.
China has set up stations to
sort, recycle and break down
garbage from the mountain,
which includes cans, plastic
bags, stove equipment, tents
and oxygen tanks.
On the Nepalese side,
mountaineering expedition
organizers have begun sending
huge trash bags with
climbers during the spring
climbing season to collect
trash that then can be
winched by helicopters back
to the base camp.
China has set up stations to
sort, recycle and break down
garbage from the mountain,
which includes cans, plastic
bags, stove equipment, tents
and oxygen tanks.
Everest claims multiple victims
each year, often in the
"death zone" above 8,000
meters (26,246 feet), where
the air is too thin to sustain
human life.
In 2017, 648 people summited
Everest, including 202
from the north side, according
to the nonprofit
Himalayan Database. Six
people were confirmed to
have died on the mountain
that year, one of them on the
north side.
country's oil wealth.
In 2013, a spike in fuel prices sparked
protests in Sudan that were brutally
squashed, with rights groups saying at
the time that about 200 demonstrators
were killed.
More than five years later, Sudan is
engulfed by unrest once more.
Again, price hikes were a trigger. Protesters
reached by The Associated Press
painted a picture of resolve born out of
despair, mainly from worsening economic
conditions that many Sudanese
blame in large part on mismanagement
and widespread corruption.
"I am tired of prices going up every
minute and standing up in bread lines
for hours only for the bakery's owner to
decide how many loaves I can buy," a
42-year-old woman, Fatima, said during
protests last week on the outskirts
of the capital of Khartoum. Fatima and
others speaking to the AP would not
provide their full names, insisting on
anonymity because they fear reprisals
by the authorities.
Protesters described using medical
masks soaked in vinegar or yeast and
tree leaves to fend off tear gas. They
said they try to fatigue police by staging
nighttime flash protests in residential
alleys unfamiliar to the security forces
"We have used tactics employed by
the Egyptians, Tunisians and Syrians
but we have so far refrained from pelting
security forces with rocks or firebombs,"
said Ashraf, another demonstrator.
They said there was little they can do
about live ammunition except to keep
medics and doctors close by to administer
first aid to casualties.
UN Security Council condemns attack
on peacekeepers in Mali
The Security Council on Sunday condemned
"in the strongest terms" a deadly attack on
the UN peacekeeping force in Mali that killed
10 soldiers from Chad, reports UNB.
The members of the Security Council
expressed their deepest condolences and
sympathy to the families of the victims, as
well as to Chad and to the peacekeeping mission
known by its French acronym as
MINUSMA, said the council in a press statement.
The council members wished a speedy
and full recovery to those injured. They paid
tribute to the peacekeepers who risk their
lives, said the statement. The attack occurred
Sunday morning in Aguelhok in Kidal
region. Apart from the 10 peacekeepers
killed, at least 25 others were injured in the
attack despite a robust response from
MINUSMA.
The council members called on the Malian
government to swiftly investigate this attack
and bring the perpetrators to justice. They
underlined that attacks targeting peacekeepers
may constitute war crimes under
international law. They stressed that
involvement in planning, directing, sponsoring
or conducting attacks against
MINUSMA peacekeepers constitutes a basis
for sanctions designations pursuant to Security
Council resolutions.
6.7-magnitude quake kills 2 in N. Chile
At least two people are dead in the wake of a 6.7-magnitude earthquake that rocked northern
Chile's Coquimbo region late Saturday, the national emergency bureau ONEMI reported on
Sunday.
The two victims, a 74-year-old woman and a 64-year-old man, died after suffering heart
attack. The quake struck at 10:32 p.m. local time (0132 GMT Sunday), with the epicenter
located 13 km east of Tongoy and 428 km north of the nation's capital Santiago, at a depth of
50.1 km, according to the National Seismological Center of the University of Chile, reports
UNB.
At least 30 homes sustained some damage, while another three were affected when a canal
in Coquimbo's capital La Serena overflowed due to the seismic waves.
La Serena Mayor Roberto Jacob said the damage was limited considering the age and material
of many of the constructions.
"The city has persevered quite well given how old it is and seeing that the constructions are
made of adobe. In addition, the evacuation was exemplary," Jacob told reporters.
However, the town cathedral did not escape serious damage and is in danger of seeing
falling debris, he said. Officials said 11,267 area residents remain without power. More than
50 aftershocks have been registered.Located along the so-called "Pacific Ring of Fire," Chile
is highly prone to seismic activity.
At least two people are dead in the wake of a 6.7-magnitude earthquake that
rocked northern Chile's Coquimbo region late Saturday, the national
emergency bureau ONEMI reported on Sunday.
Photo : Xinhua
Taliban target
military base,
police center,
killing 12
A coordinated Taliban
assault on a military base
and police training center in
eastern Afghanistan on
Monday morning killed at
least 12 and wounded over
30 people, provincial officials
said, reports UNB.
Salem Asgherkhail, head
of the area's public health
department, said that most
of those killed in the attack
in Maidan Wardak province
were military personnel.
Some of the wounded were
taken to provincial hospitals
for treatment while the more
serious cases were sent to
the capital, Kabul.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy
spokesman for the interior
minister, said a suicide car
bomber struck the base first,
followed by insurgents who
opened fire at the Afghan
forces. At least two Taliban
fighters were killed by
Afghan troops, he added.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the
Taliban spokesman, claimed
responsibility for the attack
in a statement to the media.
Nasrat Rahimi, deputy
spokesman for the interior
minister, said a suicide car
bomber struck the base first,
followed by insurgents who
opened fire at the Afghan
forces. At least two Taliban
fighters were killed by
Afghan troops, he added.
The attack was the latest in
near-daily assaults by the
Taliban who now hold sway
in almost half of
Afghanistan. The violence
comes despite stepped-up
efforts by the United States
to find a negotiated end to
the country's 17-year war.
Trump calls San Francisco
street “disgusting” to vent his
anger on Democrat leader
U.S. President Donald Trump.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday
said that San Francisco streets are "disgusting"
while he poured his anger at Democrat
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over the stalemate
of ending partial shutdown of the federal
government, reports UNB.
"Nancy Pelosi has behaved so irrationally
& has gone so far to the left that she has now
officially become a Radical Democrat. She is
so petrified of the 'lefties' in her party that she
has lost control... And by the way, clean up
the streets in San Francisco, they are disgusting!"
Trump tweeted Sunday morning.
He blamed Pelosi for refusing to come up
for negotiation with his administration to
end the partial government shutdown, which
is now in its 30th day, the longest in U.S. history.
The Democrats "turned down my offer
yesterday before I even got up to speak," he
said in a flurry of tweets early in the day.
Pelosi, the Democratic House leader, has
been representing California's 12th congressional
district since 2013, which consists of
four-fifths of the city of San Francisco.
"They don't see crime & drugs, they only
see 2020 - which they are not going to win.
Best economy! They should do the right
thing for the Country & allow people to go
back to work," he said.
Trump lashed out at Pelosi for refusing to
accept his offer on Saturday to extend protections
for recipients of the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in exchange
for funding a border wall for which he has
been fighting vehemently against the
Democrats-controlled House.
On Saturday, Trump proposed to Democrats
to offer longer protections for the DACA
recipients in exchange for 5.7 billion U.S.
dollars to provide funds for a wall to be built
along the U.S.-Mexican border to stop illegal
immigrants from Central America.
The proposal was immediately rejected by
Democrats who termed it as an equivalent to
amnesty.
Photo : Xinhua
Shutdown goes on as Trump offer
doesn’t budge Democrats
GD-129/19 (7 x 4)
Thirty-one days into the partial government
shutdown, Democrats and
Republicans appeared no closer to ending
the impasse than when it began,
with President Donald Trump lashing
out at his opponents after they dismissed
a plan he'd billed as a compromise,
reports UNB.
Trump on Sunday branded House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi a "radical" and
said she was acting "irrationally." The
president also tried to fend off criticism
from the right, as conservatives accused
him of embracing "amnesty" for immigrants
in the country illegally.
Trump offered on Saturday to temporarily
extend protections for young
immigrants brought to the country illegally
as children and those fleeing disaster
zones in exchange for $5.7 billion
for his border wall. But Democrats said
the three-year proposal didn't go nearly
far enough.
"No, Amnesty is not a part of my
offer," Trump tweeted Sunday, noting
that he'd offered temporary, three-year
extensions - not permanent relief. But
he added: "Amnesty will be used only
on a much bigger deal, whether on
immigration or something else."
The criticism from both sides underscored
Trump's boxed in-position as he
tries to win at least some Democratic
buy-in without alienating his base.
With hundreds of thousands of federal
workers set to face another federal
pay period without paychecks, the issue
passed to the Senate, where Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell has agreed to
bring Trump's proposal to the floor this
week.
Democrats say there's little chance
the measure will reach the 60-vote
threshold usually required to advance
legislation in the Senate. Republicans
have a 53-47 majority, which means
they need at least some Democrats to
vote in favor.