French Army Chief Tells Soldiers To Quit Over Civil-War Letter

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May 12, 2021

Israel has declared a state of emergency in the central city of Lod after rioting by Israeli Arabs, as conflict between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants intensified.

Protests by Israeli Arabs broke out in Lod, a city near Tel Aviv, and escalated to full-scale rioting, with protesters throwing rocks at police, who responded with stun grenades.

On Tuesday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a state of emergency in Lod. Israeli border police have been brought in from the West Bank.

Cars were set alight and a father and daughter -both Israeli Arabs – died when a rocket hit their car and at least 40 people have died in some of the worst violence in years.

Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets deep into Israel, while Israel carried out heavy air strikes on Gaza. Israel’s military says it is targeting militants in Gaza in response to rocket attacks on Jerusalem and other areas.

The Israeli army said that over 1,000 rockets have been fired towards central and southern Israel by Palestinian militants since Monday evening, when hostilities suddenly escalated.

Residents have been warned to evacuate the 12-storey al-Jawhara Tower. However health officials say there were still civilians deaths.

The fighting came after weeks of rising tensions that were stoked by violent confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters at a site in Jerusalem that is holy to both Muslims and Jews.

The international community has urged both sides to end the escalation. The UN’s Middle East peace envoy, Tor Wennesland, also warned that both sides might be escalating towards a full-scale war.

Thousands Suspended At Myanmar Universities For Protests

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May 12, 2021

Over 11,000 academics and other university staff opposed to Myanmar’s ruling junta have been suspended after going on strike in protest against military rule.

An official of the Myanmar Teachers` Federation who declined being identified for fear of reprisals said as of Monday, over 11,100 academic and other staff had been suspended from colleges and universities offering degrees.

The suspensions come on the heels of resumption of universities after a one-year closure due to Covid-19. It prompts a new confrontation between the army and the staff and students, who are calling for boycotts over the February 1 coup.

A professor on a fellowship in the United States said she was told she would have to declare opposition to the strikes or lose her job. Her university authorities had told her every scholar would be tracked down and forced to choose.

Students and teachers were at the forefront of opposition during nearly half a century of military rule and have been prominent in the protests since the army detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and halted a decade of tentative democratic reforms.

Many teachers, like medics and other government workers, have stopped work as part of a civil disobedience movement that has paralysed Myanmar. As protests flared after the coup, security forces occupied campuses in the biggest city, Yangon, and elsewhere.

A spokesman for the junta did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on the suspensions. But the junta-controlled Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said teachers and students should cooperate to get the education system started again.

Japan Launches First Joint Military Drill With US, France

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May 12, 2021

Japanese, US and French troops have kicked off their first-ever joint military drill in southwestern Japan, following concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

The drills, which include fighter jet and amphibious operation exercises, will be held in the Kyushu region and at sea with virus countermeasures.

A Japanese submarine and 10 surface ships; six Japanese, two French, one American and one Australian, will be used, according to a French naval official.

It comes as Tokyo looks to deepen defence ties beyond its key US ally and with eyes on Beijing’s moves in the East and South China seas.

Head of the Institute of World Studies at Takushoku University, Takashi Kawakami told Newsmen that the drill is no doubt a deterrent to China’s increasingly aggressive behaviour in the region.

He said in the long term, European commitment in the Indo-Pacific could lead to closer ties between Japan and NATO, something former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated.

China claims the majority of the South China Sea, invoking its so-called nine-dash line to justify what it says are historic rights to the key trade waterway.

Japan has long said it feels threatened by China’s vast military resources and territorial disputes.

It is particularly concerned by Chinese activity around the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyus.

France has strategic interests in the Indo-Pacific including territories like Reunion in the Indian Ocean and French Polynesia in the South Pacific.

Japan has rarely held joint military drills with European counterparts, but both a British aircraft carrier and German frigate are expected to be sent to the Indo-Pacific region later this year.

Iran Candidates Register For Presidential Election

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May 12, 2021

Iran has opened registration for candidates hoping to succeed President Hassan Rouhani, who will step down following the June 18 elections after serving the maximum two consecutive terms allowed.

The five-day registration period at the interior ministry ends on Saturday, with the names of candidates then handed to the conservative-dominated Guardian Council for vetting.

According to the interior ministry, over 20 public figures have officially announced their intention to run, with the final list of those qualified due on May 26-27.

Former Revolutionary Guards Corps’ official Saeed Mohammad, a general and an advisor to Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami, was one of the first to submit his name Tuesday.

Another was Mohammad Hassan Nami, an army general who was briefly telecoms minister under former ultra-conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

According to the Hamshahri daily newspaper, Nami is a former military attache to North Korea, and also holds a doctorate in “public management” from Pyongyang’s Kim Il-sung University.

Several top political figures are seen as possible presidential hopefuls, but are yet to declare whether they will run. They include former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

This year’s election is also expected to feature a string of military figures, stirring unease over a possible militarisation of the Islamic republic’s politics.

First Hearings In Gibril Massaquoi Trial Held In Sierra Leone

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May 12, 2021

The trial of former rebel leader Gibril Massaquoi for war crimes committed in Liberia has entered a new phase with the first witness hearings in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.

Gibril Massaquoi, aged 51, is on trial for a litany of murders, rapes and torture perpetrated in Liberia by himself or rebels of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) between 1999 and 2003.

He was a senior member of the RUF, a Sierra Leonean armed group led by Corporal Foday Sankoh, who was close to former Liberian warlord and later president, Charles Taylor.

His trial began in early February in Finland, where he has lived since 2008 and where he was arrested in March 2020 after NGOs mobilized, under legislation giving the national justice system the power to try serious crimes committed abroad.

The court then moved to Liberia, a first in a country where no court has so far tried crimes committed during the civil wars of 1989-1996 and 1999-2003, which were marked by numerous atrocities and left 250,000 dead.

According to a spokeswoman for the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation, the hearings, which were due to resume at the end of April in Sierra Leone, have been postponed several times because two judges had contracted typhoid fever.

They opened Tuesday morning at an undisclosed location in Freetown and are expected to continue until May 19. The verdict is expected in September at the earliest.

NASA’s Giant Webb Telescope Succeeds In Key Pre-launch Test

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May 11, 2021

The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope unfolded its giant golden mirror for the last time on Earth on Tuesday, a key milestone before the $10 billion observatory is launched later this year.

The James Webb Space Telescope’s 21 feet 4 inch (6.5 meter) mirror was commanded to fully expand and lock itself into place, NASA said — a final test to ensure it will survive its million-mile (1.6 million kilometer) journey and is ready to discover the origins of the Universe.

“It’s like building a Swiss watch at 40-feet-tall… and getting it ready for this journey that we take into the vacuum at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit (-240 Celsius), four times further than the Moon,” said Scott Willoughby of lead contractor Northrop Grumman.

He was speaking at the company’s spaceport in Redondo Beach, California, from where the telescope will be shipped to French Guiana to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket, with NASA targeting October 31 for liftoff.

Webb’s primary mirror is made of 18 hexagonal segments coated with an ultra-thin layer of gold to improve its reflection of infrared light.

It will fly to space folded like a piece of origami artwork, which allows it to fit inside a 16-foot (5-meter) rocket fairing, and will then use 132 individual actuators and motors to bend each mirror into a specific position.

Together, the mirrors will function as one massive reflector, to enable the telescope to peer deeper into the cosmos than ever before.

Nigerian Army Repels Jihadist Attack On Northeast City

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May 11, 2021

The Nigerian troops has repelled an incursion by Boko Haram jihadists into the northeastern city of Maiduguri late on Tuesday, killing five insurgents.

The attack, was the latest violence in a more than decade-long insurgency in the region.

Around 1700 GMT, militants in several trucks fitted with machine guns and on motorcycles stormed Jiddari Polo, an area on the outskirts of the capital of Borno state, firing indiscriminately.

Troops from a nearby base engaged them in a fierce gun battle, forcing residents to flee the area.

“The terrorists came through Jiddari Polo, firing shots and engaged troops from Giwa barracks in a fight which led to the killing of five terrorists,” a military officer said, asking to remain anonymous.

“With aerial support, they were subdued and forced to retreat” and a gun truck was seized from the jihadists, he added.

“We have all left our homes due to the fighting between the insurgents and soldiers,” said Jiddari Polo resident Aisa Galadima.

Footage shared on social media showed crowds, mostly women and children, fleeing the area.

The jihadists had earlier dislodged troops from two military posts in nearby Molai and Cashew Plantation villages before reaching Jiddari Polo, a second military source said.

There was no report of casualties from the two military posts.

Boko Haram and rival group the Islamic State in West Africa Province, ISWAP, have repeatedly made incursions into Maiduguri, using heavy guns, rocket-propelled grenades and suicide bombers.

The attacks, aimed at overrunning the city, are usually foiled after fierce gun battles with troops.

In May 2019, dozens of insurgents attempted to infiltrate the city under the cover of darkness, leading to a night-long battle with heavy guns and explosives.

The conflict in the region has killed at least 36,000 people and displaced more than two million from their homes, according to the UN.

Dow Tumbles As US Stocks retreat Again

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May 11, 2021

Wall Street stocks sagged for a second straight day Tuesday, although tech shares finished well above their session lows following bargain-hunting.

Analysts said lingering concerns about excessive equity valuations and prospects for resurging inflation put downward pressure on share prices. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury rose back above 1.6 percent, a move typically reflecting concerns about rising prices.

Industrial companies that have been strong this year, including Caterpillar, Chevron and 3M, all dropped more than one percent.

But the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index, which has underperformed the other two major indices in 2021, benefited from investors “buying the dip in growth stocks,” according to Briefing.com.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.4 percent to end the day at 34,269.16, its worst session since late February.

The broad-based S&P 500 shed 0.9 percent to close at 4,152.10, while the Nasdaq slipped 0.1 percent to 13,389.43.

Among individual companies, Tesla dropped 1.9 percent as analysts pointed to news of lower auto sales in China in April and a report from Reuters suggesting the electric car company was halting its planned expansion in the country.

Meanwhile, L Brands fell 1.8 percent after it announced it would split Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret into separate companies.

“The spin-off will enable each company to maximize management focus and financial flexibility to thrive in an evolving retail environment and deliver profitable growth,” the company said.

30 Russian Couples Wed In Moving Cable Car Cabins

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May 11, 2021