‘Nigeria, militants deal still in place’

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Disruptions are not going to prevent the implementation of a deal recently mediated between Nigeria and the Boko Haram militant group, says Chad, which has mediated the accord.

The second-in-command at the Chadian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the agreement to free more than 200 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls was still in place.

Moussa Mahamat Dago said, “We are waiting for the next phase which is the release of the girls.”

On April 14, Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 students from their secondary school in the northeastern town of Chibok. Reports say 57 of the girls managed to escape but 219 remain in captivity.

The abduction case has drawn national and international condemnation. The Nigerian government has been heavily censured for what has been described as a failure to contain the rising violence in the African country.

The accord to release the captives was announced by the Nigerian military last week. However, a ceasefire supposed to be part of the agreement has been broken, and 25 more girls were abducted this week.

Nevertheless, Dago said, “So far, there is no reason for others to doubt this agreement.”

Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a number of deadly shooting attacks and bombings in various parts of Nigeria since the beginning of its operations in 2009. Over 10,000 people have so far been killed in the assaults.

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US rules out troop cuts in South Korea

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US Secretary of State John Kerry has ruled out the idea of reducing the number of American troops deployed in the Korean Peninsula.

Kerry said on Friday that it was premature to discuss reducing US military presence amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula. 

He said US troops stationed in Asia and South Korea will remain in the region until North Korea shows that it is committed to rejoining six-party talks on ending its nuclear program.

“The mere entering into talks is not an invitation to take any actions regarding troops or anything else at this point. It would be way too premature to have any thought, or even discussion” along those lines, Kerry said.

Kerry added that the talks are aimed at reaching an understanding on North Korea’s denuclearization and its follow up rather an invitation on reducing troops or anything else.

On Thursday, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Washington and Seoul have agreed that the US will maintain its control over the South Korean army in the event of war with North Korea.

The US was scheduled to transfer wartime control of South Korean troops to Seoul in 2015.

Hagel said the handoff will be delayed to a later time to ensure South Korean troops have the necessary military capabilities to thwart the North’s threat.

He also reaffirmed that Washington would maintain the previous number and structure of its military forces in South Korea.

The US has kept combat forces on the Korean Peninsula since the Korean War in the early 1950s. Pyongyang says Washington’s continued hegemonic control in the region is provocative.

The US has 28,500 troops in South Korea, which has its own 640,000-strong force. In the event of war with North Korea, current plans call for a US military commander to lead both forces.

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Romans slam Italy’s economic policies

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Workers in Italy have staged a nationwide strike to protest against the government’s economic policies including cuts to public services and labor reforms.

On Friday, the USB union called the 24-hour walkout that so far has disrupted train services and local transport in several cities across the country including the capital, Rome.

The demonstrations are to express discontent with a new labor reform package presented by the administration of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Under the initiative, procedures in Italy’s labor system will be simplified with aims to boost employment.

The new measures will also reduce a variety of job contracts and layoff benefits.

Proponents have applauded the approach, saying companies hiring young workers on a full-time basis will benefit from lighter taxation and will have a better chance to dismiss workers.

Meanwhile, opponents of the reform package say the move undermines the rights of the workers and fails to address the underlying causes of decades of economic stagnation.

Although official statistics indicate that the unemployment rate in Italy hovers over 12 percent, labor market experts insist that the situation is much more alarming.

Italy’s inactivity rate among those aged between 15 and 64 years has recently been recorded at nearly 40 percent.

Over the past decade, Italy has been the slowest growing economy in the eurozone as tough austerity measures, spending cuts, and pension changes have stirred serious concerns for many people already grappling with the European country’s ailing economy.

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Iraq army recaptures town from ISIL

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The Iraqi army says its forces, backed by Shia volunteers, have recaptured the town of Jurf al-Sakhr, southwest of Baghdad, from the ISIL militants.

Located nearly 60 kilometers away from Baghdad, Jurf al-Sakhr sits on a major road linking the capital to oil-rich provinces in the south.

Earlier, over 40 terrorists were killed in fierce clashes with Iraqi soldiers in the Dwailiba district south of Baghdad. The army troops also sized a large cache of ammunition from the militants.

On Thursday, the Iraqi army, which has been fighting the terrorist group for nearly six months now, engaged the Takfiri militants south of the city of Tikrit in Salah al-Din Province, killing at least 20 terrorists.

The Iraqi army has also continued to advance in the eastern Diyala Province, regaining strategic parts of the province used by the militants as launch pads for attacks against the Iraqi forces.

In a separate incident, 134 ISIL militants along with a senior leader of the terrorist group were killed in airstrikes by the anti-ISIL coalition led by the US in the city of Baiji, which is located in Salah al-Din Province.

The US-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes on ISIL positions across Iraq, but the air raids have so far failed to dislodge the terrorists.

The Iraqi troops have pledged to make more gains in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has confirmed that more than 5,000 Izadi Kurds were gunned down in a series of massacres by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists. Some 4,800 women and children are thought to be held captive, and the number is expected to rise to above 7,000.

The ISIL terrorists currently control large swathes of territory across Syria and Iraq. They have committed terrible atrocities in both countries, including mass executions and beheading of local residents as well as foreign nationals.

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Australia skips China launch of WB rival

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Australia, Indonesia, and South Korea have been absent during China’s launch of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) – seen as a rival to the World Bank.

The memorandum of understanding to set up the infrastructure lender was signed during a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital, Beijing, on Friday.

Authorities said the bank aims to meet the need for the construction of dams, ports, power plants and telecommunications networks in Asia.

Media reports said US Secretary of State John Kerry had put pressure on Australia to stay out of the AIIB.

US State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said, “Secretary Kerry has made clear directly to the Chinese as well as to other partners that we ‎welcome the idea of an infrastructure bank for Asia but we strongly urge that it meet international standards of governance and transparency.

“We have concerns about the ambiguous nature of the AIIB proposal as it currently stands, that we have also expressed publicly,” she added.

The Australian Financial Review daily said Kerry had personally asked Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to keep Australia out of the AIIB.

“In China we have a folk saying,” Chinese President Xi Jinping said after the ceremony, “If you would like to get rich, build roads first, and I believe that is a very vivid description of the very importance of infrastructure to economic development.”

China, whose president proposed the bank at a gathering of Asia-Pacific nations last year, seeks to play a greater part in international organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank, which are dominated by Europe, the US, and Japan.

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Saudis rally over death sentences

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Hundreds of people have taken to the streets in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to protest against the death sentences given to a Shia Muslim cleric and two other dissidents.

People launched a rally in the city of Awamiyah on Friday to show their solidarity with the political dissidents who have been handed down the death penalty.

On Tuesday, a Saudi court sentenced two political dissidents to death and five others to long jail terms for attending anti-regime rallies.

Earlier in the month, the prominent Saudi Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, was sentenced to death at the Specialized Criminal Court in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh.

Nimr was attacked and detained in the Saudi city of Qatif in July 2012. His arrest sparked widespread protests in the kingdom and other countries including Bahrain.

Sheikh Nimr is accused of disturbing the country’s security, giving anti-regime speeches, and defending political prisoners.

Amnesty International has called the death sentence for Sheikh Nimr “appalling,” saying the verdict should be quashed since it is politically motivated.

International human rights organizations have repeatedly lashed out at Saudi Arabia for failing to address the human rights situation in the kingdom. They say Saudi Arabia has persistently implemented repressive policies that stifle freedom of expression, association and assembly.

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2 dead, 4 injured in US school shooting

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Two people have been killed and four others have been injured after a student opened fire at a high school north of Seattle in the US state of Washington.

The shooting incident happened in the cafeteria of Marysville Pilchuck High School on Friday morning.

The gunman killed one person and injured four students before turning the gun on himself.

“We are now confirming one person that is deceased and that person is believed to be the shooter and at this point we do not believe there are any other shooters on campus,” Marysville police spokesman Robb Lamoureux said.

In a statement following the incident, the Marysville school district said the school was in lock down due to an emergency situation.

“The Marysville School District lock down procedures will remain in effect at Pilchuck until further notice from law enforcement,” the statement said.

“We will continue to forward communication in cooperation with law enforcement.”

Law enforcement officials told CNN three injured students were in critical condition and one was in serious condition.

The shooting caused students and staff members to run away from the school that has the large campus of more than 2,000 students.

FBI spokesperson in Seattle Ayn Dietrich announced that the agency would investigate the school shooting.

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Israeli troops kill Palestinian boy

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Israeli troops have reportedly killed a Palestinian teenager and injured several others during clashes near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

According to reports, Orwa Hammad, 14, was shot in the head on Friday after clashes erupted between Palestinian protesters and Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Silwad, located northeast of Ramallah.

Reports say several protesters also suffered injuries and a number of others were arrested during skirmishes with Israeli forces in and around the Palestinian city of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

The fresh clashes come as the Israeli regime has recently boosted its military presence around the al-Aqsa Mosque and restricted entrance to the holy compound in al-Quds.

Also on Friday, similar clashes erupted in the neighborhoods of Wadi al-Joz, Ras al-Amud, Silwan and al-Issawiya in al-Quds when angry Palestinian demonstrators protested the death of Abd al-Rahman al-Shaludi, 21, also killed by Israeli police earlier in the week.

Tensions have been high in the occupied city since Wednesday when the Palestinian youth allegedly rammed his car into a train station.

According to Israel the incident was deliberate, but family of the driver, who was later shot dead by Israeli forces, said it was an accident.

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‘Ebola may cause food crisis in Africa’

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The World Food Program (WFP) has warned that the ongoing epidemic of Ebola infection, which is wreaking havoc on West African countries, may also give rise to a food crisis in the region.

“The spread of Ebola is disrupting food trade and markets in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the region,” Elizabeth Byrs, the WFP spokeswoman, said on Friday, referring to the African countries mostly affected by the disease.

The UN body also expressed concern over a surge in commodity prices in the West African country of Liberia if Ebola damages domestic agriculture.

The WFP has so far delivered over 13,000 tons of food to people in the three worse-hit countries.

The report comes as Mali has become the latest country in West Africa to be hit by Ebola after its officials confirmed on Thursday that a two-year-old girl had been diagnosed with the disease.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the deadliest Ebola epidemic on record has infected around 10,000 and claimed almost 4,900 lives so far.

Ebola is a form of hemorrhagic fever whose symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting and bleeding. The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can be also spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.

The media hype over Ebola comes at a time when thousands of people in Africa and other parts of the world die every day from hunger and preventable diseases.

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ISIS, world’s richest terrorist group

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When US officials term ISIS the “world’s richest terrorist organization,” they’re not being hyperbolic. The group really is raking in huge amounts of money through its various sidelines, with Treasury officials saying they believe it amounts to tens of millions of dollars monthly.

ISIS has found myriad sources of revenue, from sales of oil wealth and ransom schemes to the age old practice of taxation, and that’s not even counting the $400+ million they looted from the Iraqi central bank in Mosul.

Like most terrorists, ISIS started out dependent on the largesse of a handful of supporters, and the group continues to run a surprisingly successful campaign soliciting donations through social media. Large donations have been reported out of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait.

But as those nations try to close the spigot on the direct donations, it matters less and less for ISIS, which as a de facto nation state now has natural resources to exploit and millions of civilians to tax to pay for its assorted military adventures. As the US and others have shown in the past, that’s a strategy that can keep wars going for quite some time.

Jason Ditz is news editor at Antiwar.com. His work has appeared in Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times and Detroit Free Press.

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