B4
SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor / Jimbo Gulle , Issue Editor
World
mst.daydesk@gmail.com
AMID SCANDALS, TRUMP STARTS TOUR R
IYADH, Saudi Arabia – US President Donald Trump landed in Saudi Arabia Saturday for the start of an eight-day foreign tour, taking his first steps on the world stage as scandals mount at home.
Trump can expect a warm welcome in Saudi Arabia where he is to meet King Salman and other senior royals – in sharp contrast to Washington where pressure is building over his team’s alleged links to Moscow. Air Force One had barely taken off when it was announced that James Comey, the former FBI chief fired by Trump, had agreed to testify publicly about Russian interference in the US elections. Reports also emerged that
Trump had called Comey “a nut job” and that the FBI had identified a senior White House official as a “significant person of interest” in its probe of Russian meddling. A red carpet was rolled out and staircase rolled up to Air Force One after it landed at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh shortly before 9:50 a.m. (0650 GMT). Trump and his wife Melania, who dressed conservatively in black but did not cover her hair, walked side-by-side to the tarmac
where they both shook hands with Saudi King Salman. Trump is to hold talks with King Salman and the kingdom’s two powerful crown princes later on Saturday, before giving a speech on Islam to leaders of Muslim countries on Sunday. For Riyadh, the visit is an opportunity to rebuild ties with a key ally, which were strained under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama who Sunni Arab Gulf states suspected of a tilt towards their Shiite regional rival Iran. That, together with a more muted focus on human rights and the likely announcement of new arms deals, should please Washington’s traditional Sunni Gulf allies. “He’s going to be tougher on Iran,” said Philip Gordon, senior fel-
low at the Council on Foreign Relations. “He’s not going to lecture them on democracy and human rights.” Sunday’s speech to dozens of Muslim leaders has been touted as a major event – along the lines of a landmark address to the Islamic world given by Obama in Cairo in 2009. The speech will be especially sensitive given tensions sparked by the Trump administration’s attempted travel ban targeting several Muslim majority nations and accusations of anti-Islamic rhetoric on the campaign trail. “I’ll speak with Muslim leaders and challenge them to fight hatred and extremism, and embrace a peaceful future for their faith,” Trump said ahead of his visit. afp
BREXIT: THE THRILLER BRITISH FILMMAKERS NEVER WANTED CANNES, France – For British film producers plying their wares at the Cannes festival, the prospect of Brexit represents something between a tale of suspense and an outright horror movie. There are many worried faces amongst all the razzamatazz at the glitzy festival in the south of France – namely those of British film-makers fretting over what exiting the European Union will mean for their country’s powerful movie industry, and the European producers who often work with them. “We’re heartbroken, really,” said British producer Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, who is currently working with a Parisbased director on a documentary about intelligence agencies. “My time has always been spent travelling to Europe, whether to co-production markets from Gran Canaria or the Berlin film festival, for 20 years. There’s a worry that the laws will change and everything will become harder than it already is. We’re being isolated from our colleagues.” Topping the list of concerns: what the possibility of much tighter immigration controls might mean for the highly-internationalised industry, and the potential loss of access to EU cash that has previously helped fund British hits like Oscar-winner “The King’s Speech” and last year’s Cannes winner “I, Daniel Blake.” Then there is the wider unknown impact of a potential exit from the EU’s single market in the case of a so-called “hard Brexit.” AFP
US TRADE NEGOTIATOR MAKES ASIA DEBUT
SAUDI WELCOME. US President Donald Trump holds a bouquet of flowers upon being welcomed by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud (unseen) during the former’s arrival at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday. AFPHUNGRY. A displaced Syrian boy who fled the Islamic State group stronghold of Raqa eats at a temporary camp in the northern Syrian village of Ain Issa on Friday. AFP
SWEDEN DROPS RAPE PROBE ON ASSANGE LONDON—WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gave a clenched fist salute Friday after Swedish prosecutors dropped a seven-year rape allegation, but he insisted the “proper war” over his future was just beginning. Assange stepped into the daylight on the balcony of Ecuador’s London embassy, where he has been holed up since 2012, to celebrate, but said the road was “far from over.”
The 45-year-old Australian’s accuser was angered by the decision and Assange declined to say whether he would leave the embassy. British police could arrest him immediately for breaching earlier bail conditions if he left the building, while US authorities have warned they regard WikiLeaks as a “hostile intelligence service.” “Today is an important victory,” Assange, in a black shirt and jacket, told reporters and a small band of
supporters crowded around the tiny balcony. “But it by no means erases seven years of detention without charge. In prison, under house arrest and almost five years here in this embassy without sunlight. “That is not something that I can forgive. It is not something that I can forget.” Earlier in Stockholm, Marianne Ny, Sweden’s director of public prosecutions, said the rape investi-
gation had been dropped because there was “no reason to believe that the decision to surrender him to Sweden can be executed in the foreseeable future”. “It is no longer proportionate to maintain the arrest of Julian Assange in his absence,” she said. Assange jumped British bail by entering the embassy and claiming asylum, saying he feared he would eventually be extradited to the United States. AFP
RUSSIA SLAMS US-LED STRIKES ON SYRIAN FORCES MOSCOW—Russia on Friday condemned a strike by the US-led coalition against Syrian pro-regime forces as “illegitimate” and said it could harm efforts to fight Islamic State jihadists. “It is illegitimate, unlawful and yet another gross violation of Syria’s sovereignty,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised comments while on a trip to Cyprus. He added that Moscow was “concerned” that the “emerging understanding” of the need to unite efforts against the Islamic State group and the former Nusra front is “starting to erode.” US-led warplanes on Thursday carried
out a strike in the east of the country against a convoy of pro-government forces which were heading towards a remote coalition garrison near the border with Jordan. In a statement, the coalition said it had struck “pro-regime forces... that posed a threat to US and partner forces.” The coalition said the strike came after unsuccessful “Russian attempts to dissuade Syrian pro-regime movement” as well as “a coalition aircraft show of force, and the firing of warning shots.” Lavrov said he was “unaware” that Russia had been given any warning of the strike, and said preliminary information
suggested there were civilian casualties. “We are still confirming the details but according to some reports several dozen civilians died as a result of this strike,” he was reported as saying by Russian news wires. His comments echoed an earlier statement by a deputy, Gennady Gatilov, who said the coalition’s strikes on Syrian forces were “unacceptable” and could hinder peace talks. The Russian security council, chaired by President Vladimir Putin, discussed the strike later Friday. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian news agencies, said “it was
stressed that such acts are illegitimate and considerably complicate the process of launching de-escalation zones....” Earlier this month, Russia, Iran, and Turkey, agreed to create four “de-escalation zones” across some of Syria’s bloodiest battlegrounds. Russia and Iran have deployed forces to Syria to back up President Bashar alAssad while the US and many of its regional and Western allies have called for the strongman to leave power. The United States infuriated the Kremlin in April by bombing a Syrian air base in response to an alleged chemical attack by Damascus. AFP
HANOI, Vietnam—Donald Trump’s new pointman on trade met Asia-Pacific trade ministers in Hanoi on Saturday as Washington reverses gear on sprawling free trade pacts in favor of one-to-one deals. With his tough rhetoric on winning back American jobs, President Trump’s elevation to the White House has raised serious fears over a new protectionist era. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, a veteran Reaganera trade negotiator with protectionist credentials, is carrying his administration’s “America First” ethos with him to Vietnam for the two-day Asia-Pacific Economic Community (APEC) trade ministers’ meet. Trump favours bilateral trade deals over the ambitious multilateral pacts of Barack Obama’s administration, which included the sprawling 12-nation TransPacific Partnership (TPP). The US pulled out of the TPP in January, after Trump labelled it a “job killer.” That dismayed the other 11 signatories – including Japan, Australia, Singapore and Vietnam – who saw it as a guarantor of regional free trade. Lighthizer met with his Japanese counterpart on Saturday. The US and Japan “agreed to promote mutually beneficial trade, fight trade barriers and trade distorting measures,” according to a statement from Lighthizer and his Japanese counterpart Hiroshige Seko. Japan is spearheading efforts to keep the TPP afloat. The 11 remaining TPP nations are set to meet Sunday morning and are expected to commit to forging ahead with the pact without Washington, while leaving the door open for the US’ return. AFP