T U E S D AY : M A R C H 3 1 , 2 0 1 5
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CESAR bARRioqUinTo EDITOR
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Vow to pound Yemen rebels SANAA—Saudi-led warplanes bombed Yemen’s main international airport and a renegade troop base in the capital Sunday, as Arab leaders vowed to pummel Iranianbacked rebels until they surrender.
Nuclear talks race toward deadline LAUSANNE—Foreign ministers from major powers pressed their Iranian counterpart on Monday as they sought to slot into place the final but also the trickiest pieces of a deal curtailing Teheran’s nuclear program as Tuesday’s deadline loomed. Britain’s Philip Hammond said as he became the last of the foreign ministers to arrive in a rainy Switzerland that they “believe a deal can be done”. “But it has to be a deal which puts the bomb beyond Iran’s reach,” he said. With time of the essence, US Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Hammond and the top diplomats of Russia, China, France and Germany are meeting for the first time since November. They have set a deadline of midnight on Tuesday to agree the outlines of a deal that they hope will put an Iranian nuclear bomb out of reach and end a crisis that has threatened to escalate dangerously for the past 12 years. German Foreign Minister FrankWalter Steinmeier said that after 18 months of negotiations, they were in the “endgame”. Iran’s lead negotiator Abbas Aragchi said they were in the “final phase”. But Aragchi also said the talks were “very difficult” while Steinmeier cautioned that the “final meters are the most difficult”. The framework deal, if it can be hammered out, is meant to be finalized by June 30. But opponents have already been lining up to say it stops short of ensuring Iran gets the bomb. These include US President Barack Obama’s Republican opponents and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Sunday launched a blistering attack on the “dangerous” deal. “I just don’t understand why we would sign an agreement with a group of people who in my opinion have no intention of keeping their word,” US House Speaker John Boehner told CNN. AFP
Duet. Singers Madonna (L) and Taylor Swift perform onstage during the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards which broadcasted live on NBC from The Shrine Auditorium on March 29 in Los Angeles. AFP
The raids on the country’s main airport came just hours after UN workers were evacuated following deadly fighting that has sent tensions soaring between Tehran and other Middle East powers. India and Pakistan also moved to airlift their citizens from the chaos-wracked country. Yemen’s President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has urged his Arab allies to keep bombing until the Huthi Shiite rebels are defeated, branding them Iran’s “puppet”. His Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said there could be “no negotiations and dialogue” with the rebels “until the legitimate government has control over all Yemeni lands”. Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said at a regional summit in Egypt the offensive would last until the rebels “surrender” their weapons and withdraw from areas they seized. The Huthis and allied renegade military units have overrun much of Yemen and prompted Hadi to flee what had been his last remaining refuge in the main southern city Aden for Saudi Arabia. Dozens of people have been killed in days of clashes in Aden, dimming prospects of Hadi returning any time soon. At least 38 people were killed Sunday near the oil region of Usaylan in southern Shabwa province after tribesmen attacked rebel positions, security and tribal sources said. In the capital, witnesses reported three loud explosions and a large fire when Sanaa International Airport was bombed during a fourth night of Saudi-led air raids. “This was the first time they hit the runway” since the campaign began, an aviation source said. A civil aviation official at the airport later told AFP repair work on the runway had begun. More than 200 staff from the UN, embassies and other organizations had been flown out from Sanaa Saturday. A jumbo jet took off from Hodeida in western Yemen Sunday with nearly 500 Pakistanis on board, including Islamabad’s ambassador, officials said. India said it had received permission from the Arab coalition to airlift out its stranded citizens and would also send a ship. AFP
Cook slams ‘dangerous discrimination’
Having a good time. Guests enjoy the 2015 iHeartRadio Music Awards After Party on March 29 in Los Angeles. AFP
WASHINGTON—Apple chief Tim Cook slammed what he called a wave of “dangerous” laws in several US states that he said promote discrimination and erode equality, in an editorial published Sunday. Cook—one of the most prominent chief executives to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality—wrote in the Washington Post that so-called “religious freedom” laws passed in several states threaten to undo progress toward greater equality. “There’s something very dangerous happening in states across the country,” Cook wrote in the editorial. “These bills rationalize injustice by pretending to defend something many of us hold dear. They go against the very principles our nation was founded on.”
Cook’s comments follow the adoption of a controversial law in the state of Indiana last week that critics say would allow businesses to deny service to homosexuals on religious grounds. The law, which takes effect July 1, makes no mention of gays or lesbians. But activists say it makes it legal for businesses whose owners reject homosexuality on religious grounds to turn away LGBT customers. Eighteen other states have adopted similar laws, including Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas, all of which ban same-sex marriage. Cook said such laws erode fundamental rights and make no sense for business owners. “America’s business community recognized a long time ago that dis-
crimination, in all its forms, is bad for business,” he wrote. “On behalf of Apple, I’m standing up to oppose this new wave of legislation—wherever it emerges.” Cook, who was baptized as a child, said he has “great reverence for religious freedom,” but said faith should not be used as a tool to discriminate. “The days of segregation and discrimination marked by ‘Whites Only’ signs on shop doors, water fountains and restrooms must remain deep in our past,” he added. “We must never return to any semblance of that time. America must be a land of opportunity for everyone.” Cook repeated his earlier statement that “Apple is open for everyone” and said he hopes more people will join his campaign against intolerance. AFP