US weighs options in 'reassessing' support for Israel

A day after the White House warned that it might have to “reassess” its approach to relations with Israel, the Obama administration is quietly weighing diplomatic options vis-à-vis its closest ally in the Middle East.

In a last-minute appeal to conservative voters ahead of Israeli elections on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to backtrack on his support for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. Asked by Israel’s NRG website on Monday whether it was safe to assume that a Palestinian state would never be established while he was prime minister, Netanyahu responded: “Indeed.”

Netanyahu’s statements sparked an immediate response from the White House. Press secretary Josh Earnest dismissed the comments as “cynical, divisive, election-day tactics”.

Nearly a million Brazilians march to demand president’s ouster

Close to a million demonstrators marched in cities and towns across Brazil Sunday to protest a sluggish economy, rising prices and corruption - and to call for the impeachment of leftist President Dilma Rousseff.

The marches across the continent-sized country come as Brazil struggles to overcome economic and political malaise and pick up the pieces of a boom that crumbled once Rousseff took office in 2012.

Now in the third month of her second four-year term, Rousseff is unlikely to resign or face the impeachment proceedings called for by many opponents angry about a fifth year of economic stagnation and a multibillion dollar corruption scandal at state-run energy company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras.

For a president that was narrowly re-elected just five months ago, the protests are a sign of a polarized country increasingly unhappy with its leadership. Rousseff has recently been jeered at public appearances and Brazilians in some cities banged pots during a televised speech she made earlier this month.

Brazil’s scandal-hit Rousseff unveils anti-corruption plan

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff announced a package of anti-corruption bills Wednesday as she sought to battle back from a devastating scandal at state oil giant Petrobras that has ensnared her party.

"We are a government that does not tolerate corruption and we have the duty and obligation to fight impunity and corruption," she said in the wake of massive protests against her administration.

The package includes bills to criminalize under-the-table campaign contributions, seize property from government officials who cannot document its origin and bar anyone without a clean criminal record from serving in public office.

Bodies of French sports stars recovered from Argentina crash site

Investigators on Tuesday recovered all 10 bodies from a remote site in Argentina where helicopters serving a reality TV show apparently collided, killing prominent French athletes and leaving their country in mourning.

The helicopters crashed Monday afternoon near Villa Castelli, about 1,170 kilometres northwest of Buenos Aires, said La Rioja regional Secretary of Security Cesar Angulo.

Everyone aboard – eight French nationals and two Argentine pilots – was killed.

Among the dead were Olympic champion swimmer Camille Muffat, Olympic boxer and bronze-medallist Alexis Vastine, and pioneering sailor Florence Arthaud. They had been among the contestants in the French version of the reality TV show “Dropped”.

US declares Venezuela a threat, sanctions top officials

The United States on Monday declared Venezuela a national security threat and ordered sanctions against seven officials in the worst diplomatic dispute with the oil-rich country since socialist President Nicolas Maduro took office in 2013.

President Barack Obama issued and signed the executive order, which senior administration officials said did not target the energy sector or Venezuela’sbroader economy. The move raises tensions between Washington and the OPEC member just as US relations with Cuba, another longtime US foe in Latin America, are set to be normalized.

Declaring a country a national security threat is the first step in starting a sanctions regime. The same process has been followed with countries such as Iran and Syria, US officials said.

White House said the executive order targeted people whose actions undermined democratic processes or institutions, had committed acts of violence or abuse of human rights, were involved in prohibiting or penalizing freedom of expression, or were government officials involved in public corruption.

“Venezuelan officials past and present who violate the human rights of Venezuelan citizens and engage in acts of public corruption will not be welcome here, and we now have the tools to block their assets and their use of US financial systems,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

“We are deeply concerned by the Venezuelan government’s efforts to escalate intimidation of its political opponents. Venezuela’s problems cannot be solved by criminalizing dissent,” he added.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez told reporters that Caracas would respond to the US move soon.

The seven individuals named in the order, which included top domestic security and intelligence officials, would have their property and interests in the United States blocked or frozen and would be denied entry into the United States. US persons would also be prohibited from doing business with them.

Blame Game

The White House also called on Venezuela to release all political prisoners, including “dozens of students,” and warned against blaming Washington for its problems.

“We’ve seen many times that the Venezuelan government tries to distract from its own actions by blaming the United States or other members of the international community for events inside Venezuela,” Earnest said in the statement.

“These efforts reflect a lack of seriousness on the part of the Venezuelan government to deal with the grave situation it faces.”

US officials told reporters in a conference call that the executive order did not target the Venezuelan people or economy and stressed that upcoming legislative elections should be held without intimidation of the government’s opponents.

The sanctions effectively confirm Venezuela as the United States’ primary adversary in Latin America, a label that was for decades applied to Communist-run Cuba until Washington and Havana announced a diplomatic breakthrough in December.

Washington said last week it would respond through diplomatic channels to Venezuela’s demand for a cut in the US Embassy’s staff in Caracas after the government called for a plan within 15 days to reduce staff to 17 from 100 at the American facility.

Commercial ties between Venezuela and the United States have, however, been largely unaffected by diplomatic flare-ups, which were common during the 14-year-rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez.

The United States is Venezuela’s top trading partner, and Venezuela in 2014 remained the fourth-largest supplier of crude to the United States at an average of 733,000 barrels per day - despite a decade-long effort by Caracas to diversify its oil shipments to China and India.

Opposition leader and twice-presidential candidate Henrique Capriles told Reuters the sanctions were a problem for a corrupt elite in the Maduro government, but not ordinary Venezuelans.

“It’s not a problem with Venezuela or with Venezuelans; it’s a problem for the corrupt ones. It doesn’t affect we Venezuelans.”

(REUTERS)

French stars of sailing, swimming and boxing felled in Argentine helicopter crash

Sailor Florence Arthaud, swimmer Camille Muffat and boxer Alexis Vastine, who died along with seven other people in Monday's helicopter crash in Argentina, were three of France's finest athletes.

Florence Arthaud, ‘the fiancée of the Atlantic’

Florence Arthaud, 57, was an accomplished sailor and one of the first women to carve out a place for herself in a sport long dominated by men. “I’ve lived my life in the fast lane,” she told AFP last year, shortly before the start of the Route du Rhum, the North Atlantic crossing she famously won in 1990. The victory in the prestigious solitary race earned her the nickname “the fiancée of the Atlantic”.

Potentially Murderous Canadian Misfits Caught

A group of "murderous misfits" planned to massacre as many people as possible in a Valentine's Day shooting spree that police foiled after an anonymous tipoff, Canada's justice minister said on Saturday.

Police arrested three people, including an American woman, before the attack in the eastern city of Halifax could take place. A fourth man linked to the plot was found dead in a house in Halifax, police said.

"Based on what we know so far, it would have been devastating, mass casualties would have been a real possibility," Justice Minister Peter MacKay told reporters.

"The attack does not appear to have been culturally motivated, therefore not linked to terrorism."

MacKay said a 19-year-old Canadian man and a 23-year-old American woman, believed to have been in contact online, allegedly planned to open fire at an unidentified public venue.

"This appeared to be a group of murderous misfits that were coming here, or living here, and were planning to wreak havoc and mayhem on our community," MacKay said.

"To be clear, all suspects are either dead or in custody." Extra security measures have been taken at the public venue, he said.

Police said on Friday they obtained information that suggested the two had access to firearms and intended to kill people, and then themselves.

Nova Scotia RCMP Commanding Officer Brian Brennan told CBC News on Friday that the alleged attackers were "a group of individuals that had some beliefs and were willing to carry out violent acts against citizens".

Evidence suggested two other Nova Scotia males, aged 20 and 17, were involved, though their roles had not yet been determined, police said.

Police said they found the 19-year-old male dead at a residence early on Friday and the 20-year-old male and 23-year-old female were arrested at Halifax airport. The 17-year-old male was arrested elsewhere.

(REUTERS)

Paris mayor says much to learn from US melting pot

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Wednesday at the White House that promoting “a more inclusive city” would help counter radicalisation. She also confirmed a defamation suit against Fox News for saying areas of Paris were "no-go zones" for non-Muslims.

Hidalgo is among representatives of 60 countries attending the three-day summit on countering violent extremism, which has been in the pipelines for months but acquired greater significance after recent terrorist attacks in Parisand Copenhagen.

On Wednesday, she told delegates in the US capital that cities such as Paris should aim for “the exact opposite of the no-go zones dreamed up by certain parties”, referring to last month’s widely ridiculed claim by Fox News that there are parts of Paris where police and non-Muslims fear to tread.

Hidalgo, 55, later confirmed that the French capital had filed a legal complaint against the US television channel for defamation. “I cannot let a lie of such gravity go unpunished,” she told reporters. “Paris is a city of opportunities, progressive and humanist.”

Caracas mayor arrested over alleged coup plot

Venezuelan intelligence agents smashed into the office of opposition leader and Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma on Thursday to arrest him, witnesses said, amid accusations of his involvement in a coup attempt against President Nicolas Maduro.

The agents took him from his office in the banking district of Caracas, without giving a reason, according to witnesses including an opposition legislator and Ledezma’s wife.

“I just saw how they took Ledezma out of his office as if he were a dog,” wrote opposition legislator Ismael Garcia via Twitter. “They broke down the doors without an arrest warrant.”

China Just Made A $20B Investment In Venezuela

Venezuela is suffering from plummeting oil prices, runaway inflation and shortages of basic foodstuffs, but it now has at least one lifeline: a $20 billion investment package from China, announced by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this week. But with Venezuela facing a recession, inflation over 60 percent and widespread predictions of a default on its debt this year, some analysts say it’s hard to pinpoint China’s incentive for handing over the funds.

Venezuela has been particularly hard hit by declining oil prices, which fell by 50 percent in the second half of 2014 and have dipped below $50 a barrel. The hit to Venezuela’s primary export has taken its toll on the country’s foreign reserves, and Bloomberg estimates Venezuela’s risk of default this year at 90 percent. President Nicolas Maduro, who has vehemently denied that the country would default on its debt, traveled to China this week to negotiate more economic cooperation, a visit that many observers interpreted as a last-ditch effort to secure emergency assistance from Beijing.

Dead Argentine prosecutor "feared body gaurds"

A tense Diego Lagomarsino (pictured above), his voice breaking at times, recounted at a news conference in Buenos Aires how Nisman had pleaded for the .22-caliber revolver that later killed him. Investigators are still looking into whether his death was murder or a suicide, as an initial inquiry found.

Lagomarsino, a computer expert and the last person known to have seen Nisman alive, said the prosecutor was desperate for the gun, saying: "I no longer trust even my guards."

"He told me that he was not going to use the weapon," Lagomarsino said.

According to Lagomarsino, Nisman told him that he also feared for the safety of his two daughters, who are 7 and 15 years old and who were on vacation in Spain at the time.

"Do you know what it is like that your daughters don't want to be with you because they are afraid something will happen to them?" Lagomarsino quoted Nisman as saying.

Lagomarsino, who had been reluctant to hand the gun over, said Nisman badly wanted it to "carry it in the glove compartment in case some crazy person came by shouting, 'You traitor!'"

"This was a weapon that was truly on its last legs," he added.

After Nisman's death, Lagomarsino was charged with giving a firearm to someone other than its registered owner. He is the only person to be charged so far in the murky case.

Security chief under investigation

Nisman's security chief has been suspended and is under investigation along with two other members of his guard detail, a court source said.

Ruben Benitez, a Nisman confidant who has been suspended, coordinated a security team of 10 officers who protected the prosecutor.

According to a leaked statement made to the investigation's head prosecutor, Benitez said he advised Nisman against buying a gun just days before his death.

But the suspended officers have come under scrutiny for contradictory statements to the investigating prosecutor, Viviana Fein.

The 51-year-old special prosecutor was found dead at his home January 18, a day before he was to go before a congressional committee to testify that President Cristina Kirchner and her foreign minister helped shield Iranian officials who were implicated in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish centre in Buenos Aires in which 85 people were killed and 300 injured.

US 'looking at options' to arm Ukraine against separatists

“It’s getting a fresh look,” a White House source told reporters following deliberations among Obama administration officials on whether to send defensive weapons to prop up Ukrainian forces. “Where things will end up, we don’t know.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry is due in Kiev on Thursday for talks with Ukraine’s government, the same day NATO defence ministers meet in Brussels.

The policy rethink reflects what US officials say is a frustration with Moscow’s continued support for rebels despite months of international economic sanctions, and the collapse of the latest attempt at peace talks at the weekend.

It also coincides with a report released by Washington-based Atlantic Council which said the US should immediately authorize $1 billion in military assistance to Kiev and coordinate it with Poland, Baltic States, Canada and Britain.

Russian 'costs outweigh gains'

Steven Pifer, a former US ambassador to Ukraine and one of the report’s authors, told FRANCE 24 that increasing military assistance to Ukraine in the form of “lethal defensive weapons” would make Russian President Vladimir Putin realise that “the costs outweigh the gains” in his country’s “egregious” support of separatist rebels.

Asked if arming the rebels would lead to escalation of the conflict, Pifer responded that while he and the “US government wish this situation wasn’t as it is, there is the question of how to respond to Russian aggression”.

“Russia has provided men, leadership, heavy weapons and units of the Russian army,” Pifer said. “But Moscow is hugely sensitive to casualties in Ukraine, forbidding wounded soldiers to say they had fought there or risk losing their pensions, or worse.”

Pifer denied that any move to strengthen Ukraine’s fighting capabilities would lead to a proxy war between Russia and the West: “Ukrainians are trying to defend their own country and we don’t advocate sending US troops to Ukraine.

“But the risks of inaction are far greater than the risks of escalation.”

Authors of the report included officials with close ties to the White House, including the former number-three-ranking civilian at the Pentagon, Michele Flournoy, and the former US ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder.

"The West needs to bolster deterrence in Ukraine by raising the risks and costs to Russia of any renewed major offensive," said the report, published by the Atlantic Council, the Brookings Institution and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 

Calgary, Canada, has the 'best mayor in the world'

The London-based City Mayors Foundation lauded the popular leader, a Muslim whose parents emigrated to Canada from Tanzania four decades ago, as “a role model for decisive management, inclusivity and forward planning”.

“His vision of how a city should plan for its future has attracted the attention of urban thinkers from across North America,” the philanthropic foundation's website said.