Senin, 05 Agustus 2019

India scraps special status for Kashmir amid crackdown - CNBC

Border villagers play cards as they sit near a Indian post at Chandu Chak village of Ranbir Singh Pura sector near the India-Pakistan international border, about 35km from Jammu on February 28, 2019 in Jammu, India.

Nitin Kanotra | Hindustan Times | Getty Images

India's government on Monday revoked the special status of Kashmir in a bid to fully integrate its only Muslim-majority region with the rest of the country, the most far-reaching move on the troubled Himalayan territory in nearly seven decades.

Interior Minister Amit Shah told parliament the federal government would scrap Article 370, a constitutional provision that grants special status for disputed Kashmir and allows the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir to make its own laws.

"The entire constitution will be applicable to Jammu and Kashmir state," Shah said, ending the state's rights to make its own laws. In a subsequent order, India's president approved the government's changes.

The step would also mean revocation of a bar on property purchases by people from outside the state. Such plans have in the past provoked warnings of a backlash in Kashmir, which is claimed by both India and Pakistan.

The law had also reserved state government jobs for residents, as well as college places, in an effort to keep the state from being overrun by people from the rest of India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party had pushed for an end to Kashmir's special constitutional status, arguing that such laws had hindered its integration with the rest of India. 

Political leaders in Kashmir had warned that repeal of the law would trigger widespread unrest.

Since last year, Kashmir has been ruled by the Indian federal government, after Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew from a coalition there with a regional party.

Monday's announcement came hours after authorities launched a clampdown in Kashmir by suspending telephone services and placing state leaders under house arrest. 

Telephone and internet services were suspended early on Monday, and state leaders wrote on Twitter that they had been put under house arrest.

On Sunday, a meeting of regional parties had vowed to safeguard the region's special status, saying any move to scrap the privilege would amount to aggression against the people of the state.

Tension had risen since Friday, when Indian officials issued an alert over possible militant attacks by Pakistan-based groups.

Pakistan has rejected those assertions, but thousands of alarmed Indian tourists, pilgrims and workers streamed out of the region over the weekend.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/05/india-introduces-plan-to-end-kashmirs-special-status.html

2019-08-05 06:26:32Z
CAIiEEwxYRi3GzrvX5ueB3u0jvcqGQgEKhAIACoHCAow2Nb3CjDivdcCMP3ungY

Minggu, 04 Agustus 2019

Iran says it seized foreign oil tanker in Gulf for smuggling fuel - CNN

The tanker was intercepted Wednesday night by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's 2nd Marine Corps, according to Iranian news agency ISNA.
Iran's state media Press TV said the vessel had seven crew members and was carrying 700,000 liters of fuel, or about 4,500 barrels. If full, this amount would make it a relatively small tanker.
The nationalities of the ship and of the crew have not been revealed.
Ramadan Zirahi, commander of that naval unit, told ISNA that the vessel carrying the "seized smuggled fuel" was transferred to Bushehr and that the fuel was delivered to the National Oil Distribution Company of Bushehr in coordination with the judiciary.
Zirahi said the 2nd Marine Corps floating units were guarding the national interest and "will not hesitate for a moment."
Iran's seizure last month of two tankers -- one Panamanian-flagged and one British -- marked an escalation in the standoff between the Islamic Republic and Western powers after US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal last year.
Iran has released nine of the 12 Indian crew members who were on board the Panamanian-flagged tanker that it seized after claiming the vessel was carrying 1 million liters of smuggled fuel.
Iran has granted consular access to 18 Indian crew members of the seized British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero.
  • Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz

  • May 8, 2018
  • November 5, 2018
  • April 8, 2019
  • June 20, 2019
    • Iran shoots down a United States military drone. Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims that the drone was shot down after it entered the country's territory, while the US claims the drone was shot down in international airspace.
  • June 24, 2019
  • July 1, 2019
  • July 4, 2019
    • The Iranian oil-carrying vessel Grace 1 is seized by British authorities near Gibralter. Gibraltar's territorial authorities had reason to believe the ship was "carrying its shipment of crude oil to the Baniyas Refinery in Syria" in violation of European Union sanctions, it said in a statement. Iran called the act "piracy."
  • July 10, 2019
  • July 14, 2019
  • July 18, 2019
    • US officials say the US Navy has destroyed an Iranian drone using electronic jamming, in a defensive action after it came too close to naval ship USS Boxer took. However, Iranian officials deny that any of their drones have been downed.
  • July 19, 2019
    • Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announces that its navy has captured the British-flagged oil tanker, Stena Impero. It accuses the British tanker of "violating international regulations."
    • A second tanker, the Liberian flagged MV Mesdar, was also seized, one US official tells CNN.

Source: CNN

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/04/middleeast/iran-tanker-seizure-intl/index.html

2019-08-04 15:44:00Z
52780345405929

Iran Says It Has Seized Another Oil Tanker in Persian Gulf - The New York Times

Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that it said had been smuggling fuel to some Arab states, according to a state television report on Sunday.

The tanker was detained on Wednesday, according to an Iranian naval commander, and the ship’s foreign crew held by the country’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The commander of Iran’s Second Marine Corps said in a statement to the Fars News Agency that the foreign vessel had received fuel from other ships and had been transporting it to Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. It said the ship had been seized in coordination with judicial authorities.

The commander said the ship had been carrying about 700,000 liters of fuel, about 185,000 United States standard gallons. The semiofficial Iranian news agency Fars said on Twitter that “seven foreign nationals” had been detained. The news agency Mehr reported that the ship had been seized near Farsi Island, a tiny, barren Iranian territory northwest of the Strait of Hormuz.

A Revolutionary Guards statement said the seizure had taken place to the south of the Iranian island of Larak, in the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that is a vital conduit for maritime petroleum traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf.

The oil tanker was then transferred to Bushehr Province, the statement said, and its cargo delivered to the department of the National Iranian Oil Product Distribution Company in the same province, Mehr reported.

No further details were provided, including who owns the vessel and the nationalities of the seized crew members. But it would be the third such seizure by Iran in a month amid a standoff with the West over a 2015 nuclear deal and punishing sanctions that have hobbled Iran’s economy.

In July, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps detained a foreign oil tanker said to have been smuggling fuel, state news media reported.

The seizure occurred days after the United States imposed sanctions on the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, an American-educated diplomat who was a key negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal between Western powers and Tehran.

American officials have said that the foreign minister is part of a “propaganda arm” for Iran. But experts said the sanctions would make it more difficult to engage in any new diplomacy. Iranian officials called the move petty and provocative.

Iran and the West has been embroiled in a dispute over shipping near the Strait of Hormuz as European countries scramble to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran after President Trump pulled the United States out of the accord last year.

Britain seized an Iranian tanker, the Grace 1, off the coast of Gibraltar in July, saying it suspected the ship had been headed to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. Iran called the seizure an act of piracy, and accused Britain of acting at the behest of Washington.

Later that month, Revolutionary Guards troops also detained a British-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero, near the Strait of Hormuz, accusing it of violating “three international naval regulations.”

Iran appeared to link the British seizure of its tanker and the ailing nuclear deal, pressing Europe to make good on the promised financial benefits of the 2015 agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or J.C.P.O.A.

“Since Iran is entitled to export its oil according to the J.C.P.O.A., any impediment in the way of Iran’s export of oil is actually against the J.C.P.O.A.,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said after emergency talks in Vienna a week ago.

That day, a second British Royal Navy warship, the Duncan, arrived in the Persian Gulf to escort ships flying the British flag through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has warned other countries against sending vessels to act as escorts, with a government spokesman in Tehran, Ali Rabiei, saying that such a move would carry “a hostile message, is provocative and will increase tensions.”

Tensions had already been running high in the Persian Gulf. On May 2, the Trump administration’s oil sanctions against Iran came into full effect. It is not illegal under international law to buy and haul Iranian oil or related products, but foreign companies that ignore the sanctions risk being punished by the United States.

An examination of the movements of more than 70 Iranian tankers since May 2 found that 12 had loaded oil after that date and had delivered it to China or the eastern Mediterranean, where the buyers might have included Syria or Turkey. Only some of the 12 tankers were previously known to have recently delivered Iranian oil.

The continued flow of oil highlights the difficulty that the Trump administration has had in using sanctions to bring Iranian oil exports to zero.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/04/world/middleeast/iran-oil-tanker-persian-gulf.html

2019-08-04 11:48:45Z
52780345405929

Iran seizes foreign tanker in the Gulf, detains sailors, state TV says - CNBC

A picture taken on July 21, 2019, shows Iranian Revolutionary Guards patrolling around the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero as it's anchored off the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.

Hasan Shirvani | AFP | Getty Images

Iran has seized a foreign tanker in the Gulf carrying 700,000 liters of fuel, Iranian state TV said Sunday, citing the country's Revolutionary Guards.

Seven sailors on board have also been detained, according to Revolutionary Guard commander Ramezan Zirahi, who was quoted by Al Mayadeen TV.

"The IRGC's naval forces have seized a foreign oil tanker in the Persian Gulf that was smuggling fuel for some Arab countries," state TV quoted Zirahi as saying.

"It carried 700,000 liters of fuel. Seven sailors onboard of the tanker, who are from different nationalities, were detained." The tanker's origin is unclear. 

In late June, Iranian commandos seized a British-flagged tanker, the Stena Impero, in the Strait of Hormuz on grounds of alleged maritime violations. The U.K. government has called the seizure illegal. The incident followed British forces capturing an Iranian tanker near Gibraltar, which it accused of violating sanctions on Syria.

Last week a second British warship arrived in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway for 30% of the world's seaborne oil, to protect British tankers. U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has urged Iran to "come out of the dark" and release the Stena Impero.

Rising risks and a dying nuclear deal

The latest tanker seizure comes a day after Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif announced Tehran would make a third move to roll back its commitments to the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, signed under the Obama administration to lift economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for controls on its nuclear program.

"The third step in reducing commitments to (the nuclear deal) will be implemented in the current situation," Zarif said Sunday, without elaborating.

Iran in July said it had moved to increase its stockpiles of uranium beyond the deal's internationally-agreed limits and enrich uranium beyond the civilian energy level of 3.67%, taking it further along the technical path toward being able to produce a nuclear bomb.

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. and fears of a new war in the Middle East have been rising since the Trump administration withdrew from the 2015 accord and re-impose sweeping sanctions on Iran in an attempt to push it into a more stringent deal involving broader security concessions.

In May and June, six foreign tankers were hit in alleged sabotage attacks that the U.S. government has blamed on Iranian forces, a charge Tehran denies. Iran on June 20 shot down a U.S. surveillance drone it says was flying over its territory, prompting a planned U.S. military strike on Iranian military targets that President Trump says he called off with ten minutes to spare.   

Most analysts maintain war in the Persian Gulf remains unlikely, but fear that with tensions so high and no diplomatic channel of communication, a mere miscalculation could set off a serious conflict.

This is breaking news. Please check back for updates.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/04/iran-seizes-foreign-tanker-in-the-gulf-detains-sailors-state-tv-says.html

2019-08-04 11:02:53Z
52780345405929

Sabtu, 03 Agustus 2019

Hundreds Arrested in Moscow as Protests Pile Pressure on Putin - The Wall Street Journal

Police officers detain a protester during an unsanctioned rally in the center of Moscow on Saturday. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press

MOSCOW—Police detained more than 600 people at an unauthorized protest in the Russian capital demanding fair elections, as a recent wave of public discontent in Russia showed few signs of abating.

The rallies, protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from local elections, came a week after more than 1,300 people were detained and dozens injured in similar demonstrations.

The mass protests, which began in Moscow in mid-July, are some of the most significant displays of public dissatisfaction in Russia since President Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012. The rallies, which follow demonstrations on various issues across the country in the past year, come as Mr. Putin’s approval rating has fallen to multiyear lows.

The Ministry of Interior said around 600 people were detained during Saturday’s protests, which weren’t sanctioned by city authorities. Russian organization OVD-Info, which monitors political arrests, said 685 people were detained.

The ministry put the number of participants at 1,500, though independent media reported higher figures.

More than a thousand people protested at a similar rally in St. Petersburg, which was authorized by city officials.

Among those detained on Saturday was Lyubov Sobol, a female protest leader who has been on a hunger strike for the past three weeks.

By late evening in Moscow, some of those detained were released, similar to the previous protest. Many protest leaders, though, have been in jail since last week, with sentences up to 30 days. Investigators have also opened a criminal probe investigating those organizing mass civil unrest, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in jail.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation into whether jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anticorruption Foundation has laundered 1 billion rubles (about $15.3 million). Mr. Navalny’s organization has worked to expose official corruption, posting video investigations into top-level graft that have been viewed millions of times on social media.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a protest in Moscow on July 20. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press

There was no immediate response from the group to the allegations, but on Friday, Leonid Volkov, a close aide of Mr. Navalny, responded to speculation that such an investigation was imminent saying on Facebook that the allegations were baseless and accusing the authorities of trying to destroy the organization’s network.

An outspoken Kremlin critic, Mr. Navalny is currently serving 30 days behind bars for organizing unauthorized protests. Last weekend he was hospitalized with what he and his team suspect was poisoning, though officials have said his toxicology tests showed no trace of poison.

The protests, the largest of which saw crowds exceeding 20,000 people earlier this month, were sparked by a decision by Moscow’s electoral commission to bar opposition candidates it says failed to collect enough signatures to be placed on the Sept. 8 city council ballot. The candidates say they had the required support.

The 45-member Moscow city council is currently controlled by the pro-Putin United Russia party, and gaining seats there would be a significant victory for the opposition.

The protests could rattle the Kremlin, following a wave of discontent in the past year. Russians have taken to the streets across the country to protest against a rise in the retirement age, the creation of landfill in rural areas and tightening control over internet freedoms.

Mr. Putin’s approval rating fell to 64% in January, according to the independent Levada Center, its lowest level since 2013. The rating inched up to 68% in July, still a far cry from its 2015 highs of nearly 90%.

The Kremlin and senior government officials have remained silent on the protests. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of Mr. Putin, praised the police response to last weekend’s rallies.

Protesters on Saturday met at various points along the 2.5 mile-long Boulevard Ring that circles central Moscow, a city of more than 12.5 million people.

Many shops in central Moscow were closed in anticipation of the rallies, called “A walk along the boulevards,” and police had cordoned off main thoroughfares.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-arrested-in-moscow-as-protests-pile-pressure-on-putin-11564845734

2019-08-03 18:32:00Z
52780344914784

Russian police detain hundreds at Moscow protest - Aljazeera.com

Russian police have detained hundreds of people attending an unauthorised protest in the country's capital, Moscow, to demand free elections, according to a monitoring group.

Phalanxes of helmeted riot police linked arms and swept people away on Saturday as activists gathered on Pushkin Square to rally against the exclusion of independent and opposition candidates from the Moscow city council election.

The crowds were pushed to Trubnaya Square where police continued the crackdown.

At least 685 people were detained by police, according to OVD-info, an independent monitoring group. At a similar protest last week, police arrested at least 1,400 demonstrators, beating some people with truncheons.

OVD-info said some of the detainees, including a member of the precinct election commission, Aleksandr Sviderskiy, reported being beaten by the police.

MediaZona, a Russian media outlet, shared a video on Twitter that showed police beating a protester who was lying on the ground.

Police said they had detained 600 and said 1,500 had attended the protest, though footage of demonstrations which flared in different parts of Moscow suggested many more had taken part.

Prominent activist Lyubov Sobol, currently three weeks into a hunger strike after being barred from taking part in the local polls, was dragged from a taxi and detained as she set off for the rally on Saturday.

Grigory Durnovo, a coordinator for the monitoring group OVD-info, told Al Jazeera that police started to detain protesters even before the demonstration began.

Hundreds arrested at Moscow demonstration for free elections (1:54)

"The rally was planned to start at 2pm Moscow time [11:00 GMT]. The first detentions started about two hours before. We can call it preventive detentions, because people were taken to police stations and they were told to sign warrants warning them not to attend the rally and even not to appear in the streets close to the place where the rally was to be held," he said from Moscow. 

'Atmosphere of total control'

Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from the protest in Moscow, said there were more police officers in the area than demonstrators.

"They are going into the crowd and detaining people. Most of the protesters are going peacefully, letting themselves be arrested. But this is nowhere near the number we have seen in previous protests," he said.

"The massive security operation by the Moscow police appears to have worked."

The dispute over the local election has provoked a large outcry. On July 20, about 20,000 people turned out for a demonstration that was the largest in the city in several years.  

Rally calling for opposition candidates to be registered for elections to Moscow City Duma in Moscow

The Moscow city council is now controlled by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party [Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters]

People in the crowd on Saturday said they just wanted the opposition to have a chance to run. "I want there to be big changes... now there is an atmosphere of total control," Varvara, a 22-year-old artist, told AFP news agency.

"I believe everyone should have a right to take part [in the polls]," 39-year-old Robert said.

About 3,000 people attended a rally in St Petersburg supporting the Moscow protests, the local news site Fontanka.ru reported.

Sensitive elections

The Moscow city council, which has 45 seats, is responsible for a large municipal budget and is now controlled by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. All of its seats, which have a five-year term, are up for grabs in the September 8 vote.

Once a local, low-key affair, the vote has shaken up Russia's political scene as the Kremlin struggles with how to deal with strongly opposing views in its sprawling capital of 12.6 million.

Unsanctioned rally in Moscow

Phalanxes of helmeted riot police linked arms and swept people away on Saturday [Sefa Karacan/Anadolu]

Also on Saturday, Russian investigators launched a money-laundering probe against detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption group, which has worked to expose the questionable wealth of top officials. 

This week, the group published a new investigation into Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin's deputy, accusing her of selling prime Moscow property to family members at rock-bottom prices.

Employees of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption (FBK) "received a large sum of money from third parties which they knew was procured illegally", investigators said, alleging the group "laundered" one billion rubles ($15.3m).

"Accomplices" of FBK "gave a legal appearance" to the funds by transferring them to bank accounts and ultimately to the accounts of the FBK, investigators said.

The FBK collects money through donations, and Navalny's ally Leonid Volkov dismissed allegations of money laundering as an attempt to stamp out Navalny's national network of volunteers.

Navalny is currently serving 30 days behind bars for violating rules on public gatherings. Last weekend, he was hospitalised with symptoms his doctor said looked like poisoning.

A state toxicology lab said no traces of poison were found. 

Several of Navalny's associates are also in police custody over protests about next month's elections in Moscow. 

President Vladimir Putin has yet to comment on the situation in Moscow.

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/08/russian-police-detain-hundreds-moscow-protest-190803131051086.html

2019-08-03 16:19:00Z
52780344914784

Hundreds Arrested in Moscow as Protests Pile Pressure on Putin - The Wall Street Journal

Police officers detain a protester during an unsanctioned rally in the center of Moscow on Saturday. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/Associated Press

MOSCOW—Police detained 600 people at an unauthorized protest in the Russian capital demanding fair elections, as a recent wave of public discontent in Russia showed few signs of abating.

The rallies, protesting the exclusion of opposition candidates from local elections, came a week after more than 1,300 people were detained and dozens injured in similar demonstrations.

The mass protests, which began in Moscow in mid-July, are some of the most significant displays of public dissatisfaction in Russia since President Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin in 2012. The rallies, which follow demonstrations on various issues across the country in the past year, come as Mr. Putin’s approval rating has fallen to multiyear lows.

The Ministry of Interior said it 600 people were detained during the Saturday protests, which weren’t sanctioned by city authorities. Police put the number of participants at 1,500.

Independent monitoring groups reported similar numbers of detentions.

Among those detained was Lyubov Sobol, a female protest leader who has been on hunger strike for the past three weeks.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation into whether jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anticorruption Foundation has laundered 1 billion rubles, about $15.3 million. Mr. Navalny’s organization has worked to expose official corruption, posting video investigations into top-level graft that have been viewed millions of times on social media.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny attends a protest in Moscow on July 20. Photo: Pavel Golovkin/Associated Press

There was no immediate response from the group to the allegations, but on Friday, Leonid Volkov, a close aide of Mr. Navalny, responded to speculation that such an investigation was imminent saying on Facebook that the allegations were baseless and accusing the authorities of trying to destroy the organization’s network.

An outspoken Kremlin critic, Mr. Navalny is currently serving 30 days behind bars for organizing unauthorized protests. Last weekend he was hospitalized with what he and his team suspect was poisoning, though officials have said his toxicology tests showed no trace of poison.

The protests, the largest of which saw crowds exceeding 20,000 people earlier this month, were sparked by a decision by Moscow’s electoral commission to bar opposition candidates it says failed to collect enough signatures to be placed on the Sept. 8 city council ballot. The candidates say they had the required support.

The 45-member Moscow city council is currently controlled by the pro-Putin United Russia party, and gaining seats there would be a significant victory for the opposition.

The protests could rattle the Kremlin, following a wave of discontent in the past year. Russians have taken to the streets across the country to protest against a rise in the retirement age, the creation of landfill in rural areas, tightening control over internet freedoms and other causes.

Mr. Putin’s approval rating fell to 64% in January, according to the independent Levada Center, its lowest level since 2013. The rating inched up to 68% in July, still a far cry from its 2015 highs of nearly 90%.

The Kremlin and senior government officials have remained silent on the protests. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, an ally of Mr. Putin, praised the police response to last weekend’s rallies.

Protesters on Saturday met at various points along the 2.5 mile-long Boulevard Ring that circles central Moscow, a city of more than 12.5 million people.

Many shops in central Moscow were closed in anticipation of the rallies, called “A walk along the boulevards,” and police had cordoned off main thoroughfares.

Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com

Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Let's block ads! (Why?)


https://www.wsj.com/articles/hundreds-arrested-in-moscow-as-protests-pile-pressure-on-putin-11564845734

2019-08-03 15:22:00Z
52780344914784