Selasa, 31 Desember 2019
U.S. Embassy in Iraq stormed by protesters - CBS This Morning
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2019-12-31 12:20:43Z
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Baghdad protests: Demonstrators try to storm US embassy following strikes - CNN
Two sources at the demonstration witnessed the attempt to break into the embassy, adding that security personnel fired tear gas to repel the attack. Video and photos on social media show demonstrators smashing the windows of the embassy and burning items outside its walls.
The pro-Iranian demonstrators were mostly from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias. Three leaders of powerful militia groups were also seen at the protest, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who heads the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah, which was targeted by the American strikes on Sunday.
The US carried out five airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on facilities controlled by Kataib Hezbollah. At least 25 people were killed and 51 wounded in the strikes, the first significant US military response to Kataib Hezbollah's deadly rocket attacks on US-Iraqi targets in recent weeks.
US officials said the strikes were carried out with F-15 Strike Eagle fighter planes and targeted weapons storage facilities and command and control locations used by Kataib Hezbollah, among others. The Pentagon said the locations had been used "to plan and execute attacks" on joint US-Iraq forces.
The airstrikes and protests have created new tensions between allies Washington and Baghdad, with Iraqi police and soldiers among the killed and wounded. They come at a time of unrest as mass protests across Iraq challenge the nation's precarious government.
Baghdad warned Monday that its relations with the US were at risk following the strikes.
Questions have also been raised as to whether Iraqi forces allowed the protesters to reach the US embassy, a highly fortified building in a ares that is usually restricted.
The strikes and protests also come at a time of high tensions between the US and Iran, and have stoked fears of a new proxy war in the Middle East.
Washington has tightened the economic squeeze on Tehran this year through its "maximum pressure" campaign, while Iran has responded with what it calls for "maximum resistance," including reducing its compliance to the international nuclear deal.
The Trump administration pulled the US out of that deal in May 2018, sparking a campaign of provocation between the two nations.
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2019-12-31 12:14:00Z
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Thousands Flee to Shore as Australia Fires Turn Skies Blood Red - The New York Times
SYDNEY, Australia — As the fire stalked toward the coastal town of Mallacoota, the daytime sky turned inky black, then blood red. Emergency sirens wailed, replaced later by the thunder of gas explosions. Thousands of residents fled their homes and huddled near the shore. There was nowhere else to go.
On the last day of the warmest decade on record in Australia, the country’s east coast was dotted on Tuesday with apocalyptic scenes like the ones in Mallacoota, a vacation destination between Sydney and Melbourne.
Australia is in the grip of a devastating fire season, with months of summer still to go, as record-breaking temperatures, strong winds and prolonged drought have ignited huge blazes across the country.
In Mallacoota, residents in boats shared footage of themselves on social media wearing masks and life vests as they waited in the eerie light. Others opted to stay and defend homes, likening burning trees to “exploding infernos” and describing the roar of the blazes.
In Batemans Bay, four hours north, residents sat on folding chairs along the beach, life rafts at the ready, as a fire encircled the town and burned homes. To the south, in Cobargo, a father and son died in a blaze as they tried to protect the family home, bringing the death toll to at least 11 in this season’s fires.
With several blazes burning out of control, thousands were stranded in evacuation centers in other towns along the coast as firefighters told people to stay put. Tens of thousands of people were without power, the Australian military was authorized to deploy aircraft and naval vessels, and the government requested firefighting help from Canada and the United States.
In Sydney, where heavy smoke from fires has obscured the sun many days this summer, officials rejected calls to cancel the city’s signature New Year’s Eve fireworks display after the Rural Fire Service in New South Wales approved the celebration.
Still, the service’s commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, said on Tuesday that this fire season was one of the worst ever, with more than 900 homes destroyed in New South Wales and millions of acres burned. One blaze has reached the western part of Sydney.
The fires have been so fierce that they have created their own weather systems and forced volunteer firefighters to work around the clock. On Monday night, a volunteer firefighter died after a phenomenon called a fire tornado — turbulence caused by extreme rising heat — in New South Wales caused a 10-ton fire truck to roll over.
The firefighter, Samuel McPaul, 28, was due to become a father in May. He was the third volunteer firefighter to die this fire season; the other two were fathers of young children.
In Mallacoota, just over the border in the state of Victoria, residents had spent Monday night preparing to evacuate. As the fire approached, some gathered at a community center, while others climbed into boats in bodies of water.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” said one man filming his escape on a boat.
Ida Dempsey of Melbourne, who spends Christmas every year in the area with her family, also took refuge on the water.
“We couldn’t see a thing. It was pitch black,” Ms. Dempsey said. “We had face masks; the smoke was very bad.”
She commended fire officials for keeping people calm. “If we didn’t have a plan, I would have panicked a bit more,” she said.
In Batemans Bay, said James Findlay, who grew up there, the fire came so quickly that there was no hope to save his family home.
“Everything’s gone,” he said.
His parents, Mr. Findlay said, were in shock.
“People have lost their homes, their farms, and people have lost their lives,” he said.
“If this isn’t some kind of a sign that more should be done, then I don’t know what is.”
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2019-12-31 09:42:00Z
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Crowd storms US Embassy compound in Baghdad, gunshots heard, report says - Fox News
Dozens of Iraqi Shiite militia supporters gained entry to the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after they smashed down a gate and stormed inside, the Associated Press reported.
An AP reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the embassy.
Hundreds of Iraqis attempted earlier to storm the compound after holding funerals for the 25 fighters from an Iran-backed Shiite militia killed in U.S. airstrikes earlier this week, the Associated Press reported.
Dozens of Iraqi Shiite militia supporters are seen at the U.S. embassy compound where a fire was set to a reception area, in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019. (AP Photo/Qassim Abdul-Zahra)
Reporters for the AP described a chaotic scene on the ground and reported that the crowd shouted, “Down, down USA!”
Two Iraqi foreign ministry officials told Reuters that the U.S. ambassador and staff have been evacuated. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: "The message was delivered."
The gate that was smashed was a side-entrance. Protesters had pushed about 16 feet into a corridor that leads to the main building but the protesters were still about 200 yards away from it.
Sen. Marco Rubio took to Twitter early Tuesday and said Iran was directly responsible for orchestrating the breach.
Security guards were seen retreating to the inside of the embassy as the protesters hurled water bottles and smashed security cameras outside the embassies, the report said.
The U.S. military carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday — days after a U.S. defense contractor was killed in a rocket attack.
Military jet fighters conducted "precision defensive strikes" on five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, Jonathan Hoffman, a spokesperson for the Pentagon told Fox News. Two defense officials added that Air Force F-15 jet fighters carried out the strikes.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.
Fox News' Nicole Darrah and the Associated Press contributed to this report
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2019-12-31 09:24:58Z
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Thousands had to take refuge on a beach as Australia wildfires raged - CNN
Early in the morning, about 4,000 residents and visitors were forced to leave their homes and vacation accommodation in Mallacoota, in the state of Victoria, authorities said.
The town activated its emergency siren warning of the imminent fire threat and residents headed to the seaside, following an evacuation plan previously outlined in community meetings.
"There's no way in or out," Mallacoota resident Jason Selmes told CNN after evacuating his home.
Thick smoke from the fires turned the morning sky pitch black. As the day wore on, the sky lightened to a bright orange, and the blazes began spreading through the town. Photographs from the ground showed homes burning and an approaching fire line.
Some people sought shelter in the sea. Ida Dempsey and her family were visiting from Melbourne, and evacuated to their boat, mooring about 200 meters (about 656 feet) from shore.
Three emergency strike teams were at the beach with the residents, and emergency services set up medical centers and safe evacuation locations, according to state agency Victoria Emergency.
Conditions became milder later in the afternoon, after a dangerous wind change bypassed the town. Country Fire Authority Chief Steve Warrington said it was "relatively good news," and that evacuees had cheered upon hearing the announcement.
Some people are now returning to their homes, while others remain on the beach. There are "a number of houses" believed to be destroyed or damaged, Warrington said.
However, the situation remains "dynamic and dangerous," and Warrington said there is still an emergency warning in place. A number of fires remain burning in the town and across the state that could spread across the East Gippsland region where Mallacoota is located. Warrington warned residents to stay aware of further alerts, and added that state authorities were still discussing potential evacuations.
Victoria Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said some communities in the state remain isolated, and food packs and other supplies are being organized for transport. Emergency crews are still working to determine the extent of damage by air, but suggest significant property loss across the East Gippsland region, he said.
Four people remain unaccounted for in Victoria with a "very real fear for their safety," state Premier Daniel Andrews said on Tuesday. He did not provide any further information on identities or exact locations.
Located in the far eastern corner of Victoria, East Gippsland is home to about 80,000 people, who are scattered across remote villages and towns. The region is popular with tourists, who go to see wildlife and hike in the national parks.
There is a nationwide fire crisis
As of Monday, there are more than 10 fires in the East Gippsland region alone, including three large ones that have been burning for more than a month, according to Victoria Emergency. Many of the fires were started on Sunday by dry lightning, and rapidly spread due to strong winds and hot, dry weather.
On Sunday, Victoria authorities urged residents and vacationers to evacuate, warning that "it is not possible to provide support and aid to all the visitors" in the area.
Weather conditions are expected to improve in the next 24 hours -- meaning cooler temperatures and lower winds -- but will worsen again by the end of the week, bringing dangerous fire conditions, according to CNN meteorologists.
Fires have devastated parts of Australia for months. Across Victoria, 70 new fires started on Monday, of which more than 20 are still active. In the neighboring state of New South Wales (NSW), there are more than 100 fires burning on Tuesday, of which 60 are yet to be contained.
The death toll has been slowly climbing. Two people were found dead Tuesday in the NSW town of Cobargo, with a third person still unaccounted for. On Monday, a 28-year-old volunteer firefighter died in NSW after strong winds rolled his truck over. Earlier in December, two other NSW volunteer firefighters died after their vehicle hit a tree during firefighting operations.
More than 900 homes have been destroyed in NSW since the start of the fire season, and that number will likely increase as firefighters struggle to contain the massive fires.
In Batemans Bay, NSW, hundreds of families were also evacuating their homes on Tuesday under an eerie orange sky. "It was like we were in hell," vacationer Zoe Simmons told CNN. "We were all covered in ash."
NSW Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons warned there are thousands of people along the coast taking refuge with "a long, difficult, dangerous night ahead." He said that the fires on Tuesday spread faster and further than previously predicted, adding: "it's been a truly awful day."
NSW and Victoria are some of the hardest-hit locations, but there have been fires occurring in every state across Australia as weather conditions worsen.
State and federal authorities have activated emergency resources and deployed thousands of firefighters since the fire season began in early September. The Australian Defence Force has sent assistance to multiple states, including air force aircraft and army personnel. The United States, Canada, and New Zealand have also sent additional firefighters to help.
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2019-12-31 09:08:00Z
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Iraq Protesters Stone U.S. Embassy in Baghdad - The New York Times
BAGHDAD — Hundreds of angry supporters of an Iraqi Shiite militia smashed security cameras outside the United States Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, hurled stones and set up protest tents in response to American airstrikes this week that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq.
Shouting “Down, Down U.S.A.!” the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water bottles and smashing security cameras outside. They raised militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff, who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area. Protesters sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows in red reading: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”
The United States military carried out the strikes against the Iran-backed militia, Kataib Hezbollah, on Sunday. They were described as retaliation for a rocket attack last week that the United States attributed to the group, which killed an American contractor at an Iraqi military base.
The American attack — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the calls for retaliation represent a new escalation in a proxy war between the United States and Iran in the Middle East.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes were intended to send a message that the United States would not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardized American lives.
Kataib Hezbollah said on Monday that it would retaliate for the American strikes, raising concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.
The United States attack outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it would reconsider its relationship with the American-led coalition — the first time it has said it would do so since an agreement was struck to keep some United States troops in the country. Iraq called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.
In a partly televised meeting on Monday, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi of Iraq told cabinet members that he had tried to stop the United States operation “but there was insistence” from American officials.
The United States military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites operated by the Kataib Hezbollah.
The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.
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2019-12-31 08:59:00Z
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Carlos Ghosn: Ex-Nissan boss flees Japan for Lebanon - The - The Washington Post
Issei Kato Reuters
TOKYO — Carlos Ghosn, the former boss of the Nissan-Renault car alliance, said on Tuesday he had left Japan where he was awaiting trial on charges of financial misconduct and arrived in Lebanon.
It was not clear how Ghosn, who is of Lebanese descent and holds Lebanese, French and Brazilian citizenship, had departed Japan. The 65-year-old was released on bail in Tokyo in April but placed under close surveillance and ordered to surrender his passports.
“I am now in Lebanon and will no longer be held hostage by a rigged Japanese justice system where guilt is presumed, discrimination is rampant, and basic human rights are denied, in flagrant disregard of Japan’s legal obligations under international law and treaties it is bound to uphold,” Ghosn said in a statement.
“I have not fled justice — I have escaped injustice and political persecution. I can now finally communicate freely with the media, and look forward to starting next week.”
One of Ghosn’s Japanese lawyers said they were still holding his Lebanese, French and Brazilian passports, as required by the terms of his bail, and called his actions “inexcusable.”
“We don’t know any more than has been reported,” Junichiro Hironaka told reporters, in remarks broadcast by NHK. “It was like a bolt from the blue. We are surprised and puzzled.”
Ghosn’s treatment since his arrest in November 2018 has thrown an unflattering spotlight on Japan’s justice system, and prompted concerns in boardrooms around the world. Sympathy was high among the general public in Lebanon, and its government had complained publicly about Ghosn’s humiliating treatment behind bars.
Ghosn, one of the world’s most successful and charismatic auto executives, was accused of financial misconduct and underreporting his income. But his initial 23-day detention was extended to 108 days as prosecutors rearrested him several times while he was still behind bars, a common tactic used in Japan to extract confessions and widely criticized as amounting to “hostage justice.”
[Former Nissan, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn rearrested on fresh charges in Japan]
He was released in March, then rearrested again in April just after announcing plans to hold a news conference, before finally being granted bail under strict conditions, including that he not speak to his wife. Writing in The Washington Post in April, Carole Ghosn said her husband had been kept in solitary confinement, with the lights on around the clock, and subjected to interrogation at all hours of the night and day without access to his lawyers.
The case prompted questions about whether a Japanese executive would have faced the same treatment, and why Ghosn and U.S. citizen Greg Kelly were the only Nissan board members arrested, when the company’s Japanese executives should also have known about Ghosn’s compensation arrangements.
Mark Lennihan
AP
Carlos Ghosn at the New York International Auto Show in April 2015.
Ghosn and his lawyers say the allegations were trumped up as part of a conspiracy among Nissan, government officials and prosecutors to oust Ghosn and block his plans to force through a closer merger between the Japanese automaker and its alliance partner, Renault.
Equally, though, there have been concerns raised about Ghosn’s management.
In dismissing Ghosn in 2018, Nissan said its investigations revealed misconduct ranging from understating his salary to transferring $5 million of company funds to an account in which he had an interest.
Renault, initially supportive of its former boss, announced in April after an internal investigation that it had found evidence of “questionable and concealed practices and violations of the group’s ethical principles.” At the time, Renault said it would halt Ghosn’s pension and reserved the right to bring action against him in the courts.
[Japanese court grants bail to former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn after nearly four months in jail]
Ghosn earned a reputation as one of the auto industry’s top executives after turning around the fortunes of Renault and Nissan and bringing the two companies together in a three-way alliance with Mitsubishi.
But his efforts to forge closer links between Renault and Nissan ran into opposition from within the Japanese company, and many experts say that may have been a factor in his downfall.
His reputation for streamlining Renault’s operations won him the nickname “Le Cost Killer,” while his success in turning Nissan around from near bankruptcy earned him the moniker “Mr. Fix It.” His efforts made him enormously popular in Japan, with blanket media coverage and even a manga comic produced about his life. However, his lavish lifestyle and relatively high pay were sources of controversy.
Inevitably, there was intense speculation about how Ghosn could have left the country without the authorities’ knowledge.
Japanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Keisuke Suzuki visited Beirut earlier this month where he met with the Lebanese president and foreign minister.
Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was still “looking into the matter to ascertain the status of affairs” and could not comment at the moment. A senior official told NHK that the ministry was not aware of Ghosn’s departure.
“Had we known about it prior to his departure, we would have reported that to the legal authorities,” the official was quoted as saying.
Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan, and given public support for Ghosn there it is unlikely any attempt to extradite him would be successful.
Akiko Kashiwagi contributed to this report.
simon.denyer@washpost.com
Read more
Former Nissan, Renault boss Carlos Ghosn rearrested on fresh charges in Japan
Japanese court grants bail to former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn after nearly four months in jail
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2019-12-31 07:09:00Z
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