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How Libya’s Haftar blindsided world powers with advance on Tripoli

FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris
FILE PHOTO: Khalifa Haftar, the military commander who dominates eastern Libya, arrives to attend an international conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/File Photo

April 10, 2019

By Ulf Laessing

TUNIS (Reuters) – Western diplomats sat down for three hours with Libyan commander Khalifa Haftar in his eastern stronghold last month to try to dissuade him from launching an offensive against the internationally recognized government in Tripoli.

They urged him not to plunge the country into a civil war and told him he could become a successful civilian leader if he committed himself to pursuing a political settlement, according to two sources with knowledge of the meeting outside Benghazi.

But Haftar, a military strongman who critics describe as the new Muammar Gaddafi, paid them little heed, said the sources who spoke on condition the ambassadors were not identified. He said he was prepared to negotiate with the prime minister, but if no power-sharing deal was reached, he could invade the capital.

Two weeks later, on April 4, he sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA) streaming towards Tripoli – just at a time when U.N Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was in the city to prepare for a national reconciliation conference this month which Guterres’ aides thought Haftar supported.

For world powers including France, Italy and Britain, the general’s military campaign, the biggest in Libya since the 2011 uprising that deposed Gaddafi, represented a major setback.

They had tried for years to co-opt Haftar, 75, into a political settlement that would stabilize the major oil and gas producer after almost a decade of conflict that had acted as a breeding ground for Islamist militancy.

Even the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, which have backed Haftar and see him as a bulwark against Islamists in north Africa, appear to have been surprised by his rapid advance. A French diplomatic source said Paris, which has also aided the general, had no prior warning of the offensive.

The diplomats’ calls for military restraint in the meeting last month had echoed those from other Western and U.N. envoys who had traveled to Haftar’s base outside the city of Benghazi in the preceding weeks, four separate diplomatic sources said.

In a sign of how far the situation in Libya – and Haftar – was beyond their control, U.N. and Western envoys in daily contact with his camp about the conference had no idea he was about to launch the offensive, the four diplomatic sources said.

Some even thought the general was bluffing.

“These are just psycho games,” one U.N. official texted Reuters when the first LNA troops were spotted south of Tripoli.

Some diplomats who had met Haftar many times and lobbied their governments to overlook his hardline comments – such as that Libya was not ready for democracy – despaired when it became clear he was committed to taking the city by force.

“I’ve wasted almost two years on Haftar,” said one who met Haftar regularly. “If the national conference doesn’t happen, it was for nothing.”

EGYPT, UAE, FRANCE

Haftar, for his part, has been consistent in speeches and statements about his commitment to military force in his declared mission to restore order to the north African country and also dropped hints about ultimately ruling the country.

When he first announced his intentions in February 2014 he stood in front of a map of Libya, a somber-looking, gray-haired man wearing an immaculate army uniform, and vowed to stage a coup.

Western countries left Libya after fighting in Tripoli in 2014, closing embassies and ending NATO training programs, before returning in 2016.

Their period of absence opened the door for Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE, which provided training and military assistance, according to reports from U.N. experts monitoring an arms embargo imposed on Libya in 2011, and diplomats.

Haftar’s forces received aircraft as well as military vehicles from the UAE, which had also built up an air base at Al Khadim, allowing the LNA to gain air superiority by 2016, a U.N. report said in June 2017.

But on the ground Haftar was struggling to make progress in his initial campaign launched in May 2014 against Islamist militants in Benghazi, which he dubbed “Operation Dignity”. His heavy guns and aircraft flattened residential buildings but could not dislodge the foreign jihadists holed up in booby-trapped houses.

It was at this point that France, which has oil assets in eastern Libya and is politically close to the UAE and Egypt, offered assistance, according to Libyan and French sources.

In late 2015, Paris sent military advisers and special forces familiar in urban warfare who camped out at an air base near Benghazi, the sources said. The French assistance helped turn the tide and allowed him to declare victory in Benghazi in 2017, they added.

Arab countries had recognized Haftar as Libya’s official army commander for years but France helped him gain further international legitimacy as his campaign progressed.

In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron received Haftar and the U.N.-backed Libyan prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, on the outskirts of Paris to try to persuade them to make a deal, which instantly upgraded the general’s diplomatic status.

Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian see Haftar, much like Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, as a buffer against Islamist militants in north Africa, according to French officials.

Le Drian has been to Libya three times in two years and on his last trip, on March 20, he saw Serraj in Tripoli and then traveled east to see Haftar to try to broker a detente.

According to a French diplomatic source, when Haftar asked him why he hadn’t come for such a long time, Le Drian responded: “We were waiting for your victories.”

He was referring to the general’s campaign to take the south of the country earlier this year, the source said.

Following Haftar’s Tripoli advance, Egypt’s Sisi stressed the need for urgent international action to stop the situation deteriorating, without naming the LNA offensive. The governments of France, Italy, the UAE, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement they were deeply concerned about the fighting.

Le Drian told lawmakers on Tuesday that France feared more serious conflict, adding that Haftar and Serraj needed to agree on a ceasefire before resuming their dialogue.

The UAE mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the U.N. reports of military aid to Haftar. Egyptian officials also had no immediate comment on the reports.

RESCUED BY CIA

Haftar was among officers who helped Gaddafi rise to power in 1969 but fell out with him during Libya’s war with Chad in the 1980s. Haftar was taken prisoner by the Chadians and had to be rescued by the CIA after having worked from Chad to overthrow Gaddafi.

He lived for around 20 years in the U.S. state of Virginia before returning home in 2011 to join other rebels in the uprising that ousted Gaddafi.

Three years later Haftar made his own move, launching the campaign in Benghazi.

At the time he had gathered only around 200 soldiers and 13 helicopters under his LNA banner, said Jalel Harchaoui, research fellow at the Clingendael Institute international relations think-tank in The Hague.

However Haftar quickly attracted other soldiers such as the Saiqa (Lightning) elite unit as well as tribesmen.

There is no reliable figure for the current size of the LNA, though analysts say it runs into the thousands. The Saiqa alone has 3,500 men and Haftar’s sons also have well-equipped units.

Haftar’s forces outnumber his opponents scattered in different western cities but he has filled his ranks beyond a core of former Gaddafi soldiers with less trained tribesmen and Salafist fighters and foreign mercenaries, analysts say.

After Benghazi, Haftar gradually took control of the entire east of Libya, before turning his attention to the south.

However this month’s Tripoli offensive is the commander’s highest-stakes gamble yet.

He has moved much of his forces west, leaving his eastern home base exposed, and making it almost impossible for him to retreat without losing standing among friends and foes alike.

The battle for the capital is still raging, and little is certain. Some pro-Haftar media had predicted victory in 48 hours but the fighting is still mostly outside the city.

Meanwhile, his lightning drive has united opponents in western Libya who had not talked to each other for a long time but have now joined arms.

“Although none of the foreign sponsors behind Haftar is likely pleased with the dramatic deterioration, they have no option but to continue backing him,” said Harchaoui. “They have been concentrating most of their bets on one key figure for almost half a decade. This cannot be walked back overnight.”

(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris, Michael Georgy in Dubai, Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Aziz El Yakooubi in Dubai and Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; Editing by Pravin Char)

Source: OANN

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Austrian far-right activist probed over ties to NZ suspect

A prominent far-right activist in Austria says he is being investigated over a possible donation received from the alleged Christchurch mosque gunman.

Martin Sellner, head of the white nationalist group Identitarian Movement Austria, said on social media that police searched his apartment Monday and seized electronic devices.

He said the "disproportionately high donation" came from a person named Tarrant — the same surname as the suspected Christchurch shooter.

Sellner said he's being investigated on suspicion of "forming or being a member of a terrorist organization," which he denied.

Christoph Poelzl, spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry, confirmed Tuesday that the country's BVT domestic intelligence agency searched Sellner's home at the request of prosecutors in the city of Graz. He referred further questions to prosecutors, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Source: Fox News World

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Gabbard: Assange Arrest Troublesome for US, Journalists

The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is troublesome for journalists and Americans, 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Tulsi Gabbard said Thursday on CNN.

Assange was dragged out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London early Thursday after Ecuador revoked his diplomatic asylum.

"I think what's happening here is, unfortunately, it is some form of retaliation coming from the government saying, 'Hey, this is what happens when you release information that we don't want you to release,'" Rep. Gabbard, D-Hawaii told "The Lead."

"And I think that's why this is such a dangerous and slippery slope, not only for journalists, not only for those in the media, but also for every American that our government can and has the power to kind of lay down the hammer to say, 'Be careful, be quiet, and fall in line, otherwise we have the means to come after you.'"

Freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also expressed concern about Assange's arrest.

"To my knowledge, the specific charges that were raised for his extradition were even ones that the Obama administration entertained but turned down because it was kind of beyond the pale in terms of an attack on journalism and journalists," Rep. Ocasio-Cortez said, according to Fox News. "So, I'm concerned by that specific aspect, very much so in this situation."

Source: NewsMax America

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Report: College Bribe Tipster Was Yale Dad From Fraud Case

The tipster who first led federal authorities to a conspiracy of rich-and-famous parents and coaches greasing the way for privileged applicants at elite universities was a financial executive looking to cut a deal in his own criminal case, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

The Journal, citing unnamed sources, identified the man as Morrie Tobin, a Los Angeles financial executive who was being questioned in an alleged pump-and-dump scheme – in which offenders drive up stock prices so they can sell them off at a profit. According to the Journal, Tobin offered feds a tip so he would get leniency in his security fraud case.

Tobin, a Yale alumnus, told investigators the head women's soccer coach at Yale had sought a bribe in return for getting Tobin's daughter into the Ivy League school, the Journal reported.

The tip triggered an investigation in which the vast scheme was unraveled, implicating dozens of wealthy parents who allegedly paid a college consultant to facilitate their kids' cheating on entrance exams, falsifying athletic profiles, and bribing coaches. The elite schools included the University of Southern California, Georgetown, Stanford, and Yale.

Tobin is awaiting sentencing in his case, in which he signed a plea agreement in November, the Journal reported.

Source: NewsMax America

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Fiat Chrysler revs up as Peugeot points to merger potential

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles logo is seen on a panel at the media center in Balocco
FILE PHOTO: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles logo is seen on a panel at the media center in Balocco, Italy, June 1, 2018. REUTERS/Massimo Pinca

March 19, 2019

LONDON (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler shares jumped on Tuesday to the top of Europe’s STOXX 600 after the president of Peugeot family holding company FFP told French daily Les Echos he would support a new deal and suggested Fiat Chrysler was among the options.

“With them, as with others, the planets could be aligned,” Robert Peugeot was reported as saying, asked about targets for acquisitions or mergers.

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) declined to comment.

Shares in the Italian-American carmaker were up 5.2 percent by 1050 GMT, while Peugeot gained 2.7 percent, helping boost Europe’s autos index which was up 2.5 percent.

Peugeot’s remarks came on the heels of reports the group’s CEO Carlos Tavares is open to deals and that Fiat, General Motors, and Jaguar Land Rover could be ideal partners.

FCA’s new boss Mike Manley, who took over after deal-making guru Sergio Marchionne died last year, said this month the carmaker was open to pursuing alliances and merger opportunities if they make sense and strengthen its future.

FCA is often cited as a possible merger candidate because of its strong exposure to the North American market, where it generates the lion’s share of profits, and because of its popular Jeep, RAM and Maserati brands.

“PSA is essentially an EU pure play as things stand (roughly 90 percent of consolidated unit sales in EU) so an acquisition of a company with a broader reach would make strategic sense,” said Evercore ISI analyst Arndt Ellinghorst.

Investors and analysts alike were wary of betting on an imminent deal, though, mindful of potential antitrust obstacles.

“Although we believe that some M&A could materialize in the automotive sector, we do not expect it in the short term,” said Mediobanca Securities analyst Andrea Balloni.

(Reporting by Helen Reid, Danilo Masoni, Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Keith Weir)

Source: OANN

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Indonesia retracts e-commerce regulation to avoid confusion

FILE PHOTO: Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati gestures during a panel discussion in Nairobi
FILE PHOTO: Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati gestures during a panel discussion in Nairobi, Kenya January 25, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

March 29, 2019

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia retracted its new rules requiring e-commerce sellers to share data with tax authorities to avoid further confusion, the country’s finance minister said on Friday.

“We are pulling it back because there is too much noise, while there is not even a new tax,” Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told reporters.

The rules initially stated that all operators of online marketplaces, including Tokopedia and Bukalapak, will have to detail each seller’s turnover and share data with authorities.

There were no new taxes being applied, but the rules were put in place to clarify what taxes each player in a marketplace is obliged to pay and to “create an equal treatment with conventional businesses,” the tax department has said when the rules was announced in January.

Surging smartphone use and a rising middle-class income in Indonesia, home to 260 million people, have made the e-commerce industry a battleground for foreign investors.

Sellers at online marketplaces are still required to pay the same taxes as conventional ones, for example, the 0.5 percent income tax for small- or medium-sized business or a 25 percent corporate tax of profit in case of large enterprises.

The department had previously also stated that an online seller that makes at least 4.8 billion rupiah ($339,943) in turnover must charge value added tax to customers and pay this to the authorities.

(Reporting by Maikel Jefriando; Writing by Tabita Diela and Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

Source: OANN

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USGA wants communication on rules but no popularity contest

PGA: THE PLAYERS Championship - Second Round
FILE PHOTO: Mar 15, 2019; Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, USA; Justin Thomas reacts to his putt on the 17th green during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship golf tournament at TPC Sawgrass - Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

March 21, 2019

By Andrew Both

(Reuters) – The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) wants professionals to feel comfortable questioning the rules, but the organization’s mission does not include engaging in a popularity contest, says senior director of governance Thomas Pagel.

A raft of new rules were introduced for 2019 and there has been vocal dissent from certain players, including American Justin Thomas.

The world number five’s latest outburst came three weeks ago at the Honda Classic, where he was unable to replace a nine-iron he had bent striking a tree on his follow-through.

Under the old rule, had an official deemed the club unfit for play Thomas could have replaced the club, assuming there was a replacement handy.

The new rule allows players to continue using a damaged club, even bending it back into shape if possible, but not to replace it during a round.

“You can just add that one to the list of rules that don’t make any sense,” Thomas told reporters.

“If you break or bend the club in play, I don’t see where the harm is in replacing it.”

Pagel disputes the new rule does not make sense.

“That rule used to be so complicated (determining) when a club was damaged, unfit,” Pagel told Reuters in an interview.

“We said let’s simplify it. You can start with up to 14 (clubs) and if one becomes damaged you’re not able to replace it.

“Justin and I have connected. I thought it was very positive conversation. I want to keep the nature of it private.”

The Thomas criticism followed what at times was a rocky rollout of the new rules in January, though Pagel says he expected growing pains after such a significant overhaul.

The first major controversy involved a rule banning caddies from standing behind players and lining them up toward a target.

PENALTY RESCINDED

An incident at the Phoenix Open where Denny McCarthy had a two-stroke penalty rescinded prompted the USGA and its joint ruling body the R&A to rewrite the rule in a matter of days.

Pagel said the rule as it was originally written was too unforgiving.

“That’s one of the things we learnt and went in and quickly changed,” he said.

Another change required players taking a drop to do so from knee height, rather than shoulder height.

This also was put under the microscope when Rickie Fowler at the WGC-Mexico Championship became the first player penalized.

Fowler was well aware of the rule change, but simply forget in the heat of the moment and took a drop from shoulder height so quickly that his caddie, who was zipping up a pocket in the golf bag, did not even see it.

The drop rule was introduced so the ball will not roll as far when it hits the ground.

Pagel said the USGA had expected “growing pains” given the scope of the changes.

“The first six weeks we had a member on site at every PGA Tour event,” he said.

“We’ve kept an open mind all along. Going back to last year, we acknowledged this is a lot of change.

“We want to have conversations with players and understand their perspectives.”

But that does not mean the players will always get their way.

“Governance is not easy but it’s a role we take (seriously),” Pagel said. “It’s not about a popularity contest.”

(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Ed Osmond)

Source: OANN

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A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau
A man looks out at a flooded residential area in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

April 26, 2019

MONTREAL/OTTAWA (Reuters) – Rising waters were prompting further evacuations in central Canada on Thursday, with the mayor of the country’s capital, Ottawa, declaring a state of emergency and Quebec authorities warning that a hydroelectric dam was at risk of breaking.

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson declared the emergency in response to rising water levels along the Ottawa River and weather forecasts that called for significant rainfall on Friday.

In a statement on Twitter, Watson asked for help from the Ontario provincial government and the country’s military.

He warned that “flood levels are currently forecasted to exceed the levels that caused significant damage to numerous properties in the city of Ottawa in 2017.”

Spring flooding had killed one person and forced more than 900 people from their homes in Canada’s Quebec province as of 1 p.m. on Thursday, according to a government website.

Ottawa has received 80 requests for service related to potential flooding such as sandbagging, a city spokeswoman said.

The prospect of more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours triggered concerns on Thursday that the hydroelectric dam at Bell Falls in the western part of Quebec could be at risk of failing because of rising water levels.

Quebec’s provincial police said 250 people were protectively removed from homes in the area as of late afternoon in case the dam on the Rouge River breaks.

The dam is now at its full flow capacity of 980 cubic meters per second of water, said Francis Labbé, a spokesman for the province’s state-owned utility, Hydro Quebec. He said Hydro Quebec expected the flow could rise to 1,200 cubic meters per second of water over the next two days.

“We have to take the worst-case scenario into consideration, since we`re already at the maximum capacity,” Labbé said by phone.

The dam is part of a power station that no longer produces electricity, but is regularly inspected by Hydro Quebec, he said.

(Reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and David Ljunggren and Julie Gordon in Ottawa; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Funeral of journalist Lyra McKee in Belfast
FILE PHOTO: Pallbearers carry the coffin of journalist Lyra McKee at her funeral at St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, Northern Ireland, April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne/File Photo

April 26, 2019

BELFAST (Reuters) – Detectives investigating the murder of journalist Lyra McKee in Northern Ireland last week suspect the gunman who shot her dead is in his late teens as they made a further appeal to the local community who they believe know his identity.

McKee’s killing by an Irish nationalist militant during a riot in Londonderry has sparked outrage in the province where a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence that cost the lives of some 3,600 people.

The New IRA, one of a small number of groups that oppose the peace accord, has said one of its members shot the 29-year-old reporter dead in the Creggan area of the city on Thursday when opening fire on police during a riot McKee was watching.

The killing, which followed a large car bomb in Londonderry in January that police also blamed on the New IRA, has raised fears that small marginalized militant groups are exploiting a political vacuum in the province and tensions caused by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union.

Police released footage on Friday of immediately before and after the shooting showing three men who were involved in the rioting and identified one as the gunman who they believe is in his late teens. 

“I believe that the information that can help us to bring those responsible for her murder to justice lies within the community. I need the public to tell me who he is,” Detective Superintendent Jason Murphy told reporters.

Murphy said those involved in the disorder on the night were teenagers or in their early 20s, and that about 100 people were on the ground watching the trouble as it unfolded.

He added that police believed the gun used in the attack was of a similar caliber to those used before in paramilitary type attacks in Creggan. 

“I recognize that people living in Creagan may find it’s difficult to come forward to speak to police. Today, I want to provide a personal reassurance that we are able to deal with those issues sensitively,” Murphy said, echoing similar appeals in recent days.

(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson, editing by Padraic Halpin and Toby Chopra)

Source: OANN

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Traders work on the floor at the NYSE in New York
FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., April 24, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

April 26, 2019

By Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were flat on Friday, as investors paused ahead of GDP data, which is expected to show the world’s largest economy maintained a moderate pace of growth in the first quarter.

Gross domestic product probably increased at a 2% annualized rate in the quarter as a burst in exports, strong inventory stockpiling and government investment in public construction projects offset a slowdown in consumer and business spending, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

The Commerce Department report will be published at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The GDP data comes as investors look for fresh catalysts to push the markets higher. The S&P 500 index is about 0.5% below its record high hit in late September, after surging nearly 17% this year.

First-quarter earnings have been largely upbeat, with nearly 78% of the 178 companies that have reported so far surpassing earnings estimates, according to Refinitiv data.

Wall Street now expects S&P 500 earnings to be in line with the year-ago quarter, a sharp improvement from the 2.3% fall expected at the start of April.

Amazon.com Inc rose 0.9% in premarket trading after the e-commerce giant reported quarterly profit that doubled and beat estimates on soaring demand for its cloud and ad services.

Ford Motor Co shares surged 8.5% after the automaker posted better-than-expected first-quarter earnings largely due to strong pickup truck sales in its core U.S. market.

Mattel Inc jumped 8% after the toymaker beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue, as a more diverse range of Barbie dolls powered sales in the United States.

At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 35 points, or 0.13%. S&P 500 e-minis were down 1.5 points, or 0.05% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.14%.

Among decliners, Intel Corp slumped 7.7% after it cut its full-year revenue forecast and missed quarterly sales estimate for its key data center business.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices declined 0.8%.

Oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp are expected to report results later in the day.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Amy Caren Daniel in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

Source: OANN

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General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw
General view of a destroyed building during World War II is pictured in Warsaw, Poland April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

April 26, 2019

By Joanna Plucinska

WARSAW (Reuters) – Germany could owe Poland more than $850 billion in reparations for damages it incurred during World War Two and the brutal Nazi occupation, a senior ruling party lawmaker said.

Some six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war and Warsaw was razed to the ground following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died.

Germany, one of Poland’s biggest trade partners and a fellow member of the European Union and NATO, says all financial claims linked to World War Two have been settled.

The right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) has revived calls for compensation since it took power in 2015 and has made the promotion of Poland’s wartime victimhood a central plank of its appeal to nationalism.

PiS has yet to make an official demand for reparations but its combative stance towards Germany has strained relations.

“Poland lost not only millions of its citizens but it was also destroyed in an unusually brutal way,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk, who heads the Polish parliamentary committee on reparations, told Reuters in an interview.

“Many (victims) are still alive and feel deeply wronged.”

His comments come a month before European Parliament elections in which populist and nationalist parties are expected to do well. Poland will also hold national elections later this year, with PiS still well ahead of its rivals in opinion polls.

EU LARGESSE

Mularczyk said the reparations figure could amount to more than 10 times the estimated 100 billion euros ($111 billion) that Poland has received so far in European Union funds since it joined the bloc in 2004.

Germany is the biggest net donor to the EU budget and some Germans regard its contributions as generous compensation to recipient countries like Poland which suffered under Nazi rule.

In 1953 Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities. PiS says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation.

Mularczyk said his committee hoped to complete its report on the reparations issue by Sept. 1, the 80th anniversary of Hitler’s invasion.

Accusing Berlin of playing “diplomatic games” over the issue, he said: “The matter is being swept under the rug (by Germany) … until it’ll be wiped from the memory, from people’s awareness.”

His comments come after the Greek parliament voted this month to seek billions of euros in German reparations for the Nazi occupation of their country.

(Additional reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Editing by Justyna Pawlak and Gareth Jones)

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FILE PHOTO - Otto Frederick Warmbier is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang North Korea
FILE PHOTO – Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea’s top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of comatose American student Otto Warmbier.

The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from North Korea to cover its care of the college student, who died shortly after he was returned to the United States after 17 months in a North Korean prison.

(Reporting by Makini Brice and Susan Heavey)

Source: OANN

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