Reader’s links for April 3 2017

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

61 Replies to “Reader’s links for April 3 2017”

  1. Demonstrators protest Afghan president’s Australia visit (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/demonstrators-protest-afghan-presidents-australia-visit-46536512

    “Hundreds of protesters demonstrated against the Afghan president’s visit to Australia on Monday, calling for his government to end discrimination against the Hazara ethnic minority and to refuse to repatriate asylum seekers rejected by Australia.

    The protesters gathered outside Government House, where Ashraf Ghani met with Governor-General Peter Cosgrove on the first visit to Australia by an Afghan president.

    Hazara protester Barat Ali Batoor said the security situation in Afghanistan had deteriorated too much for members of the Hazara community for the Afghan government to continue to accept asylum seekers rejected by Australia. Afghanistan signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia in 2011 to accept failed Afghan asylum seekers.

    “There needs to be a moratorium on any more forced repatriations,” Batoor said.

    Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said Hazaras were rarely returned by Australia and it was unclear whether the Afghans would now be prepared to accept such forced removals.

    Some estimates put the numbers of protesters, many of them Shiite Muslim Hazaras, at between 1,000 and 2,000 men, women and children. They demonstrated peacefully in light autumn rain outside the official residence of the governor-general, Australia’s figurehead leader. Protest organizer Najeeba Wadzefost said as many as 3,000 had gathered from across Australia and neighboring New Zealand to mark Ghani’s first official function on his visit…”

  2. Anti-Islam campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali cancels Australian tour (asiancorrespondent, Apr 3, 2017)
    https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/04/anti-islam-campaigner-ayaan-hirsi-ali-cancels-australian-tour/#Kez1s8gwgWiHHcV7.97

    “CONTROVERSAL anti-Islam campaigner Ayaan Hirsi Ali has cancelled her forthcoming Australia and New Zealand tour due to a “number of reasons including security concerns”.

    The Dutch-American who has called Islam a “nihilistic cult of death” and “the new fascism” had originally scheduled dates of her so-called Hero of Heresy tour between April 6 and 9 in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland.

    According to event organisers Think Inc., Ayaan wished them “success in their future endeavours and hopes to be able to return to Australia in the not too distant future.”

    Ayaan is a high-profile campaigner against “female genital mutilation”, arranged marriages and claims to oppose Islam based on defending women’s rights…”

  7. North Korean Defector Tells Lester Holt ‘World Should be Ready’

    by Lester Holt and Alexander Smith

    SEOUL, South Korea — A senior North Korean defector has told NBC News that the country’s “desperate” dictator is prepared to use nuclear weapons to strike the United States and its allies.

    Thae Yong Ho is the most high profile North Korean defector in two decades, meaning he is able to give a rare insight into the secretive, authoritarian regime.

    According to Thae, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is “desperate in maintaining his rule by relying on his [development of] nuclear weapons and ICBM.” He was using an acronym for intercontinental ballistic missiles — a long range rocket that in theory would be capable of hitting the U.S.

    http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/north-korean-defector-tells-lester-holt-world-should-be-ready-n741901

    video at site

    • What the news media is saying is that we are suppose to continuing paying Kim tribute to keep him from attacking us or our allies. This is the Barbary Pirates all over again and once again the peace at any price crowd are willing to sell out US sovereignty and freedom rather then fight.

      No matter what we do there is going to be a war, the question is will the war start because we are defending freedom or because we are not surrendering fast enough to suit the wanna be world conquers?

      • This is the sort of situation where Americans should be d@mn glad that Hillary is not in the oval office. She would be entirely unable to demonstrate a scintilla of the resolve and inflexibility that will be necessary to face down both China and their rabid lap dog, North Korea.

        At the very least, Trump’s experience in deal-making and his real life familiarity with business—as opposed to politicians who sit around and spend other people’s money with little in the way of personal consequences—will see him far better equipped to navigate the diplomatic shoals that surround these duplicitous Asian gangsters.

        Sadly, I have to wonder whether Trump, or even a single one of his advisors, has the slightest understanding of high-context versus low-context cultures. For those who are unfamiliar with this concept, please consider reading the short and totally outstanding essay, “Face”, by Sarah Rosenberg. It will provide you with crucial insights about why Islam has proven so difficult to cope with for European and American governments (or militaries) alike.

        As an example: Western inability to comprehend the issue of “face” (as in loss of or gaining thereof) within Asian culture was a primary driver of WWII’s otherwise needless Pacific Theater. Imagine if Japan had been allowed to retain Manchuria and, subsequently, crush Mao Tse-tung’s budding Communist movement. How different would the sociopolitical terrain (and threat environment) of East Asia be today?

        I do not envy Trump’s task of counteracting decades of advantage that previous, witless administrations have ceded to both Beijing and Pyonyang. Regaining the strategic, economic, and political leverage which was senselessly forfeited to these, otherwise, highly vulnerable foes is akin to mucking out the Augean stables.

        All I can do is wish him well and post these small gestures of support. At the very least, Trump has (thankfully) obviated the need for me to be scribbling multi-page rants about Hillary’s unforgivable incompetence.

  8. Trump national security aides complete North Korea policy review

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s top national security aides have completed a broad review of U.S. options aimed at countering North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.

    The review, which was accelerated to have it done before Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, includes a range of economic and military measures but leans towards new sanctions and increased pressure on Beijing to rein in its neighbor, the official said.

    The list of recommendations was put together by Trump’s National Security Council on his orders and was ready for his consideration, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

    It was not immediately clear if the review had reached the Republican president’s desk or how quickly he would decide on a course of action, which could be delayed by the slow pace at which the administration is filling key national security jobs.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/trump-national-security-aides-complete-north-korea-policy-194900938.html

  9. Trump presses China on North Korea ahead of Xi talks

    U.S. President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea and suggested Washington might deal with Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs on its own if need be.

    The comments, in an interview published on Sunday by the Financial Times, appeared designed to pressure Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of his visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida this week.

    “China has great influence over North Korea. And China will either decide to help us with North Korea, or they won’t. And if they do that will be very good for China, and if they don’t it won’t be good for anyone,” Trump was quoted as saying, according to an edited transcript published by the newspaper.

    Asked what incentive the United States had to offer China, Trump replied: “Trade is the incentive. It is all about trade.”

    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-idUSKBN1740SH?il=0

  10. BREAKING NEWS: Two nail bombs on St Petersburg metro rip through carriages, killing at least 10 as Putin visits city for meeting

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4375518/Explosion-metro-St-Petersburg.html#ixzz4dByULbXK
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    Two nail bombs on the metro in St Petersburg ripped through train carriages killing at least 10 people today.

    The incident occurred at two separate locations including Sennaya Ploshchad train station leaving at least 50 injured including children.

    Vladimir Putin is in his hometown of St Petersburg today for talks with the president of Belarus and has confirmed ‘there are dead and injured’ and offered his condolences to the families of those killed.

    Investigators are looking into a possible terror attack as well as keeping an open mind to the motive of the subway blast, the Kremlin leader said.

    He said: ‘I have already spoken to the head of our special services, they are working to ascertain the cause of the blasts.

    Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4375518/Explosion-metro-St-Petersburg.html#ixzz4dByby2kl
    Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

    • OT/ My own Russki is in Minsk right now, together with my physical therapist. Then they’re off to Israel for the beginning of Passover. Russian friends here checked “home” – thank-G-d none is not directly impacted.

      I hate to let anybody out of sight. Such a small, dangerous world.

        • Russians here are frothing bloodlust, imagine the rage flowing through Russki-land! Can’t play a victim card over there.

          Is there a Tardish equivalent to “pogrom”? Unlikely to see much RT coverage, I’ll bet.

          • “Is there a Tardish equivalent to “pogrom”?”

            Sadly, yes. Appropriate to a supremacist and triumphalist ideology like Islam, its “equivalent” will be the “Muslim Holocaust”.

            Islam remains hellbent on antagonizing all other religions and cultures that occupy this planet. Given the number of non-Muslim nations that possess rather large arsenals of nuclear weapons, there can be no sort of “happy ending” to this story.

            As in, Islam will continue to poke at foreign atomic dragons with its pointed wooden stick until one of them (or any combination thereof) decides to cure its Muslim Fatigue™ for once and all time.

            Permanent end of problem and a senseless loss of some one billion innocent human lives due to ideological ossification and theocratic incalcitrance.

            Who’s fault will that outcome be? Face the question squarely.

          • We all know WWIII is going to go kinetic some time soon, this may be the match that lights the fuse.

  11. Massachusetts Sheriff: Arrest Leaders of Sanctuary Cities who Disobey Federal Law

  12. Palestinians: The Diploma for Terror

    by Bassam Tawil
    April 3, 2017 at 5:00 am

    https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10143/palestinians-terror-awards

    Palestinians who are being held in Israeli prisons are “a model for sensibility and national culture and constitute a pillar for the establishment of a Palestinian state.” This glorification of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are behind bars for murdering Jews, was issued last week by Fayez Abu Aitah, a senior representative of President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction.

    Abu Aitah’s words of appreciation for murderers of Jews came during a visit he paid to Hatem al-Maghari, a Palestinian Authority (PA) policeman who was released last week after serving 17 years in prison for his role in the lynching of two Israeli reserve soldiers who mistakenly entered Ramallah. Upon his arrival at his home in the town of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Al-Maghari received a hero’s welcome. Hundreds of Palestinians have since converged on his home to congratulate him on his release from prison and heap praise him on for his “contribution” to the Palestinian cause.

    Abbas’s Fatah was quick to embrace al-Maghari as “one of our sons” in order to send a message to Palestinians that the Fatah faction is also involved in terror attacks against Israel. For years, Fatah’s opponents have been accusing it of abandoning the “armed struggle” in favor of a peace process with Israel. Groups such as Hamas, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad continue to criticize Fatah for not being sufficiently active in the terror campaign against Israel.

    • PBS – Susan Rice: The world wonders and worries if the White House can be trusted

      Former National Security Adviser Susan Rice had tough words in The Washington Post for President Trump and his administration on Wednesday, warning about the “profound dangers” of making false statements. In her first interview since leaving the White House, Rice joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the importance of U.S. credibility, as well as the intelligence probe into Russian interference.

    • the gateway pudit – UPDATE=> CONFIRMED: Obama NSA Advisor Susan Rice Requested the Unmasking of Incoming Trump Officials

      Senior Fox News Correspondent, Adam Housley revealed on Friday that Intel Chair Devin Nunes (R-CA) knows who unmasked the identities of Trump and his close associates.

      Sources also told him that the unmasking was purely for political purposes to embarrass Trump and had NOTHING to do with national security.

      Now this..
      According to activist and author Mike Cernovich the leaker and unmasker is Susan Rice.[…]

      UPDATE—- Bloomberg confirmed on Monday that Susan Rice was the unmasker of the surveillance on Donald Trump and his associates.
      Via Eli Lake:

      White House lawyers last month discovered that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

      The pattern of Rice’s requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government’s policy on “unmasking” the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like “U.S. Person One.” The National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice’s multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel’s office, who reviewed more of Rice’s requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.

      http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/report-obama-nsa-advisor-susan-rice-requested-unmasking-incoming-trump-officials/

      the gateway pundit – Breaking: FOX Reporter Adam Housley: Surveillance of Trump Team and Unmasking Went on for MORE THAN A YEAR (VIDEO)

      FOX News reporter Adam Housley disclosed more information this morning on the surveillance of Donald Trump and his team by the Obama administration.

      Housley said the investigation went on for more than a year – This is unprecedented.

      Adam Housley: We know that there was this. There was electronic surveillance on Trump and the people close to Donald Trump, including some supporters, for up to a year before inauguration. That information was disseminated we’re told through NSA channels. It’s unprecedented, I’m told, the way this was done. The mention of US citizens is supposed to be masked, whether, that means taken out of a report. So, for example, I call somebody in Bulgaria and that’s picked up some how by our agencies and there’s nothing there causing national security, there’s nothing there causing a crime, that report would come out and say American #1 or my name would not be there. What I’m told now is that when these reports came out names were there and that is unprecedented. Basically, they say that the information that was unmasking, this unmasked information, these names of Americans who had done nothing wrong was disseminated to all of the NSC, some at DOD, Clapper, Brennan, basically the people at the top. They also say I’m told that Rice knew about this possibly as well. Now, I know there are reports out there that she is the one that ordered this. We do not know who reported this because we have not spoken to Devin Nunes about this. He has not at least told us about these things. So we don’t know what papers he saw. Our sources don’t know what papers he saw. They just told me the information of unmasking names from Donald Trump and his team and his family was disseminated to a very select few at the top and was done so for a significant amount of time. And that is blockbuster guys. That is, as far as we know, hasn’t been done in modern times.

      http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/breaking-fox-reporter-adam-housley-surveillance-trump-team-unmasking-went-year-video/

    • BLOOMBERG – Top Obama Adviser Sought Names of Trump Associates in Intel

      White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

      The pattern of Rice’s requests was discovered in a National Security Council review of the government’s policy on “unmasking” the identities of individuals in the U.S. who are not targets of electronic eavesdropping, but whose communications are collected incidentally. Normally those names are redacted from summaries of monitored conversations and appear in reports as something like “U.S. Person One.”

      The National Security Council’s senior director for intelligence, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, was conducting the review, according to two U.S. officials who spoke with Bloomberg View on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. In February Cohen-Watnick discovered Rice’s multiple requests to unmask U.S. persons in intelligence reports that related to Trump transition activities. He brought this to the attention of the White House General Counsel’s office, who reviewed more of Rice’s requests and instructed him to end his own research into the unmasking policy.

      The intelligence reports were summaries of monitored conversations — primarily between foreign officials discussing the Trump transition, but also in some cases direct contact between members of the Trump team and monitored foreign officials. One U.S. official familiar with the reports said they contained valuable political information on the Trump transition such as whom the Trump team was meeting, the views of Trump associates on foreign policy matters and plans for the incoming administration.

      Rice did not respond to an email seeking comment on Monday morning. Her role in requesting the identities of Trump transition officials adds an important element to the dueling investigations surrounding the Trump White House since the president’s inauguration.

      Both the House and Senate intelligence committees are probing any ties between Trump associates and a Russian influence operation against Hillary Clinton during the election. The chairman of the House intelligence committee, Representative Devin Nunes, is also investigating how the Obama White House kept tabs on the Trump transition after the election through unmasking the names of Trump associates incidentally collected in government eavesdropping of foreign officials.

      Rice herself has not spoken directly on the issue of unmasking. Last month when she was asked on the “PBS NewsHour” about reports that Trump transition officials, including Trump himself, were swept up in incidental intelligence collection, Rice said: “I know nothing about this,” adding, “I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that account today.”

      Rice’s requests to unmask the names of Trump transition officials does not vindicate Trump’s own tweets from March 4 in which he accused Obama of illegally tapping Trump Tower. There remains no evidence to support that claim.

      But Rice’s multiple requests to learn the identities of Trump officials discussed in intelligence reports during the transition period does highlight a longstanding concern for civil liberties advocates about U.S. surveillance programs. The standard for senior officials to learn the names of U.S. persons incidentally collected is that it must have some foreign intelligence value, a standard that can apply to almost anything. This suggests Rice’s unmasking requests were likely within the law.

      The news about Rice also sheds light on the strange behavior of Nunes in the last two weeks. It emerged last week that he traveled to the White House last month, the night before he made an explosive allegation about Trump transition officials caught up in incidental surveillance. At the time he said he needed to go to the White House because the reports were only on a database for the executive branch. It now appears that he needed to view computer systems within the National Security Council that would include the logs of Rice’s requests to unmask U.S. persons.

      The ranking Democrat on the committee Nunes chairs, Representative Adam Schiff, viewed these reports on Friday. In comments to the press over the weekend he declined to discuss the contents of these reports, but also said it was highly unusual for the reports to be shown only to Nunes and not himself and other members of the committee.

      Indeed, much about this is highly unusual: if not how the surveillance was collected, then certainly how and why it was disseminated.

      https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-03/top-obama-adviser-sought-names-of-trump-associates-in-intel

    • weaselzippers – Another Evelyn Farkas? Dem Strategist Claims Obama Admin Began Investigating Trump..In Spring 2015?

      This is a video from early March.

      So here’s the problem.

      James Comey has said they began investigating the election meddling, i.e. the DNC hack/Podesta email situation, in 2016.

      But here is Mary Anne Marsh, Democratic strategist, who works for Dewey Square Group, a Democratic public affairs consulting firm, saying very definitively, that the investigation of Trump began in spring 2015.

      The DNC hack wasn’t known yet, Trump hadn’t even declared in spring 2015. So just exactly what was being investigated? Connections to Russia? He was a private citizen.

      Moreover, she says, “Obama was briefed in June 2015.” What?

      Ms. Marsh may not understand this. But assuming there was some form of a legitimate FBI investigation into Trump in 2015, it would be improper for them to be informing Obama of the nature of it, particularly given that Trump was of a different political party and had been a declared opponent of President Obama.

      “Briefed in June 2015.” Why? Was he briefed when Trump declared? Again, if he was being briefed because he was now a specific candidate against Democrats, that would once again be improper.

      http://www.weaselzippers.us/332349-another-evelyn-farkas-obama-official-claims-obama-admin-began-investigating-trump-in-spring-2015/

    • He keeps his goat diapered so he won’t be tempted.

      The Daily Dish August 13, 2006 | Andrew Sullivan:
      Those Goat-Diapers

      It’s hard to get them out of my head. Here’s the story if you missed it: Iraqi Islamists are threatening shepherds with violence if they don’t clothe their goats with diapers to avoid tempting lonely shepherds. Another facet of the “new Middle East.”

      Yes, it’s funny. But it’s also revealing about the way fundamentalism and sex interact. What most male-run religious fundamentalisms include is a major exception for the hetero-male sex drive. Sex outside of missionary-position reproduction with legal wife/wives is officially verboten; but when frail male flesh gives in, the blame is almost always the object of desire – not the guy actually responsible.

      Hence: it’s the goat’s fault. The way they were dressed, they were asking for it.
      ……….
      Islam and Bestiality
      http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islam_and_Bestiality

        • I got it from Don Laird, so it can’t be an urban legend.
          You can hear the damage 0 has done when you listen to this report and contrast it with constraints on us today.

          First, that it’s even reported. Bestiality goes together with Islam’s perversion of human sexuality. Fact.
          Then, that sometimes a moral judgement is indeed appropriate: murder for ‘suggestive’ vegetable display?

        • And that human life is so cheap to these savages.

          That’s what people always say about enemies at war, but this is something we have to come to terms with at home, with our neighbors. We’re defining “war” and “peace” differently already. Another aspect of undeclared war, like expecting police to function like an army.

  17. CBC – Asylum seeker’s future in limbo after near-fatal border crossing in Quebec

    Mamadou is slowly growing accustomed to Montreal after a harrowing journey, but will he be allowed to stay?

    It has been two weeks since Mamadou left the refugee detention centre, three weeks since he left the hospital, and a month since he was found collapsed in the snow, too frozen to move.

    His feet, damaged by frostbite, are slowly healing, though his toes are still blue in some places and peeling in others, and they still hurt too much to wear shoes.

    And so, in sandals and sports socks, Mamadou makes the two-block walk from the YMCA residence where he lives to a bustling shopping centre at the west end of downtown Montreal.

    He comes here often, sometimes even three times a day.

    “It helps me forget what I’m going through,” he said during a lunchtime meeting earlier this week in the food court at the Alexis Nihon mall.

    strong>Mamadou, whose last name is being withheld protect his identity, is hoping to make a life in Montreal after an arduous, hours-long trek through the forest into Canada on March 5.

    A day earlier, he tried to make a refugee claim at an official port of entry between Quebec and New York, but was refused, making him ineligible to claim asylum under the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement.

    Advocates point to his harrowing tale as proof the decade-old pact should be suspended in the age of President Donald Trump.

    His case has attracted the attention of lawyers, politicians and human rights activists. This week, two representatives from Amnesty International visited to hear his story.

    The Safe Third Country Agreement, made official in 2004, means that asylum seekers who have landed in either the U.S. or Canada are denied a chance to seek refuge in the other at official entry points.

    They can still, however, make a claim by crossing illegally — but only if they haven’t tried legally first.

    As a consequence, an increasing number of people are walking into Canada through illegal entry points since Trump was elected.

    Mamadou, originally from Ivory Coast, worked as a cab driver in New York City for the past 10 years.

    He didn’t know about the illegal-crossing loophole, or that many asylum seekers now walk into Canada at the end of Roxham Road, not far from the official border at Lacolle, Que., instead of trekking through the woods.

    He didn’t plan to come to Canada.

    It was only at the beginning of last month, when a neighbour told him immigration officers had repeatedly come searching for him at his apartment in the Bronx, that he decided to flee.

    Mamadou says he watched rebels shoot his father, a prominent businessman in Abidjan, and burn down the family home. He has no idea where his remaining relatives are now,

    His initial asylum application was rejected when he landed in the U.S. in 2006, but he was allowed to stay temporarily given the danger in his home country.

    He fears he will be killed if forced to return.

    Mamadou was released from detention on bail by the Immigration and Refugee Board on March 16, but his status is still unclear.

    Éric Taillefer, his lawyer, says that if Mamadou had initially crossed illegally, his chances of being allowed to stay would be far higher — around 60 per cent. That’s now far less likely.

    Taillefer is examining whether to contest the agreement in Federal Court as a way of allowing his client to remain in Canada.

    “When you see cases like Mamadou, where basically they put their lives at risk because of the agreement, there is a basis for Charter challenge. The only thing is that finding the perfect case to bring up is going to be a tough one,” Taillefer told CBC’s The House.

    In conversation over lunch, Mamadou returns repeatedly to the night he crossed into Canada, when the temperature hovered around -15 C.

    The memory still haunts him, he says.

    He walked through the woods connecting New York and Quebec for hours — at one point slipping into a frozen stream.

    “I don’t have no watch, no phone, just walking. No light, no map,” he says, recalling the hours-long struggle in the darkness.

    Finally, he says, he saw a street light in the distance, and followed it.

    He knew he was in Canada when he saw a stop sign with the word arrêt.

    Mamadou was found by an RCMP officer on patrol near the border, who said he wouldn’t have survived much longer had he not been spotted on the side of the road.

    He hopes to meet the officer again, and thank him for saving his life.

    Mamadou was found by an RCMP officer on patrol near the border, who said he wouldn’t have survived much longer had he not been spotted on the side of the road.

    He hopes to meet the officer again, and thank him for saving his life.

    The clothes Mamadou was wearing when he walked into Canada were cut off at the hospital where he was treated for frostbite, but he found two pairs of pants that fit among the offerings at the YMCA.

    Someone gave him a winter jacket when he was recovering at the hospital.

    Eventually, he wants to be able to put shoes back on.

    Although Mamadou doesn’t know anyone in Montreal, aside from his lawyer, he speaks French and English and says he already feels comfortable in the city.

    He’d like to get a work permit and an apartment of his own.

    “I drove a cab in New York City, I can do it here,” he says.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/mamadou-quebec-border-refugee-safe-third-country-1.4050228

    ====================================================

    CBC – For many asylum seekers in Montreal, long journey includes stop at YMCA
    Organization that helps those seeking refugee status sees significant but manageable spike in past year

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-asylum-seekers-praida-1.4015392

  19. Somalia piracy: India ship hijacked in new attack (BBC, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-39478457

    “Somali pirates have hijacked an Indian cargo vessel off the coast of the Puntland region, officials say.

    It was believed to have been travelling between Dubai and Bosasso, in Puntland, when it was seized.

    It is the second such attack recently. Last month, pirates seized a tanker bound for Mogadishu but released it apparently without conditions.

    That incident was the first hijack of a large commercial ship off the Somali coast since 2012…”

  20. Bahrain’s king approves military trials for civilians (BBC, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39478101

    “Bahrain’s King Hamad has ratified a constitutional amendment that enables military courts to try civilians.

    Officials said it would affect only those accused of acts of terrorism.

    But Amnesty International warned that the measure was so vaguely worded that it could
    be used to try government critics, including peaceful activists…”

  21. Mosul from the sky: Evidence of IS using human shields (BBC, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39475591

    “The BBC has seen evidence that so-called Islamic State (IS) has been using children as human shields as they fight to keep control of the Iraqi city of Mosul. BBC Persian correspondent Nafiseh Kohnavard and producer Joe Inwood had exclusive access to helicopter missions of the Iraqi military and witnessed the battle from above…”

  22. Trump backs Sisi as he seeks to ‘reboot’ US-Egypt ties (BBC, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39478096

    “Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi is visiting the White House for the first time since he led the military’s overthrow of his predecessor in 2013.

    US President Donald Trump said he was “very much behind” Mr Sisi, whose deadly crackdown on dissent was criticised by the Obama administration.

    Mr Sisi declared his deep appreciation for Mr Trump’s “unique” personality.

    US officials have said Mr Trump is seeking to “reboot” the countries’ bilateral relationship at the talks…”

  23. Attackers fire grenades at police in south Thailand; 6 hurt (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/attackers-fire-grenades-police-south-thailand-hurt-46539678

    “Gunmen with grenade launchers and other heavy weapons attacked a police checkpoint early Monday in southern Thailand, injuring six officers, in what appeared to be the latest violence by Muslim separatists who have been fighting for more than a decade.

    Police Capt. Pongsak Khaonuan said an unknown number of attackers used M-79 grenade launchers and other weapons to attack the checkpoint in Yala province before dawn. The gunmen retreated when police fired back.

    Three other attacks last week resulted in the deaths of an army ranger and a policeman in the deep south provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, the only ones with Muslim-majorities in Buddhist-dominated Thailand. About 7,000 people have been killed since the insurgency flared in 2004…”

  24. UN food program head warns of US budget cuts amid famine (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/food-program-head-warns-us-budget-cuts-amid-46546836

    “The outgoing head of the United Nations’ World Food Program said Monday she is certain the U.S. Congress will reject the Trump administration’s proposed budget cuts for U.N. aid agencies, saying “No one in America believes that ‘America First’ means that other people must die.”

    Executive Director Ertharin Cousin, whose friendship with former President Barack Obama predated his presidency, on Tuesday winds up five years of leading the world’s largest anti-hunger humanitarian organization. The Trump administration tapped former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley to replace her, and U.N. officials appointed him last week.

    In a blunt interview on the eve of her departure, Cousin joined Congressional Democrats and Republicans in criticizing the administration’s proposal to reduce funding for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development by roughly 31 percent in the next fiscal year. Congress, in negotiation with the administration, has the final say on the budget.

    “I sincerely believe that no American wants to see images of starving babies,” Cousin said….”

  25. Dubai police say they arrest hackers after White House staff (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dubai-police-arrest-hackers-white-house-staff-46538643

    “Dubai police have arrested foreign hackers who targeted five senior White House officials in a blackmail email scam, state-owned media reported on Monday.

    The Arabic-language Al Bayan newspaper and the television channel Dubai One reported the arrests, while Dubai police did not answer repeated calls for comment. The arrests come as the United Arab Emirates, which hosts some 4,000 U.S. troops fighting the Islamic State group, remains a crucial regional ally.

    The White House had no immediate comment on the reports, whose details closely resembled a previously announced 2015 raid in which Emirati authorities never mentioned a connection to Washington…”

  26. Syrian government forces besiege rebel-held Damascus area (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/syrian-government-intensifies-attacks-damascus-hama-46539477

    “Syrian troops intensified their bombardment of opposition-held areas around Damascus on Monday and besieged a rebel neighborhood northeast of the city, the latest in the government’s push to erase battlefield advances made by insurgents in March.

    Airstrikes on the rebel-held Damascus suburb of Douma killed at least 16 people, including three children, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Douma-based activist Mazen al-Shami said 16 people were killed in Douma, including a whole family. He gave no further details.

    The government’s siege of the Barzeh neighborhood came as President Bashar Assad’s forces work to expand their security belt around Damascus, his seat of power…”

  27. US thought top ISIS leader was cornered but location now uncertain, official says (abcnews, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-thought-top-isis-leader-cornered-location-now/story?id=46544545

    “The week Donald Trump was sworn in as president last January, the U.S. military’s terrorist hunters thought they had finally pinpointed the underground lair of top ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in occupied Mosul, Iraq, officials tell ABC News.

    But now officials say what they hoped could be an early victory for the Trump administration by killing the ISIS leader has evaporated. New intelligence indicates the world’s most-wanted terrorist leader no longer is hunkered down in Iraq’s half-liberated, second-largest city — and no one is certain where al-Baghdadi has gone or when he left.

    “There was a sort of ‘spidey sense’ at that time that they were close, but that has gone away,” one senior counterterrorism official briefed on the hunt told ABC News.

    Al-Baghdadi’s location was thought to be at a site with religious significance located within the city’s crowded urban streets, which the U.S.-led coalition was reluctant to bomb because of possible civilian casualties and Muslim backlash if he wasn’t there, another counterterrorism official said…”

  28. Liberals drawn to survivalism since Trump election

    The survivalist industry, whose followers are preparing for the crackup of civilization due to war, environmental disasters or economic meltdown, is increasingly attracting liberals since Donald Trump’s election, especially in the Silicon Valley.

  29. MEMRI –The People Behind ISIS Media System Speak in an Al-Arabiya TV Documentary

    An in-depth documentary, titled “Studio of Horror,” was broadcast by Al-Arabiya TV on February 9. It takes a close look at the media machinery of ISIS, interviewing personnel who worked in its media industry and discussing the filming methods and effects used in execution videos. According to one of those interviewed, “When you step into the ISIS media office, you feel as if you have entered a huge international production company,” with a budget of 2-2.5 million dollars.

  30. Tunisia shuts down nightclub over call to prayer remix

    TUNIS:
    Tunisian authorities have shut down a nightclub and begun an investigation after a DJ played a remix recording of the call to prayer, an official said on Monday.

    A video, widely shared online since Sunday, shows clubbers dancing at the weekend to music that includes the call to prayer at the club in the northeastern town of Nabeul.

    The footage sparked a storm of debate on social media.

    The party, near the popular resort of Hammamet, had been organised by two European DJs.

    “After confirming the facts, we decided to close this nightclub” until further notice, Nabeul governor Mnaouar Ouertani said.

    He said an investigation had been opened and the club’s manager detained “for violation against good morals and public outrage against modesty”.

    “We will not allow attacks against religious feelings and the sacred,” Ouertani added.

    https://tribune.com.pk/story/1373429/tunisia-shuts-nightclub-call-prayer-remix/

  32. New book reveals behind the scenes how Merkel dealt with refugee crisis (DW, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.dw.com/en/new-book-reveals-behind-the-scenes-how-merkel-dealt-with-refugee-crisis/a-38268542

    “In 2015, the German government was faced with a challenge to take in almost 900,000 refugees. A new book reveals the reasoning behind the political decisions made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during the crisis.

    Back during 2015, when hundreds of thousands of people from Africa, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries were pouring into Germany, the authority of Angela Merkel – until then, a respected politician across party lines – was shaken. Doubt grew considerably towards the government’s rationality behind decisions dealing with the crisis. This paved the way for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to rise, where it won seats in regional parliaments, as well as the notion that it could permanently establish itself as a far-right party. This is even as surveys now show support for the AfD to be waning.

    Robin Alexander, an editor for the “die Welt” newspaper, has presented a new book on the topic, called “Die Getriebenen. Merkel und die Flüchtlingspolitik,” roughly translated as “The Driven Ones: Merkel and Refugee Policy, a Report from the Insides of Power.”

    The book has rocketed to number one on the bestseller lists in Germany. It has struck a nerve in political discussions and reflects the mood of parts of the country. The right is reading it as way to reckon with Merkel’s refugee policy. The liberal center is reading with amazement and probably also political dismay.

    A decision made out of fear?

    Alexander has meticuously researched the refugee crisis and put together what he found out from the inner corridors of power. A brief summary: at the beginning there was a decision to open the borders as thousands of refugees in Hungary wanted to go to Germany, although there was already an order to close the borders. Merkel and her ministers did not dare to go with the original orders, as they feared the images of rejected refugees could harm them politically. Merkel also didn’t dare to say that that this was an exceptional decision, because the Germans’ readiness to warmly receive the refugees had really surprised her. Instead, she swam on the wave of the “welcome culture.” She did not point out that this was an emergency decision and as a result, more and more came. Uncontrolled. Uncoordinated. Unregistered. The refugee policy got out of hand, even though authorities in the local areas had for months tried to do something extraordinary.

    The book gives a detailed description of the political impasses which Angela Merkel maneuvered around. It describes the machine room of power in which Interior Minister Thomas de Maziere, Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schäuble and the active Merkel-follower, chief of the Federal Chancellery, Peter Altmeier bustled. Alexander takes us to secret duels of power behind closed doors, as loyal and critical Schäuble pulled strings to restore the sovereignty to the ministry.
    Merkel at the roulette table

    Above all, Alexander shows how Merkel would change her course in terms of content but her rhetoric would not. “The borders are open,” she said, while the borders closed. “We remain an open country,” while fewer and fewer refugees came to Germany. “We remain steadfast in believing that refugees should be helped – with no limits,” while the Balkan route was defacto closed in other countries. He describes how Merkel isolated herself in the EU and how she entered the EU-Turkey deal like playing a last bet at a roulette table.

    Two politicians play a special role in Alexander’s book, the first being head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) Horst Seehofer, who had tried to undermine Merkel at the beginning of the refugee crisis. He was the first critic of her policy, while in parliament an all-party coalition was backing her up without being asked to do so.

    The other politician mentioned is the young Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz, who challenged Merkel as he closed Austria’s borders.

    The book describes an important point of history and is a extraordinary and detailed report. It’s written splendidly and reads like a criminal novel. It is a deduction of Merkel’s policies. The “Report From the Insides of Power” is in reality a report from the depths of helplessness, where things are planned but decided too little and too late. Merkel’s refugee policy is not represented as a a masterpiece of heartfelt politics but as a developing and out-of-hand disaster. The publication has already become a standard reference book.

    Robin Alexander: Die Getriebenen. Merkel und die Flüchtlingspolitik. Report aus dem Inneren der Macht. Siedler Publishing. 19,90 Euros.”

  33. Islamist given life sentence for trying to bomb Bonn train station (thelocal, Apr 3, 2017)
    https://www.thelocal.de/20170403/islamist-jailed-to-life-for-trying-to-bomb-bonn-train-station

    “A German court Monday sentenced to life in prison an Islamist militant who plotted a failed bomb attack at a railway station, and handed jail terms to three other extremists.

    Marco Gäbel, 29, a German citizen, planted a home-made pipe bomb in a sports bag at the main train station of Bonn, the capital of the former West Germany, in December 2012.

    The bomb failed to go off, but its discovery sparked a major terrorism alert that caused travel chaos at the station two weeks before Christmas.

    Gäbel and the three others were also found guilty of forming a terrorist organisation and of plotting to shoot dead the leader of anti-immigrant group Pro-NRW in North Rhine-Westphalia state in March 2013.

    The four militants were furious after the right-wing fringe group had staged an anti-Islamic street protest and displayed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed outside a local mosque…”

  34. Police hunt ‘machete wielding man’ who raped woman in Bonn (thelocal, Apr 3, 2017)
    https://www.thelocal.de/20170403/bonn-police-hunt-man-who-took-woman-from-tent-and-raped-her

    “Police in western Germany are searching for a man who is suspected of raping a young woman who was on a camping trip with her boyfriend.

    The young couple were camping in the Siegaue nature reserve north of the former German capital of Bonn on Saturday night when a man approached their tent, police report.

    Holding a large knife the man threatened the couple, before demanding that the 23-year-old woman leave the tent with him. Spiegel reports that the weapon theman was holding was a machete.

    He then raped her in front of the tent before running off into the night in the direction of the Rhine river. A medical assessment on Monday confirmed that the rape took place

    The 26-year-old boyfriend managed to alert the police and ambulance crews, who took his girlfriend to hospital.

    Police are now searching for a man they describe as aged between 20 and 30, 180 cm tall and dark skinned. Despite deploying helicopters and sniffer dogs, investigators had failed to catch the brutal attacker by Monday afternoon.

    At the time of the incident he was wearing light jeans and a summer jacket. He spoke to the couple in broken English.

    People with information relating to the crime are encouraged to call the police on 0228-150.”

  35. Hundreds of Turkish officials and families seek asylum in Germany (thelocal, Apr 3, 2017)
    https://www.thelocal.de/20170403/hundreds-of-turkish-officials-and-families-seek-asylum-in-germany

    “More than 250 Turkish diplomats, government employees and their family members have filed for political asylum in Germany, Berlin said Monday, amid a bitter row between the two NATO allies.

    Germany’s interior ministry said 151 of the asylum applications came from Turks holding diplomatic passports while the other 111 were from people with passports issued to other government employees and their dependants.

    The ministry did not specify how many of the requests came from Turkish military personnel stationed at NATO bases.

    “The asylum applications will be treated on a case-by-case basis … and decided according to the law,” a ministry spokeswoman said during a regular press conference.

    The wave of requests for safe haven follows last July’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and a subsequent crackdown, which has seen more than 100,000 people arrested or dismissed from their posts over alleged links to the plotters or to Kurdish militants.

    Berlin has emerged as a strident critic of Ankara’s crackdown, voicing concerns over civil liberties in the country.

    Erdogan’s government has accused US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen of having orchestrated the putsch.

    Berlin says Turkey’s intelligence service is also watching alleged Gulen followers in Germany, which has a large Turkish expatriate community.

    Turkey, meanwhile, has accused Germany and other EU countries of “Nazi” practices for banning campaign events by its ministers in the lead-up to an April 16th referendum campaign on extending the president’s power.

    Relations have also been troubled by Turkey’s arrest seven weeks ago of German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yucel, a correspondent for the German newspaper Die Welt, charged with spreading terrorist propaganda and inciting hatred.

    Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said Monday he had now been promised by Ankara that the German consul general would be allowed to visit Yucel, 43, for the first time on Tuesday.

    “This morning, Turkey officially confirmed by verbal note that tomorrow we will finally get access to Deniz Yucel so that we can confirm his well-being after his difficult times in detention,” said Gabriel in a statement.”

  36. Three days later, Lebanese government condemns Hezbollah parade (gulfnews, Apr 3 , 2017)
    http://gulfnews.com/news/mena/lebanon/three-days-later-lebanese-government-condemns-hezbollah-parade-1.2005060

    “It took the Minister of Interior, Nouhad Mashnouq, a full weekend to mull over the necessity to issue a formal communiqué to explain the breach of security after Hezbollah members displayed arms in the southern suburbs of Dahiyah in Beirut on Friday night.

    On Monday, Mashnouk issued a formal communiqué that decried “a show of arms by the party [Hezbollah]” and “condemned and rejected it altogether”.

    The visibly upset minister indicated the move was a slap in the face of the new government, which promised law and order for all under the aegis of the state.

    As photographs of heavily armed militiamen masked and clad in black shirts went viral on social media platforms, Hezbollah supporters downplayed the event claiming the foot soldiers were being deployed to go after drug dealers and gangs.

    Under mounting criticism, Hezbollah scrambled to formulate a response to the shocking military parade. It said the photographs posted on most social media platforms belonged to young supporters of the organisation, who were eager to help the Internal Security Forces (ISF). The statement said it was not a coordinated step authorised by the party’s central command, Of course, such lack of coordination would indicate a loss of control by leaders on its subjects, which was highly unlikely.

    Hezbollah now claims that it contacted the group led by Abbas Harakeh, the alleged organiser of the impromptu parade, to desist from taking such steps, because the fight against drug dealers fell under the jurisdiction of the state and not under its own authority…”

  37. 30 thousand kg of C4 explosives seized by Afghan forces in Bagram (khaama, Apr 3, 2017)
    http://www.khaama.com/30-thousand-kg-of-c4-explosives-seized-by-afghan-forces-in-bagram-02497

    “The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) personnel have seized at least thirty thousand kilograms of potent C4 explosives from northern Parwan province.

    According to the local government officials, the explosives were placed inside 200 sacks and were buried in Shaka village of Bagram district.

    The district administrative chief of Bagram Abdul Shukoor Qudosi confirmed that the explosives were discovered and seized during a joint special military operation conducted by the Afghan intelligence operatives and personnel of the other security institutions.

    He said a suspect who was in charge keeping the explosives has managed to flee the area and investigations are underway to ascertain for which purposes the explosives were stored in the district.

    Qudosi also added that the explosives were placed inside four trucks and have been shifted to Barikab for destruction.

    The local security officials are saying that the discovery of the explosives is a major achievement as C4 explosives are rarely used in major suicide attacks and devastating car bombings.

    Parwan is among the relatively calm provinces in northern Afghanistan but some of its remote districts still witness instability and violence occasionally.

    The Taliban insurgents and militants belonging to the other insurgent groups are active in some of its remote districts where they often conduct insurgency activities, including targeted attacks, roadside bombings and coordinated attacks.”

  38. ‘An opportunity to make their displeasure known’: Pronoun professor loses government funding

    TORONTO — University of Toronto psychology professor Dr. Jordan Peterson has had a federal research grant application denied for the first time in his long and distinguished academic career.

    And he’s certain that the rejection from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the government agency that supports post-secondary research, is linked to the controversy surrounding his stand on gender-neutral pronouns such as “zie” and “zher,” and the modern notion of gender as being fluid.

    That his application was also rated so poorly is telling, he said, meaning that if the proposal had just missed the mark, it might have been a credible critique, but the proposal failed abysmally.

    Julia Gualtieri, spokeswoman for the council, said in an email Monday that grants are awarded through a merit review process, and that “past funding is not a guarantee of further funding.” Names of the peer review committee members will be publicly posted once all applicants have been fully notified, she said.

    Peterson sparked a free-speech furor last fall with YouTube videos about the dangers of the then-looming (and now law) federal Bill C-16, which included “gender identity” and “gender expression” in the Canadian Human Rights Code and the Criminal Code.

    He was immediately warned by the university “to stop repeating these statements” because they were purportedly inciting fear in the transgendered community.

    And at the time, Peterson said he knew he was most vulnerable to attack in two areas — his grant funding and his licence as a clinical psychologist.

    “I think that it’s (the controversy) provided someone with a convenient opportunity to make their displeasure with what I’m doing known,” he told Postmedia in a recent phone interview. “I can’t shake the suspicion.”

    Nothing else has changed, he said: As usual, he has three top-calibre graduate students working with him; his “citation counts,” the number of times a work is cited by peers, are rapidly rising and have always been high.

    Indeed, it’s the graduate students’ loss of income that Peterson feels badly about, though he’s working already on alternate ways to raise funds for them.

    “Almost all of it (the grant money) is used to pay my grad students their supplement so they can get their PhDs,” he said. Another chunk would have gone to pay research subjects. There was also a small budget for the students to travel to present their data.

    Much of the five-year, $399,625 grant was for continuing work on research the SSHRC has previously approved and funded; the last time, in 2012, was for the largest amount ever awarded to a psychologist.

    The application, which runs to 41 pages, was for continuing research in three areas: the technical investigation of the structure of personality, particularly improving the mechanisms by which personality is measured; assessing personality and political beliefs; and for online interventions for people to improve performance at school and work.

    It’s all the same to me … But it’s cut the legs out from under my graduate students

    Well before Peterson erupted on to the public consciousness last fall with his YouTube videos questioning the current push for genderless pronouns and gender equity, he was recognized as a respected scientist.

    He taught at Harvard University for six years.

    His so-called “h-index,” for instance, is considered exceptional.

    The h-index is the result of physicist Jorge Hirsch’s attempt to measure the quality of scientists, not just the number of times he or she was published.

    In other words, both productivity and impact are measured.

    According to Hirsch, after 20 years of research, an h-index of 20 is good, 40 outstanding; Peterson’s score is 49. His total citation count is almost 8,000.

    “By multiple measures,” he said, “even if the ideas (in the grant application) were not of the highest calibre, and they were, I have the track record to show I’m more than capable of producing, including my ability to disseminate my ideas into the broader community.”

    In fact, he’s indisputably a great communicator: His education videos have been viewed by eight million people, and he’s popular on Twitter.

    The rejection has “zero impact on my income,” Peterson said. “It’s all the same to me … But it’s cut the legs out from under my graduate students.”

    The rejection, he said, “is a seriously bad sign” that the vetting process may be becoming politicized.

    But Gualtieri defended the merit process as “a transparent, in-depth and effective way to allocate public research funds.”

    http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/an-opportunity-to-make-their-displeasure-known-government-pulls-funding-of-pronoun-professor

  39. U.S. withdraws funding for U.N. Population Fund

    UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The State Department said on Monday it was ending U.S. funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the international body’s agency focused on family planning as well as maternal and child health in more than 150 countries.

    In a letter to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, the State Department said it was dropping the funding because the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) “supports, or participates in the management of, a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”

    The cut marks U.S. President Donald Trump’s first move to curtail funding for the United Nations and is likely to raise further questions about how deep those cuts will eventually go throughout the organization, where the United States is the top donor.

    It comes after Trump in January reinstated the so-called Mexico City Policy that withholds U.S. funding for international organizations that perform abortions or provide information about abortion.

    Known by critics as the “global gag” rule, Trump broadened its scope to include all global health assistance in his Jan. 23 executive order that withholds at least half a billion dollars in U.S. funds. A lack of clarity around the rule, however, has left aid groups scrambling and both Republican and Democratic U.S. lawmakers seeking clarity.

    In a statement on its website, UNFPA said it regrets the U.S. decision to end funding, which it said is based on an “erroneous claim” that the agency supports coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization in China.

    UNFPA said its mission is “to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.”

    “The support we received over the years from the government and people of the United States has saved tens of thousands of mothers from preventable deaths and disabilities, and especially now in the rapidly developing global humanitarian crises,” the statement said.

    The cut follows Trump’s proposed 28 percent budget reduction for diplomacy and foreign aid, including an unspecified reduction in financial support for the United Nations and its agencies, announced last month.

    U.N. agencies such as the UNFPA are funded by governments voluntarily. The United States was the fourth-largest voluntary donor to UNFPA in 2015, giving $75 million in core budget and earmarked contributions.

    U.N. officials have warned that abrupt funding cuts could trigger more global instability and argued that dollars for diplomacy are more effective than military spending in combating terrorism.

    https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-withdraws-funding-u-n-population-fund-002001041–business.html