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Death toll from Fiji cyclone rises to 21

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Fiji-cyclone

by AsiaOne

Sydney: Fiji began a massive cleanup on Monday after one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere tore through the Pacific island nation, killing 21 people, flattening remote villages and cutting off communications.

Aid agencies warned of a widespread health crisis, particularly in low-lying areas where thousands of Fiji’s 900,000 people live in tin shacks, after crops were wiped out and fresh water supplies blocked.

The Fiji Broadcasting Corp, quoting the country’s National Disaster Management Office, said 21 people had died and four were still missing at sea.

Almost 8,000 people remained hunkered down in hundreds of evacuation centres across Fiji where they had headed before tropical cyclone Winston hit late on Saturday with winds of up to 325 kph (200 mph).

“The death toll from Cyclone Winston continues to rise and reports of widespread damage are coming in from across Fiji,” said New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully. “It is clear that Fiji faces a major cleanup and recovery operation.”

McCully said a New Zealand Defence Force C-130 would leave for the Fijian capital, Suva, later on Monday with relief supplies and an emergency response team.

The majority of the fatalities were along the western coast and were caused mainly by flying debris and drowning in storm surges, authorities said.

A 36-hour curfew was lifted early on Monday, allowing the Fijian military to ramp up efforts to reach the more remote parts of the archipelago of about 300 islands.

“The Fijians are desperately trying to repair severed lines of communication, but they hold grave fears that the news waiting for them will be dire,” said Raijeli Nicole, Pacific regional director of aid group Oxfam.

“Given the intensity of the storm and the images we have seen so far, there are strong concerns that the death toll won’t stop climbing today and that hundreds of people will have seen their homes and livelihoods completely destroyed.”

Aerial footage of outlying islands taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and posted on the Fiji government’s official website, showed whole villages flattened and flooded.

Aid agencies were told at a meeting of Fiji’s National Emergency Operations Centre on Monday of potential “catastrophic” damage to Koro Island, Fiji’s seventh-largest island.

“The aerial survey suggested the runway looks OK so they are going to land on this later this afternoon with emergency personal and some supplies,” said Anna Cowley of CARE Australia.

Fiji also reopened its main airport at Nadi.

Food and water supplies are a growing concern, even for areas such as Suva that did not suffer as much damage as the more remote regions.

The Consumer Council of Fiji has urged traders not to sell food and other perishable items that have gone bad due to the effects of the cyclone. The Council’s chief executive Premila Kumar said supermarkets and other food stores should destroy such items.

Survivors spoke of the horror of the cyclone, while aid workers scrambled to help victims.

“The noise was deafening. At one point, I turned to my partner and questioned whether we would actually survive,” Sarah Bingham, an Australian on holiday on Tokoriki Island, told Reuters by telephone.

Police name suspect in Michigan shootings

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Uber driver Jason Dalton, who has no known criminal history, suspected of killing at least six people.

Dalton's arrest came after a manhunt following Saturday night's shootings in Kalamazoo

Dalton’s arrest came after a manhunt following Saturday night’s shootings in Kalamazoo

by Al Jazeera

US police have publicly identified a man suspected of driving around the Michigan city of Kalamazoo and randomly shooting people, leaving at least six dead.

Jeff Hadley, Kalamazoo department of public safety chief, named the suspect as Jason Dalton, 45, of Kalamazoo county, the AP news agency reported.

Dalton, an Uber driver, reportedly has no known criminal history. The transport company confirmed that the suspect was one of its employees.

It said in a statement it was “horrified and heartbroken”, adding that it offered help in the investigation.

Jeff Getting, Kalamazoo county prosecutor, said authorities were investigating a Facebook post saying the suspect was an Uber driver driving erratically around the time of the shootings.

Michigan police earlier launched a manhunt after six people were killed and several others injured in seemingly random shootings near a Kalamazoo car dealership and restaurant late on Saturday night.

Michigan police earlier arrested a man whose car matched a description of the suspect’s.

Paul Matyas, Kalamazoo county undersheriff, described a rampage that began at about 6pm on Saturday on the eastern edge of Kalamazoo county, where a woman was shot several times and seriously wounded.

A little more than four hours later, a father and his 18-year-old son were fatally shot while looking at cars at the dealership.

Fifteen minutes after that, five people – including the teenage girl who police originally said had been killed, based on a pronouncement by medical officials – were shot in the car park of a Cracker Barrel restaurant along Interstate 94, Matyas said.

Matyas later told the WWMT TV network at the time of Dalton’s arrest that the suspect “voluntarily” gave himself up after he was approached by police.

“The threat to the public is over. This is your worst nightmare when you have someone driving around killing people,” Matyas said.

Kalamazoo, with a population of about 75,000, is west of Detroit.

It is home to Western Michigan University and the headquarters of popular craft beer maker Bell’s Brewery.

The city also is known for the anonymously funded Kalamazoo Promise programme, which for more than a decade has paid for college tuition of students who graduate from Kalamazoo Public Schools.

Now being a Kashmiri Muslim warrants questioning: Omar Abdullah

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Omar-Abdullah

Srinagar: Hitting out at Ashoke Pandit, a BJP supporter, for demanding interrogation of JNU Students Union vice president Shehla Rashid Shora, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today said that now being a Kashmiri Muslim is a “crime” enough to warrant questioning.

“Now being a Kashmiri Muslim is crime enough to warrant interrogation. BTW (by the way) it’s Shehla not Sheila but what the hell!” Omar wrote on Twitter.

The National Conference working president, who has opposed harassment of Kashmiri students in JNU in the backdrop of the alleged anti-national sloganeering on the campus on February 9, was responding to a series of tweets by film maker Ashoke Pandit.

“Shiela Rashid #VicePresident #JNU who is a #KashmiriMuslim should be interrogated. She had also opposed #BabaRamdev in #JNU,” Pandit tweeted.

Pandit also claimed that Umar Khalid, the youth who is sought by police in connection with the JNU event, must have escaped to Kashmir with Shora’s help.

“With #ShielaRashids support #OmarKhalid must have escaped to #Kashmir. She is working for #Hurriyat in #JNU,” he added.

In a sarcastic response, Omar said he would better prepare for an interrogation as he was a Kashmiri Muslim and not a supporter of Yoga guru Baba Ramdev.

“I’m a Kashmir Muslim AND I’m not a Ramdev supporter/ follower. I’d better prepare for my interrogation,” he added.

Yesterday, Omar had said it was sad that recent events in Delhi and their management had led to a situation where JNU was now featuring alongside Pakistan and ISIS flags.

“Sad that recent events & their handling have created a situation where #JNU now features alongside Pak & ISIS flags,” he said in reference to ‘Thank JNU’ posters that appeared during protests in the old city here yesterday.

(Agencies)

Apple rejects FBI order to crack gunman’s phone

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Tim Cook says order to circumvent encryption on San Bernardino attacker’s phone would set dangerous precedent.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the US government's order was setting a dangerous precedent [Reuters/Carlo Allegri]

Apple CEO Tim Cook said the US government’s order was setting a dangerous precedent [Reuters/Carlo Allegri]

by Al Jazeera

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has hit out at a court order that would force the company to write software allowing the FBI to crack encryption on its devices.

In a letter published on the company’s website on Wednesday, Cook said the move would set a dangerous precedent and have implications for the privacy of its customers.

The US government wants to crack encryption software on a phone belonging to one of the San Bernardino attackers, Syed Farook, but Apple says doing so will compromise security on devices belonging to other customers.

“Compromising the security of our personal information can ultimately put our personal safety at risk. That is why encryption has become so important to all of us,” Cook said in the letter.

“The FBI asked us for help in the days following the attack, and we have worked hard to support the government’s efforts to solve this horrible crime. We have no sympathy for terrorists,” he added.

Back door

The FBI wants software that bypasses the usual self-destruct mechanism that erases data when someone enters the wrong password too many times. Codebreakers want the ability to use as many combinations as possible at the same time to find one that lets them access the phone.

Cook said that releasing encryption-breaking techniques would create a back door that would roll back decades of security advancements in technology.

“The same engineers who built strong encryption into the iPhone to protect our users would, ironically, be ordered to weaken those protections and make our users less safe.

“The US government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create.”

The order represents a significant victory for the US Justice Department. The Obama administration has embraced stronger encryption as a way to keep consumers safe on the Internet, but struggled to find a compelling example to make its case.

Canada to end ISIL air strikes within weeks

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Ottawa to pull jets from Syria and Iraq but instead will triple number of special forces training Iraqi Kurdish forces.

As well as training Kurdish forces, Canada will arm them with weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars

As well as training Kurdish forces, Canada will arm them with weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars

by Al Jazeera

Canada is to end its participation in air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria and Iraq within two weeks, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced.

Following up on campaign promises he made last year to withdraw Canada’s jets, Trudeau said on Monday that his country’s contribution to the fight against ISIL would be extended until the end of March 2017 – but would be “a non-combat mission”.

“It is important to understand that while air strike operations can be very useful to achieve short-term military and territorial gains, they do not on their own achieve long-term stability for local communities,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.

“We will be supporting and empowering local forces to take their fight directly to ISIL so that kilometre by kilometre they can reclaim their homes, their land and their future.”

Training support

Trudeau said Canada will triple the number of special forces deployed to train Iraqi Kurdish forces on the ground over the next two years.

As well as training them, Canada will also arm the Kurdish forces with light weapons such as assault rifles, machine guns and light mortars, as well as optical systems for the weapons and ammunition.

The number of elite Canadian commandos helping to train Kurdish Peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq will also jump from 69 to 230, bringing the total of Canadian soldiers deployed in the region from about 650 to about 830.

Canada will also provide $CAD840m ($609m) in humanitarian assistance over three years, and has allocated  $270m to “build local capacity” in Jordan and Lebanon, which are hosting more than two million Syrian refugees.

While the country will pull its six CF-18 Hornet fighter jets from the bombing mission, it will keep its aircrew and support personnel for one CC-150 Polaris aerial refuelling aircraft and up to two CP-140 Aurora spy planes.

‘Step backward’

The US had asked coalition members to boost their military contributions in Iraq and Syria against ISIL after the deadly attacks in Paris in November. However, Trudeau, who was sworn in last November, had already promised to withdraw his jets during his election campaign.

Trudeau promised to put the new policy to a debate in parliament when the House of Commons resumes next week.

Rona Ambrose, leader of the official opposition and interim leader of the Conservative Party, denounced the plan to withdraw the fighter jets as “a step backwards for Canada”.

Helene Laverdiere, foreign affairs spokesperson for the left-wing New Democratic Party, said Canada should focus on stopping the flow of arms, funds and foreign fighters, including improving anti-radicalisation efforts at home.

“We are concerned that the Liberal government has chosen to place Canadian Forces personnel deeper into an open-ended combat military mission in Iraq – a mission that fails to even define what success would look like,” Laverdiere said.

US President Barak Obama “welcomed Canada’s current and new contributions to coalition efforts and highlighted Canada’s leadership in the coalition”, the White House said in a statement without specifically mentioning Canada’s decision to halt air strikes.

Sikh American actor barred from flight for refusing to remove turban

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Waris Ahluwalia

Washington: Sikh American actor and designer Waris Ahluwalia says he was barred from boarding a flight home to New York from Mexico because he refused to remove his turban during a security check.

Ahluwalia, according to the New York Times, said Monday he checked in at the Aeroméxico counter at Mexico City’s international airport about 5:30 a.m. and was given his first-class boarding pass with a code that he said meant he needed secondary security screening.

When he showed up at the gate to board Flight 408 to New York City, Ahluwalia said, attendants told him he needed to step aside and wait for other passengers to board.

After they did, his feet and bag were searched and swabbed, he was told to remove a sweatshirt and he was patted down. Then, he said, he was asked to take off his turban.

“I responded matter-of-factly that I won’t be taking off my turban,” he was quoted as saying in an interview from the airport in Mexico City. “And then they talked amongst themselves and they said, ‘O.K., then you are not getting on the flight.'”

He said he was told by another airline security official that he would not be boarding any other Aeroméxico flight until he met their security demands.

“It is a symbol of my faith,” Ahluwalia said, explaining why he would not remove the turban. “It is something that I wear whenever I am in public.”

A statement released by the airline Monday said that Ahluwalia’s screening was in compliance with Transportation Security Administration protocol and that the airline had offered him alternatives to “reach his destination as soon as possible.”

Ahluwalia, 41, who grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an actor and a designer based in Manhattan known for his House of Waris jewellery line and other design work.

(IANS)

Taiwan quake: Survivors pulled alive as time runs out

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More than 100 people are still thought to be trapped inside collapsed building after Saturday’s quake in Tainan.

More than 100 people were missing after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan, authorities said [EPA]

More than 100 people were missing after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan, authorities said [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

An eight-year-old girl has been pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Tainan, the fourth to be rescued on Monday, more than 60 hours after a powerful quake struck southern Taiwan.

Rescuers also saved the girl’s aunt as they raced against time to find more than 100 residents buried deep in the ruins of the toppled Wei-guan Golden Dragon Building.

Earlier on Monday, two more people – a man and a woman – were pulled from the rubble, as the official death toll rose to 38..

Local legislator Wang Ting-yu told reporters that the rescued woman, Tsao Wei-ling, was found shielded under the body of her dead husband. Their two-year-old son, who was also killed, was found lying nearby.

Rescuers also confirmed that the other survivor – a man called Li Tsung-tian – had been pulled out of the rubble.

Rescue efforts are focused on the wreckage of the 17-storey building, where 117 people are listed as missing.

Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride, reporting from outside the collapsed building, said the rescue effort had reached a critical point.

“It has been three days, and it’s understood that those stuck under the rubble and still alive won’t be able to last longer without food and water.

“Lots of questions are being asked about how this building was constructed. There are a lot of stories floating around about the builder. You could almost say he is the most wanted man in Taiwan right now. Everyone is trying to find him,” he said.

William Lai, the Tainan mayor, said Tsao and Li were the only signs of life at present, although rescuers were continuing to look for others.

“We have not given up on even the tiniest of possibilities,” he told reporters.

Rescuers continued to scramble over the twisted wreckage of the building as numbed family members stood around, waiting for news of missing relatives.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen, who won the election last month, said there needed to be a “general sorting out” for old buildings to make sure they were able to cope with disasters such as earthquakes.

“There needs to be a continued strengthening of their ability to deal with disasters,” she said during a visit in Tainan.

Outgoing president Ma Ying-jeou is also scheduled to visit.

Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed condolences to the victims, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Sunday, and repeated Beijing’s offer to provide help.

Twitter freezes 125,000 accounts for ‘terror content’

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Move comes after governments urge social networks to eliminate activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.

Most of the suspended Twitter accounts were linked to ISIL [Bethany Clarke/Getty Images]

Most of the suspended Twitter accounts were linked to ISIL [Bethany Clarke/Getty Images]

by Al Jazeera

Twitter has suspended more than 125,000 accounts, most of them linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, as part of a stepped-up effort to eradicate “terrorist content” on the popular messaging platform.

The social network has said the accounts were frozen since mid-2015 “for threatening or promoting terrorist acts”.

“Like most people around the world, we are horrified by the atrocities perpetrated by extremist groups,” Twitter said on its policy blog on Friday.

“We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism and the Twitter rules make it clear that this type of behaviour, or any violent threat, is not permitted on our service.”

The announcement comes after the US and other governments urged social networks to take more aggressive steps to root out activity aimed at recruiting and planning violent acts.

Twitter said it already has rules to discourage this activity but that it was driving up enforcement by boosting staff and using technology to filter violence-promoting content. But it warned there was no easy technological solution.

“As many experts and other companies have noted, there is no ‘magic algorithm’ for identifying terrorist content on the internet, so global online platforms are forced to make challenging judgement calls based on very limited information and guidance,” Twitter said.

“In spite of these challenges we will continue to aggressively enforce our rules in this area and engage with authorities and other relevant organisations to find viable solutions to eradicate terrorist content from the internet and promote powerful counter-speech narratives.”

Last March, Facebook updated its “community standards”, saying this would curb the use of the social network giant for promoting “terrorism” or hate speech.

The update said Facebook will not allow a presence from groups advocating “terrorist activity, organised criminal activity or promoting hate”.

The move came after videos of gruesome executions appeared on Facebook and other social media as part of ISIL propaganda efforts.

Australia considers strict screening of Muslim refugees

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Controversial leaked document proposes new assessments for 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees to stop “extremism”.

Australia said last year that it would accept 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq, in addition to its regular intake [Bilal Hussein/AP]

Australia said last year that it would accept 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq, in addition to its regular intake [Bilal Hussein/AP]

by Al Jazeera

A leaked government document calling for enhanced screening of Australia’s humanitarian refugee intake from Syria and Iraq has attracted widespread criticism from opposition parties and members of the Lebanese community, who were singled out as being prone to “extremism”.

The sensitive Cabinet document, which was leaked to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Thursday, recommends that the government applies “additional screening criteria” to 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees who are set to resettle in Australia as part of the country’s response to the refugee crisis in the Middle East.

“It is expected that some refugees from this conflict will bring with them issues, beliefs or associations that lead them to advocate or engage in politically motivated or communal violence,” the leaked document said, explaining why additional screening was required.

“This new framework will introduce … an enforceable integration framework to assess migrants’ suitability for life in Australia, a revamped citizenship test and citizenship pledge to strengthen [refugees’] accountability … and enhanced access, use and protection of sensitive information to strengthen intelligence-led risk-based decision-making [when assessing refugees],” the document said.

Prepared by the Department of Immigration, the draft document also recommended that enhanced screening processes should be extended to other areas of the humanitarian resettlement programme, on a “risk basis”.

Australia announced in September that it would accept 12,000 refugees from Syria and Iraq, in addition to its 2015 humanitarian intake of 13,750 refugees.

So far, only 20 Syrian refugees have been resettled under the programme.

Both Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said on Friday they have not read the leaked document.

“I can just say that we will continue as a government to ensure that we do everything we can to keep Australians safe at home … and we will do everything we can to ensure that we maintain control of our borders,” Turnbull told Adelaide’s 5AA radio station.

The opposition Labor Party’s immigration spokesman Richard Marles said the proposals were an “enormously regressive step”.

“This verges dangerously down the path of putting in place a discriminatory immigration policy,” he told the ABC. “If this is where the government wants to take us, we are returning to a very dark past indeed.”

The smaller opposition Greens party went further, with Senator Sarah Hanson-Young saying the leaked document was a “direct attack on people seeking asylum and … designed to stop them from permanently resettling in Australia”.

While not the focus of the new recommendations, the document also riled members of Australia’s large Lebanese community, who were singled out as evidence of why the government should adopt tougher screening standards.

“The most prominent ethnic group among Australian Sunni extremists are the Lebanese,” the document said.

“The majority of this cohort can be linked to the wave of humanitarian migration to Australia as a result of the Lebanese civil war.”

Australia’s Lebanese Muslim Association issued a statement on Friday rejecting the accusations, saying the leaked document “further isolates and vilifies the Muslim community”.

“These accusations do nothing more than fuel division within communities and create obstacles to community cohesion,” said Samier Dandan, the association’s president.

UN panel says Assange ‘arbitrarily detained’ since 2010

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UK and Sweden reject UN panel’s finding, saying WikiLeaks founder can walk out of Ecuador’s embassy whenever he wants.

The ruling will prove a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian [AP]

The ruling will prove a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian [AP]

by Al Jazeera

A United Nations human rights panel says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden since December 2010, in a ruling that has been outright rejected by both countries.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said on Friday that Assange’s “detention” should end and he should be entitled to compensation.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape stemming from a working visit he made to the country in 2010 when WikiLeaks was attracting international attention for its trove of leaked documents.

Assange has consistently denied the allegations but declined to return to Sweden to meet prosecutors and eventually sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has lived since June 2012.

“The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considers that the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said Seong-Phil Hong, who currently heads the UN’s expert panel.

“The Working Group maintains that the arbitrary detention of Mr Assange should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation.”

Both Sweden and the UK dismissed the ruling on Friday, issuing statements saying that Asange is free to leave the embassy whenever he wants.

“Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay there. Mr. Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point,” the Swedish government said.

The UK government said Assange was avoiding “lawful arrest” by choosing to remain at the embassy and that the government had a legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden.

The finding in Assange’s favour is not legally binding, but may represent a public relations victory for the 44-year-old Australian.

It could also increase pressure on Swedish prosecutors to drop their bid to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct, and on British officials to alter plans to arrest Assange for jumping bail.

Assange, in a press conference on Friday via a video link from the Ecuadorian embassy, said he should be able to walk free from the embassy.

“We have today a really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face,” Assange said.

“I’ve been detained without charge in this country, the United Kingdom, for five and a half years… I’ve had great difficulty seeing my family and my children,” he said.

Geoffrey Robertson QC, a former UN appeals judge and international lawyer, told Al Jazeera on Thursday that a UN ruling would be “binding in honour”.

Assange has been in the embassy for more than three years. His organisation WikiLeaks was responsible for publishing millions of documents considered classified by the US government.

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