Lebanon’s Hezbollah does not believe the latest Syria crisis will spiral into a direct US-Russia conflict or a wider all-out war, its deputy leader said in comments published on Friday.

The heavily armed and Iranian-backed Shia movement has been a vital military ally of President Bashar al-Assad in the seven-year-old Syrian war.

.
“The conditions do not point to a total war … unless (US President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu completely lose their minds,” he said.

Trump has threatened strikes against Assad’s forces after a suspected gas attack on a rebel town where dozens of people died, and a Russian envoy has voiced fears of a wider conflict between Washington and Moscow.

The threat of confrontation between Russia, the Syrian state’s key ally, and the West loomed after Trump said on Wednesday missiles “will be coming” and lambasted Moscow for standing by Assad.

Trump has tempered those remarks since and even as he consulted allies Britain and France, there were signs of efforts to prevent the crisis from spiralling out of control.

The White House said “no final decision has been made” on Syria after Trump met his national security team on Thursday.

ISRAELI STRIKE

Damascus with its main backers, Russia and Iran, have accused rebels and rescuers of fabricating reports of the Douma attack and Washington of seeking to use it as a pretext for attacking the Syrian army.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told Congress on Thursday he believed there had been a chemical attack, but added shortly after there was no decision on launching military action.

Asked about possible spillover into Lebanon, Qassem said: “If the assault on Syria has a very limited scope, then it’s expected that reactions from the concerned sides in Syria will be tied to the Syrian arena.”

Iran’s expanding power in Syria has caused deep alarm in Israel, which has mounted air strikes in Syria against what it describes as Hezbollah and Iranian targets.

Tehran has threatened to respond to an air strike on a Syrian military base on Monday which it blamed on Israel, as did Damascus and Moscow.

Qassem said the strike, which killed seven Iranians, was an assault “on both Syria and Iran that has consequences which I do not know the limit of now”.

Hezbollah, which last fought a major war with Israel in 2006, would not open a new front against its arch-foe from Lebanon, he said. “But the resistance is ready for surprises.”

Hezbollah does not expect Israel to launch a war for now but is prepared for one, Qassem told Reuters in an interview last month.

Amnesty International has slammed Pakistan’s military courts for violating UN principles and international fair trial standards in imposing death sentences.

Amnesty International’s report — Death Sentences and Executions 2017 — released here on Thursday, expressed concern that Pakistan’s military courts “were run by military officers subordinate to the military chain of command — and who had no formal legal training — in breach of the UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary”.

“The charges against the defendants were not made public and those convicted did not have the right to appeal to civilian courts,” it said.

The report said that Pakistani military courts also sentenced civilians to death and added that its special courts “whose proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards imposed death sentences”.

Pakistan’s Field General Court Martial (FGCM) in April 2017 sentenced Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav to death on charges of espionage and sabotage.

India has denied that Jadhav worked for Indian intelligence agencies or that he has worked in Pakistan. The Amnesty report did not specifically mention Jadhav.

“People continued to be sentenced to death or executed for crimes that did not involve intentional killing and therefore did not meet the threshold of ‘most serious crimes’, as prescribed by Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights,” the report said.

Amnesty said that Pakistan carried out more than 60 executions in 2017, imposed over 200 death sentences and there were more than 7,000 people on death row.

During 2016, Pakistan executed at least 87 people and imposed more than 360 death sentences, according to the report.

Briefing reporters, Amnesty International Senior Director for Law and Policy Tawanda Mutasah said that death penalties have dropped steeply since a peak in 2015 when 326 people were executed.

Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif has been barred from holding office for life after the Supreme Court today ruled that disqualification of a lawmaker under the Constitution is for life. The verdict was issued unanimously by all five judges of the bench while hearing a case related to the determination of time duration for disqualification of a lawmaker under the Constitution, the Dawn reported.

The court had grappled with Article 62(1)(f) which only stated that a lawmaker is disqualified under specified conditions but did not set out the duration of the disqualification. Article 62, which sets the precondition for a member of parliament to be “sadiq and ameen” (honest and righteous), is the same provision under which Sharif, 68, was disqualified on July 28, 2017, in the Panama Papers case.

Likewise, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen was disqualified on December 15 last year by a separate bench of the apex court under the same provision. Following the verdict, both Sharif and Tareen have become ineligible to ever hold public office.

It has been stated in the decision read out by Justice Umar Ata Bandial that the disqualification of any member of parliament or a public servant under Article 62 in the future will be permanent. Such a person cannot contest elections or become a member of parliament.

British banks must severe ties with Kremlin-linked tycoons if they want continued access to American financial institutions, the US has said as it ratcheted up its efforts to block Russian industrialists from doing business in the West.

Sigal P. Mandelker, a top US Treasury official in London to meet her counterparts, said on Tuesday that British banks could face “consequences” if they continued to carry out significant transactions on behalf of the 24 influential Russians sanctioned by Washington last week, the New York Times reported.

The list included Russian President Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law Kirill Shamalov and industrialists Oleg Deripaska and Viktor Vekselberg.

“These are blocking sanctions,” said Mandelker, Under Secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence.

“There of course would be consequences for UK financial institutions” that continued to do business with the Russians, he warned.

The warning, according to the daily, resonated in London as for decades it has served as a haven for Russia’s wealthiest families. Russian investors own iconic British assets like the Chelsea Football Club and swaths of high-end London real estate and they support thriving networks of lawyers, financial advisers and estate agents.

Mandelker said there had been great unity on Russia among European nations since March 4 when former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal was found poisoned in southwestern England.

She said the US was consulting intensively with British financial institutions and oversight agencies as it prepared to impose the latest round of sanctions.

“We have very strong and close allies and partners in the UK,” she said. “They understand clearly what the risks are. We continue to communicate those risks to them.”

The new US sanctions expose financial institutions outside the US to penalties if they “knowingly facilitate significant financial transactions” on behalf of the listed Russian oligarchs.

Malaysia’s closely-watched 14th general elections will fall on May 9, with nomination day on Apr 28, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday (Apr 10).

Polling will fall on a Wednesday, a departure from past elections.

The minimum campaigning period is 11 days.

“The EC has held a meeting and established that polls must be held within 60 days of the date of dissolution,” the commission’s chairman, Mohd Hashim Abdullah, told a news conference.

Early voting will take place on May 5.

Eurocontrol cautions airlines to avoid Syria due to possible launch of air strikes within the next 72 hours.

The international air traffic control agency Eurocontrol has warned airlines to exercise caution in the eastern Mediterranean due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria in the next 72 hours.

Eurocontrol said that air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles could be used within that period and there was a possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment.

US President Donald Trump and Western allies are discussing possible military action after they blamed Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad for a suspected poison gas attack on Saturday on a rebel-held town that long had held out against government forces.

Trump on Tuesday cancelled a planned trip to Latin America later this week to focus instead on responding to the Syria incident, the White House said. Trump had on Monday warned of a quick, forceful response once responsibility for the Syria attack was established.

“Due to the possible launch of air strikes into Syria with air-to-ground and/or cruise missiles within the next 72 hours, and the possibility of intermittent disruption of radio navigation equipment, due consideration needs to be taken when planning flight operations in the Eastern Mediterranean/Nicosia FIR area,” it said, referring to the designated airspace.

The Eurocontrol warning on its website did not specify the origin of any potential missile threat.

UN deadlock
The statement came after rival draft resolutions by the US and Russia to set up a new expert body to probe chemical weapons attacks in Syria both failed to pass at the United Nations Security Council.

For his part, French President Emmanuel Macaron said on Tuesday that after further discussions with the US and UK, a decision to execute military strikes will be taken within days, stressing that the strikes will target Syrian chemical weapons facilities.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said during a joint press conference with Macaron in Paris that there was a possibility that his country would take part in strikes against the Damascus if necessary.

Aviation regulators in countries including the US, UK, France and Germany have previously issued warnings against airlines entering Syrian airspace leading most carriers to avoid the area.

The only commercial flights above Syria as of 01:15 GMT on Wednesday were being flown by Syrian Air and Lebanon’s Middle East Airlines, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.

The Eurocontrol statement included a broader area outside the airspace controlled by Damascus.

Aljazeera

Russia and Syria have invited a probe into the alleged chemical attack on the rebel-held town of Douma after US President Donald Trump threatened that there would be a “big price to pay”.

Speaking at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday, Russia’s Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia denied that chemical weapons had been used in Douma and said Syrian authorities and Russian troops would provide facilities for experts from the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to visit the attack area.

According to the reports, the chemical attack on Saturday killed at least 49 people and injured 500 others, Thomas Markram, the deputy to the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, told the Council.

During a bitter clash at the Council, US Permanent Representative Nikki Haley said that the hands of the Russian “regime” were “covered in the blood of Syrian children” and warned that Washington would respond to the attacks even if the Council would not.

On Monday night, Trump met defence officials along with his newly appointed National Security Adviser John Bolton after warning that that there would he would decide within 48 hours on a military response to the “barbaric” act.

“If it’s Russia, if it’s Syria, if it’s Iran, if it’s all of them together, we’ll figure it out and we’ll know the answers quite soon,” he told reporters earlier on Monday.

Haley said those responsible for the attacks were “monsters”, adding: “We must not overlook Russia and Iran’s roles in enabling the Assad regime’s murderous destruction.”

With tensions between Russia and the West rising to Cold War levels, Nebenzia told the West: “We are not begging to be friends with you.”

He objected to Haley referring to his government as a “regime” and warned that he would raise a point of order the next time she did that – a move that could disrupt Council meetings, a frequent happening during the height of the Cold War.

He said the “hawkish rhetoric” in the Council and threats to use force had gone beyond what had prevailed during the Cold War.

Britain’s Permanent Representative Karen Pierce said the situation today was worse than that during the Cold War because then there was no such flagrant disregard of the universal prohibition against chemical weapons.

Nebenzia alleged that the anti-government forces had chemical weapons and could stage an attack.

But France’s Permanent Representative Francois Delattre countered that only the Syrian government and its allies had the capability to developing the chemical and said that there was no doubt about who carried out the attacks.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters: “While the UN is not in a position to verify these reports, the Secretary-General notes that any use of chemical weapons, if confirmed, is abhorrent, and requires a thorough investigation.”

Guterres’s Speical Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told the Council via a video link from Geneva that the terrorist group Jaish al-Islam that was in control of Douma had asked for UN intervention, but the Syrian government did not respond to it.

British Prime Minister Theresa May says the Syrian regime “and its backers, including Russia, must be held to account” if the government is found to be responsible for a suspected poison gas attack in the country.

May says those who back “the brutal actions by (Syrian President Bashar) Assad and his regime … they need to look very carefully at the position they have taken.” She calls Saturday’s suspected attack on the besieged town of Douma “a reprehensible attack,” adding Britain is in talks with its allies about “what action is necessary.”

After meeting with her Danish counterpart Lars Loekke Rasmussen during a visit to Copenhagen, May said: “it is a brutal regime that is attacking its own people and we are very clear that it must be held to account.

China on Monday hinted it won’t push for fugitive Indian jeweller Nirav Modi’s arrest, who is suspected to be in Hong Kong, saying the Chinese autonomous region has its own set of judicial rules and India can deal with the authorities directly.

India has reportedly asked Hong Kong to arrest the main accused in the $2billion fraud bank fraud who is believed to be in Chinese territory, a former British colony which enjoys a high degree of autonomy.

“According to the one country two system and basic laws of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and the assistance and authorization of the central government, the Hong Kong SAR can make a proper arrangement on judicial mutual assistance with other countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

“If India has made a relevant request to the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region), we leave the matter to the Hong Kong SAR and hope that it will follow the basic laws and relevant judicial system agreement with India to deal with the relevant issue,” Geng said.

Hong Kong has its own independent system where China has its say only in defence and external affairs. While India has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong, there is no such agreement with China.

Modi, a regular on the lists of rich and famous Indians since 2013, along with his group companies — Diamond R US, Stellar Diamond and Solar Exports, and an uncle and business partner and others have been named in the huge scam, admitted by the PNB in February and leading to a massive upheaval in the country’s banking system.

Modi owned a chain of boutiques in Hong Kong.

As violence spread across the campus, thousands of male and female students launched into pitched battles with police.

Thousands of students across Bangladesh staged protests and sit-ins Monday after clashes at the country’s top university left at least 100 people injured.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at Dhaka University students fighting what they consider “discriminatory” government job quotas in favour of special groups.
It was one of the biggest protests faced by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in her decade in power.

A minister was due to meet protest leaders in Dhaka on Monday.

But students at state-run universities in Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Sylhet and Savar boycotted classes and staged sit-ins, police and media said.

“More than 1,000 students joined the demonstrations at Jahangirnagar University,” said Ataur Rahman, a protester in Savar where the university is located.

The clashes, which began Sunday night and went into the early hours of Monday, turned Dhaka University into a battleground.

Copycat protests soon started in other major cities as thousands of students boycotted classes and staged sit-ins.

Organisers in Dhaka said they were holding peaceful protests when police started firing tear gas and rubber bullets. They used batons and water cannon to clear a central square.

As violence spread across the campus, thousands of male and female students launched into pitched battles with police.

“More than 100 people were injured,” police inspector Bacchu Mia said, adding they were treated in hospital but their condition was not serious.

Protesters threw rocks, vandalised the home of the Dhaka University vice-chancellor, torched two cars and ransacked the fine arts institute, said senior police officer Azimul Haque.

Fifteen people were detained, police said.

The students are angry at the government’s decision to set aside 56 percent of civil service jobs for the families of veterans from the 1971 war of independence and for disadvantaged minorities. That leaves most university graduates to fight for only 44 percent of the jobs.

Hasan Al Mamun, a leader of the protests, said tens of thousands of students joined the demonstrations nationwide. Police declined to estimate the number.

Al Mamun said the quota for top-grade jobs should be reduced to only 10 percent.

“These quotas are discriminatory. Due to the quota system, 56 percent of the jobs are set aside for five percent of the country’s population. And 95 percent of the people can compete for the 44 percent,” he said.

Students are particularly upset at the 30 percent quota set aside for descendants of veterans of the independence war.

Sheikh Hasina, whose father was the architect of the country’s independence from Pakistan, has rejected demands to slash the quotas.