Reports say FBI asks justice department to refute Trump allegation – made without evidence – that Obama wiretapped him.

US reports say FBI director James Comey wants Trump accusation rejected [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

The FBI has asked the US justice department to refute President Donald Trump’s accusation that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his phone, according to US media.

Citing senior officials, the New York Times reported that FBI director James Comey made the unprecedented request on Saturday because there was no evidence, and the accusation “insinuates that the FBI broke the law”.

A US congressional committee has confirmed that it will look into Trump’s allegation. The justice department has not commented.

Comey’s request came after Trump, without providing evidence, accused Obama of ordering his phone in Trump Tower be tapped during last year’s election campaign.

Trump has not commented further on the accusation since making it in a series of tweets on Saturday.

Democrats accused Trump of trying to distract from a rising controversy about possible ties to Russia. His administration has come under pressure from the FBI and congressional investigations into contacts between members of his campaign team and Russian officials.

A spokesman for Obama denied the allegation, calling it “simply false”. The former president’s national intelligence chief James Clapper has also denied it.

“There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, as a candidate at the time or against his campaign,” Clapper said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

White House backpedals

Jason Johnson, a professor of political science in Baltimore, told Al Jazeera that any investigation was likely to be short.

“It’s not clear what the congressional committee will do and how they will do it, but it can’t last very long because the accusation is false,” Johnson said, adding a president is unable to order a wiretap.

“The president can’t demand that anyone gets wiretapped and the only way that there could be a wiretap of Trump Tower is if judges and lawyers and investigators and the justice department felt that Trump was engaging in some illegal behaviour.”

On Sunday, the White House appeared to somewhat backpedal on the accusations, only going as far as saying there should be a probe into the possibility of wiretapping.

“I think the bigger thing is let’s find out. Let’s have an investigation. If they’re going to investigate Russia ties, let’s include this as part of it,” Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Trump’s accusation appears to have been based on unverified reports from right-wing Breitbart News outlet, which was once run by his chief strategist, Steve Bannon.

Trump was said to be furious that positive reviews of his joint address to Congress on Tuesday were overshadowed by a series of revelations about meetings between members of his team and Russian officials.

The president was also said to be angry that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused, or excused, himself from any election campaign or Russia-related investigations.

Democrats and a growing number of Republicans in Congress have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor and a bipartisan inquiry to look into the Russia question.

by Olivia Rudgard, The Telegraph

Islam is the only religion growing faster than the world’s population, and it will be the largest in the world by 2070, research has found.

US-based Pew Research Centre analysed demographic change among the world’s major religions and found that the world’s population of Muslims will grow by 73 per cent between 2010 and 2050, compared to 35 per cent for Christians, the next fastest-growing faith.

The world’s population will grow by 37 per cent over the same period. If those rates of growth continue past 2050, Muslims will outnumber Christians by 2070, the report found.

It also says that Muslims will make up 10 per cent of Europe’s population.

In 2010 there were 1.6bn Muslims in the world, and 2.17bn Christians. By 2050, there will be 2.76bn Muslims and 2.92bn Christians – and if both religions continue at that rate of growth, Islam will have a larger number of followers than Christianity by 2070.

Atheists, agnostics and non-religious people will decline from 16.4 per cent of the world’s population to 13.2 per cent by 2050, the report added, despite growing in Europe and North America.

The changes are partly due to the various fertility rates each religion has. Muslims have the highest, at 3.1 children per woman, followed by Christians, at 2.7.

Islam also has a much younger follower-base than other religions, meaning believers still have childbearing years ahead. 34 per cent are aged under 15, compared to a global average of 27 per cent.

Christianity is also likely to suffer as more converts leave to become non-religious or to join other faiths, the report predicted.

Around 40 million people are projected to switch into Christianity globally, while 106 million are predicted to leave.

The report also summarises findings from a survey last year into European attitudes towards Muslims.

“Majorities in Hungary, Italy, Poland and Greece say they view Muslims unfavorably, while negative attitudes toward Muslims are much less common in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Northern and Western Europe.

“People who place themselves on the Right side of the ideological scale are much more likely than those on the Left to see Muslims negatively,” it said.

SITE Intelligence Group says footage from Uighur fighters in western Iraq warns China of upcoming attacks.

Chinese police take part in drills in Tacheng, in Xinjiang region, in 2016 [China Daily/via Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

ISIL fighters from China’s Uighur ethnic minority have vowed to return home and “shed blood like rivers” in what security experts said marked the first such threat against Chinese targets.

The threat came in a half-hour video released Monday by a division of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) featuring fighters from China’s Uighur minority, said the US-based SITE Intelligence Group, which analysed the footage.

China has for years blamed exiled Uighur “separatists” for a series of violent attacks in its western Xinjiang region – the Muslim Uighur homeland – and warned of the potential for them to link up with violent groups.

In the video, a Uighur fighter issued the threat against China just before executing an alleged informant.

“Oh, you Chinese who do not understand what people say. We are the soldiers of the Caliphate, and we will come to you to clarify to you with the tongues of our weapons, to shed blood like rivers and avenging the oppressed,” according to SITE’s translation.

The footage also showed fighters, including heavily armed children, giving speeches, praying, and killing other “informants”.

Many Muslim Uighurs complain of cultural and religious repression and discrimination by China.

Authorities have banned or strictly controlled the observance of certain Muslim practices, such as growing beards, wearing headscarves, and fasting during Ramadan, calling them symbols of “Islamic extremism”.

A US think-tank said in July that Chinese religious restrictions on Muslims may have driven more than 100 to join ISIL.

“When we see the government involved in a very heavy crackdown, it hasn’t really ever solved the problem, it hasn’t made it go away,” said Raffaello Pantucci, director of International Security Studies at the UK-based Royal United Services Institute.

“In some cases it has made it worse.”

The video appears to be ISIL’s “first direct threat” against China, Michael Clarke, an expert on Xinjiang at the National Security College of Australian National University, told AFP news agency.

“It is the first time that Uighur-speaking militants have claimed allegiance to IS,” he added.

The video showed China is now “very firmly a target of jihadist rhetoric”, Clarke said, marking a shift from years past when it rarely figured in statements by armed groups.

But Clarke said it also could indicate a possible split among Uighur fighters, as it includes a warning to those fighting with the al-Qaeda-aligned Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP) in Syria.

China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday he had not seen the video but noted that “East Turkestan terrorist forces have been posing a severe threat to China’s security.”

He called for international cooperation “to combat such terrorist forces”.

Show of force

China maintains tight security in Xinjiang but a drumbeat of deadly unrest has continued. A knife attack last month left eight dead, including three attackers, police said.

The video was released on the same day China staged the latest in a series of mass rallies by armed police in Xinjiang meant to indicate Chinese resolve in crushing security threats.

More than 10,000 officers gathered Monday in the regional capital Urumqi – the fourth such show of force this year in Xinjiang.

In one violence-wracked corner of Xinjiang, authorities are offering rewards of up to $730,000 to those who expose attack plots or “kill, wound, or subdue” any assailants.

The ISIL video also featured images of Chinese riot police guarding mosques, patrolling Uighur markets, and arresting men in what appears to be western China. The Chinese flag is pictured engulfed in flames.

Clarke said the hints of a Uighur split could “intensify the threat to China” as it indicates Uighur fighters may be able to tap into the capabilities of both ISIL and al-Qaeda.

Overseas analysts have up to now expressed doubts about the strength of Uighur fighters, with some saying China exaggerates the threat to justify tough security.

Refugees from Syria arrive at the Friedland shelter near Goettingen, central Germany, on April 4, 2016, after arriving from Turkey at the airport in Hanover. (AFP/Swen Pfoertner)

by Ayhan Simsek, Andolu Ajansi

Germany’s government promised Monday to take decisive action to stop violence against refugees and asylum shelters after recent police statistics revealed more than 3,500 such attacks last year.

Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, Federal Interior Ministry spokesman Johannes Dimroth said “alarming figures” were a source of concern for the government.

“We can safely assume that the judiciary will deal with these crimes sternly and decisively. Each crime committed here against a person who needs protection is [one] too many for us,” he said.

More than 3,500 refugees and asylum hostels were attacked across Germany last year, according to recent data compiled by the Interior Ministry. At least 560 people were injured in these attacks, including 43 children.

The assaults, which were often carried out by far-right extremists, also targeted NGOs and volunteers who were assisting refugees.

Germany accepted more than a million refugees in the last two years, mostly from Syria and Iraq. The refugee influx has led to anti-immigration sentiment, often exacerbated by propaganda from far-right and populist parties.

Dimroth said the federal government has recently banned a number of far-right associations as part of its efforts to counter anti-refugee violence.

He underlined the importance of new mechanisms set up to create closer cooperation between Germany’s federal states for monitoring far-right extremist groups.

‘White Helmets’ wins best short documentary in ceremony marked by reaction to Trump immigration policies.

The director of The Salesman chose to boycott the ceremony [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

A film celebrating the White Helmets, a volunteer rescue group that operates in rebel-held parts of Syria, has scooped an Oscar for best short documentary on a night marked by politics.

The eponymously titled White Helmets, a 40-minute Netflix film, gives a window into the lives of the group’s volunteers as they scramble to pull people from the rubble of buildings flattened in bombing raids.

Accepting the Academy Award, director Orlando von Einsiedel urged the audience to get out of their seats and call for an end to Syria’s six-year civil war, which led to a standing ovation.

Von Einsiedel read a statement from White Helmets founder Raed al-Saleh in which he thanked the academy and said the group had saved tens of thousands of lives since it was formed in 2014.

“We are so grateful that this film has highlighted our work to the world. Our organisation is guided by a verse from the Quran: to save one life is to save all of humanity,” Saleh’s statement said.

“We have saved more than 82,000 Syrian lives. I invite anyone here who hears me to work on the side of life to stop the bloodshed in Syria and around the world.”

Rescue workers in Syria are at risk of being killed in so-called “double tap” air raids that target them as they arrive at the scene of a strike. The group says that many of its volunteers have been killed.

Syrian cinematographer Khaled Khatib, who worked on the documentary, was unable to attend after being barred from entering the United States despite being granted a visa .

US officials reportedly discovered “derogatory information” about him, according to a document seen by the Associated Press news agency .

The film’s producer, Joanna Natasegara, told AP on Sunday that the decision was “sad and confusing”.

The incident happened after US President Donald Trump’s now halted temporary travel ban that targeted seven Muslim-majority countries, including Syria.

Iranian win after protest

An Iranian film, The Salesman, won the best foreign language film award after its director, Asghar Farhadi, refused to attend the ceremony as a protest against Trump’s immigration policies. Iran was on the list of seven countries.

A female Iranian astronaut, Anousheh Ansari, accepted the award on his behalf.

“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” Farhadi said in a statement read by Ansari. “My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the US.

“Dividing the world into the US and ‘our enemies’ categories creates fear – a deceitful justification for aggression and war.”

It was the second Oscar for Farhadi, who won in the same category for A Separation in 2012.

Trump quietly looming

Though Donald Trump’s name was rarely mentioned during the ceremony, his policies were a running subtext throughout proceedings.

Several actors and actresses, including the Ethiopian Irish Ruth Negga who was nominated in the best actress category, wore blue ribbons in support of the American Civil Liberties Union, a high-profile civil rights group.

Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, MC for the evening, did mention Trump several times.

“I want to say thank you to President Trump,” Kimmel said as the ceremony opened. “Remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?”

In 2015, criticism swirled around a lack of diversity among nominees, stirring a campaign that became known by the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. That criticism continued into 2016, with several people, including actor Will Smith, boycotting the ceremony.

A record six black actors were nominated this year, though, and a person of colour was nominated in each of the main acting categories – the first time that has happened.

On Friday, the directors of all five Oscar-nominated foreign language films, including Farhadi, had condemned what they described as a “climate of fanaticism and nationalism” in the US and elsewhere in a joint statement.

They said that, whoever won, the award would be dedicated to people working to foster “unity and understanding.”

“Tonight is proof that art has no borders, no single language and does not belong to a single faith,” academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who has worked to diversify its membership, said.

Mahershala Ali, an Ahmadi Muslim, won the best-supporting actor award for his role in Moonlight, which also won best picture. In his acceptance speech, he announced the birth of his daughter and thanked his wife as well as “many wonderful teachers”.

Celebrities had used the spotlight at earlier award shows to denounce the Trump administration’s stance on immigration, transgender rights and the media.

The Oscars is the highlight of the Tinseltown calendar, and wraps up two months of glittering prize galas.

Moonlight bags the best picture after an astonishing flub in which La La Land was initially named the winner.

by Al Jazeera

The coming-of-age drama, Moonlight, has won the Academy Award for best picture, in an extraordinary Oscar upset and an unprecedented gaffe that saw one winner swapped for another.

While announcing the top honour of Sunday’s event, an apparent mix-up of cards created uproar and confusion in which presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty initially declared smash hit musical, La La Land, the winner.

But as La La Land’s producers were accepting the award, they were interrupted for a highly unusual correction: La La Land was not the winner, Moonlight was.

A chagrined Beatty blamed the flub on the envelope, which he said had contained a duplicate of the card for the best actress trophy.

“I opened the envelope and it said Emma Stone, La La Land,” he said. “I wasn’t trying to be funny.”

Host Jimmy Kimmel had come forward to inform the cast that Moonlight had indeed won, showing the inside of the envelope as proof. “I knew I would screw this up,” said Kimmel, a first-time host.

“I promise to never come back.”

Producer Jordan Horwitz then graciously passed his statue to the Moonlight producers.

Al Jazeera’s Andy Gallacher, reporting from Los Angeles, said there was a complete chaos after the error and people were confused.

“This was not exactly the Hollywood ending,” he said.

“As the La La Land crew got on stage to receive the award, one of the members of the La La Land put up the card to the camera and said this is not a joke, Moonlight won.”

“The mistake has overshadowed the entire awards night. Now the only thing people will remember is this monumental mistake, which was … great news for Moonlight and bad news for La La Land,” Gallacher said.

The best picture award was the third Oscar for Barry Jenkins’ film about an African American boy growing up gay in a poor neighbourhood in Miami.

Moonlight also won best supporting actor for Mahershala Ali – the first Muslim actor ever to win the Oscar – and best adapted screenplay for Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney.

The film has won plaudits as a vital portrait of contemporary African American life and is praised in equal measure as a groundbreaking and personal meditation on identity, family, friendship and love.

My motto for the rest of 2017: #Oscars pic.twitter.com/0JVzsVE7rO

— xoNecole (@xonecole) February 27, 2017

Besides La La Land, Moonlight beat seven other films, including alien thriller Arrival and family dramas Manchester by the Sea and Fences for best picture honours.

La La Land, however, still collected a leading six awards, including honours for cinematography, production design, score, the song “City of Stars” and best director for Damien Chazelle, who at 32 became the youngest ever filmmaker to win the category.

La La Land star Emma Stone also won best actress for her portrayal of an aspiring actress forced to endure the indignities of failed auditions, while Manchester by the Sea star Casey Affleck was named best actor for his performance as a taciturn janitor with a troubled past.

“Man, I wish I had something better and more meaningful to say … I’m just dumbfounded that I’m included,” said Affleck, a first-time Oscar winner.

Viola Davis, meanwhile, won her first Oscar for her supporting roles in Fences. The wins of Davis and Ali marked the first time in more than a decade that multiple Oscar acting honours went to black actors.

Poking fun at Trump

Earlier in the show, US President Trump had been the target of numerous jokes, capping an awards season marked by fiery protests by celebrities at his policies.

Kimmel fired off political zingers and even tweeted at the Republican president, getting no immediate response.

Insisting he was at a loss for words to help unite a divided country, the host exhorted viewers to make their own efforts at reconciliation by reaching out to political adversaries they knew personally to “have a positive, considerate conversation, not as liberals or conservatives, as Americans.”

“If we could all do that, we could make America great again,” he said, an allusion to Trump’s own campaign slogan.

Kimmel also showed a willingness to tweak the motion picture academy for its own shortcomings, drawing a sly parallel between the criticism both the president and the Oscars have taken for a perceived lack of racial sensitivity.

“I want to say, ‘Thank you, President Trump,'” he said. “I mean, remember last year when it seemed like the Oscars were racist ?” he asked rhetorically in a reference to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy that clouded the Academy Awards in 2016.

Several celebrities wore blue ribbons on Sunday in support of the American Civil Liberties Union advocacy group that worked to get Trump’s bid to ban travellers from seven majority Muslim nations blocked in US courts.

But for the most part, speeches at the ceremony were mild or made general pleas for tolerance rather than directly attacking Trump.