Sudan makes female genital mutilation unlawful

Khartoum (Wikipedia)

The transitional government of Sudan has ecided to make female genital mutilation a criminal offense. The amendment to the Criminal Law Article 141 was endorsed by both the Sovereign and Ministerial Councils on 22 April. All amendments proposed by National Council for Child Welfare (NCCW) in line with UNICEF vision to promote child rights were also endorsed.
This measure came after years of persistent advocacy by all stake holders; the NCCW, women and child advocates, donors including UK aid and the Swedish government, UN agencies, and international and national organizations.

Syrian Kurds shift alliance to Damascus, Assads troops on their way to the north

 Qamishli (Photo Wikipedia)

Syria's Kurds said Syrian government forces agreed Sunday to help them fend off Turkey's invasion — a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos.

The Syrian government troops will deploy along the border with Turkey to help Kurdish fighters fend off Ankara's military offensive in northern Syria, the Kurdish-led administration in the region said. 

The move, announced on Sunday, represents a major shift in alliance for Syria's Kurds and came hours after the United States said it was withdrawing its troops from the area to avoid getting caught in the middle of the fast-escalating conflict.

The Kurdish-led administration in a statement on Facebook said it had brokered the agreement with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to counter Turkey's ongoing push, which has drawn widespread condemnation. 

At least 105 killed in nationwide protests in Iraq

Updated October 8:  More than  hundred people have been killed so far in the protests in several Iraqi cities. The number of 105 was cited by the Iraqi Humna Rights Observatory. The army has admitted that it used ''excessive force;''. The Iraqi president, Barham Salih, condemned the attacks on portesteres (and the media) and urged the security forces to respect the rights of the protesters.
In Iraq the internet is still cut off. Prime minister Abdul Mahdi has ordered the military forces to be replaced by federal police units. Also he ordered the intelligence service to open an inquiry. (End of Update)
An indefinite curfew has been imposed October 2 in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and southern cities after two days of anti-government protests descended into violence and left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more injured. On Thursday morning, riot police fired in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters angry at high unemployment gathered at Tahrir Square in central Baghdad in defiance of the curfew.
"We slept here so the police don't take the place," one demonstrator told AFP news agency before being pushed back by the police.
Since erupting in Baghdad on Tuesday, the protests have spread to other cities in the country's south, posing a challenge to Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's one-year-old government. Curfews were also imposed in the holy city of Najaf and in Nassiriyah on Wednesday after security forces fired on protesters who demand end to rampant power cuts, water shortages and state corruption.

Trump gives Turkey green light to attack Kurds in Northern Syria

 (Photo Wikipedia)
 The White House has given the green light to a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, moving US forces out of the area in an abrupt foreign policy change that will in effect abandon the Kurds, Washington’s longtime military partner.
Kurdish forces have spearheaded the campaign against Islamic State in the region, but the policy swerve, after a phone conversation between Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday, means Turkey would take custody of captured Isis fighters, the White House said.
It has also raised fears of fresh fighting between Turkey and Kurdish forces in Syria’s complex war now the US no longer acts as a buffer between the two sides.
Trump defended his decision, saying the Kurds were “paid massive amounts of money and equipment” to fight and that he was leaving the fight against Isis to others for the time being.
“We are 7,000 miles away,” he tweeted, while vowing to crush the extremist movement “if they come anywhere near us”.

Attacks on two Saudi oil refineries: what followed

Tensions in the Middle East have surged following attacks on two major oil facilities in Saudi Arabia. The pre-dawn attacks on September 14 knocked out more than half of the top global exporter's output - five percent of the global oil supply - or about 5.7 million barrels per day.

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed responsibility but US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo swiftly accused Iran, which rejected the allegations. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, promised to "confront and deal with this terrorist agggression", while US President Donald Trump hinted at possible military action.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed Ankara would continue to purchase oil and natural gas from Iran despite US sanctions.
Saudi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf, called on the UN and the world to apply "utmost pressure with every tool available" to end what he said was Iran's aggressive conduct. At UNGA on Thursday, the foreign minister again blamed Iran for the September 14 missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities and said the best way to control Tehran was by cutting off its financial resources.
Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan noted that when a country was looking for international support after such an attack it would normally call for an emergency meeting of the Security Council. "There's been no such request from the Saudi government,'' he said.

Iran activates advanced centrifuges in third upgrade of atomic program

Anti-aircfat gun guarding Natanz (Photo Wikipedia)

Iran has begun injecting gas into advanced centrifuges to increase its stockpile of enriched uranium, an official has announced, warning that time is running out for other signatories to save a multilateral 2015 nuclear deal.

In the meantime negotiations are still underway between France and Iran about a loan of some $ 15 billion, in order to truy to svae the nuclear deal (see below)

Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said on Saturday the agency had started up advanced centrifuges at Iran's enrichment facility in Natanz as the third step by Tehran in scaling back its commitments under the crumbling pact following the United States' unilateral withdrawal last year.

"We have started lifting limitations on our research and development imposed by the deal ... it will include development of more rapid and advanced centrifuges," Kamalvandi said.

"The capacity of these machines is many times more than the previous machines. This started as of yesterday (Friday)," he continued, adding that "all these steps are reversible if the other side fulfils its promises".
In two separate moves already, Iran reduced its commitments outlined in the crumbling deal and vowed further measures unless the European signatories of the pact did more to shield Tehran's economy.

Sudanese sign deal between military and opposition

The agreement is signed (via Twitter)

Sudan's main opposition coalition and the ruling military council have formally signed a final power-sharing deal, paving the way for a transition to a civilian-led government.

The landmark agreement signed on Saturday in the capital Khartoum came after a long period of negotiations following the overthrow of longtime leader President Omar al-Bashir in the wake of mass protests.

The deal was inked between Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, deputy chief of the Transitional Military Council (TMC), and Ahmed al-Rabie, who represented the Alliance for Freedom and Change umbrella group. The ceremony was attended by heads of states, prime ministers and dignitaries from several countries, including Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.
The power-sharing deal creates a joint military and civilian sovereign council to rule for a little over three years until elections can be held.
Under the agreement, a military leader would head the 11-member council for the first 21 months, followed by a civilian leader for the next 18. It would also establish a cabinet appointed by the activists and a legislative body.

Takeover of Aden by separatists weakens the front against the Houthis

Separatists celebrate the takeover of Aden 

A Southern Yemeni organisation that seeks the secession (or autonomy) of South Yemen, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) on after four days of fighting on Saturday took effective control of various parts of Aden. With vehicles donated by the United Arab Emirates and without meeting too much resistance as it seems, they took over military camps, the home of the interior minister and the almost-empty presidential palace where guards agreed to leave without a fight. Forty people were killed in the fighting and 260 were wounded.
STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi on Sunday said in a televised appearance the council was committed to a ceasefire called by Saudi Arabia, and said the separatists were willing to attend a meeting called by Riyadh a day earlier. He added they were also willing to work with the Saudi-UAE-led military coalition battling Yemen's Houthi rebels. On the surface the front against the Houthis seems to remains intact in this way, but the real significance of the take over lies in the fact that a serious split between the two main components of the anti-Houthi-front came into the open in this way: the Saudis who back the officially recognized Yemeni governement of Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi at the one hand and the United Arab Emirates who support the STC at the other.
The two countries have been fighting the Houthis the last five years with the backing by the US and Great Britain among others in a war that has cost ttrens of thousands of lives and had brought hunger and destruction. It hasn t brought them nearer a victory however. The Sauedis mainly bombed fro the air, the UAE had his troups in the South, but recentl;u announced that it is going to withdraw them. That gae the STC the opportunity to take over Aden.

Trump increases the tension with new sanctions on Iran

Pompeo, Trump and Bolton (Photo State Department/Public Domain)

US President Trump on Monday signed an order for new sanctions aggainst Iran that target the supreme leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei and commanders of several military units. The order came af the downing by Iran of an American drone, that according to the US was in international airspace, but according to Iran flew above Iranian territory. The American measures are not only a way of retaliation, they also want to force Iran to hold talks about its nuclear policy and missile program, after America nullified the JCPOA, the nuclear agreement that five world powers in 2015 concluded with  Iran.
Secretary Mnuchin of the Treasur Department said that apart from Khamenei senior commanders of eight Navy, Aerospace, and Ground Forces of the Revolutionaru Guards Corps were hit by the sanctions. He also said that Foreign Minister Javad Sharif would be targeted next week. The accounts of Khameni and the commaners have been blocked and they cannot make use of American financial nsystesm anymore. According to Mnuchin's Treasury ''these commanders sit atop bureaucracy that supervices malicious reguional activities, including its provocative ballistic missile program, harassment and sabotage of commercial vessels in in ternational waters and its destabilizing presence in Syria''.

For second time Erdogan's AKP looses the election for mayor of Istanbul

(Photo The Pessoptimist)

The candidate of the Republican People's Party (CHP) on Sunday won the second ballot during the election of the mayor of Istanbul.   After 95% of the votes had been counted, the candidate of the governing AK Party of  Recep Tayip Erdogan conceded he lost. ''According to the result as of now, my competitor Ekrem Imamoglu is leading the race. I congratulate him and wish him good luck," Binali Yildirim said. The CHP had more than 53% of the vote at that moment, while the AKP candidate reached 534,4 percent.
De win of the CHP in Istanbul election ends the 17 year rule by the AK Party in Turkey's largest city and commercial hub. The Istanbul mayoral election was first held on March 31. At that vtime Imamoglu won with 48.8 percent of the vote, while the AK Party's Yildirim got 48.55 percent, so that Imamoglu became mayor with a very small margin. But at the instigation of president Erdogan the AKP contested the results, which had the consequence that the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) annulled the results on dispututede grounds and scheduled a rerun.

U.S. almost attacked Iranian targets after downing of American drone

Iranian media showed the trajectory of the drone according to Tehran, after it took off from the United Arab Emirates.


U.S. President Donald Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for the downing of an unmanned surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching attacks, US media reports said on Friday. Citing senior White House officials.
 The New York Times reported an operation sanctioned by Trump to launch attacks on a "handful of Iranian targets" - including radar and missile batteries - was "in its early stages" on Thursday evening when the US leader changed tack and called it off.
Planes and ships were already underway when the order to stand down came, the Times cited one unidentified administration official as saying. The Washington Post and ABC News also reported the developments, citing unnamed White House officials and other sources said to be familiar with the matter. The White House declined to comment on the reports.
On Friday, Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran had "indisputable" evidence that the aircraft violated its airspace. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner, whose country represents US interests in Iran, of the evidence on Thursday night, the ministry said in a statement. "Even some parts of the drone's wreckage has been retrieved from Iran's territorial waters," Araghchi said. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gave the exact coordinates where he said the drone was shot down.

Hundreds of Jewish scholars protest resignation director Jewish Museum Berlin

A group of 45 academic Talmud scholars has signed a letter in support of Peter Schäfer, the former director of the Berlin Jewish Museum who resigned last week amid criticism of a tweet linking to a pro-Israel boycott story.

Prof. Peter Schäfer

Such a letter is unprecedented among the Talmudist community, which  tends to shy away from commenting on current affairs, said Ishay Rosen Zvi, a Talmud professor at Tel Aviv University who co-organized the letter with a Princeton University Talmud professor, Moulie Vidas.

A separate letter signed by a broader group of Jewish studies scholars protested “that the reputation of a scholar devoted to Judaism would be smeared in public.” That letter has 300 signatures.

The Talmudists’ letter states that all its signatories, who hold a range of views on Israel and the movement to boycott it, are “united in our profound admiration for Prof. Schäfer.” It calls him “one of the main pillars in the field” of Talmudic studies.