Battle in west Mosul could see siege, mass displacement: U.N.

ReutersFebruary 18, 2017

A member of Iraqi security forces stands guard during Friday prayers at the Hajj Diab al-Iraqi mosque in Mosul, Iraq, February 10, 2017. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

ERBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraq's U.S.-backed offensive against Islamic State in western Mosul could displace up to 400,000 civilians and involve a siege in the densely populated old city, the United Nations' Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq said on Saturday.

The military and security forces last month recaptured the eastern half of the city, Iraq's second largest, and are expected to advance on the western side in coming days.

Western Mosul contains the old city center, with its ancient souks, Grand Mosque and most government administrative buildings. Commanders expect the battle to be more difficult than in the east because, among other things, tanks and armored vehicles cannot pass through its narrow streets and alleyways.

"This is a different battle with enormous implications for civilians," Lise Grande told Reuters by telephone. "We have to face the possibility of a siege in the old city."

She said the United Nations had considered several options for ensuring civilians' access to food, medicine and water in such a scenario.

In Mosul and previous battles against Islamic State, the military has surrounded the enemy but left an escape route for fighters to reduce civilian casualties and destruction to homes and infrastructure.

There may still be an option for the militants to flee west towards Tel Afar, but they may decide to put up a last stand in the heart of Mosul, the largest population center ever to come under their control.

Capturing the city would effectively end the militants' ambitions for territorial rule in Iraq, but they are expected to continue to wage an insurgency, carrying out suicide bombings and inspiring lone-wolf actions abroad.

The United Nations estimates that up to 800,000 civilians are living in western districts. Grande said up to half of them could flee their homes "in a worst case", twice the displacement seen in eastern Mosul.

The government and humanitarian agencies are constructing emergency sites south of the city and stockpiling key supplies.

Food and fuel supplies are dwindling in the west, markets and shops have closed, running water is scarce and electricity in many neighborhoods is either intermittent or cut off, the United Nations said in a statement.

Few commercial supplies have reached Mosul since the main road to Syria was cut at the end of November.

"The battle hasn't started but already there is a humanitarian crisis," Grande said in the statement.

(Reporting By Stephen Kalin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Aoun: Israeli threats to Lebanese sovereignty will meet 'appropriate response'

ReutersFebruary 18, 2017

Lebanese president Michel Aoun sits on the president's chair inside the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, Lebanon October 31, 2016. REUTERS/Aziz Taher

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese President Michel Aoun said on Saturday that any Israeli attempt to violate Lebanon's sovereignty would be met with the "appropriate response", in a statement released by his office.

"Any attempt to hurt Lebanese sovereignty or expose the Lebanese to danger will find the appropriate response," the statement said.

It said Aoun was reacting to recent remarks in a letter at the United Nations by Israel's U.N. ambassador, which amounted to a "masked attempt to threaten security and stability" in southern Lebanon, but did not say what the remarks were.

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz said on Thursday that all of Lebanon would be a target if Hezbollah fired on Israel.

Aoun's comments also followed warnings this week by the leader of the armed Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah, a political ally of the president, against any Israeli aggression.

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the group's rockets had the ability to strike Israel's nuclear reactor at Dimona and its military infrastructure - an apparent warning against any Israeli military action that he said might be approved by the new U.S. president, Donald Trump.

In 2006 Israel fought a month-long war against Hezbollah in south Lebanon.

Since then, hostilities between them have been limited to occasional firing across the border and air strikes by Israel against Hezbollah leaders and military equipment in Syria, where the group is fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad.

Trump's administration has been vocal in its criticism of Hezbollah's patron Iran and in its support for Israel.

(Reporting by John Davison in Beirut; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Malaysia arrests North Korean man as row over Kim Jong Nam's death escalates

By Emily Chow and Liz Lee

ReutersFebruary 18, 2017

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FILE PHOTO: A police officer stands at the morgue at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital where Kim Jong Nam's body is held for autopsy in Malaysia

FILE PHOTO: A police officer stands at the morgue at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital where Kim Jong Nam's body is held for autopsy in Malaysia February 18, 2017. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

By Emily Chow and Liz Lee

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian police said on Saturday they had arrested a North Korean man in connection with the murder of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as a diplomatic spat over his body escalated.

Kim Jong Nam died this week after being assaulted at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with what was thought to be a fast-acting poison. South Korean and U.S. officials have said he was assassinated by North Korean agents.

Malaysian police said the latest arrest connected with the murder was made on Friday night, and the suspect was identified as Ri Jong Chol, born on May 6, 1970. He was in possession of a Malaysian i-Kad, which is an identification card given to foreign workers, they added.

"He is suspected to be involved in the death of a North Korean male," read a statement.

The police chief for Selangor state, Abdul Samah Mat, said the suspect had been remanded in police custody.

Two female suspects, one an Indonesian and the other carrying Vietnamese travel documents, have already been arrested, while a Malaysian man has been detained. At least three more suspects are at large, government sources have said.

Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, had spoken out publicly against his family's dynastic control of isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea.

South Korea's intelligence agency told lawmakers in Seoul that Kim had been living with his second wife in the Chinese territory of Macau, under China's protection.

He had been at the Kuala Lumpur airport to catch a flight to Macau when he was killed. An autopsy is being performed at a hospital in the capital city.

Selangor state police chief Abdul Samah told Reuters that the autopsy report was not complete yet. He dismissed media reports that a second autopsy would have to be conducted.

DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION

North Korea said in the early hours of Saturday that it would categorically reject Malaysia's autopsy report on the death of Kim Jong Nam, and accused Malaysia of "colluding with outside forces", in a veiled reference to rival nation South Korea.

Malaysia hit back by saying the country's rules must be followed. The foreign ministry has yet to make any comment.

Health minister Dr S.Subramaniam told state news agency Bernama that Malaysia was waiting for the toxicology report to complete the autopsy.

He said the autopsy report would hopefully be released "within this week".

The case threatens to weaken North Korea's ties with Malaysia, one of the few countries that has maintained good diplomatic relations with Pyongyang.

North Korea's nuclear arms and weapons programs have alarmed the West, most recently its test of a ballistic missile earlier this month in its first direct challenge to the international community since Donald Trump became U.S. president.

Pyongyang's main ally and trading partner is China, which is irritated by its repeated aggressive actions but rejects suggestions from the United States and others that it could be doing more to rein in its neighbor.

On Saturday, China said it had further tightened trade restrictions with North Korea by suspending all imports of coal starting Feb. 19, although it did not say why. Coal exports to China are a vital source of revenues for Pyongyang.

ROW OVER AUTOPSY

Kim Jong Nam was assaulted at the low cost terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday with what is believed to be fast acting poison before he could board a flight to Macau. He sought help but died on the way to the hospital.

North Korea demanded on Friday night that Kim Jong Nam's body be released immediately. It had earlier tried to persuade Malaysian authorities not to carry out an autopsy.

"The Malaysian side forced the post-mortem without our permission and witnessing," the North Korean ambassador Kang Chol told reporters outside the hospital where the body of Kim Jong Nam is being kept.

"We will categorically reject the result of the post mortem ... "

He said Kim Jong Nam had a diplomatic passport and was under the consular protection of North Korea.

(Additional reporting by Meng Meng and David Stanway in Beijing; Writing by Praveen Menon and A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Michael Perry and Mike Collett-White)

Can Trump cut funds to UC Berkeley? Experts say not really

By Sharon Bernstein,Reuters 4 hours ago 

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3 arrested in violent protest at UC Berkeley over Milo Yiannopoulos speech

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By Sharon Bernstein

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump does not have the authority to withhold funding from the University of California at Berkeley where violent protests led to the cancellation of a speech by a far-right editor, academics and experts said on Thursday.

Trump threatened to cut funds for the university's flagship Berkeley campus in a Twitter posting accusing the institution of failing to support free speech and practicing violence against innocent people.

But academics and experts interviewed by Reuters said state universities mostly receive federal funds in the form of research grants and financial aid to students, and these cannot be revoked for reasons related to freedom of speech.

"There is nothing in current legislation that would allow President Trump to do that," said Don Heller, a provost at the University of San Francisco and an expert in public education financing.

UC Berkeley receives between $400 million and $450 million annually in federal funding for research, and about $216 million for student financial aid, officials said.

Some of that can be withheld but only in very specific circumstances, such as the publication of fraudulent research or the refusal of a university to comply with the Title IX law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs.

To add freedom of speech to that list of offenses would take new legislation in Congress, Heller and other experts said.

And even if such a law were passed, Berkeley's situation would be highly unlikely to be affected, said Terry Hartle, vice president for Government and Public Affairs at the American Council on Education.

That is because in Berkeley's case, the university had attempted to facilitate the speech on Wednesday night, cancelling it only after police became concerned about safety.

“Because the crowd had grown so violent and agitated, it was our recommendation to the speaker that his public safety was in jeopardy,” UC Berkeley police department spokeswoman Sergeant Sabrina Reich said in a telephone interview.

"NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"

Milo Yiannopoulos, an editor at Breitbart News, was escorted by police from the campus as a relatively small group among the 1500 protesters smashed windows and set fires and the campus was put on lockdown. There were no injuries.

Yiannopoulos has been a provocative figure on the internet for years, and has been widely criticized for comments he has made about Muslims, Black Lives Matter activists and feminists.

Trump, whose aide Steve Bannon previously ran the right-wing, nationalist Breitbart site, tweeted his response shortly before dawn in Washington on Thursday.

"If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?" the President wrote.

His administration was not immediately available for further comment on Thursday.

Longer-term, there were some steps a Trump administration could take that would affect the university.

For instance, the Department of Energy could conceivably seek to relocate the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is in the hills above the campus and is managed by the University of California, said Bob Shireman, a former deputy undersecretary for education in the Obama administration.

“There are things that if a president really wanted to punish some particular college they could influence those decisions but it would take a long time and there would be a lot of reaction,” said Shireman, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif., and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Andrew Hay)