Related Articles
The Canadian Press –
Dec 13, 2019 / 1:38 pm | Story:
272640
Photo: Wikipedia
Democrats propelled President Donald Trump’s impeachment toward a historic vote by the full U.S. House as the Judiciary Committee on Friday approved charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. It’s the latest major step in the constitutional and political storm that has divided Congress and the nation.
The House is expected to approve the two articles of impeachment next week, before lawmakers depart for the holidays.
The partisan split in the committee vote — 23 Democrats to 17 Republicans — reflects the atmosphere in Congress. The Democratic-majority House is expected to approve the charges against Trump next week, but the Republican-controlled Senate is likely to acquit him after a January trial.
Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival Joe Biden while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to probe his actions.
“Today is a solemn and sad day,” Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., told reporters after the session, marking the third time in U.S. history the panel had voted to recommend impeaching a president. He said the full House would act ”expeditiously.”‘
At the White House after the votes, Trump denounced the inquiry and actions against him, using the terms he’s relied on for months. He referred to the impeachment effort four times as a hoax, twice as a sham and once each as a scam, a witch hunt and a disgrace. He described his actions as perfect three times and said four times he did nothing wrong.
When he had asked Ukraine to “do us a favour” in the July phone call that sparked the impeachment inquiry, he said, the “us” referred to the U.S., not a political favour for himself.
Trump noted that he watched “quite a bit” of the previous day’s proceedings and determined Democrats were making fools of themselves. He derided the government officials who testified that he pressured Ukraine and he claimed he was benefiting politically from impeachment.
Voting was swift and solemn, with none of the fiery speeches and weighty nods to history that defined the previous two days of debate, including 14 hours that stretched nearly to midnight Thursday. Nadler abruptly halted that rancorous session so voting could be held in daylight, for all Americans to see.
Nadler, who had said he wanted lawmakers to “search their consciences” before casting their votes, gaveled in the landmark but brief morning session at the Capitol.
Lawmakers responded “aye” or “yes” for the Democrats, and simple:”no’s” from the Republicans.
“The article is agreed to,” Nadler declared after each vote.
The top Republican on the panel Rep. Doug Collins of Georgia immediately said he would file dissenting views.
Minutes after the morning session opened, it was gaveled shut.
Trump is only the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for re-election at the same time. The outcome of the eventual House votes pose potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections, with Americans deeply divided over whether the president indeed conducted impeachable acts and if it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 13, 2019 / 11:21 am | Story:
272626
Photo: The Canadian Press
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
EU leaders broke a deadlock early Friday and claimed a deal over a key climate target by committing to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, sidestepping the objections of Poland, one of the blocs biggest economies.
Two days after the EU’s new commission chief unveiled her “European Green Deal” to fight climate change, heads of state and government cried victory during a summit in Brussels, calling it a major step forward in the continent’s ambition to remain a global climate leader.
“We reached an agreement on climate change. It is crucial,” EU Council President Charles Michel said.
Poland failed to commit to the deal but couldn’t stop the summit meeting from endorsing “the objective of achieving a climate-neutral EU by 2050,” as the conclusions read. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Poland’s hesitation, considering its dependency on coal, was “completely acceptable.” She said it was “”an intensive vivid debate” that preceded the decision after some 10 hours of talks.
Poland had wanted to wait until 2070 to go climate neutral instead of 2050, according to a European diplomat involved in the talks, but the other EU leaders refused. Von der Leyen said Poland could have more time to “go through details, but this will not change the time frame.”
Prime Minister Mateusz Morowiecki insisted that “Poland has been exempted from the principle of reaching climate neutrality (by 2050). We will reach it at our own pace.”
Michel said it would take a special meeting with Poland to overcome the objections, set for next June. “It’s important to take into consideration different national circumstances and different starting points; to take into consideration the social consequences” of the transition to clean energy, Michel said.
The EU leader was criticized for claiming a deal while Poland still stood aside, but Michel said that “we need to be creative to advance the European project.”
Making the bloc’s economy carbon neutral by 2050 has been a hot topic on the European agenda for months, but the proposal failed to get approval at a summit last June and was relegated to a non-binding footnote in the final statement of that summit.
Von der Leyen has since been appointed as the new chief of the EU Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, and has made the fight against climate change her top priority. Another failure this week to get support from all members would be seen as an ill-fated start for her five-year tenure.
A major problem for coal-dependent nations Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic is the heavy costs associated with transforming their economy and energy sources. To get the support of all EU members, von der Leyen on Wednesday unveiled a new “European Green Deal,” with an offer of some 100 billion euros ($130 billion) in public and private funds to help the fossil-fuel reliant EU nations make the transition to lower emissions.
In addition to the cash issue, leaders also must find a compromise on the type of energies that will be used during the transition.
The Czechs want guarantees that they won’t be prevented from developing nuclear power units and will have the support of France, whose electricity production is largely provided by nuclear sources.
“Nuclear is part of the transition,” French president Emmanuel Macron said. “The all-coal countries won’t be able to switch to all-renewable overnight.”
Before reaching carbon neutrality, Von der Leyen wants the bloc to reduce carbon emission by at least 50% by 2030 compared with 1990 levels, more than the current goal of 40%. If possible, she would like to increase the EU’s target for 2030 to as high as 55% without hurting the bloc’s economy.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 13, 2019 / 8:53 am | Story:
272614
Photo: The Canadian Press
Boris Johnson’s gamble on early elections paid off as voters gave the UK prime minister a commanding majority to take the country out of the European Union by the end of January, a decisive result after more than three years of stalemate over Brexit.
Johnson’s promise to “get Brexit done” and widespread unease with opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership style and socialist policies combined to give the ruling Conservative Party 365 seats in the House of Commons, its best performance since party icon Margaret Thatcher’s last victory in 1987. Corbyn’s Labour Party slumped to 203 seats, 59 fewer than it won two years ago, vote totals showed Friday.
The results offer Johnson a new mandate to push his EU withdrawal agreement through Parliament. Since taking office in July, he had led a minority government and, after the House of Commons stalled his Brexit deal at the end of October, he called the election two years ahead of schedule in hopes of winning a clear majority.
“I will put an end to all that nonsense, and we will get Brexit done on time by the January 31 – no ifs, no buts, no maybes,” he said as supporters cheered. “Leaving the European Union as one United Kingdom, taking back control of our laws, borders, money, our trade, immigration system, delivering on the democratic mandate of the people.”
Johnson also offered an olive branch to Britons who want to remain in the EU, saying he will respect their “warm feelings” and build a “new partnership” with the bloc as “friends and sovereign equals.”
Speaking Friday outside 10 Downing Street, he pledged to end acrimony over Brexit and urged the country to “let the healing begin.” He said he would work to repay voters’ trust.
The scale of Johnson’s success also marked a stinging defeat for Corbyn, who had promised to lead Labour to victory with the “biggest people-powered campaign our country has ever seen.”
Instead, voters rejected his attempt to bridge divisions over Brexit by promising a second referendum on any deal with the EU. The vote also turned away the rest of the party’s agenda, which included promises to raise taxes on the rich, increase social spending and nationalize industries such as water delivery, railroads and the Royal Mail.
Corbyn, who spent his entire career as a backbench gadfly until unexpectedly winning a party leadership election in 2015, was criticized for silencing critics within the party and failing to root out anti-Semitism among his supporters. Centrist Labour politicians were quick to call for Corbyn to step down, though he has said he will stay on during a period of “reflection” and that an internal election to choose a new leader would take place early next year.
“Obviously, it is a very disappointing night for the party,” he said after retaining his own seat in Parliament. “But I want to say this, in the election campaign we put forward a manifesto of hope. However, Brexit has so polarized debate it has overridden so much of normal political debate.”
Phil Wilson, the former Labour lawmaker from Sedgefield who lost his seat to the Conservatives, said blaming the party’s wipeout on Brexit was “mendacious nonsense.”
Corbyn’s leadership “was a bigger problem,” he tweeted. “To say otherwise is delusional. The party’s leadership went down like a lead balloon on the doorstep. Labour’s leadership needs to take responsibility.”
In an election where differences over Brexit cut across traditional party lines, several big names lost their seats the House of Commons.
Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson pledged to cancel Brexit if she were elected prime minister, but she was defeated by the Scottish National Party in her constituency north of Glasgow and resigned as party leader. Chuka Umunna was a one-time Labour Party leadership candidate, who left the party in February because of differences with Corbyn. Running as a Liberal Democrat, he lost out to the Conservatives in the cities of London and Westminster. Nigel Dodds led the Democratic Unionist Party in the House of Commons as the party supported the government in hopes of winning concessions on Brexit for Northern Ireland. He lost his Belfast North seat to Sinn Fein.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 13, 2019 / 8:39 am | Story:
272612
Photo: CTV News
As grieving families sang traditional Maori songs, New Zealand military specialists wearing protective gear landed on a small volcanic island on Friday and recovered six bodies of the 16 people who died in an eruption four days earlier.
The specialists — six men and two women wearing hooded protective suits and using breathing gear — landed by helicopter on White Island and found six of the eight bodies thought to be there.
“We know that reunification won’t ease that sense of loss or grief because I don’t think anything can. But we felt an enormous duty of care as New Zealanders to make sure that we brought their family members back,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a news conference.
The families cheered and expressed joy and relief upon being told of the successful recovery, Police Deputy Commissioner Wally Haumaha said. “They’ve got their loved ones coming home,” Haumaha said.
The bodies were airlifted to a nearby ship where the risky operation was monitored. Toxic volcanic gases are still venting from the crater, and scientists say another eruption like the fatal one Monday is possible.
The bodies were to be taken to Auckland for identification. They are thought to be Australians, who were most of the visitors to the island on Monday when the volcano erupted.
Another recovery operation was planned for the last two bodies, thought to be New Zealanders, a tour guide and a boat captain who had taken tourists to the island.
Police said divers searched the sea around the island briefly in the afternoon before weather conditions forced them to stop for the day. Aerial surveillance was also used to try to locate the two bodies.
“We do believe that at least one of them is in the water and the other one we are unsure,” but the body may be in the sea as well, Police Commissioner Mike Bush said at a news briefing. “We will continue to search for these people,” he added.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 13, 2019 / 6:31 am | Story:
272601
Photo: The Canadian Press
The House Judiciary Committee pushed deliberately toward a historic vote Thursday to approve articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump, split sharply along party lines. The daylong session was expected to end with charges being sent to the full House for action next week, before the holidays.
The committee, made up of some of the most strident Democrats and Republicans in Congress, clashed for hours in pointed and at times emotional debate, drawing on history and the Constitution to argue over the two charges. Trump is accused, in the first article, of abusing his presidential power by asking Ukraine to investigate his 2020 rival, Joe Biden, while holding military aid as leverage, and, in the second, of obstructing Congress by blocking the House’s efforts to probe his actions.
Trump is only the fourth U.S. president to face impeachment proceedings and the first to be running for reelection at the same time. He insists he did nothing wrong and blasts the Democrats’ effort daily as a sham and harmful to America. Republican allies seem unwavering in their opposition to expelling Trump, and he claims to be looking ahead to swift acquittal in a Senate trial.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi sounded confident Thursday that Democrats, who once tried to avoid a solely partisan effort, will have the votes to impeach the president without Republican support when the full House votes next week. But she said it was up to individual lawmakers to weigh the evidence.
“The fact is we take an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” Pelosi told reporters. “No one is above the law; the president will be held accountable for his abuse of power and for his obstruction of Congress.”
The outcome poses potentially serious political consequences for both parties ahead of the 2020 elections, with Americans deeply divided over whether the president indeed conducted impeachable acts and if it should be up to Congress, or the voters, to decide whether he should remain in office.
The president has refused to participate in the proceedings, tweeting criticisms as he did Thursday from the sidelines, mocking the charges against him in the House’s nine-page resolution as “impeachment light.” But Pelosi said the president was wrong and the case against him is deeply grounded.
Democrats note that the investigations go back to special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House. And they say his dealings with Ukraine have benefited its aggressive neighbour Russia, not the U.S., and he must be prevented from “corrupting” U.S. elections again and cheating his way to a second term next year.
“It is urgent,” Pelosi said.
The Judiciary Committee session drew out over two days, with both sides appealing to Americans’ sense of history — Democrats describing a sense of duty to stop what one called the president’s “constitutional crime spree” and Republicans decrying what one said was the “hot garbage’’ impeachment and what it means for the future of the country.
Trump, apparently watching the live proceedings on television, tweeted his disapproval of two Democratic women on the panel, Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sheila Jackson Lee, both of Texas. He called their comments about his actions inaccurate.
“Very sad,” Trump tweeted.
The House is expected to vote on the articles next week, in the days before Christmas. That would send them to the Senate for a 2020 trial.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 2:36 pm | Story:
272552
Photo: Santiago Times
Searchers combing Antarctic seas have recovered parts of a military transport plane and human remains belonging to some of the 38 people aboard who vanished en route to the frozen continent, Chilean officials said Thursday.
Air Force Gen. Arturo Merino said at a news conference that based on the condition of the remains, he believed it would be “practically impossible” that any survivors would be pulled from the water alive.
An international team of searchers continued the hunt, while officials on shore said they would use DNA analysis to identify the crash victims.
Among the recovered items, searchers have found a landing wheel, sponge-like material from the fuel tanks and part of the plane’s inside wall. Personal items include a backpack and a shoe, officials said.
“Remains of human beings that are most likely the passengers have been found among several pieces of the plane,” Merino said. “I feel immense pain for this loss of lives.”
The C-130 Hercules, a military transport plane, departed Monday afternoon from a base in Punta Arenas in far-southern Chile on a regular maintenance flight for an Antarctic base. Radio contact was lost 70 minutes later.
After midnight, the Air Force declared the plane a loss, but it wasn’t until Wednesday that a plane scanning the seas first spotted floating debris believed to be from the plane.
The searchers located the remains roughly 30 kilometres from where pilots last made contact with the control tower, said officials, adding that the hunt has taken them to sea depths of 4,000 metres.
Ed Coleman, a pilot and chair of the Safety Science Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona, said recovering the plane’s flight recorder will be key to understanding what went wrong.
But recovering the bulk of the plane from the ocean’s bottom — more than 2 miles underwater — could be very difficult. He said they could resort to taking video from remote operated vehicles.
It may be impossible to return some of the crash victims to their families, he said.
“It’s possible that some of them may never be recovered,” Coleman said. “A lot of times that happens in a deep-water recovery. It’s just not possible.”
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 1:52 pm | Story:
272566
Photo: The Canadian Press
Gallery owner Emmanuel Perrotin poses next to Italian artist Maurizio Cattlelan’s “Comedian” at the Art Basel exhibition in Miami Beach, Fla.
A Miami couple who bought a headline-grabbing banana duct-taped to a wall have acknowledged the absurdity of the artwork, but say they believe it will become an icon and plan to gift it to a museum.
Billy and Beatrice Cox said in a statement that they spent more than $100,000 on the “unicorn of the art world” after seeing “the public debate it sparked about art and our society.”
The conceptual artwork — “Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — was the talk of last week’s Art Basel Miami. The artist sold three editions, each in the $120,000 to $150,000 range, according to the Perrotin gallery.
“We are acutely aware of the blatant absurdity of the fact that “Comedian” is an otherwise inexpensive and perishable piece of produce and a couple inches of duct tape,” the Coxes said. “Ultimately we sense that Cattelan’s banana will become an iconic historical object.”
The piece was widely parodied on social media. Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest framed a bagel with a piece of duct tape over it and Brooke Shields taped a banana to her forehead, writing, “An expensive selfie,” on Instagram.
On Saturday at the art fair, Georgian-born artist David Datuna removed the latest iteration of the banana from the wall, unpeeled it and took a bite as a large crowd documented the moment with their phones.
“I respect Maurizio, but it’s art performance: Hungry artist,” said Datuna, who was not among the buyers.
The piece became such a focus of gawking that the gallery removed it Sunday for the final day to encourage viewers to see the rest of the art fair.
The Miami couple — whose purchase included a “certificate of authenticity” along with the banana and the piece of tape — said they plan to loan and later gift the work to an unspecified art institution in hopes of attracting new generations to the museum.
They plan to throw out old bananas when appropriate. “Yes … the banana itself will need to be replaced,” they said.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 1:00 pm | Story:
272558
Photo: Maxar Technologies
Satellite image of volcano on White Island after eruption.
New Zealand police and military specialists launched a risky operation Friday to recover the bodies of eight victims of a volcanic eruption on an island that has left at least eight others dead.
Just after first light, two helicopters from the New Zealand Defence Force lifted off from the township of Whakatane and travelled 50 kilometres to White Island off New Zealand’s eastern coast.
Eight military specialists wearing protective clothing and using breathing apparatus landed and are trying to recover the bodies, police said. Scientists have warned that gases on the island after Monday’s eruption are so toxic and corrosive that a single inhalation could be fatal.
Police Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement told reporters Thursday evening that drones had pinpointed six bodies but the location of two others was unknown. He expected the operation to take several hours.
Police, military and other personnel will monitor the recovery operation from a ship stationed just off the island. Volcanologists aboard will use electronic equipment on the island to provide the recovery team with real-time information on the volcano’s behaviour.
Scientists have warned volcanic activity has increased in recent days and the island is “highly volatile.”
That has delayed the recovery of the last victims since Monday’s eruption, which occurred as 47 tourists and their guides were exploring the island. In addition to the bodies left on the island, eight other people were killed and dozens were severely burned by the blast of scalding steam and ash.
“The risk has not passed,” Clement said. “The people who are going to be protected by the equipment they will wear tomorrow are few and far between and so we have spent considerable time making sure we have the right people with the right skills and the right equipment.”
Clement said the success of the operation would depend on many factors beyond the control of the recovery team, like “the mountain itself, the volcano, the weather and other matters, environmental factors that we don’t control.”
“A lot has to go right for this to work,” he said. “We will all be waiting tomorrow morning to ensure that the people who are putting themselves in harm’s way in the interests of recovering those bodies, our thoughts and our prayers and our love will be with them.”
New Zealand medical staff were working around the clock to treat the injured survivors in hospital burn units, and specialist medical teams are due to arrive from Australia, Britain and the United States.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 12:32 pm | Story:
272551
Photo: Police photo
Devin Holland
A one-time NFL player was charged with murder in what authorities described as a drug-related killing in Louisiana in 2013.
Devin Holland, 31, was arrested Wednesday in the shooting death of Timothy Pena during an apparent drug deal six years ago, Baton Rogue police said.
The Advocate reported that Holland played football for McNeese State University and Tulane University before signing a contract with Tampa Bay, where he played in four games in 2011. He also signed with the Washington Redskins before being released in 2013.
Booking records showed DNA evidence linked Holland to a truck where Pena was found fatally wounded. Antoine Robinson, who was charged in the killing earlier this month, also was linked to the scene through DNA, records showed.
Pena had a cellphone that included text messages that described a meeting for a suspected narcotics deal, according to booking documents. He died at a hospital after being found with a gunshot wound in the back of the head on Dec. 17, 2013.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 12:27 pm | Story:
272549
Photo: Twitter
A fire at a plastics factory near Bangladesh’s capital has killed at least 13 people and injured 21 others, police said Thursday.
The fire occurred Wednesday at the Prime Plastic Industries factory in Keraniganj, said Mohammaed Bacchu Mia, a police official stationed at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
He said one person died at the scene and 12 others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital on Thursday.
Doctors at the hospital said some of the injured were in critical condition.
The fire department was investigating the cause of the blaze.
Nasrul Hamid, a lawmaker from the area, said the tin-shed factory had no approval from authorities to operate. Some of the workers told local media that an explosion of a gas cylinder may have caused the fire.
Bangladesh has a tragic history of industrial disasters.
Earlier this year, a fire in the oldest part of Dhaka, a 400-year-old area cramped with apartments, shops and warehouses, left at least 67 people dead. In another fire in March, at least 25 people died when a multistory commercial building was engulfed in flames.
In 2012, a fire raced through a garment factory on the outskirts of Dhaka, killing at least 112 people trapped behind its locked gates.
Another fire in Old Dhaka in a house illegally storing chemicals killed at least 123 people in 2010.
The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers’ Association, a non-profit group, says at least 16,000 fires across Bangladesh in the last decade killed about 1,590 people, according to data compiled from the fire department and other government and media reports.
The Canadian Press –
Dec 12, 2019 / 6:50 am | Story:
272523
Photo: The Canadian Press
Climate activist Greta Thunberg
U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Thursday, a day after she was named by Time as its Person of the Year, calling her selection “ridiculous.”
The Swedish teenager has become a symbol of a growing movement of young climate activists after leading weekly school strikes in her country that inspired similar actions in about 100 cities worldwide. She has drawn large crowds with her fiery appearances at protests and conferences over the past year and a half.
In a Thursday morning tweet, Trump said, “Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!”
He added: “Chill Greta, Chill!”
Thunberg responded by changing her Twitter profile bio to read: “A teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend.”
She has been outspoken about her diagnosis with Asperger’s syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder associated with high intelligence and impaired social skills. “I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm,” she tweeted this year. “And – given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower.”
It’s not the first time Trump has lashed out after not being recognized for his influence. In 2015, Trump attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel for “ruining Germany” after she was named Person of the Year, when he was listed as a runner-up.
Trump is the second world leader to take aim at Thunberg this week. Her concern over the slayings of indigenous Brazilians in the Amazon drew a harsh rebuke from Brazil’s president on Tuesday.
“Greta said that the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon,” Jair Bolsonaro said. “It’s impressive that the press is giving space to a brat like that,” he added, using the Portuguese word ”pirralha.”
Thunberg responded by changing her bio on Twitter, where she has over 3 million followers, to say “Pirralha.”
The Canadian Press –
Dec 11, 2019 / 4:16 pm | Story:
272489
Photo: Google Maps
About 100 Islamic militants ambushed an army camp in western Niger, a military spokesman said late Wednesday, killing at least 71 soldiers in the deadliest attack on the West African country’s forces in years.
The large-scale attack comes amid a surge of assaults on army camps in the Sahel region, which have allowed jihadists to amass weapons and vehicles for their arsenal. Neighboring Mali has seen such an increase in ambushes on its army that it has even closed some of its most remote and vulnerable army outposts.
Niger’s army spokesman, Col. Boukar Hassan, read the death toll announcement on state television Wednesday night and said a dozen others had been wounded after the ambush overnight.
Earlier in the evening, a tweet sent from President Mahamadou Issoufou’s account had announced that he was returning early from an overseas trip in Egypt following developments near Niger’s border with Mali.
Niger’s president is among those invited to a summit next week in France to discuss the future of the French mission in the region.
The large attack took place in a remote area of Niger where jihadists linked to the Islamic State have long been active.
The violence was 30 miles from Ouallam, where four U.S. service members died along with four Nigerien soldiers two years ago when their joint patrol came under fire in a massive ambush.
Islamic extremists have long carried out attacks across the vast desert region, abducting foreigners and targeting spots popular with expatriates. A regional military force and a French military mission have failed to stem the violence.
Some analysts have suggested that the deadly ambushes on army outposts are also aimed not only at stealing weapons but also at expanding the area of land under jihadists’ control.
Given the growing insecurity, Mali’s military has even closed some of its most isolated and vulnerable outposts as part of a reorganization.
Unrest over deadly ambushes has mounted, particularly in Mali, where soldiers’ widows have held a number of demonstrations calling on the government to do more. Some have even aimed their anger at France, the former colonial ruler in the region whose military intervened in 2013 to force jihadists from power in major towns across northern Mali.
More World News
Source link
