Russia has announced that it may deploy troops to de-escalation zones in Syria after agreement from Turkey and Iran. Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev made the announcement during talks being held in the Kazakh capital Astana on Tuesday.

“Overall, (the agreement) provides for the presence of Russian military police in the buffer zones, but once again this matter has not been agreed yet…Depending on when the documents on safe zones are signed, I think one should expect concrete measures on the deployment of forces within 2-3 weeks,” he said.

“So far it is hard to talk about presence of the Russian observers and representatives of the Russian defense ministry. But nevertheless overall there are plans for the Russian military police presence in the buffer zones. But still this matter has not been fully agreed yet. It will be related to the question about the status of de-escalation monitoring forces,” he added.

The final document pertaining to the de-escalation zones are expected to be signed on Wednesday, he added, noting that the principles of the zones have already been agreed upon in the former rounds of the talks.

In May, Russia, Iran and Turkey agreed to establish four “de-escalation zones” in Syria. Lavrentyev added that Russia and its partners are still engaged in negotiations concerning detailed maps and other conditions related to the Idlib province and southern regions while the borders of two other zones, in Homs province and near Damascus, had been agreed upon.

“One thing is to work with maps and another one is to apply it to reality on the ground which is rather complicated. And this process of course takes a long time. But nevertheless I would like to say that we have practically determined the contact lines and borders of the second and third de-escalation zones. We still have questions on Idlib and the southern zone,” he added.

The fifth round of Astana talks kicked off earlier on Tuesday. More than 2.5 million people are believed to be living in the general area of the four zones. The Syrian army unilaterally announced a halt to fighting until midnight July 6 in one of the zones that spans the southern provinces of Dara’a, Quneitra, and Sweida.

Source: Presstv

British Prime Minister Theresa May is yet to decide whether to publish details of a report about foreign funding of extremism in the UK with a focus on Saudi Arabia. The outcome of the Home Office investigation is not yet released, which “leaves question marks over whether their decision is influenced by our diplomatic ties,” said the Green party co-leader, Caroline Lucas, as cited in a Guardian report, published Monday.

The probe was commissioned by former Prime Minister David Cameron and approved by May in December 2015, although she demonstrated a resolve to boost ties with Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf Arab states later. Lucas and the Home Office both said this week that the British premier was personally responsible about whether to make the findings public.

“The review into the funding of Islamist extremism in the UK was commissioned by the former prime minister and reported to the home secretary and the prime minister in 2016,” claimed Home Office minister Sarah Newton. “The review has improved the government’s understanding of the nature, scale and sources of funding for Islamist extremism in the UK. Publication of the review is a decision for the prime minister.”

In her parliamentary question on the review’s whereabouts, Lucas called the delay “astonishing,” asserting that “the government is sitting on this report but refusing to publish it or give any reason for their continued secrecy.” Since Saudi Arabia launched its brutal campaign against Yemen in March 2015, the UK government has approved arms export licenses to Saudi Arabia worth $4.1 billion, according to London-based Campaign Against the Arms Trade.

May’s nemeses, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, have both called for making the findings public. According to Lucas, after recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London, the British public is “quite rightly asking questions about routes to radicalization, and the funding of terror is central to this. “I urge Theresa May to reveal immediately whose advice they are following as to whether or not to publish this report, and to do all they can to put the facts into the public domain if it is safe to do so.”

Cameron had committed to publishing the report by spring 2016, according to the Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, but the Home Office later called its contents “very sensitive,” indicating that it would never be published. Condemning London’s efforts to “kowtow” before the monarchy, he noted, “It is a scandal that the government are suppressing this report. The only conclusion you can draw is that they are worried about what it actually says.”

Source: Presstv

US President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating appears to be on the path to reach 60 percent, a Gallup’s daily tracking poll shows. The 57-percent disapproval rating the president currently enjoys is slightly lower that his 60 percent record in mid-June, showed results of the Gallup poll released Sunday.

The past two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, never reached a 60 percent disapproval in the Gallup survey but Republican President George W. Bush managed to reach the 60 percent disapproval mark after almost five years in the White House.

Thirty-seven percent of those surveyed in the latest poll, said they still approve of the job Trump is doing. Having a margin of error of 3 percentage points, the poll was conducted among approximately 1,500 American adults via telephone.

According to a RealClear Politics average of polls, 54.5 percent of the Americans disapprove of the president’s job performance while 40 percent approve of it. A Gallup poll in May suggested that Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, gets less negative ratings than her father.

“Virtually all Americans are familiar with Donald Trump, with only 1% having no opinion of the president. Ivanka Trump is less familiar, though still well-known to Americans, with 16% saying they have never heard of or have no opinion of her,” Gallup said.

Source: Presstv

Morocco has summoned its ambassador to the Netherlands over a dispute about the extradition of an alleged drug trafficker who is also accused of funding anti-government protests in northern Morocco.

The Moroccan Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it had been in talks with the Dutch government in the past two days urging Amsterdam to extradite “a notorious drug trafficker,” whom Rabat said also funded “some groups in northern Morocco.”

The ministry named the man as Said Chaaou, a 50-year-old former parliamentarian from Morocco’s northern Rif region. In the Sunday statement, the ministry suggested that Chaaou had been involved in supporting unrest in Rif.

“Specific information has been provided to the Dutch authorities for several months regarding the involvement of this trafficker in financing and providing logistical support to certain sectors in northern Morocco,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“It was made clear to the Dutch authorities that it is imperative that concrete and urgent measures be taken.” A Moroccan court issued two arrest warrants against Chaaou, in 2010 and 2015, for criminal association and international drug trafficking.

The Netherlands, however, dismissed Morocco’s decision to recall its ambassador as “incomprehensible and unnecessary.” Morocco’s Rif region has been the scene of protests since late last year, when a fishmonger was killed in circumstances potentially implicating authorities.

Meanwhile, a lawyer who is among a group of 300 lawyers detained for anti-government activities, said that Chaaou had no ties with the protest movement in Rif. Abdessadak Elbouchattaoui dismissed as “rumors” reports that Chaaou provided funding and logistical support to Hirak al-Chaabi, or the Popular Movement, which has spearheaded popular protests in Rif.

Source: Presstv

British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn has asked US President Donald Trump to, “Build bridges, not walls.” Corbyn made the remarks during a speech he delivered at England’s famous, huge Glastonbury Festival on Saturday.

“Look on the wall right over there that surrounds this wonderful festival. And there’s a message on that wall for President Donald Trump,” the liberal politician said as the crowd booed at the mention of Trump. “And you know what it says? Build bridges, not walls,” Corbyn said. The Labour leader was referencing to Trump’s plan to construct a wall along the US-Mexico border to stop immigrants.

Building a wall on the US-Mexico border to stop the influx of refugees and undocumented migrants coming from Central and Latin America was a hallmark of Trump’s presidential campaign. During his campaign, Trump also characterized Mexican migrants living in the US as murderers and rapists and pledged to build a wall that he said Mexico would pay for.

Source: Presstv

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has replaced Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with his own son, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the deputy crown prince and defense minister.

According to a royal decree, Mohammed bin Salman, 31, was also named deputy prime minister, and shall maintain his post as defense minister, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported on Wednesday.

Saudi media say King Salman has called for a public pledge of allegiance to the new crown prince in the holy city of Mecca on Wednesday night.

The SPA also confirmed that 31 out of 34 members of Saudi Arabia’s succession committee chose Mohammed bin Salman as the crown prince.

Just days ago,  the Saudi king stripped Nayef of his powers overseeing criminal investigations and designated a new public prosecution office to function directly under the king’s authority.

In a similar move back in 2015, the Saudi king had appointed his nephew, then deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef as the heir to the throne after removing his own half-brother Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud from the position.

Under the new decree, King Salman further relieved Mohammed bin Nayef of his duties as the interior minister. He appointed Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef as the new interior minister and Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Salem as deputy interior minister.

Mohammed bin Salman is already in charge of a vast portfolio as chief of the House of Saud royal court and chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, which is tasked with overhauling the country’s economy.

The young prince was little known both at home and abroad before Salman became king in January 2015.

However, King Salman has significantly increased the powers of Mohammed, with observers describing the prince as the real power behind his father’s throne.

Power struggle in the House of Saud

There had long been speculations that Mohammed’s rise to power under his father’s reign might also accelerate his ascension to the throne.

On Wednesday, a well-known Saudi online activist, known on Twitter as @mujtahidd, predicted that King Salman would renounce power in favor of his son.

The whistleblower has already leaked documents indicating high-level corruption inside the Saudi royal family.

The power struggle inside the House of Saud came to light earlier this year when the Saudi king began to overhaul the government and offered positions of influence to a number of family members.

In two royal decrees in April, the Saudi king named two of his other sons, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Prince Khaled bin Salman, as state minister for energy affairs and ambassador to the United States, respectively.

Mastermind of brutal, futile war

As the defense minister, Mohammed bin Salman has faced strong international criticism for the bloody military campaign he launched against neighboring Yemen in 2015 amid his rivalry with bin Nayef, the then powerful interior minister.

The campaign was launched with the aim of restoring the former Yemeni government, a close Riyadh ally, and crushing the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement. On the domestic political stage, the offensive was also viewed as an attempt by Mohammed bin Salman to steal the show and sideline the then crown prince.

However, despite spending billions of petrodollars, the Riyadh regime has achieved none of its goals during the campaign, which has killed over 12,000 civilians, left much of Yemen in ruins and empowered the Takfiri terror groups operating there.

On the economic front, Mohammed has been a key backer of the kingdom’s so-called Vision 2030 program, under which the Saudi leaders seek to reduce reliance on oil exports.

The plan is known as the most extensive and jarring economic shake-up of the country in decades, with economy experts describing it as too ambitious.

Mohammed bin Salman, according to analysts, appears to have orchestrated the Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis, which has seen a Saudi-led bloc of countries cutting ties with Qatar and imposed an economic siege on the country.

The diplomatic spat broke out days after a summit in Riyadh attended by US President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Saudi rulers and, in particular, Mohammed bin Salman.

Culled from Presstv

The administration of US President Donald Trump is way behind on filling key positions as hundreds of top jobs sit unfilled nearly 150 days into his term, ABC News reported. Trump has complained that the process of confirming his nominees in Congress is “record-setting long” and has blamed Democratic lawmakers for stalling the process.

However, while the Senate has taken longer to confirm Trump’s nominees than it took with nominees of the previous several presidents, the real problem may be the president’s disorganized and chaotic transition. The groundwork of lining up potential nominees for a new administration usually begins well before Election Day with candidates beginning early to identify people they would want in the executive branch.

But with the Trump election campaign and later the Trump presidential transition almost none of that preparation took place. Previous incoming presidents identified a large group of potential nominees either during the campaign or the transition. But the Trump transition was well behind schedule compared to other recent presidents in lining up candidates for key roles.

The delayed start continues to plague the administration with only 151 nominations having been announced for the more than 500 critical jobs across the executive branch that require Senate confirmation. The Obama administration had announced 284 nominations by this point, and Bush had named 245, according to figures compiled by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service.

Trump has signed off on more than 350 nominees, which would mean that more than 200 of these people are currently undergoing a background review. The White House points to the long, behind-the-scenes process of shepherding each nominee from selection to confirmation as a key cause of the current backlog.

“Each nominee must pass a thorough background investigation before they can be officially nominated – everything from standard background checks to careful research and individual outreach to peers and colleagues,” White House spokesperson Lindsay Walters told ABC News.

Once a potential nominee is identified, it can take upwards of 45 days for that person to go through an FBI background check and a review by the Office of Government Ethics, all of which is typically done before the nominee’s name is sent to the Senate for confirmation. Trump’s nominees are taking 43 days on average to be confirmed, about 11 days longer for each person.

Culled from Presstv

US President Donald Trump will announce a significant rollback of former President Barack Obama’s accord with Cuba by imposing travel and trade restrictions on the island nation, according to a new report. Trump will announce the changes to the Obama-era policies that improved US relations with Cuba in a speech in Miami, Florida, on Friday, POLITICO reported on Thursday.

The Trump administration had put the Cuba policy under review upon taking office earlier this year, the report said. The administration aims to reinforce certain aspects of about six-decade-old trade embargo in an attempt of preventing business dealings with companies controlled by the Cuban military, according to a draft version of the directive obtained by POLITICO.

“My administration’s policy will be guided by key US national security interests and solidarity with the Cuban people,” reads the draft. “I will seek to promote a stable, prosperous, and free country for the Cuban people. To that end, we must ensure that US funds are not channeled to a regime that has failed to meet the most basic requirements of a free and just society.”

During last year’s presidential campaign, Trump threatened to “terminate” deals that the Obama administration made with Cuba. “The policy the Trump administration is announcing regarding Cuba based on President Trump’s core conviction that what the Cuban exile community is asking for is right and just,” the White House said in a written statement to POLITICO.

Obama worked to enact several changes to Cuban policy during his tenure in the White House. He re-established diplomatic relations with Havana in 2015 and loosened some restrictions on doing business in the country. Obama also gave illegal immigrants from Cuba a path to legal status and opened travel to the island nation.

Despite Obama’s effort to improve ties, the Republican-dominated Congress has refused to lift Washington’s 57-year-old embargo against Havana, which makes it illegal for US corporations to do business with Cuba. The United States broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1961 and placed an official embargo against the country in 1962. The two countries became ideological foes soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power and their ties remained hostile even after the end of the Cold War.

Culled from Presstv

Republican Senator John McCain has said American leadership was stronger under President Barack Obama, according to a report. McCain made the remarks in an interview with The Guardian published on Sunday while responding to a question.

Asked if America’s stance on the global stage was better during the Obama administration, McCain responded, “As far as American leadership is concerned, yes.”

McCain, the chairman on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has often harshly criticized the policies of Republican President Donald Trump.

Nearly a month after Trump was sworn in as president on January 20, McCain said “in many respects this administration is in disarray and they’ve got a lot of work to do.”

In March, McCain denounced Trump’s claim that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower, saying either he has to retract it or provide evidence of the allegation.

But McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, had also been very critical of the Obama administration’s foreign policy agenda.

The Guardian described the Arizona senator as “visibly irked” when he was asked about Trump’s recent Twitter assault  on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, which came shortly after a deadly attack that left eight dead and dozens injured in the heart of the British capital.

“What do you think the message is? The message is that America doesn’t want to lead,” McCain said. “They are not sure of American leadership, whether it be in Siberia or whether it be in Antarctica.”

Trump accused Khan, the first Muslim mayor of the city, of offering a “pathetic excuse” for remarks that the US president misinterpreted about policing in response to the attack that left several people dead.

Trump tweeted that Khan had to “think fast” to excuse comments that Londoners need not be alarmed after the deadly attack.

The US president’s provocative comments caused outrage among top British officials. Even British Prime Minister Theresa May, a Conservative, expressed her support for the mayor, a member of the Labour Party.

Source: Presstv

Millions of British people are preparing to cast their votes in Thursday’s general election, which has defied all initial projections and seems to be much closer than many, including Prime Minister Theresa May, had predicted.

In a time when Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union (EU) is a certainty and a round of tough negotiations with the bloc is around the corner, the ruling Conservatives are set to go head to head with a Labour Party that has slowly but steadily become a worthy opponent under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

The Vote

In mid-April, May called for a general election and overstepped earlier pledges of not doing so before 2020. Back then, the move was largely viewed as part of a cheap opportunistic strategy to win a more decisive majority in Parliament given Labour’s state of disarray.

However, Corbyn was able to turn the tide and reduce a 20-point gap with the Tories to well within the margin of error.

The vote owes its significance largely to Brexit. A historic EU referendum in June last year showed that some 52 percent of people in England were in favor of cutting the UK’s decades-long membership in the bloc

Both Corbyn and May, who was then Home Secretary, opposed the divorce but failed to sway voters.

Today, May is leading the country out of the EU and wants a stronger negotiating position after the vote while Corbyn leads a formidable opposition and, much to May’s annoyance, seeks a more active Brexit involvement for the Parliament.

The Campaign

May was off to a bad start by announcing that she would not be participating in any live debates with Corbyn or other party leaders, insisting that direct interaction with voters is more beneficial.

The decision prompted backlash among Tory and other voters alike, who wanted to see if May can handle the popular Labour leader.

The decision helped Corbyn, who took part in a much-anticipated BBC debate and bagged an easy win in a night that May had sent Home Secretary Amber Rudd to represent her.

Besides Corbyn, leaders of other parties have also deemed May’s decision as a sign of weakness and fear. The string of bad luck continued for May and her party as she was forced to reverse many of the unpopular pledges the Tories had made in their election manifesto, “Forward Together.”

Corbyn, on the other hand, scored big with voters by making popular pledges in his “For the Many not the Few” in terms of both domestic and foreign policy. The issue of security was a key debate point in the wake of the recent wave of terror attacks that rocked the UK.

The Outcome

This is arguably one of the most unpredictable UK elections in a long time. It has seen many traditional Tory and Labour supporters jump ship, with former Labour leader Toby Blair openly campaigning against his own party and in favor of the Liberal Democrats.

The fierce campaign has also drawn a clear line between the wealthy and the average class, with the former leaning towards May and her team.

Meanwhile, a surge in young voter registrations has tipped the scale in favor of Corbyn, who has attracted the most supporters in the 18-24 age bracket. The June 8 vote is certainly a milestone that sets the UK’s economic and political paths for the years coming.

Source: Presstv