Síntesis informativa - 1° de febrero 2019
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Investors in Former Trump-Branded Hotel in Brazil Charged With Corruption
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — A well-connected businessman in Brazil conceived the idea of a luxurious getaway in Rio de Janeiro bearing a world-famous name: Trump.
After work began on the Trump Hotel Rio de Janeiro, the businessman, Paulo Figueiredo Filho, boasted about his access to Donald J. Trump, who was then a candidate for president. Mr. Figueiredo, the grandson of the last military dictator in the authoritarian government that ran Brazil from 1964 to 1985, displayed a picture of himself with Mr. Trump at the Trump Tower in New York, both men flashing a thumbs-up sign.
“He’s one of the most recognized businessmen in the world, and if anything, we’re getting more exposure,” Mr. Figueiredo told The New York Times in an interview in 2015, in which he expressed admiration for Mr. Trump’s policy positions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/world/americas/trump-hotel-brazil-corruption.html
Court in France Approves Police Use of Rubber Bullets on Protesters
PARIS — Rejecting complaints that heavy police use of rubber bullets has caused serious injuries during the “Yellow Vest” protests, France’s highest administrative court on Friday upheld their use, bolstering the French government’s tough strategy.
Dozens have been injured, mutilated or blinded by the rubber bullets over weeks of demonstrations, according to victim advocates.
But in its ruling upholding the use of the weapons, the court, called the Council of State, underlined the violence of the Yellow Vest protests. And it noted fears that this violence would continue, as organizers prepared for a 12th straight weekend of protests starting Saturday.
The government has insisted that the 40-millimeter rubber-bullet guns and their projectiles, about the size of golf balls, are essential tools in the police arsenal even though their use makes France an outlier in Western Europe. The country’s official human-rights watchdog has urged banning them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/world/europe/france-rubber-bullets-yellow-vests.html
Afghan War Casualty Report: Jan. 25-31
At least 51 pro-government forces and eight civilians were killed in Afghanistan during the past week. The casualties of pro-government forces and civilians decreased this week, possibly because of the cold weather in most parts of the country. The Taliban attacks were most concentrated in Kandahar Province, where insurgents carried out four attacks, killing 15 members of security forces and one prosecutor. Six police officers were killed in two insider attacks in Kandahar and Kunduz provinces. The bloodiest attack took place in Zabul Province, where 12 police officers were killed in Taliban attacks on their outposts.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/magazine/afghan-war-casualty-report.html
29 Syrian Children Die During Freezing Escape From the Islamic State
BEIRUT, Lebanon — As families have made the long, frozen, sometimes barefoot trek out of the last shards of Islamic State territory to a refugee camp in northeastern Syria over the past two months, at least 29 children and infants among them have died before reaching help, mainly from hypothermia, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
At least 18 of them died over the past week, it said, a toll that added to the hundreds of thousands killed over the course of Syria’s civil war, now approaching its eighth year. Millions of people have been displaced, and thousands continue to flee the violence, across distances full of their own dangers.
About 23,000 people have arrived at a refugee camp in the Hasakah region of Syria over the last eight weeks, mostly women and children fleeing the battle to oust the Islamic State from nearby Deir al-Zour province, the W.H.O. said.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/world/middleeast/syria-children-refugees-isis.html
U.S. Suspends Nuclear Arms Control Treaty With Russia
WASHINGTON — The United States is suspending one of the last major nuclear arms control treaties with Russia after heated conversations between the two powers recently failed to resolve a long-running accusation that Moscow is violating the Reagan-era treaty.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the decision on Friday as the Trump administration maintained that the Russian government has been unwilling to admit that a missile it has deployed near European borders violates the terms of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Mr. Pompeo and his deputies have insisted that Moscow destroy the missile. Instead, the government of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia counteraccused the United States of violating the treaty’s terms because of the way in which it has deployed launchers for antiballistic missile systems in Europe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/01/us/politics/trump-inf-nuclear-treaty.html
THE GUARDIAN
Blackwater founder's Hong Kong firm signs Xinjiang training camp deal
Frontier Services Group, which specialises in providing security and logistics for businesses operating in risky regions, said it had signed a deal to run a training base in the city of Kashgar, according to a statement posted on its Chinese website.
The firm was founded by Erik Prince, a former US Navy Seal and the brother of the US education secretary, Betsy DeVos.
FSG, which has a Hong Kong headquarters, has built up a wealth of contracts both inside China and for Chinese companies operating overseas, particularly in Africa.
But its presence in Xinjiang is controversial because of the sweeping security crackdown Chinese authorities have launched in the restive far-western region, including reported mass incarcerations.
‘It smells dirty’: scandals loom over Bolsonaro after first month in office
Even before he took office on 1 January the first whiff of scandal was in the air. In mid-December, questions emerged over the financial dealings of his eldest son, Flávio Bolsonaro, a recently elected senator, amid mounting allegations he had engaged in an illegal, tithe-like practice known as the rachadinha by which politicians siphon off part of their employees’ wages.
Last week the plot thickened when the Brazilian newspaper O Globo alleged that Flávio Bolsonaro had employed the mother and wife of an alleged death squad leader whose gang was suspected of involvement in the assassination of the Rio councillor Marielle Franco last year.
Bolsonaro’s opening act has also been blighted by the collapse of a mining dam near the south-east city of Brumadinho. Hundreds of bodies remain lost under the flood of mining waste, and five people have been arrested in the ongoing investigation.
The dam catastrophe has raised further questions over the president’s controversial plans for environmental deregulation: Bolsonaro has attacked environment agencies for holding up development with what he describes as excessive licensing requirements and has advocated freeing up mining in protected indigenous reserves.
Trump hails China trade talks progress and says he will meet Xi Jinping soon
Trump, speaking at the White House on Thursday during a meeting with Chinese vice premier Liu He, said he was optimistic the world’s two largest economies could reach “the biggest deal ever made”.
No specific plans for a meeting with Xi were announced, but Trump said there could be more than one meeting. US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin were invited to bring a negotiating team to Beijing in mid-February, with dates still pending.
Trump inches closer to declaring emergency for wall as negotiations stall
Donald Trump is moving closer to using emergency powers to get $5.7bn to help build a wall on the US-Mexico border.
A national emergency would enable Trump to take existing funds appropriated by Congress for other purposes, for example military budget from the Pentagon and disaster relief money. There is bipartisan opposition to such a radical measure, typically reserved for wartime, terrorist attacks such as 9/11, or health emergencies.
Such a move would almost certainly trigger a legal challenge. Even Trump’s own Republican party has warned that it would set a dangerous precedent, emboldening any future Democratic president to use emergency powers for their own priorities – such as climate change or healthcare.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/31/trump-border-wall-national-emergency-negotiations
Anti-graft candidate poised to win El Salvador presidency
The favourite to win is Nayib Bukele, a 37-year-old former businessman and mayor of San Salvador, formerly of the ruling leftwing FMLN party. He has stood on an anti-graft platform and campaigned on the slogan: “There’s enough money when no one steals.”
DEUTSCHE WELLE
EU and Japan create world's biggest free trade zone
Almost all tariffs on trade between the European Union and the world's third-biggest economy have been removed. European companies could save around a billion euros in duties each year.
A free trade agreement between Japan and the EU entered into force on February 1, covering 635 million people and almost one-third of the world's economy.
Dubbed the world's largest free trade agreement, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement removes duties on almost all agricultural and industrial products and opens up the service sector and procurement. It also moves to eliminate non-tariff barriers to trade.
https://www.dw.com/en/eu-and-japan-create-worlds-biggest-free-trade-zone/a-47319521
Turquía advierte a la UE de "guerra civil" en Venezuela si reconoce a Guaidó
El ministro de Exteriores turco, Mevlüt Çavusoglu, advirtió hoy a los países de la UE del riesgo de que se desencadene una "guerra civil" en Venezuela si se decantan por reconocer como presidente interino a Juan Guaidó.
Lo hemos dicho desde el principio: una intervención de fuera no es sana, no es correcto, no puede solucionar nada, solo puede ahondar la crisis; podría incluso, dios no lo quiera, arrastrar al país a una guerra civil", señaló este viernes (1.02.2019) Çavusoglu a su llegada a una reunión informal de ministros de Exteriores de la UE, a la que Turquía ha sido invitada como país candidato a la adhesión.
El jefe de la diplomacia turca se pronunció así preguntado por la decisión de países como España, Alemania o el Reino Unido de reconocer a Guaidó el próximo lunes, cuando concluye el ultimátum que dieron para convocar elecciones "libres" en el país.
Italia se niega a reconocer a Guaidó porque "no fue elegido"
El vicepresidente del Gobierno italiano y líder del Movimiento 5 Estrellas, Luigi di Maio, defendió la negativa de su Gobierno de no reconocer a Guaidó como presidente de Venezuela porque "no fue elegido por el pueblo".
"El cambio lo deciden los ciudadanos venezolanos. Nosotros estamos de la parte de la democracia y por tanto tenemos que crear todos los presupuestos para favorecer nuevas elecciones", explicó Di Maio al comentar la abstención de los eurodiputados de estos los partidos que forman el Gobierno italiano, Liga Y M5S, en la votación del Parlamento Europeo, este jueves (31.01.2019).
Di Maio explicó que su Gobierno tampoco reconoce a Maduro y que lo único que apoya son "elecciones democráticas que establezcan quien guía Venezuela".
https://www.dw.com/es/italia-se-niega-a-reconocer-a-guaid%C3%B3-porque-no-fue-elegido/a-47321861
XINHUA
Stoltenberg: OTAN sigue siendo base de seguridad europea
BUCAREST, 31 ene (Xinhua) -- La OTAN sigue siendo la base de la seguridad europea y los esfuerzos de defensa de la Unión Europea (UE) son complementarios a la OTAN y no compiten con ella, dijo hoy en Bucarest el secretario general de la alianza, Jens Stoltenberg.
"Debe ser claro para nosotros que la UE no puede reemplazar a la OTAN. Tenemos que asegurarnos de no debilitar la conexión trasatlántica", dijo Stoltenberg en una conferencia de prensa conjunta con el presidente rumano Klaus Iohannis ofrecida después de una reunión.
"La unidad europea no puede sustituir a la unidad trasatlántica. La OTAN sigue siendo la base de la seguridad europea", dijo, y agregó que después del Brexit, el 80 por ciento del gasto de defensa de la OTAN provendrá de aliados ajenos a la UE y que cuatro de los grupos de combate en los países bálticos y Polonia serán encabezados por aliados de la OTAN ajenos a la UE, que son Estados Unidos, Canadá y Reino Unido.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/01/c_137790475.htm
Rusia dice que aún reconoce a Maduro como legítimo presidente venezolano
MOSCU, 1 feb (Xinhua) -- Rusia aún reconoce a Nicolás Maduro, en lugar de al líder opositor Juan Guaidó, como presidente venezolano y espera que la cooperación bilateral entre los dos países continúe, dijo hoy el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
El portavoz dijo que Rusia espera ampliar aún más los lazos comerciales y económicos, así como la cooperación de beneficio mutuo, con Venezuela, a pesar de la actual situación política caótica en el país.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/01/c_137792832.htm
Francia, Alemania y Reino Unido establecen mecanismo para mantener comercio con Irán
PARIS, 31 ene (Xinhua) -- Los ministros de Relaciones Exteriores de Francia, Alemania y Reino Unido indicaron hoy que lanzaron un mecanismo para el comercio con Irán para ayudar a las compañías nacionales a seguir haciendo negocios con Teherán a pesar de las sanciones de Washington.
En un boletín publicado por la cancillería francesa, el ministro francés de Relaciones Exteriores, Jean Yves Le Drian, y sus homólogos alemán y británico, Heiko Maas y Jeremy Hunt, anunciaron la creación de Instex SAS (Instrumento de apoyo a los intercambios comerciales) "como un vehículo de propósito especial para facilitar el comercio legítimo entre los actores económicos europeos e Irán".
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/01/c_137790529.htm
Prefectura japonesa de Okinawa celebrará referendo sobre reubicación de base militar estadounidense
TOKIO, 1 feb (Xinhua) -- La prefectura japonesa de Okinawa llevará a cabo este mes un referendo respecto al polémico plan del Gobierno central de reubicar una base militar estadounidense dentro de la misma prefectura, dijeron este viernes las autoridades de Okinawa.
La votación sobre la polémica reubicación de la Estación Aérea de los Cuerpos de Marina de Estados Unidos Futenma desde la poblada área residencial de Ginowan al distrito costero y menos poblado de Henoko, también en Okinawa, abarcará a todos los votantes inscritos en la prefectura, ya que tres ciudades que habían rechazado previamente participar en la votación han cambiado de opinión.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/01/c_137792729.htm
Líbano forma nuevo Gobierno tras meses de disputas
BEIRUT, 31 ene (Xinhua) -- Líbano anunció hoy la formación de un nuevo Gobierno, con lo que se puso fin a un estancamiento político de nueves meses en el país, informó el canal de televisión libanés LBCI.
En un discurso transmitido por televisión, el secretario general del consejo de ministros, Fouad Fleifel, dijo que Líbano finalmente logró formar un Gobierno de unidad nacional de 30 miembros, encabezado por el primer ministro Saad Hariri, en el que están representados los principales partidos políticos como se prometió.
El Movimiento del Futuro de Hariri tendrá seis ministros; el Movimiento Patriótico Libre, diez; las Fuerzas Libanesas, cuatro; Hizbulá, tres; el Movimiento Amal, tres; el Partido Socialista Progresista, dos, y Marada, uno, al igual que la Reunión Consultiva.
http://spanish.xinhuanet.com/2019-02/01/c_137790563.htm
AL JAZEERA
US suspends compliance with INF treaty, may withdraw in 6 months
Pompeo, accusing Russia of violating the treaty, says US will suspend its obligations under the INF on Saturday.
US officials have also expressed concerns that China, which is not party to the treaty, is gaining a significant military advantage in Asia by deploying large numbers of missiles with ranges beyond the treaty's limit.
Technically, a US withdrawal would take effect six months after this week's notification, leaving a small window for saving the treaty. In talks this week in Beijing, the US and Russia reported no breakthrough in their dispute, leaving little reason to think either side would change its stance on whether a Russian cruise missile violates the pact.
US, China hail trade talks progress as Trump touts Xi meeting
China says 'important progress' made in latest talks with US to resolve dispute between two top global economies.
US negotiators also reported substantial progress following the conclusion of the talks, even as the White House emphasised in a statement that a scheduled tariff increase on $200bn of Chinese goods to 25 percent from 10 percent was a "hard deadline" if no deal was reached by March 1.
Prior to this week's talks, Beijing had offered to resume purchases of US soy beans, a key export, sales of which had plummeted during the trade war, leaving US farmers reeling. Some exports have since resumed.
Washington complaints on technology transfers, and intellectual property protections, along with accusations of Chinese cyber theft of US trade secrets and a systematic campaign to acquire US technology firms, were used by Trump's administration to justify punitive tariffs on $250bn worth of Chinese imports.
USAID ceases assistance in West Bank and Gaza: US official
Decision comes after Washington cut hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to Palestinians last year.
According to its website, the agency spent $268m on public projects in the West Bank and Gaza as well as Palestinian private sector debt repayment in 2017, but there were significant cuts to all new funding through the end of June 2018.
The USAID announcement comes after humanitarian officials in the West Bank and Gaza said they were facing a general cutback in funding from donors worldwide.
'Complicit in tragedy': EU urged to end migrant returns to Libya
Oxfam says 5,300 people have died in the Mediterranean since Italy's EU-backed migration deal with Libya.
With the support of the EU, Italy and Libya in February 2017 signed a deal to stem the flow of migrants from North Africa to Italy.
In their open letter on Wednesday, the NGOs said some EU countries have deliberately forced many of the organisations conducting search and rescue operations to stop their work, by preventing rescue ships from leaving their ports.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/02/tragedy-eu-urged-migrant-returns-libya-190201055408850.html
AL MAYADEEN
ONU: Sanciones de EE.UU. contra petrolera venezolana violan el derecho internacional
El Relator Especial sobre el impacto negativo de las medidas coercitivas unilaterales sobre los derechos humanos, Driss Jaziri, condenó las sanciones de los Estados Unidos contra la Compañía Nacional de Petróleo de Venezuela.
El Líbano logra formar Gobierno después de casi nueve meses de negociaciones
El secretario general del consejo ministerial libanés, Fouad Fleifel, anunció el jueves la formación del gobierno libanés después de nueve meses de comisionamiento.
Durante la lectura del decreto de la formación del gobierno encabezado por Saad Hariri, Fleifel confirmó el nombramiento de Ali Hassan Khalil como ministro de Finanzas y Gebran Bassil como ministro de Relaciones Exteriores.
