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      Syria civil war: UK imposes sanctions on key Assad allies after ‘decade of brutality’

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      The UK has imposed sanctions on six allies of Syria’s ruler Bashar Assad a decade after the country’s brutal civil war began.The asset freezes and travel bans are a response to the Assad regime’s “wholesale assault” on the Syrian people, foreign secretary Dominic Raab said, as the country marks 10 years of conflict.“The Assad regime has subjected the Syrian people to a decade of brutality for the temerity of demanding peaceful reform,” said Mr Raab. “Today, we are holding six more individuals from the regime to account for their wholesale assault on the very citizens they should be protecting.”Those sanctioned include foreign minister Faisal Miqdad, presidential adviser Luna al-Shibl, and financier Yassar Ibrahim – who the Foreign Office claimed acts as a front for Assad’s hold on the Syrian economy.Businessman Muhammad Bara’ al-Qatirji and military officers major general Malik Aliaa and major general Zaid Salah will also be hit by the asset freezes and travel bans.It marks the first measures taken in relation to Syria under the UK’s new, autonomous sanctions regime, which came into force following the end of the Brexit transition period. The British government has joined allies in the UN Security Council in pushing the regime to engage in peace talks in Geneva and release those held in arbitrary detention.Monday marks the 10th anniversary of the peaceful protests against Assad’s government, which erupted in March 2011 and touched off a popular uprising that quickly turned into a full-blown civil war.Despite a decade of fighting and a broken country, Assad remains firmly in power, having been propped up by Russia and Iran.Syria is economically devastated and divided. An al-Qaida-linked group dominates the northwestern Idlib province, with Turkey-backed rebels controlling small stretches along the Turkish border.US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces hold around a quarter of the country in the north-east, while the Assad regime controls the rest. More

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      Live international debate on female leadership to take place today

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      A live debate across nine countries is taking place today by leading women across business and politics on whether more women leadership would help the world move faster out of the pandemic crisis.The founder and CEO of Athena40’s global conversation Elizabeth Filippouli leads the discussion by saying “we cannot ignore the fact that women have been affected disproportionately and in multiple ways:  financially, mentally, physically, professionally”.The former television journalist told those joining the debates today: “Paving the way for more women into leadership positions is our only chance to recover fast from social and financial setbacks and it is also critically important for the emotional and psychological balance of our societies.”HRH Princess Sumaya Bint El Hassan, president of the Royal Scientific Society, will open the global conversation.The speakers covering five continents include: Margery Kraus, Founder & Executive Chairman of APCO Worldwide; Mary Carlin Yates, former ambassador of the US Department of State; Ivana Gažić, President of the Management Board of Zagreb Stock Exchange; Tsitsi Mutendi, Co-founder of African Family Firms, May Chidiac Former Minister & President of May Chidiac Foundation; Tram Anh Nguyen, Co-founder of the Centre for Finance, Technology & Entrepreneurship (CFTE); Leonor Stjepic, CEO of the Montessori Group; Diana Moukalled, Editor of Daraj Media, Hajara Kabeer, Founder of the Girl in STEM Initiative.BBC’s news journalist and presenter Tim Wilcox will introduce and compere the global conversation.Mary Carlin Yates, Ambassador (ret.) of the US Department of State, said:“During my experience of 30 plus years as a diplomat, I witnessed civil wars and crises from Burundi to Liberia, Sudan to Somalia just to name a few. I can unequivocally testify that the contributions and leadership of women during such times was undeniably critical.”Catherine Bolzendahl, Director of the School of Public Policy, Oregon State University, said:“Women’s empowerment benefits everyone in society and continuing progress on gender equality cannot be abandoned in times of crisis.” More

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      UK urged not to cut life-saving aid to Yemen

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      The UK government has been warned against cutting aid to Yemen, amid fears tens of millions of pounds will be slashed from Britain’s contribution to humanitarian relief efforts.Millions of people in the war-torn country will go hungry this year and hundreds of thousands are already facing famine, the UN says.Ahead of a UN donor conference on Monday, at which secretary-general Antonio Guterres will ask the world for $3.85bn (£2.76bn) in aid for Yemen, former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell said UK funding might fall by as much as half from 2020 levels, when £214m was sent.Mr Mitchell said reducing help for Yemen would have dire consequences and damage Britain’s global standing, given its backing for Saudi Arabia’s coalition, which is battling Houthi rebels there in a conflict that has caused widespread civilian casualties.
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      Donald Trump’s son Eric attacks ‘pathetic’ Scottish parliament debate on golf resort financing

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      Donald Trump’s son Eric has lashed out at Scottish politicians over plans for a parliamentary debate on whether the financing behind the family golf resorts should be investigated.
      MSPs will vote on a motion calling for a court order to probe the ex-president’s business holdings in Scotland, amid growing concerns about deals done to set up the Trump Organisation’s golf courses.Mr Trump’s son said those leading the push for Wednesday’s vote were “pathetic” – and warned Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon that investors could be put off from doing business in the country.
      The debate has been called by the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who said it was time to shed some light on the “shadowy” business dealings of the Trump Organisation.It is aimed at pressuring the Scottish government to seek an Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) – a legal mechanism aimed at forcing those suspected of financial corruption to explain the source of their wealth.Eric Trump suggested the campaign for an investigation had been driven by the Scottish Greens’ personal animosity towards the family. “Patrick Harvie is nothing more than a national embarrassment with his pathetic antics that only serve himself and his political agenda,” he said.“If Harvie and the rest of the Scottish government continue to treat overseas investors like this, it will deter future investors from conducting business in Scotland, ultimately crushing their economy, tourism and hospitality industries.”
      Mr Trump Jr, an executive vice president at the Trump Organisation, also claimed Scotland’s politicians should be focused on “saving lives and reopening businesses in Scotland”,  rather than pursuing “personal agendas”.Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Mr Harvie claimed there were “evidenced concerns” surrounding the Trump Organisation’s purchase of the Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, and the purchase of land for its course in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.“The Scottish government has tried to avoid the question of investigating Donald Trump’s wealth for far too long,” the Green MSP told The Scotsman earlier this week. “There are serious concerns about how he financed the cash purchases of his Scottish golf courses, but no investigation has ever taken place.” More

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      Former Russian PM describes Trump’s presidency as ‘period of disappointment’

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      “The period of the previous administration’s work is the period of disappointment,” Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council,  said according to Tass, a Russian news agency.”Donald Trump, already a former president of the United States, was indeed a friendly person and demonstrated in every possible way his intention to, as he put it, get along with the Russians – but failed,” Mr Medvedev, who is deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council,  said according to Tass, a Russian news agency.”The period of the previous administration’s work is the period of disappointment.”The official said that certain members of the US political establishment on both ends of the spectrum were “throwing a spanner in Mr Trump’s works” during that period.The official said that the former president was “drove into a corner” by political adversaries, who he said saw him as an “agent” of the country.
      Mr Medvedev, who served as Prime Minister to Vladimir Putin from 2012 to 2020, said that Mr Trump’s efforts with Russia “failed to produce any result,” and that this was the outcome that Mr Trump intended.“Naturally, they drove him to a corner, and it was very hard for him to find a way out. That is why it all ended up with a continuous series of additional sanctions,” Mr Medvedev said.Mr Medvedev reportedly told Russian media that a stalemate occurred between the two countries because the former president simultaneously insisted he had a good relationship with Russia while also boasting of his tough attitude towards the country.
      Last week, a former KGB spy claimed that Russia cultivated former President Donald Trump as an asset for over 40 years.KGB agents flattered Mr Trump, fed him talking points, and told him he should go into politics when he visited Moscow for the first time in 1987, Yuri Shvets, who worked in Washington DC for the Soviet Union in the 80s, told The Guardian.During his presidency, Mr Trump was subjected to a special counsel probe into Russian election meddling.Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report failed to state clearly if he committed any crimes and explicitly stated it would have exonerated him if Mr Mueller had concluded no crimes were committed. More

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      Nobel Peace Prize: Trump, Navalny, Thunberg and WHO among candidates as nominations close

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      Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the World Health Organisation and climate campaigner Greta Thunberg have joined Donald Trump among a list of expected nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to a survey of Norwegian MPs who are eligible to propose candidates and who have a track record of successfully guessing the winner.Ms Thunberg, Mr Navalny, and the WHO – for its Covax programme to secure fair access to Covid vaccines for poor countries – are likely frontrunners, research carried out by Reuters found. Nominations for the prestigious award close on Sunday.The climate activist, Russian opposition leader and global health body are backed by Norwegian lawmakers, who have nominated the eventual laureate every year since 2014, with the exception of 2019.Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates. A host of other figures including university professors and members of select international organisations can also put names forward.The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees, while nominations do not imply an endorsement from the committee.But nominators can choose to reveal their picks. He said the now former president had “done more trying to create peace between nations than most other peace prize nominees”, citing Mr Trump’s role in brokering a peace deal between Israel and Middle Eastern nations. More

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      How hope is vanishing 10 years after the Arab Spring

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      Much of the Arab world erupted in jubilant revolt 10 years ago against the dictatorial regimes whose corruption, cruelty and mismanagement had mired the Middle East in poverty and backwardness for decades.Now, the hopes awakened by the protests have vanished but the underlying conditions that drove the unrest are as acute as ever.Autocrats rule with an even tighter grip. Wars unleashed by leaders whose control was threatened have killed hundreds of thousands of people. The rise of the Islamic State amid the resulting wreckage ravaged large parts of Syria and Iraq and drew the United States into another costly Middle East war.Millions of people were driven from their homes to become refugees, many converging on the shores of Europe and beyond. The influx fuelled a tide of nativism and anti-immigrant sentiment that brought populist leaders to power in Europe and the US as fears of terrorism eclipsed concerns for human rights as a Western priority.Even in those countries that did not descend into war, more Arabs are now living in poverty, more are unemployed and more are imprisoned for their political beliefs than a decade ago.Only in Tunisia, where the protests began, did anything resembling a democracy emerge from the upheaval. The fall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the Tunisian President,  after a month of street protests in Tunis inspired demonstrations across the Middle East, including the mass protest on 25 January 2011 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that fixated world attention on what was prematurely labelled the Arab Spring.On its face, the Arab Spring failed, and spectacularly so – not only by failing to deliver political freedom but by further entrenching the rule of corrupt leaders more intent on their own survival than delivering help.“It’s been a lost decade,” said Tarik Yousef, director of the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar, recalling the euphoria he initially felt when the fall of Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi in August 2011 enabled him to return home for the first time in years. “Now we have the return of fear and intimidation. The region has experienced setbacks at every turn.”For many of those who participated in the uprisings, the costs have been immeasurable. Esraa Eltaweel, 28, was partially paralysed after a bullet fired by security forces sliced through her abdomen and chipped her spine during a protest in Cairo in 2014. Some of her friends were killed. Others were imprisoned, including her husband, who is still incarcerated. Ms Eltaweel, who spent seven months in detention, has struggled to find work because of the stigma attached to political prisoners.“We didn’t achieve anything we aimed for. Things got worse,” she said. “We believed we could change the system. But it is so rotten that it can’t be changed.”Yet as long as the conditions that provoked the original uprisings persist, the possibility of more unrest cannot be ruled out, analysts say. More

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      Alexei Navalny: UK calls for immediate release of Putin critic after ‘appalling’ arrest

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      Boris Johnson’s government has demanded that Russia releases Alexei Navalny “immediately”, following the Kremlin critic’s arrest in Moscow upon flying home from Germany.The opposition leader’s detention by Russian authorities has drawn international condemnation – with some western nations calling for sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s government.“It is appalling that Alexei Navalny, the victim of a despicable crime, has been detained by Russian authorities. He must be immediately released,” said foreign secretary Dominic Raab, who stopped short of threatening any further action against Russia.  Mr Raab added: “Rather than persecuting Mr Navalny, Russia should explain how a chemical weapon came to be used on Russian soil.”
      Russian police detained Mr Navalny on arrival in Moscow on Sunday after he flew home to Russia from Germany for the first time since he was poisoned last summer using using Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. Germany said it has ‘unequivocal evidence’ the Kremlin was behind the attack. Prior to his arrival at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, Russia’s prisons service said the 44-year-old had violated parole terms from a suspended sentence on a shaky 2014 embezzlement conviction.Following the news of his arrest, a host of British MPs used Twitter to call for his release. Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy led the calls for action, tweeting: “Alexei Navalny was the victim of a cowardly chemical weapons attack. He has shown great courage in returning to his homeland.”She added: “His detention is unjustifiable and an insult to the Russian people. He must be released immediately and his attackers brought to justice.”Defence committee chairman Tobias Ellwood called Mr Navalny’s decision to return to Russia “incredibly brave”. Mr Ellwood said: “Poisoned by the FSB yet he chooses to return to Russia and has now been arrested. Incredibly brave stand by Navalny in the name of democracy as we head towards Russian parliamentary elections.”Labour MP Catherine West called for a coordinated response “at speed” from the UK government, the EU and the incoming Joe Biden administration in the US. “It can’t be right that an opposition leader, whose life was almost taken in an aggressive poison attempt, is arrested on arrival,” she said.While the foreign ministers of the UK, Germany, France and Italy called for Mr Navalny’s release, Lithuania said it would ask the EU to swiftly impose new sanctions on Russia. Czech foreign minister Tomas Petricek also said he wanted the bloc to discuss possible sanctions.
      Jake Sullivan, one of Mr Biden’s top aides, told Moscow to free Mr Navalny, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Twitter he was deeply troubled by Moscow’s decision to arrest Navalny.
      Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed Western concern over Mr Navalny’s case, casting it as an attempt to distract from the West’s own problems. “You can feel the joy with which these comments are coming out,” said Mr Lavrov.
      “Judging by everything, it allows Western politicians to think that by doing this they can divert attention away from the deep crisis that the liberal model of development finds itself in,” he said.   More