Syrians brace as decisive battle for Idlib looms
BEIRUT — Syrian opposition fighters blew up bridges Friday and dug trenches around their bases to impede an anticipated ground offensive on their last major stronghold in the country. They also called on residents to take up arms and support front-line fighters.
The looming battle for Idlib in northwestern Syria may be the last in the bloody seven years of conflict, which have backed hundreds of thousands of civilians into this deadly corner of the country with nowhere to run.
“This is our last chance to be free. The uprising is about to end,” said Abdulkafi Alhamdo, a 33-year old English teacher, who is awaiting the imminent birth of his second child.
Idlib and the surrounding area is home to some 3 million people — nearly half of them, including Alhamdo, already displaced more than once by the civil war — choosing to live in opposition areas.
On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said 3 million Syrians “will suffer” from this aggression.
US ends funding of UN agency for Palestinian refugees
WASHINGTON — The United States is ending its decades of funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, the State Department announced Friday, a week after slashing bilateral U.S. aid for projects in the West Bank and Gaza.
The U.S. supplies nearly 30 percent of the total budget of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, and had been demanding reforms in the way it is run. The department said in a written statement that the United States “will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation.” The decision cuts nearly $300 million of planned support.
It comes as President Donald Trump and his Middle East pointmen, Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, prepare for the rollout of a much-vaunted but as yet unclear peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians, and it could intensify Palestinian suspicions that Washington is using the humanitarian funding as leverage.
The Palestinian leadership has been openly hostile to any proposal from the administration, citing what it says is a pro-Israel bias, notably after Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December and moved the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv in May. The Palestinian Authority broke off contact with the U.S. after the Jerusalem announcement.
In 2016, the U.S. donated $355 million to the UNRWA, which provides health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon, and it was set to make a similar contribution this year. In January the Trump administration released $60 million in funds but withheld a further $65 million it had been due to provide. The remaining amount — around $290 million — had yet to be allocated.
California net neutrality bill clears key hurdle
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Assembly voted Wednesday to enshrine net neutrality in state law, delivering a major victory to advocates looking to require an equal playing field on the internet.
In the latest effort by California lawmakers to drive national policy and rebuff President Donald Trump, lawmakers approved one of the nation’s most aggressive efforts to revive regulations repealed last year by the Federal Communications Commission. The rules prevented internet companies from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.
The 58-17 vote Thursday was surprisingly lopsided after the Assembly was seen as a potential barrier to the bill’s passage. It returns to the Senate, which passed an earlier version and is expected to sign off on changes from the Assembly before the Legislature adjourns on Friday.
“We all know why we’re here. It’s pretty clear,” said Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, a Los Angeles Democrat. “The Trump administration destroyed the internet as we know it.”
The Assembly’s vote followed months of intense lobbying from internet companies, which warned that it would lead to higher costs.
Trump to sign Mexico deal in 90 days; Canada talks to resume
WASHINGTON — Talks to keep Canada in a North American trade bloc broke up Friday and will resume next week with the two longtime allies divided over such issues as Canada’s dairy market and U.S. efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition.
President Donald Trump notified Congress on Friday that he plans to sign an agreement in 90 days with Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement — and hopes Canada can brought on board, too. Congress eventually would have to approve any agreement.
The U.S. and Mexico reached a deal on Monday that excluded Canada. The top Canadian trade envoy, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, then hurried to Washington for talks aimed at preserving Canada’s membership in the regional trade agreement.
But Freeland couldn’t break an impasse in four days of negotiations with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. The U.S.-Canada talks will resume Wednesday.
The negotiations had taken an odd turn for the worse Friday over news that President Donald Trump had told Bloomberg News that he wasn’t willing to make any concessions to Canada. Trump said he wanted the remarks to remain off-the-record; otherwise, the president said, “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”
From wire sources
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Farrow’s former producer criticized NBC on Weinstein story
NEW YORK — Ronan Farrow’s former producer at NBC News says his old network breached its journalistic duty by failing to stick with the story of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein’s sexual misconduct.
Farrow instead took the story to the New Yorker, where he shared a Pulitzer Prize with the New York Times for the story that launched the #MeToo movement.
“As a journalist for 16 years I do know that when you have an explosive story you never let it walk out the door,” said Rich McHugh, who just left NBC as an investigative producer, and issued a statement through lawyer Ari Wilkenfeld. “You keep digging for more so you can publish at your network.”
McHugh’s statement and interview with The New York Times ripped open a scab at NBC News. The network has said that it released Farrow to take the story elsewhere following a disagreement over whether he had enough material to go with it. Farrow, who was a freelancer when working on the story with NBC, is writing his own book about the issue.
McHugh said that when he and Farrow were about to interview a woman with a credible allegation of rape against Weinstein, “I was told not to do the interview and ordered to stand down, thus effectively killing the story. Those orders came to me from the highest levels of NBC. That was unethical, and a massive breach of journalistic integrity.”