A US official has called for an investigation into attacks by the Saudi-UAE coalition in Yemen and for perpetrators to be held accountable.

In an interview with Al Jazeera in the Saudi city of Jeddah, Deputy US Ambassador to Yemen Ana Escrogima called for a speedy and transparent probe into the raids carried out by the Saudi-UAE coalition in Yemen.

Escorgima’s calls came after a team of UN-mandated investigators said in a report they had “reasonable grounds to believe that the parties to the armed conflict in Yemen have committed a substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law.”

The damning report blamed both the Houthis and the Saudi-UAE coalition for the violence in Yemen, but said air attacks by the military coalition had caused the most direct civilian casualties in the war, and added that a blockade of Yemeni ports and airspace may have violated international humanitarian law.

Kamel Jendoubi, who heads the UN team, said the investigators had identified a number of alleged perpetrators.

“A confidential list of these individuals will be presented today to the [UN] High Commissioner” for Human Rights, he told journalists in Geneva.

“The group of experts has reason to believe the government of Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, are responsible for violations of human rights,” said Jendoubi.

“Violations and crimes have been perpetrated and continue to be perpetrated in Yemen by the parties to the conflict.

The experts also accused the Houthis of indiscriminate shelling in civilian areas and snipers targeting non-combatants.

Saudi-UAE response

The coalition, which has been at war with Houthi rebels since March 2015, has repeatedly denied allegations of war crimes, and claims its attacks are not directed at civilians.

A spokesperson for the Saudi military said the UN report was referred to a legal team for review and will announce its conclusions after it is completed.

UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said the report merited a response.

“We should review and respond to the [UN] experts’ report published today,” said Gargash in a tweet. “The coalition is fulfilling its role in reclaiming the Yemeni state and securing the future of the region from Iranian interference.”

In a statement published by the Saudi Press Agency on Wednesday, the coalition condemned the report saying it “did not refer to the Iranian role in the continuation of the war in Yemen and fueling the conflict and its continued support for the Houthis.”

Data collected by Al Jazeera and the Yemen Data Project has found almost one-third of the 16,000 air raids carried out in the country have hit non-military sites.

The attacks have targeted weddings and hospitals, as well as water and electricity plants, killing and wounding thousands.

The aid group Save the Children has estimated that an average of 130 children die every day from extreme hunger and disease – a crisis brought about by the conflict.

And according to the UN, at least 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the conflict. However, analysts say the death toll is likely to be higher.

The UN has described the situation in Yemen as world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Andy Murray joked he needs a check-up as he has “started imagining things” after Fernando Verdasco denied he spoke to his coach during the heat break in their US Open second-round tie.

Players are not allowed to be coached during breaks for extreme heat.

Murray reported Verdasco, who won in four sets, but the Spaniard said: “I don’t want to say that Andy lied but I didn’t talk one word with my coach.”

Murray later posted a response using the hashtag #liarliarpantsonfire.

Writing on Instagram, the former world number one thanked fans for their support and joked: “I’m off to get a health check as apparently I’ve started imagining things.”

Earlier, following his 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-4 defeat, Murray had said Verdasco and his coaching team “probably weren’t aware of the rule” about heat breaks.

“When I came out of the shower, his coach and one of the Spanish doubles players were in there chatting to him, and you’re not allowed to speak to your coach,” said Murray.

“I’m not blaming Fernando and his team. They certainly weren’t trying to break any rules.

“It shouldn’t be for the player that’s competing against him to have to go to the supervisor.”

Both players left the Arthur Ashe court at the end of the third set after Verdasco took up the 10-minute extreme heat break with temperatures rising close to 100F (38C).

However, the 34-year-old denied Murray’s claim, saying his coach was only in the locker room to go to the toilet.

“I was in the ice bath with Marcos Baghdatis and his coach,” Verdasco said.

“I know exactly the rule and I don’t want to be the one breaking it.”

Editors, USA TODAY
Published 3:31 a.m. ET Aug. 30, 2018

Biden to speak at McCain’s funeral in Arizona

Former Vice President Joe Biden will deliver a eulogy to his long-time friend John McCain at the senator’s funeral in Phoenix on Thursday. The service, scheduled for 10 a.m. MT at North Phoenix Baptist Church, will also include a reading from McCain’s daughter Bridget, along with tributes from former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald. After the Arizona service, McCain’s body will be transported to Washington, D.C. He will lie in state Friday at the U.S. Capitol. Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama will deliver eulogies Saturday at McCain’s Washington, D.C., funeral.

12-game appetizer as the college football season gets underway

The 2018 college football season kicks off in earnest this week, starting with Thursday’s 12-game appetizer — seven of which airing on national networks — before Saturday’s main course. As usual, the majority of the early season matchups are non-conference games, which will have more than $175 million in appearance payments this year. To prepare you for the upcoming season, USA TODAY Sports experts have conference predictions, rankings for every FBS team, outlooks for the Top 25 teams, bowl game projections and coaches who are on the hot seat.

Court fight aims to block grizzly-bear hunt

The fate of 22 grizzly bears living near the resort town of Jackson, Wyoming is about to rest in the hands of a federal judge. Beginning Thursday, arguments will be heard in six lawsuits brought by environmental groups, who are seeking to stop trophy hunters from killing the bears next month in what would be the first grizzly bear hunt in the lower 48 states since the 1970s. Environmental activists are asking that the bears be re-protected under the Endangered Species Act. Hunters say the grizzly population has grown enough so that protections are no longer needed.

Former MSU coach faces prison time for lying in Larry Nassar case

A former Michigan State University gymnastics coach charged with lying to police about her knowledge of sexual assault complaints against Larry Nassar is expected to turn herself in and be arraigned on Thursday. Witnesses have said that they reported Nassar’s sexual abuse of young gymnasts to Kathie Klages dating back more than 20 years, according to the Michigan Attorney General’s Office. Klages was the women’s gymnastics coach for 27 years and faces up to 4 years in prison if convicted. She is now the second person the AG’s office has charged as part of its investigation of MSU and the Nassar scandal. Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison on sexual assault charges.

Tribute concert will honor Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin’s life and musical legacy will be celebrated Thursday with a tribute concert in her hometown of Detroit. Gladys Knight, the Four Tops and Johnny Gill are among the performers for “A People’s Tribute to the Queen,” which runs from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET at the Chene Park amphitheater. Also Thursday, visitation for Franklin moves to New Bethel Baptist Church, which was founded by her father, the late Rev. C.L. Franklin. The Queen of Soul died of pancreatic cancer Aug. 16 at age 76.

 

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Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

There’s long been murmurs about Apple making its own augmented reality glasses, like Google Glass, and its latest acquisition is another step towards that.

Apple has acquired Denver-based AR lens startup Akonia Holographics, according to a report by Reuters.

Founded in 2012, the startup focused on holographic data storage before shifting to smart glass technologies. 

Akonia’s HoloMirror smart glass utilises a single layer of media, and the company boasts “ultra-clear, full-color performance … [enabling] the thinnest, lightest head worn displays in the world.”

In a statement to Reuters, an Apple spokesperson (as per usual) didn’t give much away: “Apple buys smaller companies from time to time, and we generally don’t discuss our purpose or plans.”

An executive in the AR industry told the outlet that Akonia had become “very quiet” in the six months leading to the acquisition, indicating the deal happened earlier this year.

Back in April, CNET reported Apple was working on a combination AR/VR headset with the codename “T288,” supporting both AR and VR apps, that would launch by 2020.

Each lens would reportedly feature an 8K display per eye, for a total resolution of 16K. That would eclipse the likes of current VR rivals Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive, which both only have 1,080 x 1,200 resolution per eye.

Of course, it’s still early days, and Apple’s headset dreams might just stay that way.

 

Islamabad, Pakistan – Hundreds of far-right protesters are marching on the Pakistani capital Islamabad, threatening to blockade the city unless the country cuts diplomatic ties with the Netherlands over a cartoon competition deemed to be blasphemous.

Protesters began the second day of their march on the capital from the eastern city of Lahore on Thursday.

The Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is protesting against a competition for cartoons depicting Islam’s Prophet Muhammad by far-right Dutch opposition leader Geert Wilders, a known provocateur. 

Physical depictions of God or the Prophet Muhammad are forbidden in Islam, and the TLP says the competition amounts to “blasphemy”.

The Dutch government has distanced itself from the competition, with Prime Minister Mark Rutte clarifying that Wilders is not a member of the government. 

“The competition is not a government initiative,” he told a news conference last week.

The Dutch government, however, maintains that banning the competition would be a violation of the right to freedom of expression. 

Foreign Minister Stef Blok echoed Rutte’s comments.

“The Netherlands very much adheres by freedom of speech, but we also adhere to treat religions respectfully,” Blok said according to Dutch news agency ANP.

He added that the competition “wouldn’t be his choice” but that there were no plans to ban the contest from happening.

Wilders leads the Dutch opposition Freedom Party (PVV) and is known for his incendiary speeches and protests against immigration and Islam.

The far-right politician told Dutch media the contest was not being held “to provoke, but to show we are marching for freedom of speech”. 

On Tuesday, Dutch police arrested a man accused of plotting to kill the politician over the competition.

Clashes with riot police

The TLP rose to prominence last November, when firebrand Muslim scholar Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the party’s founder, led a three-week blockade of the Pakistani capital over a minor change to an electoral oath that he said amounted to “blasphemy”.

Riot police clashed with protesters but failed to end the demonstration, with TLP activists only vacating the sit-in after the government capitulated to all their demands, including the reversal of the change in the oath, the resignation of a federal minister, and the granting of legal immunity to all protesters.

In Pakistan’s July general election, the newly formed party bagged 2.2 million votes in national assembly constituencies nationwide, making it the fifth most popular political party in the country. 

Those votes, however, only translated to two provincial assembly seats in the southern province of Sindh.

Ijaz Ashrafi, a TLP spokesperson, told Al Jazeera that his party was prepared to repeat the November blockade if their demand that Pakistan cut diplomatic ties with the Netherlands was not met.

“This issue must be resolved on an emergency basis, otherwise we will be out on the streets,” he said shortly before the protest. “I don’t mind if I die, but no one can dishonour the Prophet.”

‘They must act’

On Monday, Pakistan’s upper house of parliament passed a resolution condemning the holding of the competition, with newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan saying his government would raise the matter with the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and at the United Nations.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said he had requested the OIC to call an emergency meeting on the issue.

“We have decided that an effective voice may be raised unanimously from the OIC platform,” he said. 

“I assure the people of Pakistan that we are aware of their sentiments and we will stand with the Muslims around the world in raising the voice against this event.”

Qureshi’s statement followed an official note of protest registered with the Dutch charge d’affaires in Islamabad, as well as a phone call with Dutch Foreign Minister Blok.

It is unclear, however, if the government’s statements will be deemed sufficient by the TLP.

As the protest caravan of hundreds wound its way through Punjab province, the country’s political heartland, demonstrators carried banners condemning the Dutch government and Wilders and sang devotional songs. 

“For our Prophet’s honour, we will lay down our lives,” they chanted, video footage from the rally showed.

Prime Minister Khan frequently referred to the blasphemy allegations raised by the TLP in November during his election campaign, and in his victory speech promised to run the country on the basis of the Prophet Muhammad’s governance of the Arab state of Medina in the 7^th century.

“They have made a promise during the election, they have promised to establish a state along the lines of Medina,” said TLP spokesperson Ashrafi.

“So now they must act.”

Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera’s digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim.

Juan Angel Napout, the former president of South America’s football governing body Conmebol, has been jailed for nine years for his part in the Fifa bribery scandal.

He was found guilty in December last year at a trial in Brooklyn, New York.

The Paraguayan was convicted of racketeering conspiracy and two wire fraud charges.

The former Fifa vice-president will also have to forfeit $3.37m (£2.6m) and pay a fine of $1m (£767,000).

The 60-year-old was found guilty along with the former head of the Brazil Football Confederation Jose Maria Marin.

Marin, 86, was jailed earlier this month for four years and fined $1.2m (£920,000) and ordered to forfeit $3.34m (£2.59m).

Napout was arrested at the Baur Au Lac hotel in Zurich in December 2015, seven months after an initial dawn raid at the same hotel in which seven Fifa officials were detained.

The crimes related to Napout’s participation in schemes to accept millions of dollars in bribes in exchange for the media and marketing rights to various football tournaments.

The email arrived in late June from Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance: “Congratulations, your visa has been approved.”

I was now one of only a handful of journalists from the outside world each year to be allowed inside Iran, a nation former President George W. Bush once described as part of the global “axis of evil,” an enemy of the United States.

I was being given one week to wander a country whose relationship with America has been marked by more than 60 years of animosity and acrimony.

There was the CIA’s 1953 coup against Mohammad Mossadegh, Iran’s democratically elected prime minister. In Mossadegh’s place, the CIA installed Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, a pro-U.S. dictator who controlled the country for decades. Then in 1979, in a humiliating chapter in U.S. history, a group of university students took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held 52 American diplomats and embassy workers hostage for 444 days.

The country eventually became ruled by Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini. When he died in 1989, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei took over as supreme leader.

Today, the U.S. and Iran remain distant and suspicious of each other.

That relationship is being tested again by President Donald Trump. He has withdrawn from the nuclear deal negotiated between Iran and world powers in 2015 and reimposed economic sanctions – a move the Iranian government has condemned.

My trip to Iran is a rare one for any journalist, especially one from USA TODAY, which has not had a reporter visit the country in more than a decade.

Iran reportedly prefers to admit journalists who have not written extensively about the country. I suppose I fit the bill. I’m a London-based correspondent for USA TODAY and focus much of my attention on a host of foreign affairs issues.

Iranian authorities insisted that foreign media never – or hardly ever – run into difficulties while reporting in Iran. “Iran is a safe country,” these authorities repeatedly said. “As long as you don’t create any problems for us, we will not create any problems for you.”

Iran did jail a Washington Post reporter with dual Iran-U.S. citizenship in 2015. Jason Rezaian spent 544 days in Tehran’s Evin Prison, a torture plant nicknamed “Evin University” because of the large number of intellectuals and political prisoners housed there. He was convicted of espionage and for “propaganda against the establishment.”

The explicit evidence against him was flimsy.

The main risk for me as a journalist representing a major U.S. media company was that I would somehow inadvertently get on the wrong side of a policeman or someone else in a position of authority through no obvious fault of my own. The U.S. State Department warns against all travel to Iran “due to the very high risk of arbitrary arrest and detention of U.S. citizens.”

Complicating matters, the U.S. government does not have any diplomatic or consular relations with Iran, so there no longer is a U.S. Embassy.

In fact, what used to house the U.S. Embassy in Tehran is now a monument to American perfidy, known locally as the “U.S. Den of Espionage.”

There is a Danish embassy in Iran. I’m originally from Denmark and have dual U.S.-Danish citizenship, but I learned it really didn’t matter.

A Danish official in Tehran told me over the phone before I left that I would have “a great time in Iran,” then added, “but remember, if you do run into trouble there is virtually nothing we can do to help you.”

The last email I had from my contact at Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York, a kind of quasi embassy that stands in for the lack of formal diplomatic relations, was signed off with a well-traveled message.

“Bon voyage,” it read, a sentiment that struck me as both reassuring and disquieting.

Who does that, I thought? Who just flippantly expresses good wishes to someone about to set off on a journey to an “axis of evil”? Perhaps I was overthinking it.

Still, in Britain, where I live, a separate contact at Iran’s embassy in London had made a point of saying a few times over tea that I should view this trip to Iran, my first, as a relationship-building exercise. “If you do OK, Iran will probably allow you to return.”

• DAY ONE: Massive traffic jams and Iranians’ obsession with white cars. Read journal entry here.
• DAY TWO: Iranians explain their ‘misunderstood’ country and why it’s not North Korea. Read journal entry here.
• DAY THREE: A city where Israel, U.S. are condemned and Trump is mocked as leader of the free world. Read journal entry here.
• DAY FOUR: Talk of Iran’s economic malaise and whispers of whom to – blame. Read journal entry here.
• DAY FIVE: Disoriented Iranian youth, fortified nuclear plants and understanding nose job nation.  Read journal entry here.

See more coverage from USA TODAY’s trip to Iran

Reaction to last night’s Carabao Cup results, plus Europa League build-up & transfer gossip – BBC Sport

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Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, now the Democratic candidate to become Florida’s next governor, said his Republican opponent Rep. Ron DeSantis took “a page directly from the campaign manual” of President Donald Trump with remarks about Gillum that were widely condemned as racist. 

Gillum, an African-American progressive who was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, won his primary in a startling upset Tuesday night.

The Trump-backed DeSantis, who also won his primary Tuesday, called Gillum an “articulate spokesman” for “far-left views” during an interview Wednesday and warned Florida voters not to “monkey this up” by electing him. 

When asked about DeSantis’ comment during an interview later the same day, Gillum told Fox News host Shepard Smith, “That part wasn’t lost on me.”  ,

“It’s very clear that Mr. De Santis is taking a page directly from the campaign manual of Donald Trump,” he said. “But I think he’s got another coming to him if he thinks that in today’s day and age, Florida voters are going to respond to that level of derision and division.”

When asked if he thought the comment was racist, Gillum said that in “the handbook of Donald Trump, they no longer do whistle calls. They’re now using full bullhorns.” 

But Gillum said he wants to “stay focused on the issues that confront everyday people.”

“I’m not going to get down in the gutter with DeSantis and Trump. There’s enough of that going on,” he said. “We’re going to win this race because we’re going to stay high and we’re going to remind Floridians of the true spirit of the American way.”

Gillum’s comments echoed and earlier condemnation of DeSantis’ remarks by Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo who said it was “disgusting” that the Republican candidate “is launching his general election campaign with racist dog whistles.” 

DeSantis insisted he was merely warning Floridians about the folly in embracing Gillum’s “social agenda” and said it is “absurd to think I’m trying to take a jab at anyone for ethnic or racial reasons.”

Andrew Gillum: The secret to a progressive Democrat’s stunning upset win in Florida’s governor’s race

More: Ron DeSantis, GOP nominee, warns Florida not to ‘monkey this up’ by electing Andrew Gillum as governor

 

 

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Outgoing UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has said that Myanmar’s de-facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi should have resigned over her country’s military’s campaign against the Rohingya last year.

Hussein told the BBC that her attempts to excuse it were “deeply regrettable”.

“She was in a position to do something,” said Hussein. “She could have stayed quiet – or even better, she could have resigned.”

“There was no need for her to be the spokesperson of the Burmese military. She didn’t have to say this was an iceberg of misinformation. These were fabrications,” he added.

“She could have said look, you know, I am prepared to be the nominal leader of the country but not under these conditions.”

His comments come after a UN report said Myanmar’s military carried out mass killings and gang rapes of Rohingya with “genocidal intent” and called on the commander-in-chief and five generals to be prosecuted.

Myanmar has rejected the UN‘s findings, calling the allegations false.

The UN report, published on Monday, blamed Suu Kyi, for failing to prevent the violence.

Despite this, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate refused to recognise the atrocities committed by the Myanmar military and instead justified her government’s campaign against the beleaguered Muslim community, while speaking at a lecture in Singapore last week.

Suu Kyi even refused to refer to the ethnic group by its name, and has missed several opportunities to speak publicly about the issue, including the UN General Assembly in New York last September.

Many Buddhists in Myanmar believe that the Rohingya are Bengalis who migrated to the country illegally during the British rule in the subcontinent, and have rejected their claims that their roots in the region that go back centuries.

Since 2012, incidents of religious intolerance and incitement against Muslims have increased across the country, with the Rohingya frequently attacked and portrayed as a “threat to race and religion”.

Myanmar’s government has signed several agreements on preparing for the return of the Rohingya, but UN agencies have accused it of dragging its feet, and human rights groups are concerned that the safety of returning Rohingya cannot be assured.

The UN, which hasn’t been granted access to Rakhine since the outbreak of violence in August 2017, fears the returning refugees won’t be given freedom of movement if they return.