Category: AP

Saudi Arabia issues driving licenses for women

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Saudi Arabia on Monday issued the first driving licenses to 10 women as the kingdom prepares to lift the world’s only ban on women driving in three weeks, but the surprise move comes as a number of women who’d campaigned for the right to drive are under arrest and facing charges related to their activism.

A government statement said the 10 women who were issued licenses already held driving licenses from other countries, including the U.S., U.K., Lebanon and Canada. They took a brief driving test and eye exam before being issued the licenses at the General Department of Traffic in the capital, Riyadh. International media were not present for the event. Other women across the country have been preparing for the right to drive on June 24 by taking driving courses on female-only college campuses. Some are even training to become drivers for ride hailing companies like Uber.

Saudi women had long complained of having to hire costly male drivers, use taxis or rely on male relatives to get to work and run errands. The surprise move to issue some women licenses early comes as four iconic Saudi women’s rights activists who’d campaigned for the right to drive remain under arrest, facing possible trial.

Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor said Sunday that 17 people had been detained in recent weeks on suspicion of trying to undermine security and stability, a case activists said targeted prominent women’s rights campaigners. The prosecutor’s statement said eight have been temporarily released, while five men and four women remain under arrest. Among the women held since May 15 are Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Nafjan, according to people with knowledge of the arrests who’ve spoken to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions.

The three are among the most outspoken and well-known women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia. They not only risked arrest by pushing for the right to drive for years, but also called for an end to guardianship laws that give male relatives final say over a woman marrying or traveling abroad. Their activism was seen as part of a larger democratic and civil rights push in the kingdom.

They now face a range of charges, including communicating with people and organizations hostile to the kingdom and providing financial and moral support to hostile elements abroad. State-linked media have referred to the group as “foreign embassy agents” and branded them traitors. Three other well-known women’s rights activists were briefly detained at the onset of the sweep. They were longtime advocates of women’s rights who took part in the first protest in 1990 against the kingdom’s ban on women driving.

Nearly 50 women took part in that first driving protest some 28 years ago. The women were arrested, lost their jobs, had their passports confiscated for a year and faced severe stigmatization. Others were detained over the years during various efforts by women’s rights activists to drive. While Saudi law has never explicitly banned women from driving, women were not issued driving licenses. Often, police would detain a female driver until a male relative could pick her up and sign a pledge on her behalf that she would not drive again. Ultraconservatives viewed women driving as immoral and warned women would be subject to sexual harassment if they drove.

Just four years ago, the country’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, said barring women from driving “was in the best interest of society” because it protected them from having to deal with an accident. But the kingdom faces steep economic challenges and a burgeoning young population that has access to the world through the Internet and sees women in neighboring Muslim countries driving freely. To boost the economy and ease international criticism, Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been promoting changes, like the decision to allow women to drive, all while risking backlash from clerics and others who adhere to the ultraconservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.

The prince has also attempted to appeal to young Saudis by opening the country to more entertainment, allowing music concerts and bringing the first commercial movie theater to Saudi Arabia this year. However, rights groups say the arrest of activists by the crown prince’s security forces are an attempt to silence dissent as women prepare to drive for the first time, and may be a way to freeze any calls for greater reforms.

The spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Liz Throssell, has described the crackdown as “perplexing.” “If, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on women’s issues, they should be released immediately,” she said.

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The summit’s back on: Trump welcomes North Korean to White House

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The US-North Korea summit is back on, President Donald Trump announced Friday, ending weeks of uncertainty about a historic meeting with Kim Jong Un, to discuss ending the North Korean leader’s nuclear program.

Trump made the announcement, just a week after he had said he was canceling the Singapore summit, following a more than hour-long meeting with a top North Korean official who delivered a letter from the North Korean leader.

The official, Kim Yong Chol, posed for photos with Trump outside the Oval Office, and they talked amiably at Kim’s car before he was driven away. “We’re going to deal,” Trump told reporters after Kim left. He also said it was likely that more than one meeting would be necessary to bring about his goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula but “I think you’re going to have a very positive result in the end. We will see what we will see.”

In the latest sign of hostility cooling down but hopes kept in check, Trump said he’s unilaterally put a hold on new sanctions against the North “until the talks break down.” “I don’t even want to use the term ‘maximum pressure’ anymore,” Trump added, referencing his preferred term for the punishing US economic sanctions against North Korea.

Trump told reporters he hadn’t yet read the letter from Kim and added with a smile, “I may be in for a big surprise, folks.” But minutes earlier he had described the note as “a very interesting letter,” and teased journalists about revealing its contents. Plans for the high-stakes sit-down in Singapore had been cast into doubt. Trump suddenly withdrew from the meeting last week, only to announce a day later that it could still get back on track.

White House officials cast the roller-coaster public statements as reflective of the hard-nosed negotiation by the two nations. Three teams of officials in the US, Singapore, and the Korean demilitarized zone have been meeting this week on preparations for the summit. After North Korean officials delivered a series of bellicose statements last month, Trump announced he was withdrawing from the summit with a strongly worded letter. He cited “tremendous anger and open hostility” by Pyongyang but also urged Kim Jong Un to call him. By the next day, he was signaling the event could be back on after a conciliatory response from North Korea. Trump has refused to publicly acknowledge whether he’s spoken directly with Kim Jong Un ahead of the talks. Kim Yong Chol was greeted at the White House by chief of staff John Kelly and then whisked into the Oval Office. He is the most senior North Korean to visit in 18 years, a symbolic sign of easing tensions after fears of war escalated amid North Korean nuclear and missile tests last year.

Questions remain about what a deal on the North’s nuclear weapons would look like, though Trump said Friday he believed Kim Jong Un would agree to denuclearization. Despite Kim’s apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are lingering doubts about whether he will fully relinquish his nuclear weapons, which he may see as his only guarantee of survival. U.S. defense and intelligence officials have repeatedly assessed the North to be on the threshold of having the capability to strike anywhere in the continental US with a nuclear-tipped missile — a capacity that Trump and other US officials have said they would not tolerate.

Kim Yong Chol left his hotel in New York City early Friday for the trip to Washington in a convoy of SUVs. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the former CIA chief who has traveled to North Korea and met with Kim Jong Un twice in the past two months, said he believed the country’s leaders are “contemplating a path forward where they can make a strategic shift, one that their country has not been prepared to make before.”

Yet he also said a news conference that difficult work remains including hurdles that may appear to be insurmountable as negotiations progress on the US demand for North Korea’s complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization. “We will push forward to test the proposition that we can achieve that outcome,” he said. Despite the upbeat messaging in the United States, Kim Jong Un, in a meeting with Russia’s foreign minister on Thursday, complained about the U.S. trying to spread its influence in the region, a comment that may complicate the summit. “As we move to adjust to the political situation in the face of U.S. hegemonism, I am willing to exchange detailed and in-depth opinions with your leadership and hope to do so moving forward,” Kim told Sergey Lavrov. North Korea’s flurry of diplomatic activity following an increase in nuclear weapons and missile tests in 2017 suggests that Kim is eager for sanctions relief to build his economy and for the international legitimacy a summit with Trump would provide.

Trump views a summit as a legacy-defining opportunity to make a nuclear deal. Kim Yong Chol is the most senior North Korean visitor to the United States since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok visited Washington in 2000 to meet President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. That was the last time the two sides, which are technically at war, attempted to arrange a leadership summit. It was an effort that ultimately failed as Clinton’s time in office ran out, and relations turned sour again after George W. Bush took office in early 2001 with a tough policy on the North. Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee, was allowed into the United States despite being on a U.S. sanctions list.

He was granted special permission to travel outside the New York area in order to meet with the president. ___ Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Washington, Christopher Bodeen in Beijing and Matthew Lee in New York contributed.

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Another Indian child wins spell bee championship in the US

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Karthik Nemmani didn’t win his regional spelling bee. He didn’t even win his county spelling bee. But he was still good enough to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Throwing everything he had into his one shot at glory, 14-year-old Karthik outlasted better-known spellers and became the champion after a dramatically abrupt end to the competition, when 12-year-old Naysa Modi misspelled the word “Bewusstseinslage” in the first championship round.

Karthik had to spell two words correctly to seal the title, which he did with ease, and the lanky, soft-spoken Texan stepped back and smiled as he was showered with confetti. His winning word was “koinonia,” which means Christian fellowship or communion.

Karthik is from McKinney, Texas, and Naysa lives in Frisco, Texas — both suburbs of Dallas — and Naysa topped Karthik at their county bee. “She’s a really, really good speller. She deserved the trophy as much as I did,” Karthik said. “I got lucky.” He said there were eight or nine words during the prime-time finals he didn’t know — a rare admission for a Scripps champion.

In the past, losing at the county level would have made Karthik ineligible for the national competition, but he got in through a wild-card program that was instituted this year. The third-place finisher, 11-year-old Abhijay Kodali, came in second to Naysa at the Dallas regional bee, one of just a few regions that sends multiple spellers to nationals.

Dallas has long been one of the most competitive regions in the country, and the lack of opportunity for spellers as talented as Karthik is what led Scripps to create the wild-card program in the first place.

Karthik is the 14th consecutive Indian-American champion, and 19 of the past 23 winners have had Indian heritage. In addition to the trophy, he gets more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

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Trump administration planning tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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President Donald Trump’s administration is planning to impose tariffs on European steel and aluminum imports after failing to win concessions from the European Union, a move that could provoke retaliatory tariffs and inflame trans-Atlantic trade tensions.

The tariffs are likely to go into effect on the EU with an announcement by Friday’s deadline, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The administration’s plans could change if the two sides are able to reach a last-minute agreement, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump announced in March the United States would slap a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, and a 10 percent tariff on imported aluminum, citing national security interests. But he granted an exemption to the EU and other U.S. allies; that reprieve expires Friday. Europe has been bracing for the U.S. to place the restrictions even as top European officials have held last-ditch talks in Paris with American trade officials to try to avert the tariffs.

“Realistically, I do not think we can hope” to avoid either U.S. tariffs or quotas on steel and aluminum, said Cecilia Malmstrom, the European Union’s trade commissioner. Even if the U.S. were to agree to waive the tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, Malmstrom said, “I expect them nonetheless to want to impose some sort of cap on EU exports.” European officials said they expected the U.S. to announce its final decision Thursday.

The people familiar with the talks said Trump could make an announcement as early as Thursday. U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross attended meetings at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris on Wednesday, and U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer joins discussions in Paris on Thursday.

The U.S. plan has raised the threat of retaliation from Europe and fears of a global trade war — a prospect that is already weighing on investor confidence and could hinder the global economic upturn. If the U.S. moves forward with its tariffs, the EU has threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. orange juice, peanut butter and other goods in return. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire pledged that the European response would be “united and firm.” Besides the U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, the Trump administration is also investigating possible limits on foreign cars in the name of national security.

“Unilateral responses and threats over trade war will solve nothing of the serious imbalances in the world trade. Nothing,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in an impassioned speech at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. In a clear reference to Trump, Macron added: “These solutions might bring symbolic satisfaction in the short term. … One can think about making voters happy by saying, ‘I have a victory, I’ll change the rules, you’ll see.'”

But Macron said those “who waged bilateral trade wars … saw an increase in prices and an increase in unemployment.” Tariffs on steel imports to the U.S. can help local producers of the metal by making foreign products more expensive. But they can also increase costs more broadly for U.S. manufacturers who cannot source all their steel locally and need to import the raw material.

That hurts the companies and can lead to more expensive consumer prices, economists say. Ross criticized the EU for its tough negotiating position. “There can be negotiations with or without tariffs in place. There are plenty of tariffs the EU has on us. It’s not that we can’t talk just because there’s tariffs,” he said. He noted that “China has not used that as an excuse not to negotiate.” But German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier insisted the Europeans were being “constructive” and were ready to negotiate special trade arrangements, notably for liquefied natural gas and industrial goods, including cars. Macron also proposed to start negotiations between the U.S., the EU, China and Japan to reshape the World Trade Organization to better regulate trade.

Discussions could then be expanded to include other countries to agree on changes by the end of the year. Ross expressed concern that the Geneva-based World Trade Organization and other organizations are too rigid and slow to adapt to changes in global business. “We would operate within (multilateral) frameworks if we were convinced that people would move quickly,” he said.

Ross and Lighthizer seemed like the odd men out at this week’s gathering at the OECD, an international economic agency that includes the U.S. as a prominent member. The agency issued a report Wednesday saying “the threat of trade restrictions has begun to adversely affect confidence” and tariffs “would negatively influence investment and jobs.” ___ Charlton and Corbet reported from Paris. Masha Macpherson and Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Paul Wiseman and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.

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French President rewards migrant who scaled an apartment building to save a child

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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French President Emmanuel Macron met Monday with a migrant from Mali lauded as a hero for scaling an apartment building to save a young child dangling from a balcony. Macron said 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama would be rewarded for his “exceptional act” with papers to legalize his stay, citizenship if he wants and a job as a firefighter.

“Bravo,” Macron said to Gassama during a one-on-one meeting in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace that ended with the awarding of a medal from the prefecture for “courage and devotion.”

Gassama’s feat went viral on social media, where he has been dubbed “Spiderman” for climbing up five floors, from balcony to balcony, and whisking a four-year-old boy to safety Saturday night as a crowd screamed at the foot of the building in Paris’ northern 18th district.

The young man said he has papers to legally stay in Italy, where he arrived in Europe after crossing the Mediterranean after a long, rough stay in Libya. But he wants to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Gassama, dressed in blue jeans and white shirt, recounted his experience which took place at around 8 p.m. Saturday when he and friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony.

“I ran. I crossed the street to save him,” he told Macron during a filmed portion of the meeting. He said he didn’t think twice. “When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing.”

God “helped me,” too, he said. “Thank God I saved him.”

Gassama felt fear when he took the child into the apartment. “I was trembling,” he told Macron.

“Because this is an exceptional act … we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers,” Macron told him, “and if you wish we will start nationalization procedures so you can become French.”

Gassama told Macron that he arrived in Italy in 2014 after more than a year in Libya, where he was arrested and beaten, “but I wasn’t discouraged.”

The French president is toughening the nation’s approach to immigration, and stressed that not all who make the treacherous journey to Europe can be welcomed, but that Gassama’s actions were admirable.

“You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him,” the president said. “You need courage and the capability to do that.”

Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, Macron said, and opened the door for him to join.

“You have become an example because millions have seen you” on social media, the president said.

The French media reported that the father of the small child was detained for alleged parental neglect.

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