LONDON - Becoming the first sitting US secretary of state to visit the Hiroshima memorial, John Kerry spoke against atom bombs and war, but stopped short of an apology and offered no indication of any change in America’s policy on nuclear weapons.

“Everyone in the world should see and feel the power of this memorial. It is a stark, harsh, compelling reminder not only of our obligation to end the threat of nuclear weapons, but to rededicate all our effort to avoid war itself," Kerry wrote in a message in the site's guestbook, according to CNN.

“War must be the last resort -- never the first choice. This memorial compels us all to redouble our efforts to change the world, to find peace and build the future so yearned for by citizens everywhere," he said.

The bombing of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II are the only instances of the use of nuclear weapons by any country in history.

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima in August 1945 killed some 140,000 people. Another dropped on the port city of Nagasaki three days later killed about 70,000 Japanese.

Kerry visited a memorial to the atrocity in Hiroshima, accompanied by European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and other foreign ministers from the Group of Seven, who are in Japan for two days of talks.

“It is a stunning display, it is a gut-wrenching display,” Kerry told reporters after touring a museum containing exhibits of the bomb and its devastation. 

“It tugs at all of your sensibilities as a human being. It reminds everybody of the extraordinary complexity of choices of war and what war does to people, to communities, countries, the world,” he said.

“I don’t see how anyone could forget the images, the evidence, the recreations of what happened,” he added, urging all world leaders to visit the site.

In Japan, anti-nuclear activist groups have long campaigned for US and other leaders to visit, as a step toward abolishing nuclear weapons.

CNN quoted an unidentified senior State Department official traveling with Kerry as saying before the museum tour that an apology for the bombings was not on the cards.

“If you are asking whether the secretary of state came to Hiroshima to apologize, the answer is no," the official said. "If you are asking whether the secretary -- and I think all Americans and all Japanese -- are filled with sorrow at the tragedies that befell so many of our countrymen, the answer is yes."

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Public confidence has also been shaken by the possible loss of Britain's steel industry, whether the government was on top of the issue, and is doing enough to save it. A freewheeling capitalism that benefits the few not the many is more contested.

Cameron's tax issue may fade and we will see what happens about thousands of skilled steel jobs in Britain but Cameron has taken a hit and that may undermine his credibility in leading the campaign for the UK to remain in the European Union (EU) in the referendum on 23 June. Polls put the remain and leave camps roughly even but the expectation was that the status quo should have been well ahead at this stage.

If Cameron loses the referendum, it is difficult to see that he can stay for three days let alone the three years he has planned and there will be a contest to replace him over the summer. The heir apparent, George Osborne has been badly damaged by a series of errors and the crown could well go to the current Major of London, Boris Johnson, who has joined the leave camp.

Johnson finishes his mayoral term when his successor is elected on 5 May. London is a Labour city but Boris managed to win two terms through his larger than life personality and an ability to exceed his own party's appeal. The Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith had been a big noise who increased his own parliamentary majority and made alliances with people across the political spectrum. But he is trailing the Labour candidate, Sadiq Khan, the son of a Pakistan bus driver, who has clearly distanced himself from the current Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn.

But Khan's victory will be claimed as a victory for Corbyn and may minimise the impact of losses or insufficient gains elsewhere. It could also be the beginning of the end for Corbyn who will then face a London Labour Mayor with his own personal mandate - the biggest in Europe after the French and Portuguese Presidents. Khan could show what a post-Corbyn party could look like, and do on bread and butter issues such as housing and transport.

Cameron losing some of his lustre should allow Corbyn to shine by comparison and his personal standing has improved but so far the political benefit seems paltry. If Corbyn cannot prosper in this vacuum, it may embolden more urgent sharpening of the knives.

Corbyn remains popular with rank and file party members but is backed by only one-tenth of his MPs, who doubt he can win an election. Corbyn and his supporters will seek to consolidate his leadership, or that of a similarly hard-left successor, by changing internal rules. If Corbyn's opponents delay striking they will find it harder and some are clearly considering a coup.

If it triggers a re-run of the last election and Corbyn is on the ballot paper - the rules are unclear - he will be endorsed again and probably by a larger majority. But advocates of a challenge believe they must provoke debate, even if it initially fails, in order to build momentum for another political assassination attempt.

Or they could simply replace him as head of the Parliamentary Labour Party. A new figurehead could be recognised as the official leader of the Opposition, speak for it at Prime Minister's Questions, and receive official state funding of about £6 million for research staff. There would be a bloodbath in the wider party but some argue that a clash between those who spurn normal electoral politics versus moderate MPs and members is inevitable. And that losing some of the new members will not matter that much.

Such nuclear options will be small beer if Britain decides to leave the EU. Cameron will be blamed but so will Corbyn, who has been a long-term Eurosceptic and has yet to make a forceful case for staying, which is what most party members want. Labour votes are also crucial to staying but they don't seem to understand that Labour is for staying. If Corbyn is held responsible for failing to mobilise Labour voters to stay, all hell will let loose at the same time as deep Tory rifts come to the fore. My gut instinct is that Britain will decide to stay in the EU but neither Cameron nor Corbyn can be sure they will be leaders for as long as they want.

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“It’s really a difficult language. I have no idea how to master it. The problem is that I will need it if I ever want to live and work here,” Hekar who is originally from Kurdistan region in Iraq.

He says since Swedish is not widely used outside of the country, it is less motivating to learn.

“It’s not like English which has broader use and easier to speak,” he says. 

Hekar is far from the only migrant in Sweden struggling to learn a new language, which they unlikely have encountered before coming to the country.

The situation is not much better in Germany. Recently German interior ministry announced that learning the language is one of the key conditions to receive resident permit in the country.

Also in Sweden authorities have said one of the criteria to become a Swedish citizen is to have learned basic Swedish after 5 years, that is the period needed for a foreigner to be eligible to apply for Swedish citizenship. 

With nearly 15 percent of its 9-million population born outside the country, Swedish authorities have struggled to assimilate large migrant communities often residing in ghetto-like neighborhoods in bigger cities.

On April 3, authorities announced that Arabic is now the third largest language spoken in the country after Swedish and English, and bigger than Finnish which is subsequently the fourth biggest language in Sweden.

Kurdish teacher Mahabad Muhammad who has lived in Sweden since the late 1980s says the new generation of migrants have a different attitude towards learning the language.

“They often say that Swedish is too small and that they want to learn English instead,” Mahabad says. 

Nearly 100,000 Kurds from all parts of Kurdistan live in Sweden and are partly represented by 5 Kurdish members of the parliament. 

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Five perpetrators were detained by the FSB, with assistance of the local police, in the town of Pallasovsk in the Volgograd Region, the security agency said, cited by the official Russia Today website.

The detained were members of the so-called 'Pallasovsky Jamaat' group, which ‘was involved in recruitment… of residents of the region to participate in activities of Islamic State,” according to the FSB.

One of the captured had "planned to stage a terror attack in the Volgograd region," it said.

“Ammunition, explosives as well as other chemical compounds and striking elements for improvised explosive devices, literature of religious and extremist nature were found and seized at their place of residence,” it added.

The latest terror attack in the city of Volgograd was in October 2013, when a female suicide bomber blew herself up on a bus, killing six people and injuring more than 30 others.

Russia intervened in Syria’s war late last September and curtailed its air campaign in the country in early March.

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"The US intelligence community has said it's around 4,000 to 6,000. It has probably about doubled in the last 12 to 18 months based on what their assessments were last year," Rodriguez explained.

Rodriguez attributes this to militias in Libya pledging allegiance to ISIS and an increasing number of foreign fighters streaming into the country. Also members of ISIS's leadership in Iraq and Syria have relocated to war-torn Libya as they begin to lose ground in those countries.

While the US has bombed ISIS in Libya in the past it has not yet extended its air campaign against the group in that country.

Rodriguez thinks that will change once a new Libyan unity government is established. Then the US may well support that governments efforts against ISIS with airstrikes.

"That's a possibility as are many other things," he said. Any other forms of support would be 'a decision for the national command authority and leadership," in Libya.

Libya has been mired in internal violence since a civil war deposed the regime of Muammar Gaddafi back in 2011. ISIS has managed to get a sizable foothold in the country given the instability and current inability of any authority to muster the resources needed to combat them. 

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About seven years ago “one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks worked for a period of one month for a cleaning company which was contracted by the European Parliament at the time,” the EU statement said, without revealing the person’s name.

As a student he had taken the summer cleaning job in 2009, and for another month the year after, the brief statement added.

Meanwhile, the BBC cited unidentified sources as saying that the man in question is Najim Laachraoui, one of the airport bombers who was on the run since the November 13 Paris attacks.

The 24-year-old was arrested after the Brussels attacks in the Belgian commune of Anderlecht by security forces.

He is a Belgian citizen who was born in May 1991, and is reported to be a native of the Brussels commune of Schaerbeek.

According to the EU statement, the Brussels attacker had presented proof of a clean criminal record when he was engaged as a cleaner. 

“As required by the contract, the cleaning firm submitted proof of the absence of a criminal record to the European Parliament," the statement said.

Authorities across Europe – and especially Belgium -- have been on alert for possible targets that may have been studied by the attackers, including official buildings and nuclear installations.

Brussels went into lockdown after the airport and metro bombings -- which were claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group -- as police cracked down with raids and arrests on jihadi suspects.

Investigators have linked the suicide bombings in Brussels to the Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

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"The UN Security Council's Resolution 2231 has not banned [the] sale of these military equipment to Iran," said the head of Russia's Foreign Ministry's Administration for Security and Disarmament Mikhail Ulyanov according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

"We are of the opinion that the possible sale of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and T-90 tanks Russia to Iran have not been prohibited in Resolution 2231 and this resolution has permitted Iran to purchase such military hardware," he went on to add.

His comments seem to have been an indirect response to statements made by the United States State Departments' Undersecretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon who claimed on Tuesday that the US will exercise its veto power at the UN Security Council to prevent Russia from selling such arms to Iran.

He claimed that such a sale would violate Resolution 2231 if all members of the Security Council did not agree to vote. Washington, he said, "would block the approval of any sale of fighter aircraft under the restrictions," since such sales "require the submission of relevant notification to the Security Council and this notification's endorsement by the Security Council."

The Su-30 is one of the most advanced multi-role air superiority fighter jets in the Russian arsenal. The T-90 is also one of Russia's most advanced main battle tanks.

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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that the Kremlin is concerned about Islamic States' (ISIS) reported use of mustard gas against Syrian soldiers in Deir Ezzor.

"Reports of the shelling of a military airfield in Deir Ezzor with missiles stuffed with mustard gas by Islamic State gunmen cause extreme concern. We are convinced that such action by terrorists must strongly be condemned," she said, according to Russia's TASS news.

Zakharova said she believes that ISIS is trying to use these weapons to reverse its recent battlefield losses. This is true particularly after their loss of Palmyra where Russia gave air support to the Syrian military late last month enabling them to force ISIS back from that ancient city.

"Units of the Syrian army, supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces, continue their uncompromising struggle against ISIS terrorists and Jabhat al-Nusra. 

To build up from the obvious success connected with the liberation of Palmyra on March 27 where Russian sappers began mine clearance," Zakharova explained, "more than 1,500 explosive objects have been destroyed.”

She said, “These victories pave the way for the Syrian military to launch further offensive(s) in the direction of the ISIS 'capital city' in Syria - the city of Raqqa - and Deir Ezzor governorate."

Consequently, she reasoned, it is "against this backdrop, (that the) terrorist(s) are trying to reverse the situation at any costs."

Syrian soldiers at the airport in Deir Ezzor reportedly suffered breathing problems as a result of their exposure to the gas, Syria's state news agency Sana reported on Monday night.

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"We would block the approval of fighter aircraft," Shannon confirmed in a hearing with the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

A US veto would block the sale since such a sale would need Security Council approval. 

"We've got a commitment ... from the Russians in terms of working to prohibit the transfer of technologies to Iran's ballistic missile program," Shannon explained. "They are complying with their commitment not to transfer these kinds of technology or to facilitate the transfer." 

Washington would also be receptive to renewing the Iran Sanctions Act at the end of the year provided it doesn't interfere with Washington's commitments under the Iran nuclear deal reached last July. 

Russia is geared to finally deliver S-300 air defense missile systems to Tehran following the lifting of sanctions in January. It had previously canceled its contract to deliver these missiles back in 2010 in compliance with UN sanctions against Iran's nuclear program. 

In addition to arms sales Washington is also opposed to Iran's continued testing of missiles saying they contravene a UN Security Council resolution passed last year which forbids Iran's development and testing of nuclear capable missiles. 

Iran however counters that its missiles are conventional, not designed to carry nuclear warheads and wholly defensive. 

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The EU border protection agency, Frontex, is leading the program and escorting the migrants to a nearby port in Izmir in Turkey, The Associated Press reported.

“All of the migrants returned are from Pakistan, except for two migrants from Syria who returned voluntarily,” AP quoted Giorgos Kyritsis, a spokesman for a government refugee crisis committee, as saying on state TV.

Kyritsis explained that 136 people were deported from Lesbos and 66 others from the island of Chios, where police forces clashed with residents opposing the deportation hours earlier during a protest.

Reports revealed different numbers of refugees expected in Turkey on Monday, with the BBC saying that Turkish officials are expecting 500 migrants arriving in the first convey.

Kurdish and other refugees stuck in a makeshift camp in the Greek border town of Idomeni and blocked from entering Europe under an EU deal, talked to a Rudaw reporter on Sunday. They called on authorities to let them in, many recounting tales of deprivation and despair.

“We have been here for two months now and we want the authorities to open the door for us so we can pass. Every one of us is out of money now and our children are sick,” a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimani told a Rudaw reporter in Idomeni, which is on the border with Macedonia.

Another refugee from Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, said he had escaped war and all he wanted is a safe place.

Under an EU deal signed last month, refugees arriving in Greece will be deported to Turkey, where some refugees and human rights agency find unsafe place to live.

“Turkey is not a safe third country for refugees. The EU and Greek authorities know this and have no excuse,” Giorgo Kosmopoulos, head of Amnesty International in Greece, told AP.

A refugee from Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, told Rudaw on Sunday that he did not want to live in Turkey, that he had escaped war and that all he wanted is a safe place. 

“If we are sent back to Turkey, we will not stay there. The situation in Kurdistan was good when I was there. We should either go to Europe or go back to Kurdistan,” he said. 
“We were forced to leave our home. There is conflict everywhere with the YPG (Kurdish force), Daesh and the Syrian government. What can we do?”

More than 10,000 migrants are now stranded at Idomeni. Charities are reporting greater numbers of desperate people arriving, with nowhere left to go.

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The lives of these refugees are getting tougher by the day. Many of them have sold their properties in order to finance their migration. But, due to a recent agreement sign between the EU and Turkey, deportation of migrants is set to begin from Monday onward.

Two Kurdish refugees set themselves on fire recently, one died and the other is critically wounded. 

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“We have been here for two months now and we want the authorities to open the door for us so we can pass. Every one of us is out of money now and our children are sick,” a refugee from Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaimani told a Rudaw reporter in Idomeni, which is on the border with Macedonia.

“I have escaped poverty and unemployment. The war with Daesh (ISIS) impacted everything in our homeland,” he added.

Another refugee from Syrian Kurdistan, or Rojava, said he had escaped war and all he wanted is a safe place.

Under an EU deal signed last month, refugees arriving in Greece will be deported to Turkey.

“If we are sent back to Turkey, we will not stay there. The situation in Kurdistan was good when I were there. We should either go to Europe or go back to Kurdistan,” he said. “We were forced to leave our home. There is conflict everywhere with the YPG (Kurdish force), Daesh and the Syrian government. What can we do?”

European Council President Donald Tusk said last month that the days of irregular migration to Europe are over after the deal with Turkey, reached after EU countries were overwhelmed last summer by waves of refugees, most escaping the Syrian war.

The main point of the agreement calls for the return of migrants from Greece to Turkey, including Syrian refugees. In return, the EU will resettle one Syrian refugee for each person returned from Greece.

“I will not return to Turkey. Turkey is our enemy! How can we live there? If they force us to leave I will go back to Kurdistan,” a young refugee from the Syrian-Kurdish city of Qamishlu told Rudaw, explaining he had spent four years living in the Kurdistan Region.

Kurdish refugees from Syria, Iraq and Iran complained of their difficult conditions at the makeshift camp, saying they were struggling with shortages of food, money and under rains and cold.

More than 10,000 migrants are now stranded at Idomeni. Charities are reporting greater numbers of desperate people arriving, with nowhere left to go.

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Airport chief Arnaud Feist said the night before that the airport should reopen with three Brussels Airlines flights departing for European destinations. Starting Monday, the number of flights is expected to increase to five or six per hour.

“It will also depend on the speed at which airlines can organize to go from Brussels Airport," Feist was quoted as saying by local media. “That we may resume our activities barely 12 days after the horrific attacks is a sign that we are especially united at Brussels airport,” he said. 

Brussels Airlines will be operating Sunday’s first three “symbolic” flights in the early afternoon, departing for Athens, Turin in Italy and the Portuguese city of Faro. Sixteen flights are expected to operate on Monday, some of them intercontinental, including to New York and some arriving from African destinations.

By later in the week, the airport is expected to be able to handle 800 passengers per hour.
Police and airport authorities said passengers must arrive with printed proof of flights in order to get to the airport building, and that they must come only by taxi or car. 

Vehicles will be subject to being pulled over and searched by police, and the airport has been newly equipped with cameras that read license plates, local media reports said.

Inside the airport, passengers will undergo a “pre-check” -- that will include a baggage and hand-luggage search -- before being allowed into a temporary departure hall.

Before the attacks that killed some 32 people at the airport and came shortly before another bombing at a nearby Metro station, Brussels was a major European hub for airlines around the world.

"We plan to increase the number of flights every day," Geert Sciot, the Brussels Airlines spokesman, told reporters, explaining that flights have been operating from regional airports during the closure in Brussels.

Brussels went into lockdown after the airport and metro bombings -- which were claimed by the Islamic State (ISIS) group -- as police cracked down with raids and arrests on jihadi suspects.
Investigators have linked the suicide bombings in Brussels to a November 13 attack in Paris that killed 130 people.

The attacks killed 32 people and wounded several hundred.

In Brussels’ Molenbeek district, where the Metro bombing took place and where police have focused their raids, protesters on Saturday tried to stage an anti-Islamic demonstration despite a ban by authorities, clashing with police. Some 40 demonstrators were arrested, according to local media reports.

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Sweden has given asylum to a record number of refugees in 2015, many of them under 18 years of age, considered children according to the Swedish laws. 

To manage nearly 23,000 child migrants, the authorities have asked willing families to embrace the underage migrants in return for economic assistance. 

“The hosting family receives a monthly payment of 17,000 krona (ca $2000) for each child migrant until they turn 18,” said Sardar Saeed a Kurdish social worker in the municipality of Stockholm. 

“Many families exploit the economic benefit and embrace more than one child but there are families that really want to stand up and help these children regardless of the money,” Saeed told Rudaw. 

Swedish government’s decision to give asylum status to more than 80,000 migrants has polarized the country with the anti-immigrant parties winning unprecedented sympathy from voters.

According to latest opinion palls Sweden Democrats (SD), considered a far-right populist party, would receive 28,5 percent of the votes if there were an election in December 2015. 

“We have had very pleasant working relationships with Kurdish families who have assumed responsibility for child migrants,” said Katarina Malm who works as a sociologist for the municipality of Stockholm. 

She told Rudaw hosting Kurdish families have worked closely with the municipalities for an active role in the children’s development.    

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Muraz Adzhoev |
3/31/2016 7:45:41 PM

For more than 10 years already (2005-2015) Baghdad government has been "fully committed to the Iraqi constitution", however "federative and...

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All flights were temporarily suspended to and from the Brussels’ airport following the March 22 bombings, which killed 33 people and wounded over 300.

"From Sunday morning, Brussels Airport should be partially operational,” Brussels airport Chief Executive Officer, Arnaud Feist said, according to BBC.

The three first flights are expected to depart from the airport to the European destinations. 

The airport will follow new and tighter security measures, it was reported. 

Reports indicated that seven of the suspects were detained in Brussels while German and French police arrested three others suspected of involvement in the bombings.

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