U.S Defense Secretary Mark Esper says Turkey’s offensive against Kurds in northeastern Syria  was “unwarranted” and Ankara is “heading in the wrong direction” after its agreement with Russia to jointly patrol a “safe zone” in the region.

“Turkey put us in a very terrible situation,” Esper said at the German Marshall Fund ahead of a NATO meeting in Brussels.

Turkish forces swept into northern Syria last week following a U.S. decision to withdraw forces from the area.  The U.S. helped broker a ceasefire in the Turkish offensive.

‘Permanent’ ceasefire

President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he has been assured by Turkey the ceasefire would become permanent, a development he said would allow the U.S. to lift recently imposed sanctions on Ankara.  He said the responsibility for peace in the region should be left to others.

“We have done them a great service,” Trump said of U.S. efforts to end fighting between Turkey, a NATO ally, and the mainly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who have been a key partner in the U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State.

“This was an outcome created by us, the United States, and nobody else,” he said. “Now we’re getting out. … Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand.”

US Done Fighting Over ‘Long-Bloodstained Sand’ in Syria

President Trump claims ‘great outcome’ from US-engineered cease-fire, though Kurdish officials warn the fighting, deaths are far from over

Trump’s announcement came hours after he said Turkey assured the U.S. that the country’s military campaign in northeastern Syria, aimed at clearing the Turkish-Syrian border of Kurdish fighters, which Ankara regards as terrorists, was over.

While Trump on Wednesday hailed the U.S.-brokered cease-fire as a “great outcome,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a separate deal with Russia just a day earlier.

That deal, negotiated with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, calls for removing Kurdish forces from an even wider zone along the Syrian-Turkish border and for joint patrols with Turkish and Russian forces.

Video provided by VOA’s Kurdish service showed Russian military vehicles Wednesday entering the Syrian city of Kobani, which is located on the border with Turkey.

Reaction to Trump speech

The initial reaction from Syrian Kurdish officials was to President Trump’s comments Wednesday was muted.

In a statement posted on social media, SDF Commander General Mazloum Abdi thanked Trump “for his tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack” and for the promise of continued U.S. support.

GEN.Mazloum:
2. We THANK President Trump for his tireless efforts that stopped the brutal Turkish attack and jihadist groups on our people.

— Mustafa Bali (@mustefabali) October 23, 2019

But Abdi also said he spent time explaining “the Turkish violations” during the initial five-day pause in fighting that ended Tuesday.

As the hours passed, other Kurdish officials expressed increasing displeasure.

“This cannot be called a cease-fire,” Ilhan Ahmed, the executive president of the SDF’s political wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, told U.S. lawmakers late Wednesday.

To date, officials with the Kurdish-led autonomous administration in northeast Syria estimate 250 men, women and children have been killed since Turkey launched its incursion following the withdrawal October 6 of U.S. special forces from near the Turkish-Syrian border.

Another 300 have gone missing, and there have been allegations that dozens more have been injured as a result of the use of white phosphorus or chemical weapons – a charge Turkish officials vehemently deny.

National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report

…

Dangerously windy weather sweeping through the state brought power outages to Northern California as the state’s largest utility staged blackouts designed to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Wednesday began rolling blackouts stretching from the Sierra foothills in the northeast to portions of the San Francisco Bay Area. A couple of counties kept their power until after midnight.

The blackouts impact a half-million people – or nearly 180,000 customers – in 15 counties, and PG&E warned that a second round of outages could occur over the weekend when winds return to the region.

In the south, where hot, dry Santa Ana winds were expected to hit Thursday, Southern California Edison warned that it might black out about 308,000 customers, perhaps 750,000 people, depending on the forecast.
 
San Diego Gas & Electric warned of power shutoffs to about 24,000 customers.

The utilities have said the precautionary blackouts are designed to keep winds that could gust to 60 mph (97 kph) or more from knocking branches into power lines or toppling them, sparking wildfires.

Electrical equipment was blamed for setting several fires in recent years that killed scores of people and burned thousands of homes.

“We understand the hardship caused by these shutoffs,” PG&E CEO Bill Johnson said Wednesday. “But we also understand the heartbreak and devastation caused by catastrophic wildfires.”

The latest outage comes two weeks after PG&E shut down the power for several days to about 2 million people in northern and central California.

The current outages will last about 48 hours, the utility said. But its seven-day forecast shows a likelihood of another planned blackout across a much larger area. The timing wasn’t clear but it could start as early as Saturday, when even heavier winds are expected to move through.

“This could be the strongest wind event of the season, unfortunately,” PG&E meteorologist Scott Strenfel said.

Strenfel called the current wind event a “California-wide phenomenon.” Conditions should begin easing in the northern part of the state around midday Thursday, when crews will begin inspecting lines to make sure they’re safe to re-energize.

That’s when Santa Ana winds were expected to begin whipping up in the south.
 
The small city of Calistoga, in the Napa Valley, known for its hot springs and wineries, was among those hit by Wednesday’s outage.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Michael Dunsford, owner of the 18-room Calistoga Inn, which has rented two powerful generators for the month at a cost of $5,000. Like many, he felt the outages need to be better managed, better targeted and less expansive.

“Right now, we have no wind. Zero. I don’t even see a single leaf blowing. Did they really have to cut the power right now?” he said, shortly after the lights went out Wednesday afternoon and he revved up the generators. “When the wind picks up to 40 mph maybe that’s a good time to close the power.”

“They’re not appreciating enough the impact this has on everybody,” he said about PG&E.

Some of the frustration was being taken out on PG&E employees, the company’s CEO said.

Johnson said Wednesday that a PG&E employee was the target of what appeared to be a deliberate attack in Glenn County. He said a projectile that may have come from a pellet gun hit the employee’s front window. The employee wasn’t hurt.

“There is no justification for this sort of violence,” Johnson said. “Wherever you see crews they are there to help you.”

Mandatory evacuations were prompted east of Geyserville after a wildfire sparked in northeastern Sonoma County along the Lake County line late Wednesday.

The Press Democrat reports that according to dispatch reports, the Kincade fire spread to about 1,000 acres by 11 p.m.

Cal Fire spokesman Will Powers said the blaze near the Geysers area was burning at a “dangerous rate.”
 
Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore said PG&E was better this time about getting information to people who would be affected, but he was still astonished by the need to resort to largescale blackouts.

“I am a big believer in shutdowns to prevent fires. But the thing that erodes public trust is when it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “You say, `God, I know if we can put a man on the moon … we can manage a (power) grid.”     

…

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its ruling alliance were leading in elections in two Indian states, but the party has done worse than expected after most opinion polls predicted an outright win.

According to preliminary results Thursday, Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its regional ally were leading in the 288-seat assembly in the western state of Maharashtra, home to India’s financial capital Mumbai.

The elections were held on Monday.

The party was expecting to cross the majority mark of 145 seats but results showed it will have to rely on its ally, Shiv Sena, to form the government for a second consecutive term.

The elections were characterized by large-scale defections with at least a dozen legislators of the opposition Congress and other parties switching sides to BJP and Shiv Sena.

Sharad Pawar, a key opposition leader in Maharashtra, saw the initial results as a vindication.
 
“People who left us have not been accepted. Defections have not worked in favor of those who left,” said Pawar, whose Nationalist Congress Party is set to better its 2014 poll performance.

In the northern state of Haryana, Modi’s party was faring well below expectations.

The BJP was ahead of the opposition Congress-led alliance but may fall well short of a majority with the regional Jannayak Janata Party emerging as a kingmaker.

The Congress, India’s oldest political party, has staged a comeback after facing a major defeat in national elections earlier this year and could end up doubling the number of seats in Haryana, the results showed.

The party has already sent feelers to the JJP to form a coalition government and keep its archival BJP at bay after Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a top Congress leader, appealed to other parties in Haryana to come together to form a strong government.

“I assure that each one will be respected and given a respectable position,” Hooda told reporters.

Opinion surveys had predicted a BJP romp in the elections as the opposition campaigns were lackluster due to infighting and desertions in the run-up to the vote.

The elections in the two states are the first since Modi was reelected in May and will be a test for his party, which is looking to tighten its grip on power across India.

…

Two small helicopters collided Wednesday over a ranch in South Texas, and two men were killed, authorities said. 

Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Nathan Brandley said the helicopters struck in midair near Hebbronville, a community about 160 miles (260 kilometers) south of San Antonio. 
 
Brandley said one helicopter was able to land but the other crashed after the collision, killing both people aboard. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was pronounced dead at a hospital. 
 
He said one of the two people in the other helicopter was injured. 
 
Brandley said he didn’t know the cause of the crash or the identities of those involved. 
 
The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety board were investigating. The FAA said the helicopters were Robinson R22 aircraft.

…

Israel’s former military chief Benny Gantz was tasked Wednesday with forming the next government, but he has few options after last month’s elections left him in a near tie with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu was given the first opportunity to form a government after assembling a large right-wing bloc but announced this week that he had failed to build a 61-seat majority. Gantz faces similarly steep odds, raising the possibility that Israel will hold a third election in less than a year.

President Reuven Rivlin formally granted the mandate to Gantz, who will have 28 days to form a coalition. It is the first time in over a decade that anyone besides Netanyahu has been given the task.

Gantz vowed to form a “functioning” unity government that would “strive for peace but know how to defeat every enemy.”

A lifelong military man, Gantz has presented himself as a practical leader who can bridge Israel’s many divisions and address the various security threats it faces. His low-key campaign was in sharp contrast to Netanyahu’s, which was marked by breathless announcements about a suspected Iranian nuclear site and plans to annex large parts of the occupied West Bank.

Gantz also presents himself as a more trustworthy alternative to the scandal-plagued Netanyahu and may hope to evoke past generals who became statesmen, including Moshe Dayan, Yitzhak Rabin and Ariel Sharon.

But he faces steep odds in every possible path to forming a government. He has been endorsed by just 54 lawmakers representing an array of parties that are unlikely to sit together in a coalition.

Both Gantz and Netanyahu say they favor a national unity government. Together, Netanyahu’s Likud and Gantz’s Blue and White control a solid 65-seat majority. But the two men are divided over who should lead any new government.

Netanyahu has insisted he head the government, at least for the first two years, and that it include his right-wing allies, conditions that Gantz has repeatedly rejected.

Netanyahu is likely to be indicted on corruption charges in the coming weeks, and Gantz has said Netanyahu should resolve his legal troubles before returning to the top post.

Blue and White nevertheless invited Likud negotiators to a meeting planned for Thursday.

Addressing Netanyahu on Wednesday, Gantz called him a “patriot” and said he hoped he could resolve his legal issues.

“It is clear to both of us that the elections outcome and the legal situation demand a change. Together with you and with the other good people at the Likud we must act with responsibility.”

One path for Gantz would be to try and break up Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance and recruit some of the smaller parties to his coalition. But that might be seen as a major betrayal by those parties’ voters.

Another option would be to form a minority government with Avigdor Lieberman, who emerged as kingmaker after his party won eight seats and has refused to endorse either Gantz or Netanyahu. Gantz might be able to convince the Arab Joint List, which won 13 seats, to support the coalition from the outside.

That would bring down Netanyahu but result in a highly unstable government. It’s also far from clear that Lieberman, a nationalist with a history of harsh rhetoric toward the Arab minority, would support such a scheme. No Arab party has ever sat in an Israeli government.

The political deadlock dates back to April, when Lieberman refused to join a right-wing coalition under Netanyahu, denying him a majority. In response, parliament voted to dissolve itself, leading to an unprecedented repeat election in September. A similar scenario could play out again.

The political deadlock has delayed the Trump administration’s release of its long-awaited peace plan. The Palestinians have already rejected the plan, accusing the administration of extreme and unfair bias toward Israel.

In giving Gantz the mandate, Rivlin once again implored Israel’s political leaders to come together, saying there is “no justification” to impose a third election on the country.

“If a government is formed, it is true that everyone will pay a price,” he said. “But if such a government is not formed, Israeli citizens will pay the heaviest price.”
 

…

A second U.S. resident has pleaded guilty this week to federal charges stemming from an elaborate visa fraud scheme to bring Armenians to the United States under the guise of being folk dance performers.

Armenian national and California resident Hrachya Atoyan, 32, took part in an illegal transnational network that told U.S. immigration authorities the supposed dancers were coming to America to perform and therefore qualified for “Culturally Unique Artist” visas, according to the Department of Justice.

Atoyan and others in the network are said to have charged Armenian nationals between $3,000 and $10,000 to come to the U.S. as part of a fake dance troupe.

Stella Boyadjian, a New York resident accused of leading the fraud ring, pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges in March, but has not been sentenced. A third defendant, Diana Grigoryan, also has been charged in the case.

Investigators said Boyadjian used the Big Apple Music Awards Foundation, a nonprofit organization she created, as a front for the scheme, according to a 2018 indictment.

Boyadjian and others had fake “dance certificates” made, arranged photo shoots “to make it appear as though they were traditional Armenian musicians, singers and performers,” and created flyers about fake concerts to justify a performance “tour” for the visa applicants, according to the indictment.

“Exploiting the P-3 nonimmigrant visa classification system for culturally unique artists and entertainers makes a mockery out of the legitimate performers for whom that visa was intended,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.  

Cultural visas are intended to allow people to “temporarily travel to the United States to perform, teach or coach as artists or entertainers,” according to the DOJ.

Atoyan is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 20, 2020.

…

As Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sought to allay lawmakers’ concerns Wednesday about the planned launch of a global digital currency, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters renewed her call to halt the launch and even suggested the company should be broken up.

During testimony before the committee, Zuckerberg acknowledged the planned 2020 rollout is a “risky project,” but said the cryptocurrency would provide a secure method for millions of Americans who don’t have bank accounts to make low-cost fund transfers.

“People pay far too high a cost, and have to wait too long, to send money home to their families abroad. The current system is failing them,”

said in his prepared remarks.

Top financial regulators and lawmakers from both parties have voiced concerns the cryptocurrency could be used for illicit activity such as money laundering and drug trafficking.   

Some regulators are also concerned the enormous reserve created with money used to purchase the digital currency could supplant the U.S. central banking system and weaken the global financial system.

Zuckerberg addressed those concerns with an assurance the cryptocurrency, known as Libra, would not be introduced anywhere in the world “unless all U.S. regulators approve it.”

Waters, however, demanded that Zuckerberg stop plans to launch Libra until the company addresses numerous issues confronting its effect on consumers and the U.S. political system.

Waters called Libra “a new Swiss-based financial system” that could require a tax bailout. She also suggested Facebook has become too large and powerful.

“You have opened up a serious discussion about whether Facebook should be broken up,” Waters said as she listed a series of problems confronting the company in her opening remarks.

Waters also said after she scrutinized the company’s problems, “I have come to the conclusion that it would be beneficial for all if Facebook concentrates on addressing its many existing deficiencies and failures before proceeding any further on the Libra project.”

While the hearing’s focus was on the digital currency, Facebook’s policies and conduct also attracted congressional attention.

Committee members cited issues such as the company’s ad platform that has enabled housing discrimination, the dearth of employees with little civil rights experience, the company’s facilitation of foreign election interference and its treatment of political ads.

The embattled CEO last testified before Congress in April 2018, when he faced 10 hours of questioning over two days in the House and Senate on political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of Facebook customer data to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Zuckerberg Appears in Congress as Facebook Faces Scrutiny

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is appearing before Congress to defend the tech giant’s global ambitions as scrutiny tightens over its massive market power, privacy lapses and tolerance of speech deemed false or hateful

The scandal hurt Facebook’s reputation in Washington and fueled lawmakers’ concerns the company cannot be trusted to launch the digital currency to its 2.4 billion users.

Facebook responded to the increased scrutiny in Washington by bolstering its lobbying operation. Public filings show Facebook is on track to spend $12.3 million to influence the federal government during the first nine months of this year, compared to $12.6 million for all of 2018.

Facebook and other technology giants are being investigated by the Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the House Judiciary antitrust subcommittee on allegations of abusing their market power to suppress competition.

…

…

A top U.S. Census Bureau official says the agency has pivoted away from verifying addresses and is now kicking off a campaign to recruit and hire as many as a half million temporary workers to help with the largest head count in U.S. history next spring.

Timothy Olson, the agency’s associate director for field operations, said Tuesday that 32,000 workers verified 50 million addresses over an almost two-month period that ended more than a week ago.

Olson called the address verification process a success.

The agency already has 900,000 people who have applied for 2020 Census jobs, but the bureau wants a potential pool of 2.7 million applicants to choose from.

The 2020 Census head count will be the first decennial census when respondents are encouraged to answer questions online.
 

…

Iran will not be allowed to participate in any international judo competitions until it allows its athletes to face Israelis.

The International Judo Federation (IJF) on Tuesday issued an indefinite ban “until the Iran Judo Federation gives strong guarantees and prove that they will respect the IJF Statutes and accept that their athletes fight against Israeli athletes.”

IJF investigated Iran’s policy after Iranian Saeid Mollaei walked off the Iranian team during last year’s world championships in Tokyo. Mollaei, who was the reigning champion, claimed that he had been pressured to deliberately lose in the semifinals in order to avoid facing Israelis.

The IJF accused the Iranian government of pressuring its athletes and flouting international completion rules.

Iran has denied pressuring Mollaei, who is now in hiding in Germany.

But the IJF investigation into the incident found that Iran’s actions “constitute a serious breach and gross violation of the Statutes of the IJF, its legitimate interests, its principles and objectives.”

Iran is expected to appeal the ban to the Switzerland-based Court for Arbitration of Sport.

…

Boeing is replacing the head of its commercial-airplanes division as it struggles with a crisis created by two deadly crashes of its newest airliner.

Boeing said Tuesday that Kevin McAllister is out as chief executive of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He is being replaced by Stanley Deal, leader of Boeing’s services division.

The shake-up in Boeing’s top ranks comes just days after the release of internal communications that showed a senior test pilot experienced serious problems while testing flight-control software for the 737 Max on a simulator.

That software, called MCAS, is at the center of investigations into two crashes that killed 346 people and led to grounding of the Max. Boeing is taking much longer than executives expected to change the software and get the plane flying again.

Boeing announced two other promotions, including a replacement for Deal, who has led Boeing Global Services since the division was created in 2016.

McAllister was recruited from General Electric Co.’s jet-engine operation to run Boeing’s biggest division in 2016, just months before the 737 Max went into service. Boeing did not specify whether he quit or was fired.

“The Boeing board fully supports these leadership moves,” Chairman David Calhoun said in a prepared statement.

Calhoun himself is new in his position. CEO Dennis Muilenburg also served as company chairman until the board stripped him of that job and elevated Calhoun two weeks ago.

In a statement, Muilenburg thanked McAllister for his service “during a challenging time, and for his commitment to support this transition.”

Boeing took a $5.6 billion pretax charge this summer to cover its estimate for compensating airlines that have canceled thousands of flights because of grounded planes. It has disclosed nearly $3 billion in other additional costs related to the grounding.

The company faces dozens of lawsuits by families of passengers killed in the Max crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. It is also the subject of investigations by the Justice Department and Congress.

Chicago-based Boeing Co. is scheduled to report its latest financial results on Wednesday.

…

The king of Thailand has stripped his royal consort of her titles less than three months after they were bestowed upon her.

An announcement in the Royal Thai Government Gazette said 34-year-old Sineenat Bilaskalayani was stripped of all her titles and military ranks for being “ambitious” and trying to “elevate herself to the same state as the queen.”

It said her actions “are considered dishonorable, lacking gratitude, unappreciative of royal kindness, and driving a rift among the royal servants, making misunderstanding among the people, and undermining the nation and the monarchy.”

King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who ascended to the throne in 2016, named Sineenat his royal consort just two months after he married his fourth wife, Queen Suthida.

This was the first time a Thai monarch has taken a consort in nearly a century.

Both Sineenat and Suthida had served as senior officers in palace security units. Suthida was previously a flight attendant with Thai Airways, while Sineenat was an army nurse.

Sineenat’s fate in the royal court is similar to that of the king’s second and third wives.

The king’s second wife fled to the U.S. after she was denounced by him. The kings has also disowned their four sons.

His third wife was also stripped of her titles and banished from the court. Their teenage son lives with his father.

The king’s first marriage also ended in divorce but that wife was also his cousin and part of the royal family so she didn’t share the fate of the others. 

…