Forces backing Libya‘s internationally recognised government fought house-to-house battles with troops loyal to renegade commander Khalifa Haftar in southern parts of the capital, Tripoli, on Sunday and appeared to be gaining ground.
Government soldiers, some in jeans and t-shirts, took cover by abandoned buildings as they fired on Haftar’s positions. Some carried anti-aircraft guns they had had to remove from their trucks to get through the narrow streets.
Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), which is allied to a rival administration in eastern Libya, mounted an offensive on Tripoli three weeks ago, but despite heavy fighting has failed to breach the city’s southern defences.
A Reuters news agency team visiting the southern suburb of Ain Zara on Sunday said they estimated that forces allied to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) gained up to 1,500 metres compared to a visit a few days earlier.
Other parts of the frontline appeared unchanged and the situation remains fluid. Both sides have gained and lost territory within days or even hours during the fighting.
Meanwhile, Fayel al-Serraj, head of the GNA, has ordered the arrest of 64 people, including two of Haftar’s sons and senior LNA commanders, on charges of “leading the aggression” on Tripoli.
The statement came as the GNA health ministry said at least four people were killed and 20 others wounded in LNA air raids overnight on Sunday. The “death toll could increase”, said Amin al-Hachemi, a spokesman for the ministry.
A pro-GNA military source told the AFP that the victims were civilians.
“Several sites were targeted by air strikes late on Saturday night, causing victims among civilians,” the source said, adding: “Most of the strikes hit areas in the district of Abou Slim… [but] none hit military targets.”
GNA accuses Haftar of using foreign planes to carry out air attacks, without naming a country of origin.
“This criminal conceals his failures and those of his soldiers at the gates of Tripoli by resorting to foreign aviation to hit unarmed civilians in the city,” spokesman Mohanad Younes said on the GNA’s official Facebook page.
Battle for Tripoli airport
Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Tripoli, said clashes were ongoing in the vicinity of the inactive Tripoli international airport, now held by the LNA. The airport was “very strategic because if the government forces recapture it, they can easily cut the supporting line coming for Haftar’s forces from the city of Gharyan, south of Tripoli”, he said.
At least 278 people have been killed and more than 1,300 wounded in the clashes this month, according to a casualty toll released by the World Health Organization on Wednesday.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 39,000 people have been displaced by fighting along Tripoli’s southern districts.
The UN refugee agency has evacuated hundreds of migrants and refugees trapped in detention centres on the frontline of the clashes, relocating them to temporary shelters at schools and universities in Tripoli.
Libya unrest: Refugees trapped by renewed fighting
“We are concerned about the health conditions of the migrants, we sometimes handle patients with chronic diseases and pregnancy that need specialised clinics,” Ritaj Bin Khalifa, a medical worker, told Al Jazeera.
“We also provide the migrants with psychological support.”
Some Sudanese migrants told Al Jazeera they will be seeking asylum in other countries with the help of relief organisations.
Libya has been mired in chaos since the NATO-backed uprising that deposed and killed long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Some were skeptical that the Boston Celtics could carry over their momentum from Round 1. The theory went that the Indiana Pacers were so battered that the Celtics essentially had a walkover and would get a rude awakening once they made the trip to Milwaukee.
Whoops.
Kyrie Irving had 26 points and 11 assists, and Al Horford was a two-way marvel as the Celtics earned a 112-90 win over the Bucks in Game 1 of their second-round series.
The Celtics led by as many as 15 points in the first half before the Bucks went on a run before the break to go into the locker room down two. But rather than fold in the face of a raucous Milwaukee crowd, Boston came out of the locker room firing and destroyed the Bucks in a 36-21 third quarter.
The Celtics shot 54.0 percent from the floor and had five players in double figures. Horford was without question the Game MVP, finishing with 20 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks while playing sterling defense on Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The presumptive MVP finished with 22 points on 7-of-21 shooting in by far his worst performance of the postseason.
What’s Next?
The Celtics and Bucks reconvene in Milwaukee for Game 2 on Tuesday night.
This article will be updated to provide more information on this story as it becomes available.
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Any peace agreement with the Afghan Taliban would depend on the declaration of a permanent ceasefire and a commitment to end the country’s long war, the US envoy for peace in Afghanistan said.
In an interview with Tolo News, Afghanistan’s largest private television station, Zalmay Khalilzad said on Sunday the Taliban’s demands were focused on the withdrawal of American forces from the country.
“If the Taliban insist on going back to the system they used to have, in my personal opinion it means the continuation of war not peace,” Khalilzad said.
Abdullah Abdullah: The Taliban is ‘the obstacle’
“Our focus is on terrorism. No agreement will be done if we don’t see a permanent ceasefire and a commitment to end the war,” he added.
“We are seeking peace and [a] political settlement… We want peace to give us the possibility to withdraw.”
Khalilzad has signalled progress in talks, which centre on the Taliban guaranteeing Afghanistan can never again be used as a springboard for attacks on foreign soil, in return for an eventual withdrawal of foreign forces.
‘Puppet regime’
The Afghan-born US diplomat arrived in Kabul on Saturday to meet President Ashraf Ghani, part of a multi-country tour ahead of his next meeting with the Taliban in Qatar in the coming days.
But those talks do not include members of the Afghan government, which the Taliban view as a “puppet regime”.
Hoping to renew the push for direct talks with the Taliban, Ghani has convened a grand consultative assembly on Monday.
The Loya Jirga, a traditional gathering of elders, religious scholars, and prominent Afghans, will see more than 3,000 people gather amid tight security for four days of discussion under a large tent in Kabul.
Khalilzad said it was vital all parties communicate in an “intra-Afghan dialogue”. Such a meeting was supposed to take place in Doha this month, but it collapsed amid squabbling about the size of the guest list.
He added Washington was “a bit impatient” to end the war, given its $45bn annual cost to the US taxpayer and the continued toll it takes on US forces.
The United States has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of a NATO-led mission known as Resolute Support, which is training and assisting the Afghan government’s security forces in their battle against Taliban fighters and armed groups such as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
‘Leave a good legacy’
US President Donald Trump wants to reach an agreement to end his country’s longest-ever war, which dislodged the Taliban from power in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Intense fighting is still going on all over the country, and while the Taliban are negotiating, they now control and influence more territory than at any point since 2001.
Washington wants “to put an end to their expenses in Afghanistan and the dangers the forces face, but also Washington has a responsibility and wants to end this war responsibly and leave a good legacy”, Khalilzad said.
Washburn football player Dwane Simmons was killed and New York Giants draft pick Corey Ballentine was injured in an off-campus shooting, the school announced Sunday.
Dr. Jerry Farley, Washburn’s president, released the following statement (via WIBW’s Tyler Greever):
“We come to you this morning with sad and difficult news. Early this morning two of our students were the victims of an off-campus shooting. Dwane Simmons, a junior and a member of the football team, was killed in the incident. In addition, Corey Ballentine, a senior, was injured. Ballentine is expected to make a full recovery.
“Any time we lose a student it is a sad occasion, but it is particularly poignant to lose a student through such a senseless act. Both Dwane and Corey have been great examples and representatives of the football team and of Washburn University in general. This was a terrible way to end a day which should have been a day of celebration and a day to look forward to Dwane’s upcoming year at Washburn and the beginning of Corey’s professional career.”
Simmons was 23.
Ballentine, who was the No. 180 overall pick in the 2019 NFL draft, is expected to make a full recovery after suffering non-life-threatening injuries, per Erika Hall of WIBW.
“We are aware of the tragic situation and continue to gather information. We have spoken to Corey, and he is recovering in the hospital. Our thoughts are with Dwane Simmons’ family, friends and teammates and the rest of the Washburn community,” the Giants said in astatement.
Police said they responded to reports of a shooting at 12:45 a.m. Simmons was pronounced dead on the scene. He started 17 games while playing for Washburn from 2015 to 2018.
“Dwane is one of the most energetic and well-liked players I have ever coached at Washburn. Dwane’s infectious smile and love for football and his teammates was truly inspirational. Our prayers of healing go out to his family, his parents Navarro and Yasmine Simmons and Chaquilla Williams,” head coach Craig Schurig said, per Nick Vivianiof WIBW.
Kuwait City – For months, Kuwait’s football governing body has battled to lift the third FIFA ban of its history, sparked in 2015 by government meddling in the running of the local football association.
Deprived of partaking in any international competitions for about 782 days, Kuwait’s national teams and clubs were left crumbling.
According to national team player Omar Al Hebaiter, the sanction caused several frustrated talented players to quit professional football.
However, a sense of hope abounds in Kuwait following recent attempts to expand the 2022 World Cup. “We might have the world’s most prestigious sporting event at home and raise very high the Kuwaiti flag,” Hebaiter said joyfully.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino held World Cup talks with Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on April 14 in a bid to expand the tournament to 48 teams from 32.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah, president of the Kuwait Football Association, told Al Jazeera that “everybody hopes [for it to happen]… Infantino came two times, think about it”.
Infrastructure issues
At Thamir Stadium, a recent match played for the Emir Cup entertained more than 300 heated supporters amid a sand storm pierced by violent lightning hitting the sky.
Yet, in the grandstands, Al-Arabi SC fans voiced scepticism over the prospect of co-hosting a World Cup.
“Our pitches are hideous, our stadiums date back to the 1960s, and alcohol consumption or Israel’s participation will never be accepted,” said supporter Sami Al Saad.
Indeed, by FIFA standards, Kuwait counts only two stadiums that could host international matches: the 60,000-seat Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium and the 26,000-seat Sabah Al Salem Stadium, which yet require upgrades.
Omar Al Hebaiter, a Kuwaiti football player who plays for Kazma Sporting Club [Sebastian Castelier/Al Jazeera]
At the Kuwait Football Association (KFA), the matter of infrastructures is taken lightly. According to Sabah, Kuwait has already set plans to refurbish stadiums in the coming years.
“When our emir says ‘okay’, he gives money,” asserted former national team manager Fahad Awadh, who retired after the FIFA ban.
However, Sylvia Schenk, member of the FIFA Human Rights Advisory Board, raised concern over human rights as “time pressure is always adding to the risks”.
In this respect, FIFA will hold talks with rights groups in the coming weeks.
Beyond infrastructure, poor sporting performances stand out as a matter of concern. “Concede 10 goals per game is not my cup of tea,” lamented Sa’ad Al Houti, a legendary Kuwaiti football midfielder who played the World Cup 1982.
Awadh analysed that Qatar won the 2019 AFC Asian Cup as a result of “20 years of hard work”, which “Kuwait is yet to kick off”. Indeed, the national team is still ranked 156th football team in the world, between Maurice and Tahiti.
FIFA mulls expanded 2022 World Cup
Following a decision to expand World Cups from 32 to 48 teams starting from 2026, FIFA studied the possibility of implementing it four years earlier. “Why shouldn’t we try,” questioned Infantino in January.
Forecast additional revenue of 16 additional matches is estimated at $400m.
Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the UK-based University of Salford, told Al Jazeera an extended contest gives Infantino “more to distribute to FIFA’s membership – those who, ultimately, elect FIFA presidents”.
Since having 48 teams in Qatar appears to be a difficult challenge, Kuwait could become the direct beneficiary of this unexpected turn of events.
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah, President of the Kuwait Football Association [Sebastian Castelier/Al Jazeera]
Indeed, the country’s neutrality in a Saudi-led blockade imposed against Qatar by some of its neighbours since June 2017 privileges the emirate to co-host the tournament. Oman, the second GCC country that has remained neutral in the crisis, expressed its unreadiness to host World Cup matches.
Neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates are unlikely to be nominated because of the economic blockade and sanctions they imposed on Qatar.
“We’ll see by June whether it is possible or not. [It’s] 50/50,” Infantino declared.
Chadwick said Infantino’s frequent visits to the region “show of intent rather than clear evidence that a deal is in the offing”.
Embarrassment for Qatar
In Qatar, such an unexpected probable change in planning has been met with dismay. Former Spain midfielder Xavi Hernandez, who plays for Qatar’s Al Sadd, claimed that a 48-team World Cup in Qatar “will not be good”.
“It will be difficult to change now” as the Gulf country for years has prepared for 32 teams, he said.
The Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy – a Qatari entity responsible for overseeing infrastructure projects for the 2022 World Cup – told Al Jazeera it is open to discussing a potential expansion.
“It has always been our mission to ensure that this World Cup belongs to the entire Arab World,” a Supreme Committee spokesperson said.
Supporters attend a football match at a multi-purpose stadium in Al Salmiya, Kuwait [Sebastian Castelier/Al Jazeera]
In spite of the land, sea and air blockade, Qatar’s preparations to accommodate 32 teams have not slowed down and Lusail Stadium, the venue that will host the opening and final games, is about 90 percent complete.
Amid great uncertainty, many anxious observers await the final decision to be announced during the 69th FIFA Congress, scheduled on June 5, in Paris.
At the Kuwait Football Association, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah half smiles, excusing himself for not being allowed to comment.
“Qatar and FIFA’s president hold the decision. Let’s meet on June 5th,” he said.
Richard Lugar introduces Secretary of State John Kerry for a speech in support of the Iran nuclear deal Sept. 2, 2015, in Philadelphia. | Matt Slocum/AP Photo | AP Photo
The longest-serving senator in the history of Indiana, he made his name on agricultural issues and the control of weapons of mass destruction.
Richard Lugar, the longest-serving U.S. senator in the history of Indiana and an ardent foe of nuclear proliferation, has died. He was 87.
The Lugar Center reported he “died peacefully on Sunday April 28 at 1:44 am. at the Inova Fairfax Heart and Vascular Institute in Virginia. The cause of death was complications from CIDP,“ or chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder.
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A six-term Republican, Lugar made his name with his work on agricultural issues and later, along with Georgia Sen. Sam Nunn, on the control of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. He sought the presidency in 1996, but despite being what The New York Times called “among the most qualified candidates ever to run for President of the United States,” his bid ended quickly and quietly.
“An internationally respected statesman,” President Barack Obama said in awarding him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2013, “he is best-known for his bipartisan leadership and decades-long commitment to reducing the threats of nuclear weapons.”
Dependably well-informed, Lugar spent eight years as mayor of Indianapolis, followed by 36 as a U.S. senator. After four straight elections in which he won reelection by margins of at least 2-to-1, his elected career came to an end in 2012 when he was defeated by a tea party challenger, Richard Mourdock, in the primary.
“All who work in his chamber,” fellow Indiana Sen. Dan Coats said in 2012, “can learn from his passion for public service, sincere desire to reach out across the aisle to find common ground, and unique talent for forging coalitions and bringing people together to accomplish big things.”
After his loss to Mourdock, Indianapolis Monthly surveyed his career and listed some of his achievements “by the numbers,” including 13,008 (votes cast in the Senate), $5.2 million (unspent office funds he returned to the Senate during his tenure) and, perhaps most notably, 7,500 (nuclear warheads deactivated as a result of the efforts of the Nunn-Lugar Act).
“There is nobody who’s spent more energy in more worthy ways to try to make the world safer than Dick Lugar,” Secretary of State John Kerry said at the time.
On learning of his passing, current Indiana Sen. Mike Braun said: “Senator Richard Lugar is a towering figure in Hoosier history and one of the greatest statesmen ever to serve in the U.S. Senate.“
Richard Green Lugar was born in Indianapolis on April 4, 1932, to a farm family. His early years were filled with achievement: He was an Eagle Scout, first in his class in his high school, Phi Beta Kappa at Denison College in Ohio and a Rhodes Scholar, an honor he would share in 1954 with a fellow future senator, Paul Sarbanes of Maryland.
Next for him was a stint in the Navy, working at one point as an intelligence briefer for Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke. In 1956, he married Charlene Smeltzer.
After the Navy, he returned to the family business, then was elected to the Indianapolis School Board in 1964. Three years later, he was elected the city’s mayor and was responsible for Unigov, the consolidation of the city’s functions with that of neighboring communities in 1970.
In 1974, Lugar challenged Democratic Sen. Birch Bayh but was defeated. Two years later, he tried again and routed three-term Democrat Vance Hartke. It was a year of change, as nine incumbent senators were ousted. CQ Almanac noted that Lugar had run against “the evils of federal bureaucracy” despite having “a relatively progressive reputation as mayor.”
As a senator, he worked on a range of issues; in 1979, for instance he helped design the bailout of Chrysler. Through the years, though, he had two great interests, agriculture and foreign policy. He would come to chair Senate panels devoted to both.
Lugar was credited with helping to fashion landmark 1990 and 1996 farm bills, efforts to modernize a system that had not changed much since the New Deal. Agriculture was a business he knew well from his family, and he was eager to limit government controls. For years, he fought an uphill battle to reduce subsidies. “Direct payments this year were made to people who are dead, gone,” he said in 2007. “Why? Because they were made the year before and the year before that.”
In terms of foreign policy, Lugar was heavily involved in Washington policy debates over conflicts throughout the world, from Nicaragua to Iraq to the Philippines. He developed a particular interest in preventing the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, fighting for arms control treaties and other international efforts.
With the end of the Cold War, he paired with Nunn, a centrist Democrat from Georgia, to create the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program. The program paid the former states of the Soviet Union to get rid of their nuclear weapons rather than risk having them fall into the hands of terrorists and rogue states. It also led to upgraded security at weapons sites and money to find alternate employment for Soviet nuclear scientists.
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a similar program was designed for chemical and biological weapons. In 2012, a biological research facility in the former Soviet Georgia would be renamed the Richard G. Lugar Center for Public Health Research.
“Because of this record and deep interest in international affairs,” John T. Shaw wrote in Atlantic Monthly, “Lugar has often served as Congress’s de facto foreign minister. He is usually one of the first American lawmakers diplomats wish to meet when they visit the United States.”
Lugar was usually a dependable Republican vote, though he did chart his own course on some issues, such as gun control.
“Throughout his public life,” The Almanac of American Politics observed in its 2012 edition, “Lugar’s strength has been following his stubborn convictions and letting his considerable intellect guide him, regardless of political risk or reward. Over his long career, he has plenty of accomplishments but also some disappointments.”
One disappointment: His 1996 bid for the presidency. That went wrong from Day One.
It wasn’t that there was anything inherently wrong with his announcement on April 19, 1995, in Indianapolis, but the timing was dreadful — it was the same day as the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead. At a time of national shock and grief, Lugar’s newly launched candidacy was just about invisible.
Building a bid on “nuclear safety and fiscal sanity,” he had some unique plans, such as replacing the income tax with a national sales tax. But Lugar couldn’t connect with voters nationally. “Despite his credentials, the brainy and statesemanlike Mr. Lugar remains virtually unknown outside his home state,” The Times wrote in December 1995. “Polite, wordy and bland, he also remains far back in the Republican presidential pack.”
He himself acknowledged his quiet nature: “I know that people say I’m far too low-key, even that I’m dull,” he told Time in 1995.
Unable to gain momentum, Lugar finished seventh in Iowa and fifth in New Hampshire; his best showing was a fourth-place finish (14 percent) on March 5 in Vermont. After that, he exited the race and endorsed Bob Dole, the eventual nominee.
Back in the Senate, he remained a symbol of accomplishment on Capitol Hill. “He’s a class act and a gentleman,” Kerry said in 2012.
In 2008, when candidate Barack Obama wanted to demonstrate he could work across the aisle, he cited Lugar in an ad. “The single most important national security threat that we face is nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists,” Obama said in a campaign ad. “What I did was reach out to Sen. Dick Lugar, a Republican, to help lock down loose nuclear weapons.”
In Indiana elections, Lugar remained extremely popular, running up record-setting vote percentages: 68 percent in 1988, 67 in 1994, 66.6 in 2000 and then, without Democratic opposition in 2006, 87 percent.
But when Mourdock, the state treasurer, challenged him in 2012, Lugar was caught napping. With Obama in the White House, Indiana’s Republicans wanted someone who was more reliably conservative. Bolstered by tea party support, Mourdock ousted Lugar in the primary.
The defeated senator saw dangerous forces at work. “A large part of the Republican Party of Indiana believed, apparently, in the idea of individualism as opposed to community, a sense of no compromise as opposed to talking across the aisle,” Lugar said.
His shocking defeat became a symbol for Beltway insiders of what could go wrong in the face of grassroots opposition. Lugar’s name, by the 2014 cycle, was a verb. “I think,” commentator Ana Navarro said of Republican incumbents in 2013, “you’re going to see them win their primaries because they’re taking it seriously, they’re campaigning hard, they’re raising the money and they’re doing what they have to do. They’re not about to get Richard Lugared.”
After leaving office, he established the Lugar Center, a public policy institution in Washington. Meanwhile, he and Nunn remained committed to the cause of curbing nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction. In April 2015, the two of them wrote a column for POLITICO Magazine in favor of the nuclear arms deal with Iran. “Holding out for the impossible is a recipe for no progress at all. Congress should take the same approach today to the Iran nuclear deal.”
In making their case, they cited their joint expertise.
“During our combined 60 years in the U.S. Senate, we participated in countless meetings, hearings and trips around the globe focused on reducing the threats posed by weapons of mass destruction,” they wrote.
Lugar was the second longtime Indiana senator to pass away this year. Bayh died March 14.
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