Last Paris attacks suspect sentenced to 20 years over Brussels shootout
Brussels — A Belgian court on Monday sentenced the sole surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, to 20 years in prison on terror charges over a bloody gun battle with police in Brussels days before his capture in 2016.
Abdeslam’s co-defendant Sofiane Ayari received the same sentence after the pair were convicted of terrorism-related attempted murder over the shootout in which four police officers were wounded.
Judges at the court in Brussels said that “there can be no doubt about their commitment to radicalism” as they handed down the maximum jail term as demanded by Belgian prosecutors at the trial in February.
“The terrorist nature of the facts under question in March 2016 appears to be established,” the judgment said.
Neither Abdeslam, 28, a Belgian-born French national, nor Ayari, a 24-year-old Tunisian citizen, was in court to hear the verdict.
Abdeslam is being held in jail in France pending a separate trial over the November 2015 Paris attacks, claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group, in which 130 people died.
The pair were convicted of opening fire on a team of Belgian and French police who raided a flat in the Forest area of Brussels on March 15, 2016, following a tip-off about the Paris attacks.
An Algerian jihadist was killed in the raid as he provided covering fire for Abdeslam — at the time the most wanted man in Europe — and Ayari to escape.
‘Allah guided me’
Abdeslam was arrested and shot in the leg in a dramatic police operation three days later in the largely immigrant Molenbeek area of the Belgian capital, near his family home.
On March 22, suicide bombers from a cell linked to the Paris attacks killed 32 people and wounded hundreds more at Brussels airport and a metro station in the Belgian capital.
Abdeslam’s lawyer Sven Mary told reporters outside the Palace of Justice — where police had mounted tight security — that he would consult with his client at the French prison where he is being held “and then we will see if he wants to lodge an appeal.”
He said Abdeslam would likely have to serve the full Belgian 20-year term on top of any sentence that arises from the French trial over the Paris attacks.
The judgment said Abdeslam had written a document addressed to his mother saying that “Allah guided me and chose me among his servants to open his path. It is for that reason that I had to fight the enemies of Allah with all my strength.”
He added that his brother Brahim, who blew himself up during the Paris attacks, “did not commit suicide — he is a hero of Islam.”
An Islamic State flag was also found at the scene, the judgment said, adding that a total of 34 shots were fired during the shootout.
Tight security
Abdeslam has spent most of the last two years in jail in France.
He was transported to the court from France for the start of the trial in February amid tight security including a helicopter escort, while Ayari is in jail in Belgium.
On the first day of the trial, sporting long hair and a beard instead of the clean-cut look familiar from his mugshots, Abdeslam proclaimed that he would put his “trust in Allah” and accused the court of being biased against Muslims.
He then refused to attend the rest of the proceedings.
Investigators say Abdeslam’s arrest spurred the Brussels bombers to bring forward the 2016 attacks, which had originally been planned for a later date, as they feared their capture.
Prosecutors have said that DNA links Abdeslam to the apartment in the Forest district of Brussels where the shooting took place, but not to the weapons that were used.
After Abdeslam refused to return to court for the trial in February, Mary sought the case’s dismissal on a technicality over how the judges were named to investigate the gun battle, and said media leaks had denied him a fair trial.
But lawyers for police wounded in the gun battle accused Abdeslam of “mocking” the trial.
One of the injured police officers was still suffering from after-effects including brain lesions, epileptic fits and vision and balance problems.
An organisation representing victims of the Brussels attacks and their families is seeking symbolic damages of one euro. — AFP
Aluminum prices plunge as US softens position on Rusal
The U.S. softened its position on sanctions against Russia’s United Co. Rusal, sparking a plunge in aluminum prices.
The U.S. Treasury said it would provide sanctions relief to Rusal if Oleg Deripaska relinquished control, according to statement on Monday. It also extended the deadline for companies to wind down dealings with the Russian aluminum producer by almost five months.
Aluminum plunged as much as 8.3 percent after the news, the biggest intraday drop since 2005. Rusal produces about 6 percent of the world’s aluminum and operates mines, smelters and refineries across the world from Guinea to Ireland, Russia to Jamaica.
Washington’s softening of its stance follows two weeks of chaos on global metals markets, after the sanctions triggered a surge in aluminum prices to multi-year highs and fears of shutdowns at Rusal plants. A German lobbying group said last week that European plants may be forced to close and carmakers could face supply shortages.
“If it wasn’t previously clear if Rusal will still be sanctioned in case if Deripaska sells out, now we have a clear answer,” Oleg Petropavlovskiy, an analyst at BCS Global Markets, said by phone. “Changing the ownership structure would be a solution.”
In a separate statement, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the U.S. is considering a petition from Rusal to remove it from the sanctions list.
‘Hardworking People’
“Rusal has felt the impact of U.S. sanctions because of its entanglement with Oleg Deripaska, but the U.S. government is not targeting the hardworking people who depend on Rusal and its subsidiaries,” he added.
The U.S. statement will add pressure on the aluminum magnate as he seeks a way to save his company without surrendering control. While analysts have suggested that nationalization may be the only solution, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters Friday that Rusal was not on the list to be nationalized.
The selloff in aluminum after the Treasury announcement spread through other commodity markets on optimism the U.S. isn’t likely to impose further sanctions on Russia’s metals and energy companies.
Palladium plunged by as much as 4.2 percent and nickel as much 5.7 percent. They had both jumped over the last two weeks because of concern that Vladimir Potanin, the billionaire who controls Russia’s biggest miner Norilsk Nickel PJSC, could be targeted.
Oil also dropped, losing as much as much as 1.3 percent to trade at $73.13 in London. — Bloomberg
A Kanye West and Elon Musk Tesla bromance in tweets
Kanye West and Elon Musk’s bromance is hitting an all-time high.
Rapper and entrepreneur West took to Twitter to praise his Tesla Inc. car, with some of his tweets being picked up by Musk, the electric-auto maker’s chief executive officer, a few hours later.
KANYE WEST @kanyewest I really love my Tesla. I’m in the future. Thank you Elon.
I really love my Tesla. I’m in the future. Thank you Elon.
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 23, 2018
“I really love my Tesla. I’m in the future. Thank you Elon,” West told his 14.5 million Twitter followers. Musk, who’s active on the social network, retweeted the comments, as well as another one where West says, “this is the funnest car I’ve ever driven.”
KANYE WEST @kanyewest This is the funnest car I’ve ever driven
This is the funnest car I’ve ever driven
— KANYE WEST (@kanyewest) April 23, 2018
“I heard these are really good for the environment,” West also said, ending the tweet with an emoji of two hands folded.
Earlier this year, Musk said at a conference that Kanye West is “obviously” his inspiration. West owns a P100D Model S.
TicToc by Bloomberg @tictoc Elon Musk says he’s “obviously” inspired by Kanye West #tictocnews
Elon Musk says he’s “obviously” inspired by Kanye West #tictocnews pic.twitter.com/Hhd5b94kJ0
— TicToc by Bloomberg (@tictoc) March 18, 2018
West isn’t the first celebrity to promote the carmaker’s business. Back in 2015, when “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” debuted, the host chose Musk as one of his first guests. Colbert also drives a Tesla. But not all those who can afford the vehicle are advocates. In a 2013 interview with Esquire, actor George Clooney said he wasn’t impressed with his Tesla and indicated he no longer owned one. — Bloomberg
Sison to return home after ‘advance’ in peace talks
COMMUNIST PARTY of the Philippines (CPP) founder Jose Maria Sison on Monday, April 23, said he is willing to return to Manila for peace talks if his “comrades and lawyers are satisfied with legal and security precautions.”
This came after President Rodrigo R. Duterte invited Mr. Sison over the weekend to return home for the long-awaited peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) of which Mr. Sison serves as consultant.
“In response, I declare that I will certainly return home when a significant advance in the peace negotiations has been achieved within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration and when my comrades and lawyers are satisfied with legal and security precautions,” Mr. Sison said in a statement.
The communist leader, who is on exile in The Netherlands, he is “confident that the GRP and the NDFP negotiating panels, consultants and drafting teams will be able to produce in the next few weeks the documents necessary for resuming the peace negotiations and making the peace process strong and stable.”
In his press briefing on Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. assured Mr. Sison that the President has given his word that “he will not be apprehended while in the Philippines.”
As for Mr. Sison’s other conditions for the GRP, Mr. Roque said: “I don’t know if he is in a position to provide for conditions. What the President said was if peace talks will resume, he is welcome to come home. The President will assure his security and the fact that he will not be arrested. Beyond that, the President has not acceded to any further terms.”
Mr. Sison also thanked the President for his expressed wish for his “homecoming and for (Mr. Duterte’s) assurances of hospitality and guarantees for his safety.”
“I have long wished that we could meet again and cooperate closely in enabling the peace process to advance from one item to another in the substantive agenda,” the communist leader said.
In the coming weeks, according to Mr. Sison, the important task for the negotiating panels is to draw up a “memorandum of agreement to respect existing agreements prior to Proclamation 360 (which terminated the peace process) and to remove the obstacles and hindrances to the participation of a significant number of NDFP negotiators, consultants and experts in the peace negotiations.”
Second is “drafting the mutually satisfactory agreements on ceasefire and amnesty of the political prisoners as well as the parts of the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development and National Industrialization and Economic Development; and third, signing and approving the agreements well within the 60-day (time) frame that President Duterte has set by way of resuming the peace negotiations.”
“After the formal resumption of the peace negotiations by the negotiating panels, then the circumstances shall arise for both the GRP and the NDFP to adopt all means possible to accelerate the peace negotiations and for both President Duterte and myself to work closely together in the Philippines in order to resolve issues at an unprecedented pace and guide and inspire the home run to the most fruitful and successful destination of the peace process,” Mr. Sison said. — Arjay L. Balinbin
Cayetano clarifies ‘misunderstanding’ over rescue efforts for OFWs in Kuwait
By Camille A. Aguinaldo
FOREIGN AFFAIRS Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano on Monday said the reported dispute between the Kuwaiti government and Philippine Embassy over the latter’s rescue efforts to distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) was a misunderstanding.
“They were only doing their job and it was really not meant to offend the Kuwait government,” he told reporters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) where the final batch of OFWs from Kuwait arrived in the Philippines under the Kuwaiti government’s amnesty program.
Kuwait has summoned Philippine ambassador Renato P. Villa to hand him two diplomatic protest notes after a video was released in social media showing the Philippine Embassy rescuing Filipino domestic helpers.
Mr. Cayetano said the Kuwaiti government made the summons because it questioned the rescue efforts of the Philippine Embassy as to whether it had complied with its domestic laws.
“The culture is different. The system of laws is different. It is normal to have a misunderstanding,” he said.
“We will do our best to clarify all of these, and to assure our friendship with the Kuwait government and that our people there are safe, in the same manner that we are assuring them that their nationals here in the Philippines will be kept safe and will be protected,” he added.
Mr. Cayetano also said he was scheduled to meet the Kuwaiti Ambassador on Monday afternoon to discuss Philippines’ side on the issue.
“I believe the misunderstanding will be solved,” he said.
He also clarified that the Philippine Embassy itself is carrying out the rescue efforts in cases where OFWs are in grave danger.
He added that Mr. Villa has respectfully addressed Kuwait’s concerns and assured them that all efforts to deal with abuses against OFWs were coordinated with the local authorities.
He also refuted reports that Mr. Villa was asked to return home within three days.
“That was not explicitly stated…. We will tell you if there is one. But they’re doing some investigation now on the Kuwait side,” Mr. Cayetano said.
Grab suspends 500 drivers over canceled bookings
GRAB PHILIPPINES (MyTaxi.PH Inc) said it suspended 500 drivers last week over unjustified booking cancelations.
The company said in a statement this was in order to intensify its purge of driver ranks.
Grab Philippines country head Brian Cu said those with above 10% cancelation rate faced sanctions and suspensions.
“We will never tolerate any behavior that compromises the quality of our service. We see every post and complaint. We apologize that our services fell short,” Mr. Cu said in the statement.
He added: “However, we will move forward. We have rolled out additional and stricter measures to address issues on cancelations and this is just the start. We promise to improve to provide the quality of service our passengers deserve.”
Grab government communications manager Fiona Nicolas told reporters in a message that out of the 500, some were suspended for three to five days subject to retraining and some are now banned from the platform.
Passengers have complained about cancelations of Grab drivers. Drivers cancel bookings or ask riders to cancel the booking due to various reasons, particularly due to destinations they would not like to drive to.
For its part, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) said last week it would issue a show-cause order against drivers who canceled rides.
Mr. Cu also said: “While we do our best to further improve driver services, we hope that our passengers would also do their part and exercise the same level of commitment. We encourage our passengers to be responsible by maintaining minimal and valid cancelations and keeping wait time to no more than 7 minutes. Passengers with reported complaints may also face sanctions.”
The company attributed the increase in cancelation rate, which doubled to 11% on Friday and Saturday, to the LTFRB’s order to suspend Grab’s P2 per minute travel charge.
“As a result, drivers drove less and Grab was only able to service half of the passenger demand,” the company said.
Grab has appealed the suspension, saying the charge is legal under a 2015 Department of Transportation order. The regulator, however, called it illegal and said they were not informed of the charge.
For his part, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (PBA) Rep. Jericho Jonas B. Nograles said the LTFRB’s suspension of the charge can still lead to a “reinstatement.” He added that, by his own calculation, Grab earned an estimated total of P3.24 billion from the recorded 54 million rides since June 2017 with an average of 30 minutes per trip.
“I’m hoping (that with our) experience with the (Grab-Uber) merger, (there would be an) urgency (on the part of the House) committee on transportation,” said Mr. Nograles, who authored one of the four pending House bills seeking to regulate transportation network companies. — Patrizia Paola C. Marcelo with Charmaine A. Tadalan
CA justice fined for gambling
THE SUPREME Court (SC) has ordered Court of Appeals Associate Justice Normandie B. Pizarro to pay a fine of P100,000 after he was found guilty of gambling, a violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1869. According to the 10-page decision promulgated on March 13, 2018, “(an) anonymous letter-complaint accused Justice Pizarro of being a gambling addict who would allegedly lose millions of pesos in the casinos daily, and insinuated that Justice Pizarro resorted to selling his cases in order to support his gambling addiction.” Attached in the complaint were four sheets of photographs showing Mr. Pizarro gambling at the Midori Hotel and Casino in Clark, Pampanga. Mr. Pizarro admitted that “he was indeed the person” in the photos, but that he was simply accompanying a friend. He added that “the photographs may have been taken by people with ulterior motives considering his plan for early retirement” in Feb. of this year. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio
BI barred less Filipinos from leaving the country in 2017
THE BUREAU of Immigration (BI) on Monday reported “that more than 37,000 departing Filipino tourists were barred from leaving the country in 2017 for their failure to comply with government regulations and requirements,” a 14% drop from the previous year’s 43,233. BI Commissioner Jaime H. Morente, in a statement, said most of these cases were “tourist workers” bound for the Middle East and other countries in Asia, Europe, and North America.” “The (BI) has foiled attempts by alleged human trafficking syndicates to send Filipinos abroad without proper documentation,” the BI said. Meanwhile, 74 aliens were prevented from entering the country “for being disrespectful to Immigration Officers.” The BI is also set to deport 76 undesirable aliens, including 73 Chinese nationals arrested in Ilocos and Metro Manila for operating a telecom fraud business, two South Korean fugitives, and a convicted British pedophile. — Dane Angelo M. Enerio
Oil prices up again this week
OIL FIRMS will again raise the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene this week, the third time fuel rates will move up this month. Gasoline prices will increase by P0.40 per liter (/L), and diesel and kerosene both by P0.65/L. The new prices will take effect at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, April 24. — Denise A. Valdez
New zonal values take effect in BIR-25B Bulacan areas
A REVISED schedule of zonal values will now be implemented for properties in areas covered by the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s District Office-25B (RDO-25B) based in Sta. Maria, Bulacan. Department of Finance Order No. 014-2018, dated Feb. 15, 2018 and published on April 23, contains a new list of per-square meter rates for residential, commercial, agricultural, and general purpose lots as well as condominiums. The rates, which “take effect immediately,” will be used for computing internal revenue taxes on sale, transfer or any disposition transaction.
Towns and cities under RDO-25B:
• Doña Remedios Trinidad • Marilao
• Meycauayan • Norzagaray
• Obando • San Ildefonso
• San Miguel • San Rafael
• Santa Maria • Angat
• San Jose Del Monte City
Whose backhoe is that?
A CHARITY organization led by Teresita Ang See has urged the government to keep the statue of a comfort woman along Roxas Boulevard, Manila following the appearance of a backhoe beside the figure, purportedly with orders to remove it. “Good relations with Japan should not come at the expense of forgetting history and disregarding those who have suffered under Japanese occupation,” Ms. See, founder of the Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, said in a statement on Monday. She stressed that the statue is not meant to insult the Japanese, but rather “to remember the women who suffered and pay tribute to their courage and resilience.” The Manila City government and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines have both denied ordering the removal of the statue, according to Ms. See. She has sought the assistance of the Manila Police District as she verifies who made the directive. — Minde Nyl R. dela Cruz