THE HAGUE: Amsterdam is seeking to contain the flood of tourists swamping the city, with the incoming council proposing a series of tough measures and plans to hike tourism taxes.
Some 18 million tourists visit Amsterdam every year — more than the entire population of the Netherlands — and local residents have become increasingly fed-up at the deluge.
The city’s picturesque narrow streets and canals now sag year round under the weight of all the visitors, including increasing numbers of raucous and unruly stag and hen parties.
Under a plan “to seek a new balance” put forward by the four parties forming the city’s next coalition council, popular activities like beer-bikes and boozy boat trips will be sharply curtailed.
“Tourism is part of the international culture of Amsterdam, which we should continue to cherish,” the plan says, a copy of which was obtained Thursday by AFP.
But due to “nuisance, crowds and rubbish, some neighborhoods are under extreme pressure.”
Amsterdam is first and foremost “a city to live in and to do business,” the plan says, adding “it is only secondly a tourist destination.”
From 2019 tourist taxes will be hiked to 7.0 percent, while the city will also look at ways to cut back on the number of hotel rooms.
In some swamped neighborhoods a total ban on holiday rentals may be introduced, and plans for a new passenger terminal for large cruise ships will be scrapped.
“We are looking for an alternative location outside of Amsterdam,” the plan says.
The city already announced in January that it would impose a new 30-day curb on the renting of private homes via websites like online booking giant Airbnb from next year. And this will be strictly enforced, the parties pledged.
‘Party city’ Amsterdam to crack down on tourists
‘Party city’ Amsterdam to crack down on tourists
- Amsterdam is first and foremost 'a city to live in and to do business'
- In some swamped neighborhoods a total ban on holiday rentals may be introduced
Trump would have been convicted if he wasn’t elected: special counsel report
WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump would have been convicted for his alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election result if he hadn’t been elected four years later, said a report by then special counsel Jack Smith released early Tuesday.
The US Department of Justice’s “view that the Constitution prohibits the continued indictment and prosecution of a President is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the Government’s proof, or the merits of the prosecution, which the Office stands fully behind,” the report said.
“Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the (Special Counsel’s) Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
Trump, who returns to the White House on January 20, had been accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding — the session of Congress called to certify President Joe Biden’s election win but which was violently attacked on January 6, 2021 by a mob of the Republican’s supporters.
Smith, who was special counsel appointed to investigate Trump, dropped the federal criminal case against the incoming leader after he won November’s presidential election.
Soon after the report’s overnight release, Trump hit back on his Truth Social platform, calling Smith “deranged,” and adding that he “was unable to successfully prosecute the Political Opponent of his ‘boss’.”
“To show you how desperate Deranged Jack Smith is, he released his Fake findings at 1:00 A.M. in the morning,” Trump added in another post.
Trump’s attorneys had earlier urged US Attorney General Merrick Garland not to release the report, calling the plan to release it “unlawful, undertaken in bad faith, and contrary to the public interest.”
2020 ELECTION
Smith’s report details Trump’s alleged efforts to persuade state-level Republican lawmakers and leaders to “change the results” of the 2020 election.
“Mr. Trump contacted state legislators and executives, pressured them with false claims of election fraud in their states, and urged them to take action to ignore the vote counts and change the results,” according to the report released by the Department of Justice.
“Significantly, he made election claims only to state legislators and executives who shared his political affiliation and were his political supporters, and only in states that he had lost,” it added.
In addition, the report alleges Trump and co-conspirators planned to organize individuals who would have served as his electors, if he had won the popular vote, in seven states where he lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — “and cause them to sign and send to Washington false certifications claiming to be the legitimate electors.”
They ultimately “used the fraudulent certificates to try to obstruct the congressional certification proceeding,” the report says.
The special counsel office concluded that “Trump’s conduct violated several federal criminal statutes and that the admissible evidence would be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction.”
Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, dismissed a separate case against the former and future president last year — over Trump’s handling of top secret documents after leaving the White House — but charges are still pending against two of his former co-defendants.
Smith left the justice department last week, days after submitting his final report as special counsel.
In another case, a judge sentenced Trump to an unconditional discharge on Friday for covering up hush money payments to a porn star despite the US president-elect’s last-ditch efforts to avoid becoming the first felon in the White House.
‘Survival mode’ for families displaced by Ethiopia quakes
AWASH: Under a makeshift shelter, Moussa Akele kills time chewing the stimulant khat, wondering where his family will get its next meal after fleeing a series of earthquakes that have shaken several regions of Ethiopia.
The 40-year-old was at home in Kabanna in the Afar region, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of the capital Addis Ababa, when an earthquake struck in late December.
“It caused widespread panic and destroyed our houses. People were terrified,” he said.
Ethiopia’s Rift Valley is one of the most seismically active regions in the world.
For several weeks, frequent tremors, including one measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, have been shaking the rural regions of Afar and Oromia.
There are fears they could cause a major dam to collapse or lead to the eruption of a volcano, Mount Dofan, so the authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people.
Akele, who worked in a sugar factory, found refuge with his family about 20 km from Kabanna. Like several thousand others, they now live in a tent pitched in the middle of arid vegetation.
“We were evacuated from our good and peaceful life and are now living in survival mode,” he said.
Trucks loaded with water and food arrive regularly, “but there are a lot of people and it’s not enough,” he added.
Most of the displaced are pastoralists, who had to leave their livestock behind.
Under a blazing sun and amid dust clouds caused by the trucks, several dozen women and children queue with jerry cans. Fights occasionally break out in the desperation.
Assea Ali didn’t have time to take anything with her.
“We fled for our lives,” said the 26-year-old mother of two.
“This is the condition we are living in now,” she added, pointing to a small tent and sighing: “I have no hope.”
On a small hill overlooking the camp, a health center has been set up by local authorities.
Several women rush in as soon as it opens, most to weigh their young children.
“Until the government and support agencies like UNICEF or the World Health Organization intervene, we are helping people with the resources we have,” said Abokar Hassan, 24, a health response officer.
He estimates between 200 and 300 people see him each day, mainly to prevent the spread of cholera.
According to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ethiopian authorities have evacuated more than 60,000 people living in high-risk areas, including some near a dam.
“A comprehensive humanitarian response is under way, but significant gaps remain,” OCHA said in a statement on Saturday.
The region is known to be a “volcanic, tectonic zone,” Cecile Doubre, a seismologist at the Strasbourg School and Observatory of Earth Sciences and a specialist in Afar, told AFP.
“There has been no eruption yet, but there is a spread of magma under the earth’s crust, between zero and 15 km. It is spreading in a large fissure, about 50 km long,” she added. “It’s a major geological event.”
Some sections of the road bear the scars of seismic activity, with the track to Kabanna partially collapsed.
In the city, there is a heavy silence, broken only by the lowing of oxen wandering the deserted streets amid several destroyed houses and businesses.
Despite the situation, Akele remains hopeful.
“The fear and uncertainty we are experiencing now are temporary, and we must not let them make us despair,” he said.
Ukraine strikes Russia in major drone and missile attack — Russian media
- Dozens of Ukrainian drones attack Russian regions
- Reports of emergency sirens at major refinery
MOSCOW: Ukraine struck Russian regions with a major drone and missile attack overnight, damaging at least two factories and forcing schools to close in a major southern Russian city, according to Russian officials and media.
The Shot Telegram channel said that Russia had downed more than 200 Ukrainian drones and five US-made ATACMS ballistic missiles.
“The enemy has organized a massive combined strike on the territory of the Russian regions,” the Two Majors war blogger said.
Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of the Bryansk region in western Russia, said Ukraine had launched a major missile attack but did not say which missiles had been used.
The Russian defense ministry, which reports on such attacks, made no immediate comment. Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the reports.
In the Russian city of Engels, home to an air base where Russia’s nuclear bombers are based, Saratov Governor Roman Busargin said an industrial enterprise had been damaged by a drone but gave no more details.
Busargin said that classes in schools in Saratov and Engels would be held remotely. Flight restrictions were imposed in Kazan, Saratov, Penza, Ulyanovsk and Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s aviation watchdog said.
Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, is home to the major Taneco refinery. Shot said attack sirens were sounded at the refinery. Reuters was unable to immediately verify the report.
Russia fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile known as “Oreshnik,” or Hazel Tree, at Ukraine on Nov. 21 in what President Vladimir Putin said was a direct response to strikes on Russia by Ukrainian forces with US and British missiles.
Putin, after those attacks, said that the Ukraine war was escalating toward a global conflict after the United States and Britain allowed Ukraine to hit Russia with their weapons, and warned the West that Moscow could strike back.
President-elect Donald Trump has pushed for a ceasefire and negotiations to end the war quickly, leaving Washington’s long-term support for Ukraine in question.
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
North Korea fires short-range ballistic missiles before Trump return
SEOUL: North Korea fired several short-range ballistic missiles into the sea Tuesday, according to Seoul’s military, in what experts said could be a message to US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
The launch comes as Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya visits South Korea for a series of meetings with top officials, with the Asian neighbors seeking to boost bilateral ties before Trump returns to office next week.
“The South Korean military detected several short-range ballistic missiles fired into the East Sea,” Seoul’s military said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan.
It said the launch took place around 9:30 am (0030 GMT) near North Korea’s Ganggye area, with the missiles flying 250 kilometers (155 miles) before landing in the sea.
“The intelligence authorities of South Korea and the US have detected and monitored North Korea’s missile launch preparations in advance, and immediately detected and tracked them at the time of launch,” the military said.
It said it was maintaining “full readiness” and sharing information with the United States and Japan while “strengthening surveillance and alertness” for more launches.
Seoul’s acting President Choi Sang-mok slammed the launch, saying it violated UN Security Council resolutions.
“Seoul will respond more strongly to North Korea’s provocations based on its strong security posture and alliance with the US,” he said.
Experts said the latest launch could be intended as a message to the incoming Trump administration.
“It could be aimed at the US,” said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
“It may indicate an intention to put pressure ahead of the Trump administration’s second term.”
ASSERT PRESENCE
Ahn Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, told AFP the test launch “appears to be an intention to assert presence ahead of the Trump administration.”
He said it could also be aimed at “destabilising South Korea during Seoul’s own period of turmoil,” as suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an impeachment trial that begins Tuesday in the Constitutional Court after a failed martial law bid last month.
Relations between the two Koreas have been at one of their lowest points in years, with the North launching a flurry of ballistic missiles last year in violation of UN sanctions.
The Tuesday launch is Pyongyang’s second this year, after it fired last week what it said was a new hypersonic missile system.
The location of the test site was undisclosed but images released by North Korean state media KCNA showed leader Kim Jong Un observing last week’s launch with his teenage daughter Ju Ae.
KCNA cited the use of a “new compound of carbon fiber” in the missile’s engine, which experts warned could allow Pyongyang to hit further targets with technology to which only the United States, Russia and China currently have access.
Last week’s alleged hypersonic missile launch came as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting South Korea.
While in Seoul, Blinken said Russia was increasing cooperation with Pyongyang, adding they were working ever more closely on advanced space technology.
Ahn said another reason for Tuesday’s launch may be the testing of “missiles for export to Russia to be used in Ukraine.”
RUSSIAN SUPPORT
Blinken also voiced renewed concern that Russia, a veto-wielding UN Security Council member, would formally accept North Korea as a nuclear state in a blow to global consensus that Pyongyang must end its program.
In late October, North Korea test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Days later, it fired a salvo of short-range ballistic missiles.
US and South Korean intelligence also believe that North Korea in October started to send thousands of troops to fight against Ukraine and has since suffered hundreds of casualties.
But neither North Korea nor Russia has officially confirmed that Pyongyang’s forces are fighting for Moscow.
On Monday, a South Korean lawmaker said around 300 North Korean soldiers have been killed and 2,700 wounded while fighting in Russia’s war against Ukraine, citing information from Seoul’s spy agency.
Over the weekend Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had captured two North Korean soldiers, releasing video of the injured combatants being interrogated.
China's deployment of 'monster ship' alarming, says Philippine security official
- Manila has lodged a protest over the presence of the 165 m long vessel Chinese coast guard vessel 5901
MANILA: The Philippines said China’s deployment of its largest coast guard vessel inside Manila’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) was alarming and clearly meant to intimidate fishermen operating around a contested shoal in the South China Sea.
“We were surprised about the increasing aggression being showed by the People’s Republic of China in deploying the monster ship,” National Security Council spokesperson Jonathan Malaya said in a press conference on Tuesday.
Manila has lodged a protest over the presence of the 165 m long vessel Chinese coast guard vessel 5901, which was spotted 77 nautical miles off the coast of Zambales province, and demanded its withdrawal from the EEZ, Malaya said.
“It is an escalation and provocative,” Malaya said, saying the presence the vessel was “illegal” and “unacceptable.”
The Philippine Coast Guard said it had deployed two of its largest vessels to drive away the Chinese vessel.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday that its coast guard’s “patrol and law enforcement activities” were “reasonable, lawful and beyond reproach.”
Tensions between the Philippines, a US treaty ally, and Beijing have escalated over the past two years due to overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
In 2016, an international tribunal ruled China’s claims to large swathes of the disputed waterway had no basis, a decision Beijing rejects.
China’s expansive claims overlap with the EEZs of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The disputed waterway is a strategic shipping route through which about $3 trillion of annual commerce moves.
