Car bomb explodes in Libya's Benghazi, killing 3 UN staff

BENGHAZI, Libya - A car bomb explosion in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi killed three U.N. staff members and two other mission members on Saturday, the United Nations said.

The attack came as the United Nations was brokering a truce in the capital Tripoli, where the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA) force launched a surprise attack in April, part of the chaos in Libya since the toppling of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the attack, a spokesman said in a statement.

"The U.N. does not intend to evacuate from Libya," the assistant secretary-general for peace operations, Bintou Keita, later told the Security Council, which also condemned the attack.

The United Nations gave no more details, saying only some of its casualties had been members working in Benghazi, where its Libya mission had been boosting its presence recently.

LNA spokesman Ahmed Mismari told reporters two of those killed were guards with the U.N. Libya mission (UNSMIL). He added that 10 people had been wounded, including children.

The explosion happened in front of a shopping mall and bank. At least one burned-out U.N. car could be seen at the scene.

The LNA has yet to advance beyond the southern suburbs of Tripoli, which is home to the internationally recognized government.

Around the time of the blast, LNA commander Khalifa Haftar announced a halt to military operations for 48 hours during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which started on Saturday, according to a statement from his forces in Benghazi.

On Friday, the government in Tripoli said it had already accepted a U.N. proposal for a ceasefire during the holiday.

However, it was not clear whether fighting in the capital would actually cease. More than 105,000 people have been displaced during the clashes, according to the United Nations.

UNSMIL will be responsible for monitoring any violations, the Tripoli government said. Analysts say it is unclear whether UNSMIL has the capacity to monitor a truce as it has moved out most of its staff for security reasons.

Benghazi and the east is controlled by Haftar's LNA allied to a parallel government in the east challenging the Tripoli administration.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US could ask visa applicants for social media passwords

PASSWORD, PLEASE: US embassies could ask visa applicants for passwords to their own social media accounts in future background checks, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Tuesday.

Kelly said the move could come as part of the effort to toughen vetting of visitors to screen out people who could pose a security threat.

He said it was one of the things under consideration especially for visitors from seven Muslim majority countries with very weak background screening of their own -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

"We're looking at some enhanced or some additional screening," Kelly told a hearing of the House Homeland Security Committee. "We may want to get on their social media, with passwords," he said.

"It's very hard to truly vet these people in these countries, the seven countries... But if they come in, we want to say, what websites do they visit, and give us your passwords. So we can see what they do on the internet."

"If they don't want to cooperate, then they don't come in" to the United States, he said.

Kelly stressed that no decision had been made on this, but said tighter screening was definitely in the future, even if it means longer delays for awarding US visas to visitors.

"These are the things we are thinking about," he said.

"But over there we can ask them for this kind of information and if they truly want to come to America, then they will cooperate. If not, next in line."

The seven countries were targeted in president Donald Trump's January 27 immigrant and refugee ban order, which has sense been at least temporarily blocked under court order.

pmh/mdl

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US judge orders Trump administration to allow entry to immigrant visa holders

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK - A federal judge in Los Angeles has ruled President Donald Trump's administration must allow immigrants with initial clearance for legal residency to enter the United States from seven Muslim-majority nations, despite an executive order ban.

Tuesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr follows decisions by federal judges in at least four other states that also limited the executive order Trump issued on Friday.

But it goes further, by focusing on a large group of people from the seven nations of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - the countries targeted in the executive order - who are outside the United States and trying to enter.

In the temporary ruling, Birotte ordered U.S. officials to refrain from "removing, detaining or blocking the entry of plaintiffs or any other person ... with a valid immigrant visa" who is arriving from one of the seven nations.

According to the U.S. Department of State, immigrant visas are the first step to becoming a lawful permanent resident, or a green card holder.

Birotte's ruling does not apply to tourists, students or business travelers with non-immigrant visas.

The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing the order and would have no further comment, a spokeswoman for the agency said in an email.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security cited its policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

Trump's executive order has not only caused consternation for the nations involved but among other Muslim-majority countries, allies such as Germany and Britain and career State Department officials.

Attorney Julie Ann Goldberg, who brought the case on behalf of more than two dozen plaintiffs of Yemeni descent, including U.S. citizens, said they sought the ruling after learning of a move by the U.S. State Department to cancel the immigrant visas of people from the seven countries.

More than 200 people with immigrant visas who left Yemen and are related to U.S. citizens or legal residents are stranded in Djibouti across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from Yemen and were barred from flying to the United States, Goldberg said by telephone from Djibouti.

"It's terrible because I have children here who are without their parents," she said.

Some other children in the group are U.S. citizens whose parents were traveling with immigrant visas, she added.

In Boston, U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs on Sunday issued a ruling, to last seven days, that barred the detention and removal of approved refugees, visa holders and permanent U.S. residents who entered from the seven countries.

By early Thursday in Djibouti, Goldberg said, no one from the group she represented was being allowed to leave for the United States. She accused the Trump administration of "absolutely ignoring" rulings she believes should allow their departure.

In an email, a State Department official confirmed the agency had provisionally revoked "relevant visas as defined" under Trump's executive order.

The White House said on Wednesday it has issued updated guidance on the order clarifying that green card holders require no waiver to enter the United States.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Armed men hijack Libyan plane, surrender in Malta

Two men armed with a grenade and at least one gun hijacked a Libyan plane with 117 people on board Friday and diverted it to Malta before releasing everyone and surrendering, officials said.

The Afriqiyah Airways Airbus A320 was en route from Sabha in southern Libya to the capital Tripoli when it was taken over and forced to fly to Malta, sparking a four-hour runway standoff.

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the pair, probably of Libyan nationality, had given up a grenade and a pistol when they were arrested and a second pistol was found on the plane.

Libyan Foreign Minister Taher Siala from Libya's fledgling national unity government said the two were supporters of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, whose death in 2011 has plunged Libya into chaos.

Siala said they wanted to set up a pro-Kadhafi political party and would ask for political asylum in Malta, although Muscat said they had not done so.

The plane landed at Malta International Airport at 11:34 am (1034 GMT), with 109 passengers, six crew and the two hijackers on board.

All flights in and out of the island were initially shut down while the Maltese military conducted negotiations.

It stood immobile for around an hour on a secondary runway surrounded by military vehicles, before a door opened and a first group of women and children were seen descending from a mobile staircase.

Dozens more passengers followed minutes later.

Muscat said the hijackers were told there would be no negotiations unless all passengers were released.

After the release of all passengers and two of the crew members, the hijackers were holding only the four remaining staff "for a period of time," he said.

Following further negotiations "the hijackers agreed to free the remaining members of the crew and to surrender," he continued, adding that "the hijackers did not make any requests".

Armed Maltese military personnel were later seen storming the plane.

All passengers and crew members would be interrogated before a charter flight takes them back to Libya, Muscat said.

Hijackings have become relatively rare since the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States led to increased security on flights.

Other recent hijackings have been carried out by individuals for reasons ranging from personal to political, and almost all ended swiftly and safely.

In the most recent incident in March, a man hijacked an Egyptair flight from Alexandria to Cairo and forced it to land in Cyprus so he could see his ex-wife.

Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa was described as "psychologically unstable" and claimed to have explosives strapped to his waist, but gave himself up after releasing fellow travellers.

In February 2014, an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Rome with 202 people on board was diverted by its unarmed copilot to Geneva where he asked for asylum.

- Libyan planes banned in Europe -

During the crisis, Muscat spoke to Libya's prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of the north African country's unity government.

Flights into Malta were diverted to different airports in Italy and outgoing ones were delayed.

Services later resumed after what Malta International Airport called "an unlawful interference".

Libya has been in a state of chaos since the 2011 overthrow of Moamer Kadhafi left warring militias battling for control of different parts of the country.

Forces loyal to a national unity government recently took control of the coastal city of Sirte, which had been a bastion for the Islamic State group since June 2015.

Western powers have pinned their hopes of containing jihadism in the energy-rich North African state on the government but it has failed to establish its authority over all of the country.

A rival authority rules the country's far east, backed by the forces under military strongman Marshal Khalifa Haftar who have been battling jihadists in second city Benghazi.

Only local airlines -- banned from European airspace -- operate in Libya, with flights to Tunis, Cairo, Amman, Istanbul and Khartoum.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

U.S. State Dept. says can't locate 15 Hillary Clinton emails

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official said on Thursday the State Department had been unable to locate all or part of 15 emails from Hillary Clinton's personal server that were released this week by a congressional panel probing the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya.

"There are ... a limited number of instances 15 in which we could not locate all or part of the content ...," the State Department official said in an email. "The substance of those 15 emails is not relevant to the 2012 attacks in Benghazi."

The State Department said it learned the email record was incomplete after U.S. lawmakers investigating the deadly 2012 attack on diplomatic staff in Benghazi, Libya, were given dozens of previously undisclosed emails discussing Libya by Sidney Blumenthal, an old friend and informal adviser to Clinton. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Eric Beech)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Petraeus to testify at Capitol on Benghazi

Top U.S. lawmakers snubbed calls for Watergate-type hearings on the Libya U.S. Consulate attack as ex-CIA chief David Petraeus agreed to testify on the assault.

"At this point, I think that the standing committees of the House, whether they be the Oversight Committee or the Intelligence Committee, are working diligently on these issues," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "And at this point, I think that's appropriate."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., similarly said he opposed a resolution by three Republican senators to create a select or special Senate investigative committee to probe the Sept. 11 consulate attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, including two CIA contractors.

"No," Reid told reporters when asked if he favored the special committee proposed by Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire.

The senators said the committee was needed because many senators don't trust the administration's account of the attack. Administration officials first said the attack was a result of a spontaneous protest and not a planned terrorist attack.

Some lawmakers have suggested the White House attempted to cover up the circumstances of the attack by saying it was spontaneous.

Administration officials confirmed last week the consulate was essentially a front for a much larger CIA base about a mile away. Most of the 30 Americans evacuated after the attack were CIA employees or contractors, not diplomats.

"We want to probe everybody who was involved, all the way up to and including the president of the United States," McCain said.

The Senate Watergate Committee, known officially as the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, played a pivotal role in gathering evidence in 1973-1974 that led to the indictment of 40 Richard Nixon administration officials and the conviction of several Nixon aides for obstruction of justice and other crimes.

Its revelations prompted the House to introduce articles of impeachment against Nixon. Nixon resigned Aug. 9, 1974.

Petraeus, who resigned as CIA director Friday over an extramarital affair, agreed to testify before the House and Senate intelligence committees on the Benghazi attack as early as Thursday, lawmakers said.

The former four-star general -- who ran the CIA for 14 months, including during the Benghazi attack -- was to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed-door session Thursday or Friday, panel Vice Chairman Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told several news organizations Wednesday.

The hearing would not address his affair, committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said.

Petraeus is to testify separately behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee Friday, the committee said Wednesday evening.

Petraeus successor acting CIA Director Michael Morell was to testify in private before the House and Senate intelligence committees Thursday. Other top-ranking intelligence officials scheduled to testify included National Intelligence Director James Clapper, Petraeus' boss.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee was to hold an open hearing on the Benghazi attack beginning at 10 a.m. Thursday.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a closed briefing Tuesday.

source: upi.com

Protesters disrupt voting in eastern Libya: officials

BENGHAZI, Libya—Protesters in eastern Libya calling for greater representation for their region forced the closure of several polling stations in Saturday's voting to elect a new national assembly, officials said.

Some voting centres were shut in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, where a depot containing electoral material was torched earlier this week, an electoral official in Benghazi told AFP.

Another official said voting was disrupted at oasis towns in southeastern Libya, including Jalo and Ojla, after federalism supporters prevented a plane carrying polling material from taking off.

And Abdeljawad al-Badin, spokesman of the self-appointed Cyrenaica Council, said voters in Quba, near the town of Derna, were boycotting the electoral process altogether.

In Tripoli, a senior electoral official confirmed there had been some incidents in the east but dismissed reports that the vote could be delayed in those areas, stressing that they were working towards a solution.

"Ninety-two percent of voting centres are open," he said.

Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil, who voted in his eastern home town of Al-Bayda, said the situation there was "excellent." He expressed hope for a successful vote and hailed as a martyr an electoral worker killed on Friday.

"We hope that our brothers in Benghazi will stay away from such problems and that the voting will go ahead as planned," he told AFP.

source: interaksyon.com

Libyan Plane Crash

Afriqiyah Airbus A330 that crashed while landing at the Airport in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday May 12, 2010. The plane crash killed 104 people. According to reports there are 93 passengers 11 crews. There are also reports that an eight year old Dutch boy survived the crash and was taken to the hospital without any major injuries. Reporters at the accident scene said that the plane was damaged completely and the plane landed about 100 meters away from the runway.