Captured suspect in nightclub attack is Uzbek with Islamic State ties, Turkey says

The Washington Post

By Erin Cunningham and Kareem Fahim January 17 at 10:37 AM
ISTANBUL — Turkish officials on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of a suspect accused of fatally shooting 39 people at a New Year’s Eve party in an Istanbul nightclub, saying he is an Uzbek national who is linked to the Islamic State militant group and who had received training in Afghanistan.

Officials said the suspect, Abdulkadir Masharipov, was arrested late Monday in Istanbul’s high-rise Esenyurt district and detained along with four other people. He was the focus of a nationwide manhunt in several cities and had eluded police for weeks. He was shown bruised and bloody in pictures that were apparently taken after he was in custody and that local news outlets distributed.

“The perpetrator of this vile attack has been captured,” Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told reporters in Ankara, the Turkish capital. “The powers behind this will be revealed,” he added, without elaborating.

Vasip Sahin, Istanbul’s governor, said that fingerprint evidence linked Masharipov to the killings and that the suspect had “accepted his crime.”

The attack on the waterfront Reina nightclub was among the worst mass killings in recent memory in Turkey, which has been shaken by an onslaught of attacks from militants as well as Kurdish separatists.

The details and surveillance footage from the brazen assault shocked the country, with the gunman blasting his way through the front entrance of the club, one of Turkey’s most famous venues, as people fell around him.

The victims included more than two dozen foreigners, mostly from countries across the Middle East, as well as a Turkish security guard who, just weeks before, survived another terrorist attack in the city.

The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility, framing the carnage as retaliation for Turkey’s military involvement in Syria’s civil war. There, Turkish forces have battled Islamic State fighters in strongholds along the border. Turkey has also carried out air and artillery strikes on the Islamist militants.

Hundreds of Uzbek militants have flocked to join the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, according to researchers tracking the group’s foreign fighters. Uzbek Islamic militants have been featured in the group’s propaganda videos and have carried out suicide attacks on Iraqi troops.

Turkish authorities did not say Tuesday whether Masharipov had spent significant time in Iraq or Syria. But his alleged training in Afghanistan raises questions about the potential role of the Islamic State affiliate there.

The affiliate, known as Khorasan Province, has struggled to establish a foothold and is not known to have ordered or participated in an attack outside Afghanistan.

But Uzbek militants have long fought in Afghanistan, where they were allied with the Taliban, and they have launched attacks on U.S. and NATO troops. In 2015, a faction of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which has a strong presence in Afghanistan, pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Sahin, the Istanbul governor, said Tuesday that Masharipov speaks four languages and was “well trained.” He was born in 1983, Sahin said.

Authorities think he arrived in Turkey last year. Turkey is home to a number of residents from Central Asian countries, with which it shares linguistic and historical ties.

After the attack, the hunt for Masharipov involved about 2,000 officers searching dozens of locations, Sahin said.

The authorities found nearly $200,000 in cash at the apartment where Masharipov was captured.

Erin Cunningham is an Istanbul-based correspondent for The Post. She previously covered conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan for the Christian Science Monitor, GlobalPost and The National.  Follow @erinmcunningham

World leaders find hope for globalization in Davos amid populist revolt

By Max Ehrenfreund January 17 at 6:30 PM

The Washington Post


DAVOS, Switzerland — Amid growing doubts about the future of free trade and international economic cooperation, proponents of globalization found reasons for optimism as the World Economic Forum opened Tuesday.

The specters of President-elect Donald Trump’s protectionist rhetoric and the British exit from the European Union loomed over the annual event that attracts world leaders and dignitaries to this mountain resort town to discuss the state of the global economy.

Veteran Times Reporter Denied Entry to Turkey

By RICK GLADSTONEJAN. 17, 2017

The New York Times

Border officials in Turkey detained a veteran New York Times correspondent as he arrived at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul on Tuesday, then forced him to take a flight back to London without explaining why he had been refused entry to the country.

The action against the correspondent, Rod Nordland, who has reported from more than 150 countries, including from Turkey last month, appeared to be part of a broader government crackdown against the domestic and foreign news media.

In ‘Brexit’ Speech, Theresa May Outlines Clean Break for U.K.

By STEPHEN CASTLE and STEVEN ERLANGERJAN. 17, 2017
The New York Times

LONDON — “Get on with it.”

With those words in a major speech on Tuesday, Prime Minister Theresa May charted Britain’s course toward a clean break with the European Union and expressed her fondest hope: that the time for “division and discord” is over.

Her much-anticipated speech outlined what promised to be a hugely complex, drawn-out negotiation, and it defined the broad objectives, but not the details, of British withdrawal. “The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union, and my job is to get the right deal for Britain as we do,” she said.

Greece sees progress on Cyprus, says Turkey should drop 'aggressive' talk

Wed Jan 18, 2017 | 4:47am EST


Reuters

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday progress had been made in ending a decades-old stalemate over the division of Cyprus, but urged Turkey to drop 'aggressive rhetoric' to reach a deal.

"We are optimistic but with prudence and responsibility, as this situation merits, we will continue to work hard...and hope that we have positive results in the near future," Tsipras said in a speech in the Greek parliament.

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"A precondition to that is that the other side... particularly Turkey, come to negotiations in similar spirit, putting aside aggressive rhetoric, and work seriously and responsibly."

Cyprus was split in a Turkish invasion in 1974, triggered by a brief Greek-inspired coup. The conflict is a key source of tension between Greece and Turkey, which are fiercely defensive of their respective ethnic kin on the east Mediterranean island.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has accused Greece of "fleeing" efforts to reunite Cyprus and said Turkey will retain troops there for ever to protect minority ethnic Turks.

Talks in Geneva last week failed to produce a breakthrough over the former British colony, though Britain, Greece and Turkey - its 'guarantor powers' under a 1960 independence treaty - agreed to continue consultations on security arrangements which could govern Cyprus after a settlement.

Officials from the three countries were due to meet at a Swiss resort later on Wednesday to discuss the matter.

At issue is a dispute primarily between the Turkish and the Greek sides on whether the system of guarantee should stay in place, allowing Greek and Turkish forces to remain stationed on the island, and the right of intervention in the event of a breakdown of constitutional order.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas, editing by Renee Maltezou and Mark Trevelyan)

A complex relationship with China could temper Trump’s tough talk on jobs, trade

THE HANDOFF | The foreign policy challenges President-elect Donald Trump will inherit and how he might approach them.

By Anne Gearan January 14 at 3:43 PM
Donald Trump talked tough on China during his presidential run, blaming the country for the loss of American jobs, lobbing accusations of unfair currency manipulation or hostile trade practices, and suggesting that the United States levy enormous tariffs on Chinese goods.

“Look at what China is doing to our country,” Trump said in September, during a presidential debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“They’re using our country as a piggy bank to rebuild China,” he added. “We have to stop our jobs from being stolen from us.”

Desperate Eurozone to borrow BILLIONS to fund Greece rescue amid fears of crash

THE eurozone's bailout fund is borrowing tens of billions so it can fund a rescue plan for Greece, amid fears the country's debt crisis could once again send shockwaves through the bloc.

By LANA CLEMENTS
PUBLISHED: 13:53, Tue, Jan 10, 2017 | UPDATED: 17:48, Tue, Jan 10, 2017

Express

The Luxembourg agency responsible for doling out rescue money - the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) - is turning to markets to raise the extra cash needed for the Greek debt relief programme.

The ESM is now issuing €57billion (£49.5bn) in long-term bonds - up 14 per cent from original plans - to cover the bail-out programme.

Greece wants to sell smaller stake in gas grid operator - paper

Wed Jan 11, 2017 | 2:47am EST

Jan 11 Greece wants to keep a majority stake in its gas grid operator DESFA and sell only a small holding to investors after a previous plan to sell a 66 percent stake collapsed, a Greek newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Under its privatisation programme, a key part of its international bailout, Greece and its biggest oil refiner Hellenic Petroleum had agreed to sell the DESFA stake to Azerbaijan's SOCAR for 400 million euros ($422 million).

Mersch Says ECB Policy Shift Premature as Economy Shows Strength

by Carolynn Look  and Fabio Benedetti Valentini
January 6, 2017, 12:00 PM GMT+2

Bloomberg

Improving euro-area economic numbers and a faster-than-forecast inflation pickup aren’t enough to warrant an immediate shift in the European Central Bank’s policy, according to Executive Board member Yves Mersch.

“It is absolutely premature today to claim victory over a weak economy,” Mersch, considered one of the more hawkish members of the ECB’s Governing Council said in Paris on Friday. “We have good results but it is absolutely premature to say: drop the guard.”

Greece Heads Into Another Economic Crisis: Time To Finally Exit The European Union?

JAN 5, 2017 @ 06:00 AM 15,499 VIEWS
Fortune

Doug Bandow ,   CONTRIBUTOR
I write about international politics, economics, and development.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

ATHENS, GREECE—Constitution Square has been uncommonly quiet. When looking at the parliament building from my hotel window last month all I could see were cars and pedestrians. The crowds of demonstrators, so common in recent years as the Euro crisis enveloped one of Europe’s poorer states, were absent.

But maybe not for long. Athens and its creditors are at loggerheads again.

When I spoke with the Defense and Foreign Ministers in early December, the conversations focused on Turkey’s crisis, negotiations to reunify Cyprus, and security cooperation with America. The first was beyond Greece’s control. The second has been a political football for more than four decades. The third has been a positive constant for years, with the current left-wing Syriza Party government as friendly to the U.S. as any right-leaning administration.

In Blow to ‘Brexit’ Plans, Britain’s Top Envoy to E.U. Resigns

By STEPHEN CASTLEJAN. 3, 2017


The New York Times

LONDON — Complicating his country’s already fraught preparations for exiting the European Union, Britain’s top diplomat in Brussels resigned unexpectedly on Tuesday, less than three months before withdrawal negotiations are scheduled to start.

The decision by the diplomat, Ivan Rogers, the permanent representative to the European Union, deprives Britain of one of its most knowledgeable officials as it tries to form a coherent strategy for untying more than four decades of European integration.

It also underscores some of the tensions at the highest level of government as Britain’s exit, known as Brexit, dominates the political agenda after last year’s referendum, in which voters opted to leave the bloc.

Turkey Extends State of Emergency in Wake of Attack Claimed by Islamic State

Ankara is contending with aftermath of New Year’s assault in Istanbul

The Wall Street Journal

By EMRE PEKER
Updated Jan. 4, 2017 4:26 a.m. ET

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s parliament voted to extend the government’s state-of-emergency powers following the deadly New Year’s attack claimed by Islamic State, as the country struggles to contain rising terrorist threats and law enforcement contends with depleted ranks in the wake of last year’s failed coup.

The gunman remains at large after the assault that killed at least 39 people, although Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said authorities had identified the man, without providing details, according to the Anadolu state news agency. There is little information about the gunman’s identity beyond photographs of a suspect released by authorities.

How Greece’s Troubled Economy Could Turn Around in 2017

Nicholas Economides
Updated: Jan 03, 2017 8:48 PM UTC
Fortune

Violating the terms of its bailout program, the Greek government recently announced that it will distribute a sizeable “Christmas gift” to Greek pensioners even though this requires additional borrowing from the EU since the Greek budget is not balanced and Greece cannot borrow from money markets. The move has prompted the EU finance ministers to freeze implementation of debt restructuring. Greece is at the brink again.

Euro-Area Economy Ended Year With Fastest Growth Since 2011

by Carolynn Look
4 January 2017, 11:00 π.μ. EET

Bloomberg

The euro-area economy finished 2016 with the strongest momentum in more than 5 1/2 years, bolstering the region as it heads into a year of political uncertainty.

A composite Purchasing Managers’ Index climbed to 54.4 in December from 53.9 in November, IHS Markit said on Wednesday. That’s the highest in 67 months and above a Dec. 15 estimate.

Record Capital Outflows Push Euro Toward Parity With Dollar

Higher interest rates in the U.S. are drawing money out of the eurozone

The Wall Street Journal

By MIKE BIRD
Updated Dec. 20, 2016 5:32 p.m. ET

More money has left eurozone financial markets this year than at any time in the bloc’s history, helping drive the euro toward parity with the dollar for the first time in 14 years.

The eurozone had its largest-ever net outflows in the 12 months to September, data from the European Central Bank showed Tuesday.

Eurozone investors bought €497.5 billion ($516.5 billion) of financial assets, such as stocks and bonds, outside the bloc in that period. Global investors, meanwhile, sold or let mature €31.3 billion of eurozone assets during the year. Together, that adds up to a net outflow of €528.8 billion, the most since the single currency was introduced in 1999.

Tunisian Migrant Investigated for Suspected Terror Ties Is Sought in Berlin Truck Attack

Revelation that authorities sought and failed to deport asylum seeker stokes criticism of Angela Merkel’s refugee policy

The Wall Street Journal

By ANTON TROIANOVSKI and  RUTH BENDER
Updated Dec. 21, 2016 7:31 p.m. ET

BERLIN—Anis Amri, a Tunisian migrant whom authorities previously investigated for suspected terror ties and tried to deport, became Germany’s most wanted man as the new prime suspect in the capital’s deadly truck attack.

The revelation that the asylum seeker had been able to remain in Germany despite efforts to expel him stoked a furor over what many politicians called dangerous gaps in the country’s immigration policy and escalated the political crisis facing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government.

Greece’s New Year of Living Dangerously

Tsipras is antagonizing creditors again, setting the stage for a new bailout showdown and an election.

The Wall Street Journal

By YANNIS PALAIOLOGOS
Dec. 21, 2016 3:05 p.m. ET
4 COMMENTS
If last year was the year of upheaval and survival for Alexis Tsipras, this year has been the year of the slow grind. As we near the end of 2016, Mr. Tsipras finds himself squeezed—by Germany and the International Monetary Fund, by Turkey and the refugee crisis, by his false promises and collapsing popularity—to the point of political extinction.

Euro zone lenders confident on quick solution on Greek debt spat: source

Wed Dec 21, 2016 | 1:57pm EST

 Reuters

Greece's euro zone lenders are confident a solution can be found shortly on reactivating short-term debt relief measures that were suspended after Athens decided to make an unexpected payout to poor pensioners, a euro zone source said on Wednesday.

Lenders said last week they were suspending a deal clinched earlier this month to offer Greece short-term debt relief after leftist Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would grant low-income pensioners a pre-Christmas payout.

Greece's Debt Problem Has Reached A Dangerous Point

DEC 21, 2016 @ 07:12 PM


John Mauldin ,   CONTRIBUTOR
I write about how you can make sense of unpredictable markets

Before the Italian banking crisis and referendum, before Brexit… there was Greece. Greece’s debt crisis was really the first public crack in the European Union’s armor and one that has yet to be repaired.

Readers who want to understand why anti-EU sentiment and nationalism have developed in many of these countries don’t have to look at migration or other controversial topics. Simply look at Greece and how it has fared after adopting the EU’s austerity terms.

The Greek experience with austerity-linked financial support from the EU has been painful and—making matters worse—rather ineffective. While Greece is on the periphery, its problems are hardwired into the entire EU, and those problems are spreading.

German Finance Minister tells paper euro zone will fall apart if don't follow rules

 Tue Dec 20, 2016 | 4:52am EST

Reuters

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, asked about Greece's plans to pay pensioners a Christmas bonus while it is in the midst of a bailout program, told Die Zeit paper that the euro zone would fall apart if countries did not stick to the rules.