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Italy's Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni holds a press conference in Rome on December 11, 2016. AFP photo

Cairo- Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni has stressed that his country is working for stability in Libya despite acknowledging the difficulty to achieve such an objective.

At a speech on Wednesday at the 50th anniversary celebration of the exodus of the Jews of Libya at the Great Synagogue of Rome, Gentiloni said: The return of stability to a country like Libya is not easy.

Libya has suffered years of oppression and is now divided in confronting a difficult situation, he said.

The country enjoys huge resources and not just oil, the Italian prime minister added.

Meanwhile, the transitional government that is loyal to the Libyan parliament has threatened to arrest the education minister in the United Nations-backed Government of National Accord if he carries out a visit to the eastern region.

The cabinet of Abdullah al-Thani, which considers itself the only legitimate government in the country, said that the undersecretary of the interior ministry Brig. Gen. Hussein al-Abbar has instructed officers at all crossings in the eastern region to prevent the entry of the education minister of Fayez al-Sarrajs government.

Thanis government also considered Sarrajs cabinet unconstitutional.

The Libyan News Agency said that the instructions were made after the education minister announced plans to visit Libyas eastern region.

The warning came as the Egyptian committee tasked with resolving the Libyan crisis said in a statement that all Libyan sides were responsible for preserving civil peace and stopping a deterioration in the security and humanitarian situation in the country

The committee, which is headed by Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces Lt. Gen. Mahmoud Hegazy, added that all sides should abide by legitimacy pending a consensual solution.

The rest is here:
Italy PM: We Are Seeking to Achieve Stability in Libya Despite Difficulties - Asharq Al-awsat English

NEW YORK The bomber who killed 22 people at a pop concert in Manchester, England, last month had met in Libya with members of an Islamic State unit linked to the November 2015 Paris terrorist attack, according to current and retired intelligence officials.

The content of the communications between the attacker, Salman Abedi, and the terrorist cell remains unknown.

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But the possibility that he was directed or enabled by Islamic State operatives in Libya, as opposed to Syria, suggests that even as the groups Middle East base is shrinking, at least one of its remote franchises is developing ways to continue attacks within Europe.

On visits to Tripoli as well as to the coastal Libyan town of Sabratha, Abedi met with operatives of the Katibat al-Battar al-Libi, a core Islamic State unit that was headquartered in Syria before some of its members dispersed to Libya.

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Originally made up of Libyans who had gone to Syria to fight in the civil war, the unit became a magnet for French and Belgian foreign fighters, and several were dispatched to carry out attacks abroad.

Some of the terrorist groups most devastating hits in Europe, including the coordinated attack in Paris in 2015, were shaped by alumni of the brigade.

The contacts between Abedi and Battar members occurred when he went to Libya, especially in Tripoli and Sabratha, according to a retired European intelligence chief, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details of the case.

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The former official added that Abedi kept up contact with the group after returning to Manchester, his hometown.

When Abedi was in Britain, the contacts would sometimes happen by phone, the retired official said.

If the content of the call was sensitive, Abedi used phones that were disposable, or dispatches were sent from Libya by his contacts to his friend living in Germany or Belgium who then sent it to Abedi in Britain, according to the former intelligence chief.

Abedis contacts with the Battar brigade members in Libya though not the details of the methods used to communicate or the specific locations were confirmed by a senior US intelligence official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Both officials said Abedis activities in Libya remained the focus of intensive investigations.

The leaders of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, have been actively coordinating with loyalists in Libya since at least the start of 2015, sending personnel back from Syria to help them establish their fledgling colony. Their Libyan province, headquartered in the port city of Sirte, grew to become their most important outside of Iraq and Syria.

After nearly two years, the Libyan branch recently lost ground, with its forces routed from more than 100 miles of coastline.

But no one believes the group has been destroyed there instead it has dispersed, while maintaining its operational abilities.

The Battar brigade was formed by Libyan fighters who were seasoned veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

It was among the first foreign jihadi contingent to arrive in Syria in 2012, as the countrys popular revolt was sliding into a broader civil war and Islamist insurgency, said Cameron Colquhoun, formerly a senior counterterrorism analyst at Britains Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, its surveillance and intelligence agency.

One of the things I remember from my time is the fact that some of the baddest dudes in Al Qaeda were Libyan, he said, citing a study of seized Qaeda personnel files by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, showing that as far back as 2007, almost 20 percent of the terrorist groups fighters in Iraq were from Libya.

When I looked at the Islamic State, the same thing was happening, said Colquhoun, who now runs Neon Century, a corporate intelligence consultancy in London. They were the most hard-core, the most violent the ones always willing to go to extremes when others were not. The Libyans represented the elite troops, and clearly ISIS capitalized on this.

Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi, a researcher at the Middle East Forum who maintains an archive of original Islamic State documents, said the Libyan brigade was an important fighting contingent.

But after the Islamic State declared it was founding a caliphate in 2014, the unit was dissolved, as the ISIS leadership began trying to prevent the rise of battalions based on nationality or ethnicity.

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ISIS ties to Libya become a focus in UK attack - The Boston Globe

Some good news out of the embattled DOJ:

The Justice Department announced Wednesday it will no longer allow prosecutors to strike settlement agreements with big companies directing them to make payouts to outside groups, ending an Obama-era practice that Republicans decried as a slush fund that padded the accounts of liberal interest groups.

In a memo sent to 94 U.S. attorneys offices early Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he would end the practice that allowed companies to meet settlement burdens by giving money to groups that were neither victims nor parties to the case. [Fox News]

That such a policy was ever in place is extraordinary. To recap: Under Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch, the Justice Department regularly designed legal settlements in which well-heeled defendants were encouraged (read: forced) to donate money to third parties with no legal connection to the casebeing adjudicated. So, for example, the DOJ used mortgage-lending settlements with JP Morgan, Citi, and Bank of America to funnel millions of dollars to community redevelopment organizations, housing groups, and non-profit legal-aid organizations. Naturally, the beneficiaries wereselected by theDOJ.

Thereare several problems here.

First, this process constituted an end run around Article I appropriations procedures. By law, the House has the power of the purse; the body most responsive to the voters is tasked with allocating their money. However, the DOJs practice made it possible for unelected bureaucrats to funnel money to pet causes outside of the normal appropriations process. So, for fiscal year 2016, Congress appropriated $47 million to the Department of Housing and Urban Developments Housing Counseling program, but the program ended up having an extra $30 million to work with because of a windfall from mortgage-lending settlements. (The Government Accountability Office rationalized that this practice was not illegal because the money was provided voluntarily.)

Second, and to no ones surprise, this lack of congressional oversight has resulted in some questionable payouts. The National Council of La Raza received a seven-figure grant from mortgage-lending settlements on the grounds that it is urgently engaged in housing issues. Other groups with decided left-wing leanings the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and the National Urban League, for example also benefited handsomely.

Finally, so zealous was the Holder DOJ to channel cash to partisan allies that it disincentivized compensating actual victims. When it came to paying down settlement obligations, dollar-for-dollar credit was given for donations to legal plaintiffs in the cases, but dollars donated to third parties were worth double. So, third-party organizations that, again, had no legal connection to the case being adjudicated would compete against victims for settlement money, and companies had a strong financial incentive to pay them, instead of the actual victims.

In January, Virginia congressman Bob Goodlatte (R) introduced the Stop Settlement Slush Funds Act of 2017. A similar bill, sponsored by Oklahoma senator James Lankford (R), is awaiting action in the Senate. The Justice Departments decision to end this dubious Obama-rea practice is a good one, but Congress should pass this legislation nonetheless to protect its Article I prerogatives, and to preempt an effort by a future administration to reinstate this scandalous policy.

Continued here:
Good Riddance to the Obama DOJ's Scandalous Settlement 'Slush Fund' Policy - National Review

New York Times

Greg Gianforte, Montana Republican Charged With Assaulting Reporter, Apologizes New York Times Greg Gianforte, the Montana Republican charged with assaulting a reporter the night before he won a seat in the House of Representatives last month, formally apologized to the reporter on Wednesday and said he would donate $50,000 to a journalism ... Mont. Republican Greg Gianforte apologizes for assaulting Guardian reporterUSA TODAY Republican congressman-elect Greg Gianforte writes apology to reporter he punched and bodyslammedBoing Boing Montana Republican seeks to delay court appearance for assault chargeThe Hill Shareblue Media -Slate Magazine (blog) -The Guardian -Fox News all 132 news articles »

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Greg Gianforte, Montana Republican Charged With Assaulting Reporter, Apologizes - New York Times

Think a little vacation would get your mind off politics for awhile? (AP Photo/Alex Menendez)

The Trump International Hotel in Washington may have raked in the profits during the inauguration festivities and ever since, come to think of it. But for most in the lodging and tourism industry, high season is just gearing up.

Its a set of interests that was exceptionally involved in politics during the past two years, investing more in political candidates, parties and outside spending groups during the 2016 election cycle than ever before. The industry broke spending records with its contributions of nearly $24 million. Its lobbying outlays, too, topped previous levels in 2016 at about $12.4 million.

Not only that, but these hotels, resorts and travel companies shifted to the left in the last cycle: 62 percent of the funds it gave to politicians and parties went to Democrats. The last time the industry was this partisan was in 2002 when it gave 64 percent of its candidate and party donations to Republicans. Most of the contributions were from individuals, rather than company or trade group PACs.

A couple of new donors emerged to become top contributors. The Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau gave the most with about $4.8 million all of which went to the Democratic Party, which held its presidential nominating convention in that city last year. And American Pacific International Capital, an international holding company that owns boutique hotels in the U.S. and large luxury hotels in China, came in third with $1.3 million; it had never before made the industrys top 20.

Others in the 2016 top five Diamond Resorts, which specializes in timeshares ($2.1 million), theAmerican Hotel & Lodging Association ($965,000) and TRT Holdings, which owns Omni Hotels ($890,000) were more familiar contributors from the industry. While Diamond Resorts kept with the groups overall liberal leanings, AHLAand TRT Holdings both favored Republicans.

Vanessa Sinders, senior vice president for government affairs at the AHLA, said the organization has become more proactive in telling the tourism industrys narrative by communicating with politicians and advocating on the issues it cares about.

We have been and continue to be a very bipartisan organization, Sinders said. We work with both sides of the aisle to get things done.

Marriott International, one of the lodging and tourism industrys top five contributors for the past two decades, was pushed down to No. 6 on the list with $811,000. Historically, Marriott has been among the industrys biggest GOP supporters, but in 2016 both its PAC and its employees favored Democrats, following the industry-wide trend.

Marriott also sat in the industrys No. 6 spot in spending to lobby the government last year, with outlays of $670,000. Ahead of it in the rankings was the Dorchester Group, an offshoot of a company owned by the government of Brunei, which spent $1.1 million. Dorchester Group is relatively new to the lobbying scene and reported record expenditures for this activity in 2016.

The other top lobbying clients for the lodging and tourism industry in 2016 were the AHLA($2.4million), the U.S. Travel Association ($2.3 million), the International Association of Amusement Parks & Attractions ($1.2 million) and Blackstone Group , which has big investments in Hilton Hotels, La Quinta Inns & Suites, Motel 6 and Wyndham.

What do hotels and similar companies care about in D.C.? Many issues, it turns out. A few from last year included:

For issues like online booking scams, Sinders said the tourism industry has seen an drastic increase in the number of people concerned about them. In 2015, about 6 percent of hotel-goers were were worried about online booking scams. But, Sinders said, this number jumped up to 22 percent in 2016, which is partly why AHLA has more actively lobbied on the subject.

We are working with Congress and the Federal Trade Commission on ways to fix this issue, Sinders said. She added that legislation with bipartisan support has been introduced to Congress that would require third-party websites to explicitly state they are not affiliated with a hotel.

Other ways to get out of town

Much like the lodging and tourism industry, the cruise industry also topped its personal best in contributions to candidates, parties and outside spending groups in the 2016 election. Its nearly $2 million in contributions almost doubled its previous record of about $1 million.

Cruise lines tend to have a more conservative bend than hotel companies, though: The industry gave 57 percent of its donations to candidates and party committees to Republicans. Its top contributors were Carnival Corp. and Norwegian Cruise Line with $940,000 and $320,000, respectively.

The 2016 lobbying total for cruise ships and lines was consistent with the past few years, although not the highest in its history. Last year the industry spent about $3.2 million on lobbying, with fully half of that coming from the Cruise Lines International Association with $1.6 million. Its top issues were taxes and a measure having to do with payments to stewards on the industrys ships.

Airlines that increasingly unpopular element of tourism pumped big money into the 2016 election: $7.5 million in contributions, its largest sum since 1990. About 52 percent of the funds these companies gave to candidates and party committees went to Democrats this time around, up from their average of 45 percent. The airlines industrys turn to the left parallels that of the lodging and tourism industry, although the switch is not as sharp.

The top contributors in the industry were American Airlines Group with $2.4 million; Delta Air Lines with $1.8 million; and United Continental Holdings (which owns United Airlines) with about $1 million. American Airlines Group and Delta Air Lines both favored Democrats with their contributions, while United gave slightly more to Republicans.

All three top contributors were big in the lobbying arena as well. American Airlines Group topped the list with $7.9 million spent, edging out No. 2 Airlines for Americas $6.4 million and more than double the $3.5 million spent by United Continental Holdings, which came in at No. 3. Delta Air Lines followed, spending $2.5 million. Issues? You name it, but the long laundry list includes such things as transportation security, passengers rights and aircraft noise and emissions.

And to circle back to Donald Trumps hotels: Astonishingly, the Trump Organization contributed only $51,463 in the 2016 cycle less than it has given in any election cycle since 1992. Not as surprisingly, more than 95 percent of that went to Republicans.

The sum doesnt include donations Trump made to his own presidential campaign, though, totaling almost $66 million, or close to 20 percent of the funds he raised.

And you thought a nice vacation would be a break from nasty partisan politics

Excerpt from:
Your summer vacation: Democratic or Republican? - Center for Responsive Politics