Ivory Coast citizens went to the polls Saturday, even as some opposition supporters — heeding a call from two rival candidates of President Alassane Ouattara for a boycott over his bid for a third term — tried to disrupt the vote.Abidjan’s streets were quiet and largely empty, in contrast to the sometimes violent run-up to the election. The vote is seen as a test of stability in Ivory Coast, which is the world’s top cocoa producer and has one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.Voting went smoothly with orderly lines at polling stations in a number of districts, Reuters witnesses said.But in the city’s Blockhauss neighborhood, around 20 young men blocked the entrance to a school, preventing would-be voters from entering until police dispersed the group.”It’s civil disobedience,” said Bienvenue Beagre, 31, one of the youths trying to obstruct the vote. “He’s done two terms and needs to go away.”It was not immediately clear if significant numbers were not participating in the vote or how the call for a boycott was playing out in the rest of the country.Clashes, fatalitiesElection-linked street clashes have killed 30 people since August and brought back memories of the 2010 election, which Ouattara won but which unleashed a brief civil war that killed 3,000 people when his predecessor, Laurent Gbagbo, refused to step down.The recent violence has pitted the 78-year-old president’s supporters against those of his opponents. Ouattara’s critics say that he is breaking the law by running again because the constitution limits presidents to two terms and that he is jeopardizing the country’s hard-earned economic gains.Ouattara says he can run again under a new constitution approved in 2016 and is doing so only because his handpicked successor died unexpectedly in July. He is seen as likely to win.Ouattara’s two main rivals, former President Henri Konan Bedie and former Prime Minister Pascal Affi N’Guessan, have called for an election boycott. Affi N’Guessan has told supporters to blockade polling places. The government has said it has deployed 35,000 soldiers and police officers for election day.Critics call Ouattara’s candidacy a new blow to West African democracy following a military coup in Mali in August and a successful third-term bid this month by the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde.
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Month: October 2020
Armenia, Azerbaijan Trade Fresh Accusations of Karabakh Shelling
Armenia and Azerbaijan once more accused each other of bombing residential areas on Saturday, in defiance of a pact to avoid the deliberate targeting of civilians in and around the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh. Shelling was reported by both sides within hours of the latest agreement to defuse the conflict, reached after talks in Geneva between the two countries’ foreign ministers and envoys from France, Russia and the United States. The agreement with the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group fell short of what would have been a fourth ceasefire since fighting began on Sept. 27. The death toll in the worst fighting in the South Caucasus for more than 25 years has surpassed 1,000 and is possibly much higher. Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but is populated and controlled by ethnic Armenians. About 30,000 people were killed in a 1991-94 war in the region. The Nagorno-Karabakh Emergency and Rescue Service said the central market in Stepanakert, the enclave’s largest city, had come under fire and that large parts of it had been burned. Armenia’s defense ministry said several civilians had been wounded in attacks on the city of Shushi, 15 km (9 miles) to the south, while the human rights ombudsman in Nagorno-Karabakh said a civilian in Martuni region had died when a shell hit his home. Azerbaijan’s defense ministry denied these accusations. It said that the regions of Terter, Aghdam and Aghjabedi had come under artillery fire, as had Gubadli, a town between the enclave and the Iranian border that was taken by Azeri troops this week. Azerbaijan’s recent advances on the battlefield, which also extends to seven surrounding regions, have reduced its incentive to strike a lasting peace deal and complicated international efforts to broker a truce. The conflict has also brought into sharp focus the increased influence of Turkey, an ally of Azerbaijan, in a former Soviet region considered by Russia to be within its sphere of influence. Russia also has a security alliance with Armenia. In response to a request by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to outline the extent of Moscow’s support, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it would provide “all assistance required” should the conflict spill onto “the territory of Armenia” — land that is outside the current conflict zone. Nagorno-Karabakh’s army says 1,166 of its soldiers have been killed since Sept. 27. Azerbaijan, which does not disclose its military casualties, updated its civilian death toll to 91. Russia has estimated as many as 5,000 deaths on both sides.
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WFP Boosts Aid to Kenyan Urban Poor Because of Pandemic
The World Food Program is increasing cash assistance to hundreds of thousands of Kenya’s urban poor, hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says Kenya has recorded 52,612 cases of coronavirus, including 964 deaths. COVID-19 thrives and spreads easily in crowded urban settlements and poor sanitary conditions. In Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, about 60% of the population of 4.4 million live in slums, vulnerable to viral infections and contagious diseases. World Food Program spokesman Tomson Phiri says an estimated 1.7 million people living in these areas are short of food and lack nutrition because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Now, with new cases that are surging across the urban centers in Kenya, we fear that many more in COVID-19 hot spot counties may need our assistance,” said Phiri. In response to this food and nutrition crisis, Phiri says WFP is rolling out cash assistance for more than 400,000 people in Nairobi and Mombasa. He says people will receive a $40 monthly stipend. This is enough to cover up to half the food needs for an average family of four. Phiri says many more people who have lost jobs and income due to the pandemic need aid. However, he notes WFP does not have the money to help them. He says the agency’s $64 million emergency appeal is only 36% funded. With adequate international support, he says WFP would be able to provide food assistance to 725,000 needy people in Nairobi’s informal settlements and other hot spots. However, with the amount of cash on hand, he says WFP only can reach out to the most vulnerable households.
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Cameroon Mourns 7 Children Killed at School
Cameroon observed a day of national mourning Sunday, with the central African state’s flag flying at half-staff and millions of people taking to the streets, mosques, and churches to condemn barbarism and killing. People are also asking for investigations to be opened and for suspected killers and those promoting the separatist crisis that has killed 3,000 people in four years to face justice.Oumarou Mallam Djibril, a Muslim cleric, leads prayers at an ecumenical service at the Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé. Among the nearly 1,000 civilians who have come out to observe the day of national mourning is 40-year-old Catholic, Stephen Ngwa. Ngwa says his younger sister’s daughter was killed when gunmen attacked a school in the English-speaking southwestern town of Kumba on October 24. He says the pain inflicted on innocent citizens by the separatist conflict in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions is unbearable. “These acts of barbarism should not continue again,” he said. “I want to use this opportunity to once more plead with boys and girls who are carrying guns in the North West and South West to drop their guns, for we are tired. This is not our portion.” Choir members in OK? Yaoundé, besides praying for the killed children, asked God to bring peace back to Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The government, along with Cameroon’s Ecumenical Service for Peace, mosques, and Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian churches reported that similar services took place all over the country. The military held ceremonies in memory of the slain children. Radio and TV stations broadcast special programs in their memory. An empty classroom is seen following a shooting at a school in Kumba, Cameroon, Oct. 24, 2020, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video.Marie Theres Abena Ondou, Cameroon’s minister of women’s empowerment and the family says Africa should reflect on and condemn the massacre of children at the school in Kumba. She says the killing of Cameroonian children who only wanted education is unconscionable. “Let us go back to June 16, 1976, when young Hector Pieterson, who was only 12 years old, was killed in his school during the mass killing of Soweto in South Africa,” she said. “Since then this date has been established as the Day of the African Child. On October 24, 2020, it was not just one child. Where did these children go wrong? What crime did they commit?” Gunmen stormed the Mother Francisca International Bilingual Academy on October 24, killing seven children between the ages of nine and 12. Cameroon officials blamed Anglophone separatists for the attack. Separatists said the military killed the children to give their fighters a bad name. Cameroon has been marred by protests and violence since 2016, when English-speaking teachers and lawyers took to the street to denounce the overbearing influence of French in the bilingual country. The central government in Yaoundé responded with a military crackdown and separatists took weapons, claiming that they were defending English-speaking civilians. Violence in the Anglophone regions has claimed more than 3,000 lives and caused the displacement of more than 530,000 civilians, according to the United Nations. The Norwegian Refugee Council reported in June, that Cameroon tops the list of the most neglected crisis on the planet since 2019.
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Security Remains High in France After Deadly Knife Attack at Church in Nice
Security throughout France was high Saturday after this week’s deadly stabbings at a church in Nice as President Emmanuel Macron tried to ease tensions in the country. French leaders have termed Thursday’s incident an Islamist terrorist attack after the perpetrator shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) as he decapitated a woman and killed two others in Notre Dame Basilica in Nice. Thursday’s attack followed the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty earlier this month after the republication of the Prophet Muhammad by the Paris-based satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Macron triggered protests in the Muslim world after the murder of Paty, who showed a cartoon of Prophet Muhammad to his class, by saying France would never renounce its right to caricature. On Saturday, though, Macron sounded a more empathetic tone in an interview with Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera. “I can understand that people could be shocked by the caricatures, but I will never accept that violence can be justified,” Macron said.
Meanwhile, French authorities detained a third man for questioning Saturday in connection with the Islamist knife attack at Notre Dame Basilica in the southern French city of Nice that left three people dead.
The man, a 33-years-old, was present during a police search Friday at the home of a second young Tunisian man suspected of being in contact with the attacker.
France, Tunisia and Italy are jointly investigating to determine the motive of main suspect Ibrahim Issaoui, a 21-year-old Tunisian, and whether he acted alone and whether his act was premeditated.
French police have three people in custody for questioning after they found two telephones on the suspect after the attack.
The first man, age 47, was detained Thursday night after police reviewed surveillance footage and observed the person next to the attacker on the day before the attack.
A second detained subject, 35, suspected of contacting Ibrahim Issaoui, the day before the attack, was arrested Friday.
Macron said earlier in the week he would increase the number of troops deployed to protect schools and churches from 3,000 to 7,000. Indonesian President Joko Widodo, meanwhile, strongly denounced the attacks and remarks Macron made on Oct. 21, when he said Paty “was the victim of a conspiracy of stupidity, hate, lies … hate of the other … hate of what we profoundly are.” “The comments could divide the unity of the world’s religious communities at a time when the world needs unity to curb the COVID-19 pandemic,” Widodo said Saturday during a televised news conference in Jakarta. Tunisian authorities are reportedly investigating whether a group called the Mahdi Organization carried out the attack. The state news agency TAP reported Friday investigators were also trying to determine whether the group exists and that the probe is based on claims of responsibility on social media. Issaoui, who transited Italy last month en route to France, remains in critical condition in a French hospital after being wounded by police as they arrested him. Three people were killed in Thursday’s attack. French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said a 60-year-old woman was decapitated, and a 55-year-old man, the church sexton, had his throat slit. Forty-four-year-old Brazilian national Simone Barreto Silva was stabbed several times before fleeing to a nearby bistro, where she raised the alarm before succumbing to her wounds. Issaoui was not on Tunisia’s list of suspected militants and was not known to French intelligence services. Ricard said Issaoui arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa on September 20 and traveled to Paris on October 9. He said Issaoui was carrying a copy of the Quran. The knife used in the attack was found near him and two other knives not used in the attack were found in a bag that belonged to him. French leaders have termed Thursday’s incident an Islamist terrorist attack and raised the country’s security alert to its highest level.
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Former James Bond Actor Sean Connery Dies Aged 90
Scottish movie legend Sean Connery, who shot to international stardom as the suave, sexy and sophisticated British agent James Bond and went on to grace the silver screen for four decades, has died aged 90. The BBC and Sky News reported his death on Saturday. “I was heartbroken to learn this morning of the passing of Sir Sean Connery. Our nation today mourns one of her best loved sons,” said Scottish First Minster Nicola Sturgeon. “Sean was a global legend but, first and foremost, he was a patriotic and proud Scot.”
Connery was raised in near poverty in the slums of Edinburgh and worked as a coffin polisher, milkman and lifeguard before his bodybuilding hobby helped launch an acting career that made him one of the world’s biggest stars.
Connery will be remembered first as British agent 007, the character created by novelist Ian Fleming and immortalized by Connery in films starting with “Dr. No” in 1962.
FILE – In this file photo taken on Oct. 22, 1982 British actor Sean Connery is seen during the making of the film “Never say, never again” in Nice.As Bond, his debonair manner and wry humor in foiling flamboyant villains and cavorting with beautiful women belied a darker, violent edge, and he crafted a depth of character that set the standard for those who followed him in the role.
He would introduce himself in the movies with the signature line, “Bond – James Bond.” But Connery was unhappy being defined by the role and once said he “hated that damned James Bond.” Tall and handsome, with a throaty voice to match a sometimes crusty personality, Connery played a series of noteworthy roles besides Bond and won an Academy Award for his portrayal of a tough Chicago cop in “The Untouchables” (1987).
He was 59 when People magazine declared him the “sexiest man alive” in 1989.
Connery was an ardent supporter of Scotland’s independence and had the words “Scotland Forever” tattooed on his arm while serving in the Royal Navy.FILE – Sir Sean Connery, with wife Micheline (R), pose for photographers after he was formally knighted by the Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh July 5.When he was knighted at the age of 69 by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in 2000 at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, he wore full Scottish dress including the green-and-black plaid kilt of his mother’s MacLeod clan.
Became fed up with ‘idiots’
Some noteworthy non-Bond films included director Alfred Hitchcock’s “Marnie” (1964), “The Wind and the Lion” (1975) with Candice Bergen, director John Huston’s “The Man Who Would be King” (1975) with Michael Caine, director Steven Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” (1989) and the Cold War tale “The Hunt for Red October” (1990).
Fans of alternative cinema will always remember him starring as the “Brutal Exterminator” Zed in John Boorman’s mind-bending fantasy epic “Zardoz” (1974), where a heavily mustachioed Connery spent much of the movie running around in a skimpy red loin-cloth, thigh-high leather boots and a pony tail.
Connery retired from movies after disputes with the director of his final outing, the forgettable “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” in 2003.
“I get fed up dealing with idiots,” he said. The Bond franchise was still going strong more than five decades after Connery started it. The lavishly produced movies, packed with high-tech gadgetry and spectacular effects, broke box office records and grossed hundreds of millions of dollars.
After the smashing success of “Dr. No,” more Bond movies followed for Connery in quick succession: “From Russia with Love” (1963), “Goldfinger” (1964), “Thunderball” (1965) and “You Only Live Twice” (1967).
Connery then grew concerned about being typecast and decided to break away. Australian actor George Lazenby succeeded him as Bond in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” in 1969.
But without Connery it lacked what the public wanted and he was lured back in 1971 for “Diamonds Are Forever” with temptations that included a slice of the profits, which he said would go to a Scottish educational trust. He insisted it would be his last time as Bond.
Twelve years later, at age 53, Connery was back as 007 in “Never Say Never Again” (1983), an independent production that enraged his old mentor, producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli.
Preferred beer to martinis
In a 1983 interview, Connery summed up the ideal Bond film as having “marvelous locations, interesting ambiance, good stories, interesting characters — like a detective story with espionage and exotic settings and nice birds.”
Connery was a very different type from Fleming’s Bond character with his impeccable social background, preferring beer to Bond’s vodka martini cocktails that were “shaken not stirred.”
But Connery’s influence helped shape the character in the books as well as the films. He never attempted to disguise his Scottish accent, leading Fleming to give Bond Scottish heritage in the books that were released after Connery’s debut.
Born Thomas Connery on Aug. 25, 1930, he was the elder of two sons of a long-distance truck driver and a mother who worked as a cleaner. He dropped out of school at age 13 and worked in a variety of menial jobs. At 16, two years after World War II ended, Connery was drafted into the Royal Navy, and served three years.
“I grew up with no notion of a career, much less acting,” he once said. “I certainly never have plotted it out. It was all happenstance, really.”
Connery played small parts with theater repertory companies before graduating to films and television. It was his part in a 1959 Disney leprechaun movie, “Darby O’Gill and the Little People,” that helped land the role of Bond. Broccoli, a producer of the Bond films, asked his wife to watch Connery in the Disney movie while he was searching for the right leading actor.
Dana Broccoli said her husband told her he was not sure Connery had sex appeal.
“I saw that face and the way he moved and talked and I said: ‘Cubby, he’s fabulous!'” she said. “He was just perfect, he had star material right there.”
Connery married actress Diane Cilento in 1962. Before divorcing 11 years later, they had a son, Jason, who became an actor. He married French artist Micheline Roquebrune, whom he met playing golf, in 1975.
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Deadly Earthquake Warms Relations Between Greece and Turkey
Rescue teams on both sides of the Aegean Sea searched Saturday through crushed buildings and concrete rubble, pulling out at least 27 dead and hundreds more injured after a powerful earthquake toppled buildings in the Turkish city of İzmir and created sea surges on at least two Greek islands. At least 60 separate aftershocks have jolted the Greek islands of Samos and Ikaria since the deadly 7.0 earthquake hit the region, experts in Athens said Saturday. Damaged buildings at the port town of Vathy following an earthquake, on the island of Samos, Greece, Oct. 30, 2020. (Samos24.gr via Reuters)The powerful tremor originated from a 250-kilometers-long fault line off the coast of Samos, streaming across the Aegean Sea that divides the two adversaries. Yet just hours after Greece and Turkey were struck by the deadly quake, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis placed a rare telephone call to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to offer his condolences. “Whatever our differences, these are times when people need to stand together,” Mitsotakis posted on Twitter. And his gesture was met. Turkey’s strongman replied in a twin tweet: ‘That two neighbors show solidarity and support in difficult times is more valuable than many things in life.” Although Greece and Turkey are both members of NATO, there are perhaps no two allied, neighboring nations whose dealings have been marked with so much conflict and mistrust. And most recently, both sides have been embroiled in a heated energy standoff in the eastern Mediterranean, bringing them to the brink of war during the summer. FILE – Warships from Greece, Italy, Cyprus and France, participate in a joint military exercise which was held from 26-28 of August, south of Turkey in eastern Mediterranean sea, Aug. 31, 2020.The European Union and the United States have been working for months in hope of sitting both sides down to negotiate their differences — but to no avail. It remains unclear whether the deadly earthquake can warm up ties. Unlike a set of devastating quakes that hit the two countries in 1999, both sides have settled for diplomatic niceties. Greece has not offered rescue crews and supplies to assist Turkey’s quake-hit Izmir and surrounding provinces. Athens and Ankara only recent re-established a military hotline but diplomatic talks planned initially for the start of October were scrapped. Still, millions of Greeks kept glued to their television sets watching their neighbor’s tragedy unfold alongside their own. Dramatic footage broadcast by Turkish television was interplayed against domestic stills of search efforts in Samos, where two teenagers were crushed to death by a building whose walls crumbled and balcony fell as the pair were walking home from school. In Izmir, cars and household contents such as refrigerators, chairs and tables were seen floating through the main streets — an almost mirror image of the calamity that cloaked port towns in Samos and Ikaria. All but two of the people killed — the two teenage students — were from Turkey. Experts anticipate the death toll will rise. Rescue workers search for survivors at a collapsed building after an earthquake in the Aegean port city of Izmir, Turkey Oct. 31, 2020.Greek seismologist Akis Tselentis warned that aftershocks could prove powerful because of the shallow depth of the quake — roughly 10 kilometers. He said post tremors were expected for as long as two months. On Saturday, France offered assistance to both countries, extending “full solidarity to both Greece and Turkey.”
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At Least 27 Dead as Powerful Quake Hits Major Turkish City, Greek Islands
Rescue teams in Turkey working around the clock recovered another body Saturday from the rubble of a collapsed building in Bayrakli district in Izmir struck by a strong earthquake.The quake hit Turkey’s third-largest city and a nearby Greek island on Friday morning, killing at least 27 people and injuring more than 800.Haluk Ozener, director of the Istanbul-based Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, said that Izmir was the hardest-hit and most-damaged area.Izmir’s Governor Yavuz Selim Kosger said at least 70 people were rescued from the wreckage of four destroyed buildings and from more than 10 other collapsed structures.As the quake hit, residents were seen running into the streets in panic in Izmir, which has a population of 4 million.The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 with an epicenter 13 kilometers north-northeast of Samos and 32 kilometers off the coast of Turkey.The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 7.0. It is common for preliminary magnitudes to differ in the early hours and days after a quake.The quake triggered a surge of water into Izmir’s Seferihisar district.On the nearby Greek island of Samos, a teenage boy and girl were found dead in an area where a wall had collapsed.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all means necessary would be used to assist rescue efforts.Many of Izmir’s inhabitants, fearing for their safety, were spending the night outside, in parks and open land or in their cars. Soup kitchens have been set up to feed those in need.Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered his condolences to Erdogan. The quake comes amid high tensions between the neighbors over disputes over territorial waters, but Mitsotakis tweeted, “Whatever our differences, these are times when our people need to stand together.”Erdogan thanked Mitsotakis and offered assistance, “We are standing with Greece if there is anything we can do for them.”Turkey is no stranger to powerful earthquakes, developing a large pool of expertise in rescue operations.The provincial city of Izmit, close to Istanbul, was devastated by an earthquake in 1999, killing at least 17,000 people. Many of those killed died in collapsed buildings.Since the 1999 quake, stringent building regulations have been introduced, along with a program of strengthening old structures.
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Caucasus Country of Georgia Holds Parliamentary Elections
Georgia is voting Saturday to elect a new parliament and prime minister, with opposition groups aiming to oust the party in power.Forty-eight political parties and two political blocs are competing for the 150 seats of the former Soviet republic’s parliament.The ruling Georgian Dream Party has its leader, billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, as the candidate, while the opposition coalition of the Strength is in Unity and the United National Movement parties have put forward former President Mikhail Saakashvili as their candidate.According to constitutional amendments passed this year, to be able to form a government, a political party or a bloc should win 40.54% of the overall votes.However, surveys conducted by various pollsters have not projected a certain winner.Results published this week by the pro-government television channel Imedi TV showed the Georgian Dream party leading with 56% of the votes, and the Strength is in Unity and UNM coalition trailing with 19.9%.Another survey conducted by the Mtavari Channel indicated that the Georgian Dream party was leading with 40%, and Strength is in Unity and UNM trailing with 33%.Georgian elections, which have usually been bitterly contested, are being monitored by observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.Polling stations opened at 8 a.m., local time, and will close 12 hours later.
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Sudan, US Sign Agreement Restoring Sudan’s Sovereign Immunity
Sudan and the United States signed an agreement to restore the African country’s sovereign immunity, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice said Friday.The ministry said in a statement the agreement would settle cases brought against Sudan in U.S. courts, including for the bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, for which Sudan has agreed to pay $335 million to victims.The deal is part of a U.S. pledge to remove Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The designation goes back to Sudan’s toppled Islamist ruler Omar al-Bashir, when Washington believed the country was supporting militant groups.President Donald Trump said this month that the United States would remove Sudan from the list as soon as Khartoum set aside the $335 million it has agreed to pay to American victims of militant attacks and their families.To avoid new lawsuits, Sudan needed its sovereign immunity restored, which it lost as a designated sponsor of terrorism.The designation makes it difficult for its transitional government to access urgently needed debt relief and foreign financing as it fights an economic crisis.Sudan has agreed, under U.S. pressure, to normalize ties with Israel, making Khartoum the third Arab government after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to establish relations with Israel in the last two months.
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Thousands in Warsaw Join Biggest Protest so far Against Abortion Ruling
Tens of thousands of Poles joined a march Friday in Warsaw, the biggest in nine days of protests against a ruling by the country’s top court last week that amounted to a near-total ban on abortion in the predominantly Catholic nation.Defying strict rules that restrict gatherings to five people during the coronavirus pandemic, demonstrators walked through central Warsaw streets carrying black umbrellas, a symbol of abortion rights protests in Poland, and banners that read “I think, I feel, I decide” or “God is a woman.”Military police, some in riot gear, lined the streets as the demonstration began.Organizers and the city of Warsaw said some 100,000 people took part, one of the largest protest gatherings in years, following a Constitutional Court ruling on Oct. 22 outlawing abortions because of fetal defects. It ended the most common of the few legal grounds left for abortion in Poland and set the country further apart from Europe’s mainstream.Daily protests have taken place across the country in the past week and have turned into an outpouring of anger against five years of nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) rule and the Roman Catholic church, which is an ally of the government.Far-right groups which support the court ruling also turned out in small gatherings in Warsaw on Friday, and TV footage showed police clashing with them to keep one group away from the protesters.The leader of the abortion rights movement in Poland, Marta Lempart, told activists to report any attacks and to resist any threats of prosecution or fines for taking part. “We are doing nothing wrong by protesting and going out on the streets,” she told a news conference.After the ruling goes into effect, women will only be able to terminate a pregnancy legally in the case of rape, incest or a threat to their health.Dancing on tramsIn an effort to ease tensions, President Andrzej Duda proposed legislation on Friday reintroducing the possibility of terminating a pregnancy due to fetal abnormalities, although only limited to defects that are immediately life-threatening.Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pledged lawmakers would proceed with the legislation quickly, but demonstrators were unimpressed.”This is an attempt to soften the situation for PiS, but no sane person should fall for it,” activist and leftist lawmaker Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus told Reuters.The government has accused demonstrators of risking the lives of the elderly by defying strict pandemic rules against large gatherings. Poland reported a daily record of more than 21,000 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.Health Minister Adam Niedzielski drew comparisons between the Polish protest and the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality, saying demonstrations across the United States caused an “escalation” of the pandemic.Public health experts say there has yet to be conclusive evidence of large-scale spread from the U.S. events.Five women were charged with organizing an illegal protest which attracted 850 people in the town of Police on Thursday, officials said.The Roman Catholic Church has said that while it opposes abortion, it did not push the government or the court to increase restrictions.PiS, however, has sought to instill more traditional and Catholic values in public life, ending state funding for in vitro fertilization, introducing more patriotic themes into school curricula and funding church programs.It has also launched a crackdown on LGBT rights and a reform of the judiciary the European Union says subverts the rule law. PiS says it seeks to protect traditional Polish values against damaging western liberalism.Opinion polls have shown its support falling sharply in recent weeks.
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Hundreds of Romanians Form Human Chain on Fifth Anniversary of Deadly Fire
On the steps of a Bucharest court on Friday, Adrian Albu pointed to his sister among the pictures of the 65 people who died in a nightclub fire five years ago, triggering mass protests across Romania at a culture of graft and lack of accountability.Hundreds of people wearing protective masks and standing 4 meters apart lit candles and formed a socially distanced human chain between the site of the former Colectiv club and the Bucharest Court of Appeals where the trial against those responsible is still taking place.”We should know who is guilty and people should know that the same thing can happen again at any moment and we are as unprepared now as we were then,” said Albu, 43, who survived the fire but lost both his sister and his cousin.The fire broke out when fireworks used during a concert by rock band Goodbye to Gravity ignited non-fireproofed insulation foam, triggering a stampede toward the single-door exit.Prosecutors have shown the club’s owners allowed it to fill beyond capacity and that Bucharest officials gave it an operating license while safety inspectors allowed it to run despite knowing it did not have a fire safety permit.A trial resulted in preliminary prison sentences last year, but the decision is on appeal.Badly burned patients were treated in improper conditions in Romanian hospitals, where many contracted infections that are still hampering their recovery.On Friday, centrist President Klaus Iohannis signed into law a bill that covers all future medical expenses of those injured at Colectiv. Albu said the legislation does not account for hundreds of non-Colectiv burn victims Romania records every year.Romania, which has one of the European Union’s least developed health care infrastructures, currently has one of the EU’s highest coronavirus death rates.”Change must start with us citizens,” said Marian Raduna, one of the human chain organizers. “We are the ones who tolerate corruption cases and incompetent authorities, and, sadly, we forget quickly.”
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Tanzania’s Populist Leader Declared Winner of Flawed Vote
Tanzania’s populist President John Magufuli has been declared the overwhelming winner of a second term amid allegations of widespread election fraud, while the ruling party won enough seats in parliament to change the constitution.The national electoral commission late Friday said Magufuli received 12.5 million votes, or 84%, while top opposition candidate Tundu Lissu received 1.9 million, or 13%. Turnout was roughly 50%, with 14.8 million people voting after 29 million registered.The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party won parliament seats in 253 of the 261 constituencies announced so far, achieving upsets in opposition strongholds by wide margins.Some in the ruling party had called for the presidency’s two-term limit to be extended if enough parliament seats could be secured.Lissu has rejected the vote while alleging “widespread irregularities” and called for peaceful demonstrations. The opposition asserts that thousands of observers were turned away from polling stations on Wednesday, and that at least a dozen people were killed on the eve of the vote in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar. Internet and text-messaging services slowed dramatically or disappeared.But electoral commission chair, Semistocles Kaijage, asserted in late Friday’s announcement that all the votes were legitimate.Large crowds of ruling party supporters who had gathered to watch the election results were celebrating in the streets. There was no immediate comment by the president.The two main opposition parties, Lissu’s CHADEMA and ACT Wazalendo, planned to hold a joint press conference on Saturday, a spokesman said.The United States has said that “irregularities and the overwhelming margins of victory raise serious doubts about the credibility of the results announced.”Few international election observers were present, unlike in past years.The vote “marked the most significant backsliding in Tanzania’s democratic credentials,” Tanzania Elections Watch, a group of regional experts, said in an assessment released Friday. It noted a heavy deployment of military and police whose conduct created a “climate of fear.””The electoral process, so far, falls way below the acceptable international standards” for holding free and fair elections, the group said.The opposition alleges widespread irregularities including double-voting and ballot box-seizing by security forces or other authorities.The East African nation is one of Africa’s most populous countries and fastest-growing economies. Magufuli has pointed to the country’s achievement of lower-middle-income status as one reason he deserves another term.But observers say Tanzania’s reputation for democratic ideals is crumbling, with Magufuli accused of severely stifling dissenting voices in his first five-year term. Opposition political gatherings were banned in 2016, the year after he took office. Media outlets have been targeted. Some candidates were arrested, blocked from campaigning or disqualified ahead of the vote.Concerns of post-election violence linger. The ACT Wazalendo presidential candidate in Zanzibar was arrested on Thursday for the second time this week before being released. Another ACT Wazalendo official there, Ismail Jussa, was badly beaten by soldiers and hospitalized, the party said.
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Kenyan Court Sentences Two to Prison for Westgate Mall Attack
A Kenyan court Friday sentenced two men to 33 and 18 years in prison for their roles in the 2013 Westgate Mall attack that killed 67 people in Nairobi.
Mohamed Ahmed Abdi and Hussein Hassan Mustafa are accused of assisting Al-Shabab extremists, who masterminded the four-day siege on the upscale mall in the Kenyan capital.
Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi sentenced the pair to 18 years for conspiracy and 18 years for supporting terrorists. Those sentences will be served concurrently.
Abdi was given an additional 15-year jail sentence for possession of materials promoting terrorism. The two men have spent seven years in jail, and Andayi said those years will be deducted from their sentences.
The whereabouts of a third defendant, Libyan Abdullah Omar, who was acquitted in the trial in early October, remains unknown after he was taken by gunmen.
All three defendants are ethnic Somalis, including two Kenyan citizens.
The mall attack came two years after Kenya took military action in Somalia to prevent kidnappings in Kenya, which were soaring at the time.
Kenyan authorities’ poor response to the siege brought the country’s preparedness under sharp scrutiny, even though four gunmen died during the attack and it has never been proven there were others who escaped.
A writer who was at a bank with her cousins when the attack began said the prison terms are not enough for victims.
“What sentencing would you give somebody who has planned such a thing? I can’t even fathom how you pay back that,” Loi Awat told Reuters. “What is justice for an atrocity?”
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Anti-France Rally in Pakistan Turns Violent
Police in Pakistan on Friday tear-gassed and dispersed angry protesters who tried to march toward the French Embassy in Islamabad to demonstrate against the republishing of cartoons in France depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Anger has grown across Muslim nations against French President Emmanuel Macron who has pledged to defend the freedom of expression and said France “will not renounce the caricatures,” which Muslims deem blasphemous.
Witnesses said that about 3,000 people, mostly activists of Islamic parties, emerged from mosques in the Pakistani capital following Friday’s mass prayers and gathered on the main road leading to the diplomatic enclave, which houses foreign embassies.
The crowd demanded Pakistan expel the French ambassador, sever ties with France and called for the boycott of French products. The rally turned violent and broke through security blockades, prompting riot police to launch tear gas shells and rubber bullets.
Protesters retaliated by hurling stones at police vehicles and vandalizing a police post. Pakistani officials and rally participants did not report any casualties.
“We demand the French embassy must immediately be shut down and the government must recall Pakistani ambassador from Paris,” said Zaheer Ahmed, a rally participant and the leader of a local traders’ association.
“Islamic countries must sever economic ties with France until their president apologies to Muslims for hurting their sentiments,” said Safiullah Khattak, a religious party activist. Muslims have been calling for both protests and a boycott of French goods in response to France’s stance on caricatures of Islam’s most revered prophet.Elsewhere in Pakistan, thousands of people also took to the streets in major cities where angry protesters were seen burning effigies of Macron and stomping on French flags.
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday in a nationally televised speech to a gathering in Islamabad that “a small group” is running a campaign to malign Islam by provoking Muslim sentiments. “When you make cartoons, it is not freedom of speech, it is deliberately hurting the sentiments of 1.3 billion Muslims,” Khan said. Anti-France rallies also took place in neighboring Afghanistan, denouncing Macron over his criticism of Islam.Demonstrators demanded Kabul sever ties with Paris and recall its ambassador. The radical Islamist Hizb-e-Islami party of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar set the French flag ablaze at its rally.
Hekmatyar said Macron’s remarks had insulted Islam and hurt the sentiments of Muslims around the world. He warned the French president that if he doesn’t “control the situation, we are going to a third world war and Europe will be responsible.”
Friday’s protests in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries came on the day the Muslims celebrated the birthday of Prophet Muhammad.
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Pope Francis Focused on Fighting Vatican Corruption
Pope Francis said he is focused on fighting corruption in the Catholic Church, despite the challenges.”I know I have to do it (fight corruption), I was called to do it, but it will be the Lord to decide if I did well or not. Sincerely, I am not very optimistic,” he said during an interview Friday with Italian news agency AdnKronos.Pope Francis also said he is not deterred by criticisms in whatever area, noting he takes them “on board because it can lead to self-examination.” He added he will not let himself be “dragged down by every non-positive thing written about the pope.”In 2013, Pope Francis was elected by cardinals on a mandate to clean up the Vatican’s finances, after a series of corruption scandals.Last month, Francis fired a former top Vatican official, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, for alleged embezzlement in the purchase of a luxury London building for the Vatican. Becciu has denied all accusations.A former worker of Becciu, 39-year-old Cecilia Marogna, was released Friday after spending at least two weeks in jail. Marogna is awaiting a judge’s decision on extradition from the Vatican.Francis says he is worried the “cases of malfeasance, of betrayals” hurt believers of the Catholic faith.
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