Ecuadorians elected conservative former banker Guillermo Lasso in Sunday’s runoff election to replace President Lenin Moreno and will begin his term on May 24. Lasso, 65, garnered 52.5% of the vote versus 47.5% that went for economist Andres Arauz, who conceded.In his victory speech in Ecuador’s capital Quito, Lasso said democracy in the country had triumphed. Ecuadorians used “their right to choose and have chosen a new path that is very different from the one of the last 14 years in Ecuador,” he said.With a conciliatory tone very different from the combative one on the campaign trial, Arauz congratulated Lasso saying “this is an electoral setback, but in no way it is a political or moral defeat because our project is for life.”Arauz, 36, from the Union of Hope coalition and a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, was leading Lasso in the first round of voting in February.Lasso of the Creating Opportunities center-right political movement and third-time presidential candidate had finished second twice before, to Correa in 2013 and Moreno in 2017.As a procedural matter, Ecuador’s Electoral Council has to declare the official winner.
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Month: April 2021
Chad Counts Votes as Deby Seeks Sixth Term after 30 Years in Power
Vote counting has started in Chad after a tense presidential election on Sunday that is likely to see President Idriss Deby extend his three-decade rule, despite signs of growing discontent over his handling of the nation’s oil wealth.Election officials began counting ballots at a polling station in center of the capital N’Djamena immediately after polls closed, watched by a group of observers, a Reuters reporter said.The election commission has until April 25 to announce provisional results.Deby, 68, was the first to cast his ballot at a polling station in the capital N’Djamena. He is one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders and an ally of Western powers in the fight against Islamist militants in West and Central Africa.”I’m calling on all Chadians to come out and vote for the candidate of their choice who will have to tackle the major challenges facing our country over the next six years,” Deby told journalists after voting.Deby seized power in 1990 in an armed rebellion, and in 2018 pushed through a new constitution that could let him stay in power until 2033 – even as it reinstated term limits.He has relied on a firm grip over state institutions and one of the region’s most capable militaries to maintain power. Deby said recently he knew in advance that he would win again “as I have done for the last 30 years.””Many of you, my daughters and sons, were not yet born when I took power in 1990,” he said at his final campaign rally on Friday. “You have asked me to be a candidate for this sixth term.”RivalsAmong Deby’s six rivals is former prime minister Albert Pahimi Padacke, but several leading opponents are boycotting the race, including the 2016 runner-up Saleh Kebzabo, who has vowed to make Chad “ungovernable” if Deby wins.Observers are closely watching the turnout after several recent anti-government demonstrations turned violent. A heavy military presence patrolled the capital on Sunday.In the Moursal and Chagoua southern neighborhoods of N’Djamena, considered as opposition strongholds, few voters had shown up at polling stations by mid-morning.Jules Ngarbatina, a resident of Moursal said were scared of coming out in large numbers because they feared reprisals from other who supported the boycott.Yacine Abderaman Sakine, leader of the Reformist Party, who joined the call for a boycott, said Chadians were tired of pretending that elections are free and fair.”The lack of enthusiasm in polling stations today is a strong message to those who confiscate power by force,” Sakine told Reuters.On Friday authorities said they had arrested several people, including at least one opposition leader, for what they said was a plot to assassinate politicians and bomb polling stations and the electoral commission headquarters.The opposition said the arrests showed mounting repression under Deby. The government rejects the accusations of human rights abuses.Chad has come under increasing public pressure over a flagging economy as low prices for its main export, oil, in recent years forced cutbacks in public spending and sparked labor strikes.
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Brazil’s COVID Crisis Compounded by Slow Vaccination Campaign
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths remain high in Brazil as the country’s campaign to vaccinate against the disease stumbles.
According to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Brazil recorded more than 70,000 new cases of the virus in the past day.
Its seven-day rolling average has risen to 2,820 deaths, or about one-fourth of the world’s average deaths for the same period, according to Johns Hopkins. At more than 353,000 total deaths, Brazil has the second highest toll from the pandemic, behind only the United States, which has more than 562,000.
Less than 3% of the South American nation’s population has been fully vaccinated. The U.S. has fully vaccinated more than 20% of its population, according to Johns Hopkins.
ICU wards in cities within Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan area are reportedly nearly full, with many patients sharing space and oxygen bottles.Nurses hold balloons during a protest asking for COVID-19 vaccines, in Brasilia, Brazil, April 7, 2021.“Will we have the medicines, the oxygen, the conditions to care for this patient accordingly? Today we do. But, if cases keep growing, sometime we will fight chaos,” hospital director Altair Soares Neto told the Associated Press.
Brazil’s vaccination campaign has been slow because of supply issues. The country’s two biggest laboratories face supply constraints.
The nation’s health ministry bet on a single vaccine, the AstraZeneca shot, and after supply problems surfaced, bought only one backup, the Chinese-manufactured CoronaVac.
The vaccine situation in Brazil is an example of poor planning in a country with experience with large, successful vaccination programs, said a former health official.
“The big problem is that Brazil did not look for alternatives when it had the chance,” said Claudio Maierovitch, former head of Brazil’s health regulator.
China said it is considering using vaccines developed in other countries in conjunction with vaccines developed in China to boost the efficacy of China’s vaccines.
A top Chinese health expert recently told a conference that public health officials must “consider ways to solve the issue that efficacy rates of existing vaccines are not high,” citing Gao Fu, the head of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, according to The Paper, a Chinese media outlet, Agence France-Presse reported.People stand in a queue to get tested for the coronavirus, in Ahmedabad, India, April 9, 2021.India reported 10,732 new COVID-19 cases Sunday in the previous 24-hour period. It trails the U.S. and Brazil in the number of coronavirus infections at 13.3 million cases. The U.S. has 31.1 million infections, while Brazil had 13.4 million.
The unsanitary conditions of America’s prisons, jails and detention centers have become a breeding ground for the spread of the coronavirus. More than 2,700 inmates have died in the facilities since March 2020, while more than 525,000 of them have been infected, according to data compiled by The New York Times. “So, we’re basically just sitting back and biding our time until we get sick,” an inmate said in an email to the Times.
Several nations have issued new guidelines over the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine after the European Union’s medical regulator announced a link between the vaccine and blood clots.
AstraZeneca is at odds with a number of European countries because the company has shipped fewer doses of the vaccine than indicated to the EU in an initial agreement.
Britain, where the vaccine was developed jointly by the British-Swedish drug maker and scientists at the University of Oxford, said it will offer alternatives for adults younger than 30. Oxford researchers have also suspended a clinical trial of the AstraZeneca vaccine involving young children and teenagers as British drug regulators conduct a safety review of the two-shot regimen.
Spain and the Philippines will limit the vaccine to people older than 60, Reuters reported, while The Washington Post reported Italy has issued similar guidelines.
The European Medicines Agency recently said blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine, but continued to emphasize that its overall benefits outweigh any risks.
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Former Student at Elite Egyptian University Gets 8 More Years in #MeToo Case
An Egyptian court on Sunday convicted a former student at an elite university of attempted rape and drug possession, sentencing him to eight years imprisonment atop a previous punishment for other sexual misconduct convictions.It was the second verdict against disgraced former American University in Cairo student Ahmed Bassam Zaki, in a case that has rattled Egypt’s conservative society and fueled the #MeToo movement in the Arab world’s most populous country.The Cairo criminal court sentenced Zaki to seven years in prison for the attempted rape of three women and a year for possession of hashish, according to victims’ lawyer Ahmed Ragheb. The women were minors at the time of the alleged crimes, according to court documents. Sunday’s verdict can be appealed to a higher court.In December, Zaki was convicted of blackmailing and sexually harassing two other women, receiving three years in prison.The former student was arrested in July after allegations against him surfaced on social media, resulting in a firestorm of criticism. The #MeToo movement aims to hold accountable those involved in sexual misconduct and those who cover it up.Several attempts at the time by The Associated Press to contact Zaki’s family and his lawyer were unsuccessful.According to accusations posted on social media, Zaki would mine the pool of mutual friends on Facebook, online groups or school clubs, for females to target.He would start with flattery, then pressure the women and girls to share intimate photos that he later used to blackmail them with if they did not have sex with him, according to the accusations. In some instances, he threatened to send compromising pictures to family members.Zaki hails from a wealthy family and studied at the American International School, one of Egypt’s most expensive private high schools, and the American University in Cairo.
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7 Catholic Clergy, Including French Citizens, Abducted in Haiti, Church Says
Seven Catholic clergy, including two French citizens, were kidnapped Sunday in Haiti, said the spokesman of the Bishop’s Conference for the island nation, which has been rocked by unrest.Five priests and two nuns were abducted in the morning in Croix-des-Bouquets, a commune east of the capital, Port-au-Prince, Father Loudger Mazile told AFP. They were “on their way to the installation of a new parish priest,” he added.The kidnappers had demanded a $1 million ransom for the group, which includes one French priest and one French nun, he added.Haitian authorities suspect an armed gang called “400 Mawozo,” which is active in kidnappings, is behind the abduction, according to a police source.The French embassy in Haiti did not respond to AFP’s request for comment.Kidnappings for ransom have surged in recent months in Port-au-Prince and other provinces, reflecting the growing influence of armed gangs in the Caribbean nation.”This is too much. The time has come for these inhuman acts to stop,” Bishop Pierre-Andre Dumas of the Haitian commune Miragoane told AFP.”The church prays and stands in solidarity with all the victims of this heinous act,” he said.In March, the Haitian government declared a month-long state of emergency to restore state authority in gang-controlled areas, including in the capital.The measure was motivated by the actions of armed gangs who “kidnap people for ransom, openly declaring it, steal and loot public and private property, and openly confront the public security forces,” according to the presidential decree.
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US Recession Drama ‘Nomadland’ Wins Best Film at British Film Awards
U.S. recession drama “Nomadland,” about a community of van dwellers, was the big winner at Britain’s BAFTA awards on Sunday, scooping best film and prizes for its Chinese-born director Chloe Zhao and leading actress Frances McDormand.The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ceremony was held virtually over two nights, with nominees joining in by video, because of the COVID-19 pandemic.However, film stars Hugh Grant and Priyanka Chopra Jonas appeared in person at London’s Royal Albert Hall while Renee Zellweger and Anna Kendrick joined from a Los Angeles studio to present the awards.”Nomadland,” which has already picked up prizes this awards season, stars 63-year-old McDormand as a widow, who in the wake of the U.S. economic recession, turns her van into a mobile home and sets out on the road, taking on seasonal jobs along the way.”We would like to dedicate this award to the nomadic community who so generously welcomed us into their lives,” Zhao, who won the director category, said in her acceptance speech.”Thank you for showing us that aging is a beautiful part of life, a journey that we should all cherish and celebrate. How we treat our elders says a lot about who we are as a society and we need to do better.””Nomadland” also won for cinematography.Outstanding British film went to #MeToo revenge movie “Promising Young Woman,” which also won original screenplay.The academy also paid tribute to Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband, who died on Friday, at age 99. Philip was named BAFTA’s first president in 1959. His grandson Prince William is BAFTA’s current president.Following an outcry last year when BAFTA presented an all-white acting contenders list, more than half of this year’s 24 nominees were actors of color.Film veteran Anthony Hopkins won the leading actor category for portraying a man with dementia in “The Father.””I’m at a time in my life where I never expected to get this,” the 83-year-old told reporters of the award, adding his age had made making the movie “easy.”Youn Yuh-jung won supporting actress for “Minari,” in which she plays a grandmother who travels from South Korea to the United States to look after her grandchildren.The 73-year-old, who has won a Screen Actors Guild award and has been nominated for an Oscar for her performance, drew laughs in her acceptance speech when she jokingly said it was particularly meaningful to be recognized by “British people, known as very snobbish people.”Daniel Kaluuya, who has swept this awards season for his portrayal of late Black Panther activist Fred Hampton in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” won supporting actor.”Brokeback Mountain” and “Life of Pi” director Ang Lee received the BAFTA Fellowship, the academy’s top honor, for his contribution to film.
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Aid Group Facilities Attacked, Set Ablaze in Northeast Nigeria
Suspected Islamic extremists attacked the offices of several international aid groups, setting them ablaze and renewing concerns Sunday about the safety of humanitarian workers in Nigeria’s embattled northeast.There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks in Damasak town late Saturday, but suspicion immediately fell on a faction of extremists aligned with the Islamic State group. Last year the militants warned Nigerians they would become targets along with foreigners if they assisted international aid groups or the military.Edward Kallon, United Nations resident and humanitarian coordinator in Nigeria, expressed concern for civilians and aid workers Sunday in the wake of the overnight attack.”Humanitarian operations in Damasak will be reduced due to the violent attack, which will affect the support to 8,800 internally displaced people and 76,000 people in the host community receiving humanitarian assistance and protection there,” Kallon said in a statement.The Norwegian Refugee Council said the attack “jeopardized our work and threatened the lives of many aid workers.””Thankfully our five staff staying in Damasak town escaped unharmed. However, the perpetrators succeeded in setting our guesthouse ablaze and destroying lifesaving relief supplies, including vehicles used to deliver aid,” said Eric Batonon, country director for the aid group.Local authorities said the insurgents also looted drugs from a hospital in Damasak and stole an ambulance but were stopped from setting the building on fire.An insurgency aimed at establishing an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has now lasted more than a decade. Militants from Boko Haram and the group known as ISWAP frequently target humanitarian hubs in northeast Nigeria. The attack on Damasak is the fourth on the town and its surrounding area this year and the second attack on humanitarians in the past two months in northeast Nigeria.
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Sudan to Receive $400 Million from Saudi Arabia, UAE for Agriculture, State Media Says
Sudan will receive $400 million from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to fund agricultural production inputs for this year’s summer and winter seasons, the state-news agency SUNA said Sunday.Saudi Arabia has committed to contributing $3 billion in a joint fund for investments in Sudan, and to encouraging other parties to participate, Sudanese minister of Cabinet affairs Khalid Omer Yousif told Reuters in March.Earlier in March, Sudan also said it had secured a recommitment from Saudi Arabia to a $1.5 billion grant it had first announced in April 2019.Saudi Arabia and the UAE had jointly promised $3 billion in aid to Sudan, and Sudanese officials previously indicated that $750 million of that aid had been delivered, including a $500 million deposit in the central bank.Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok “affirmed Sudan’s keenness to activate all what was agreed upon with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Cabinet said in a statement after his meeting with the Saudi ambassador in Khartoum on Sunday.
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St. Vincent Without Power as Volcano Erupts Intermittently
Much of the Caribbean island of St. Vincent remained without power and covered in ash Sunday as another “explosive event” occurred at La Soufriere volcano.
The volcano initially erupted on Friday, its first time since 1979, spurring evacuations as well as warnings to people on neighboring islands to stay indoors to avoid ashfall.
About 16,000 people have fled their communities, but there have been no reports of deaths or injuries, according to the Associated Press. People took refuge in 78 government-run shelters and four empty cruise ships stood by to evacuate residents to nearby islands, the AP said.
Scientists anticipate that more eruptions are likely to occur. St. Vincent is the main island in the 32-island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The island’s National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) said Sunday that “another explosive event” had led to power outages across the island.Massive power outage following another explosive event at La Soufriere Volcano. Lightning, thunder and rumblings. Majority of the country out of power and covered in ash #lasoufriereeruption2021#explosion # rumblings #poweroutage #— NEMO SVG (@NEMOSVG) April 11, 2021But some residents said power was restored by the early afternoon, Reuters reported.
Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves estimated Sunday that as many as 20,000 people could be internally displaced for months as the volcano activity continues intermittently, according to Reuters.
“Most crops on the island will be lost, and untold livestock,” he said.
Elford Lewis, 56, evacuated Sunday morning. He witnessed La Soufriere’s last big eruption in 1979.
“This one is more serious,” Lewis told the AP.
An eruption of the 1,220-meter (4,003-foot) volcano in 1902 killed roughly 1,600 people.
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Greece Slams Turkey Over PKK Terror Claims
Greece has lashed out at Turkey for alleging that the government in Athens is aiding and abetting what Ankara sees as Kurdish terrorists. But the accusation, contained in a newly released video, comes after reports in Greece that Turkey has granted citizenship to Islamic State militants. The fresh accusations traded by the two NATO allies may threaten ongoing negotiations to ease long-standing differences that nearly sparked a war between them last year.
It is not the first time Turkey has made such accusations against Greece.
“One country that stands out as a haven for the PKK is our neighbor and NATO ally, Greece,” says a voice in the video. The PKK is the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been waging a decades-long insurgency inside southeastern Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization by Ankara.
Yet in rebuffing the claim, calling it “mythical” and “propaganda,” the foreign ministry in Athens questioned the timing of the video’s release by the chief communications adviser to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The video comes days after reports in Greece accused Ankara of granting citizenship to a number of IS militants – a move that raises serious concerns about Turkey’s border controls with Syria. The interior and finance ministries have seized the assets of eight people suspected of having links to the terror group.
The video comes days before Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias goes to Ankara to meet with his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, to thrash out long-standing differences between the two neighbors.
It won’t be an easy round of talks, says analyst Manolis Kostidis. He also says the Turkish side will raise several issues and it’s highly unlikely that even if the talks do go well, that Greece can start speaking of improved relations between the age-old foes.
Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over sea and air rights in the Aegean Sea that divides them. In the past year, relations have deteriorated over oil and gas drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean – a standoff that nearly brought the two NATO allies to the brink of war.
Since then, senior European Union officials and the United States have intervened, bringing the two sides to a negotiating table to sort out differences.
Two rounds of exploratory talks have so far made little progress and the coming discussions between the Greek and Turkish ministers are being seen as an attempt to salvage the process altogether.
But with both sides trading accusations anew, analysts like Apostolos Maggiriadis, say they fear negotiations may be derailed.
The feeling among diplomats in Athens, he says, is that there is a concerted attempt by Turkey’s deep state to torpedo these talks. But Greece, he says, does not want to appear as the side abandoning the process and it will keep to its pledge of sending its foreign minister to Turkey.
Athens has suggested taking bilateral differences to the International Court of Justice in The Hague if negotiations with Ankara fail to produce a diplomatic breakthrough.
The talks are scheduled to begin Wednesday.
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India’s Concerns over Myanmar Drive Policy, Analysts Say
Analysts say India’s concern that isolating Myanmar’s military, which staged the country’s February 1 coup, will drive it closer to China, and fears of instability in a country with a long common border are driving a desire by New Delhi to engage the regime to resolve the crisis there.The United States and other Western democracies are imposing economic sanctions to put pressure on Myanmar’s military, which has mounted a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests, resulting in hundreds of deaths since it ousted de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Critics have questioned why India, the world’s largest democracy, has not denounced the junta more strongly, but analysts say New Delhi believes sanctions may not be the way to defuse the crisis.“From India’s perspective, keeping a channel of communication open with Myanmar’s military is very important,” said Harsh Pant, head of the Strategic Studies Program at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.“We don’t want a situation where China is the only country talking to them and see another country in India’s neighborhood go into the Chinese orbit,” he said.India’s deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, K. Nagaraj Naidu, told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Myanmar Friday that “lack of engagement will only create a vacuum which will be counterproductive.”He said that “we therefore support all initiatives to engage with Myanmar and resolve issues peacefully without further bloodshed,” even as he condemned the use of violence.After its initial cautious response, India has taken a stronger stance in recent days as the crisis in Myanmar has mounted, calling for an end to the violence and urging the military to release the hundreds of political prisoners now being held in Myanmar.”We stand for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar,” Arindam Bagchi, the External Affairs Ministry spokesman, told reporters in New Delhi this month. “India is ready to play a balanced and constructive role to resolve the crisis,” he said.India’s more emphatic response came days after the presence of its military attaché at an Armed Forces Day parade in Myanmar raised questions about New Delhi’s attendance and drew condemnation from Myanmar’s pro-democracy Civil Disobedience Movement. The March 27 celebrations coincided with a savage crackdown that saw at least 100 protesters killed.Family members cry in front of a man after he was shot dead during a crackdown on an anti-coup protesters by security forces in Yangon, Myanmar, March 27, 2021.Calling India “one of the greatest democracies in the world,” the movement asked on Twitter “why do you shake hands with the generals whose hands are soaked with our blood.”India was the only major democracy among the eight countries that sent representatives to the celebration. The others were China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand and Russia.“I don’t think India’s presence was meant to send a message of support or validate the coup,” Gautam Mukhopadhaya, India’s former ambassador to Myanmar, said.“I find it difficult to believe that India would lean on the side of the military in the current context when it is very clearly against its own people,” he said.He said, though, that India and Southeast Asia countries have taken a more nuanced approach to the situation in Myanmar because of worries about large-scale instability in a neighboring country and would prefer to seek a negotiated solution.“We have security stakes different from powers in the West. My expectation is that India will use whatever equities it has with the military to try and talk the generals back,” he said.India has built ties with the Myanmar government during the past decade as it has sought to offset China’s influence in the country that provides it with an overland route to the Indian Ocean, a strategic waterway where Beijing has steadily increased its footprint.Myanmar’s army has cooperated with New Delhi in destroying hideouts of insurgents who operated in India’s northeastern states and sought sanctuary across the border in Myanmar. New Delhi has also increased defense and economic ties with the country in recent years.An Indian national flag flies next to an immigration check post on the India-Myanmar border in Zokhawthar village in Champhai district of India’s northeastern state of Mizoram, March 16, 2021.There have been missteps in India’s approach in the wake of the recent coup, say analysts. As refugees from Myanmar escaping the junta’s harsh crackdown fled into India, the federal government asked local authorities to stop their influx and deport those who had crossed over.However, northeastern states have called for a “humanitarian” response to the refugees, with whom they share ethnic ties, and are providing shelter to an estimated 700 who have crossed over.Myanmar nationals including those who said they are police and firemen and recently fled to India, flash the three-finger salute at an undisclosed location in India’s northeastern state of Mizoram, near the border, March 15, 2021.Mukhopadhaya, who was India’s ambassador between 2013 and 2016, said he believes Myanmar’s military has made a “serious miscalculation” and will find it difficult to suppress the growing civilian protests. He said he is optimistic that India will make “pro-people” choices as the situation evolves in the neighboring country in the coming weeks.However, most agree that isolating Myanmar is not a choice for New Delhi in a changing geopolitical situation where many now view China as a threat.“If the objective of the United States in particular and Western powers in general is to manage China’s rise, then you have to look at countries through a more complex prism,” Pant said. “Wherever the West has isolated countries, China has filled the void.”
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Execution-Style Killing of Greek Journalist Sends Shockwaves across Europe, West
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has ordered an urgent investigation into the assassination of one of the country’s top crime reporters. Greek media have long been targeted by far-left organizations and anarchists in a show of violent defiance to what they call links between them and the nation’s political and financial establishment. However, journalist killings are rare in Greece and if it is established that the reporter was gunned down for carrying out his duties, it will be the first such case in Europe in years.Citizens’ Protection Minister Michalis Chrisochoidis left a marathon meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, saying he was determined to hunt down the killers of Giorgos Karaivaz.He called the assassination an abhorrent crime but said he is convinced authorities will soon find those responsible, and hand them over to justice to be dealt with.The race is on… and the stakes are high.Karaivaz was gunned down by a pair of masked men who pumped ten bullets into the crime reporter’s head, neck and left palm, leaving him dead in a pool of blood outside his home, in the balmy residential suburb of Alimos, south of Athens.Locals like Elias, a municipal gardener who refused to give his last name for fear of reprisals, said he saw the gunmen and was stunned by how calculating and calmly they conducted themselves.The actual gunshot(s) were not heard because they used a silencer, he said. The killers both came in on a motorbike, gunned down Karaivaz and left calmly, as if nothing had happened.Authorities say they are now putting together pieces of the mystery, trying to identify the assailants from surveillance cameras, burner phones and a string of forensic evidence that has so far been compiled.They believe Karaivaz had been tracked for days before gunmen committed the deadly shooting Friday, in broad daylight.Senior police officials told VOA they suspect the killing is linked to organized crime and a group called Mafia Greece, known for hiring foreign shooters to sort out differences in the underworld here.Eleftherios Economou, the deputy citizens’ protection minister explains.There is no doubt, he said, that they are dealing with contract killers. This is a methodology, he said, authorities have seen in at least 19 similar style murders in the last three years here and this may make solving the case, so much more difficult.A woman reads newspapers headlines of the killing of a Greek journalist in Athens, April 10, 2021.Either way, experts say, the motive behind the Karaivaz killing remains unclear.If confirmed as related to the journalist’s work, then it will be the first assassination of a journalist in the European Union since the 2018 murder of investigative reporter Jan Kuciak in Slovakia.Karaivaz was a contributor to the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, and he founded the news website bloko.gr, which reported on crime.Leading officials across the European Union have issued sympathy statements, supporting free speech while urging the government and the authorities in Athens to hunt down the assailants.The U.S. Embassy in Athens said it would help any effort to defend the sacred right of free speech.Greek media offices and journalists are frequently targeted by far-left anarchists who routinely strike them in what they claim are attacks against the establishment.Nevertheless, journalist killings are rare here, raising concerns that freedom of speech in the country that gave birth to democracy may now be in serious peril.
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Bavarian Leader Joins Race to Run as German Chancellor Candidate
Bavarian premier Markus Soeder put himself forward on Sunday to run as the conservative candidate for German chancellor in a September election and said he would settle the question soon and amicably with his rival, the Christian Democrat (CDU) chief. Pressure is mounting for a swift decision on whether Soeder, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), or the CDU’s Armin Laschet should stand for the two-party bloc in the Sept. 26 election, making them the candidate to succeed Angela Merkel. “Markus Soeder and I had a long conversation before today. We declared our willingness to run for the chancellorship,” CDU leader Armin Laschet told a joint news conference. Laschet lags Soeder in opinion polls but, as leader of the larger CDU, effectively has first refusal and enjoys the support of some powerful state premiers. With September elections nearing, conservatives are pressing for a decision on the candidacy to end speculation which is highlighting divisions. Laschet said the next step would come on Monday with CDU and CSU committee meetings but he gave no time for the decision. “We want to win this election in the autumn – that is the main aim. And we are now thinking about the best formation,” said Soeder. “There is a great expectation that a joint solution will be reached sooner rather than later,” said Soeder, stressing that the two rivals had agreed to show each other respect. Conservatives nervous without Merkel Laschet, 60, is a centrist widely seen as a candidate who would continue Merkel’s legacy, but he has clashed with her over coronavirus restrictions. Premier of Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, his chaotic handling of the crisis has undermined his popularity. Soeder, 54, is an astute political operator who has sided with Merkel during the pandemic. No CSU leader has become German chancellor. Many conservatives are nervous about contesting the Sept. 26 federal election without Merkel, who has led them to four victories. She has ruled out standing for a fifth term and has not explicitly backed either candidate although she has hinted that she would back the CDU leader. The conservative bloc has slipped to about 27% in polls, partly due to an increasingly chaotic management of the pandemic. In the 2017 election, it won almost 33%. The Social Democrats have nominated Finance Minister Olaf Scholz as their candidate for chancellor, while the Greens plan to announce their nomination on April 19.
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Libya’s New PM to Visit Turkey, Hold Talks with Erdogan on Monday
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh and a delegation of ministers will make their first visit to Turkey on Monday since taking office last month, the Turkish presidency said on Sunday. Libya’s new unity government was sworn in on March 15 from two warring administrations that had ruled eastern and western regions, completing a smooth transition of power after a decade of violent chaos. Turkey had backed the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) against the eastern-based Libyan National Army (LNA), which was supported by Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France. Turkey’s presidency said Dbeibeh will hold a two-day visit upon President Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation, adding that he and Erdogan would chair the first meeting of the Turkey-Libya High Level Strategic Cooperation Council in Ankara. “At the Council Meeting to be held with the participation of relevant ministers, all aspects of Turkey-Libya relations, which have deeply-rooted, historic ties, will be discussed, steps that can be taken to further improve cooperation will be evaluated,” it said. Turkish state media reported that Dbeibeh would visit Ankara with a team including 14 ministers, five deputy prime ministers, the chief of staff and other officials. It added cooperation on energy and health would be discussed, along with the resumption of projects by Turkish companies that were stopped over the war. Turkey has said that Turkish firms would take an active role in rebuilding the war-torn country. In 2019, Ankara signed a maritime demarcation agreement with the GNA in the eastern Mediterranean, and a military cooperation accord under which Turkey sent military advisers and trainers to Tripoli. Ankara also sent Syrian fighters to help the GNA block an LNA offensive on Tripoli last year. Greece, which opposes the maritime agreement between Tripoli and Ankara, called for the accord to be cancelled on Tuesday, as it reopened its embassy in Libya after seven years. Dbeibeh, selected through a United Nations-led process, has said economic deals between the GNA and Turkey should remain. Turkey, Egypt and the UAE have each welcomed the appointment of the new government, as have the United States and European Union. However, foreign powers that backed each side have not pulled out fighters or arms. Libya’s new presidency council visited Turkey last month for talks with Erdogan.
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Ecuador Holds Second Round of Presidential Election
Ecuadorians are voting Sunday in a runoff election to choose between a right-wing and a left-wing candidate to replace President Lenin Moreno, who is not seeking reelection.Polls show the two contenders in a tight race.Economist Andres Arauz, 36, from the Union of Hope coalition and a protégé of former President Rafael Correa, was leading in the first round of vote in February with almost 33%. Former banker Guillermo Lasso, 65, a conservative politician and third-time presidential candidate who has finished second twice before, to Correa in 2013 and Moreno in 2017, garnered about 20% of the first-round ballots. Arauz has promised to give $1,000 to a million families when he takes office. He has also offered to provide benefits to the youth, such as free internet access. In the meantime, Lasso has tried to portray a moderate image by promising to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation and increase protection of animal rights. Both candidates have called on backers to denounce irregularities as the election proceeds. The Ecuadorian elections council is expected to report the results Sunday night and the new president will begin his term May 24.
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South Sudan’s President Appoints New Army Chief
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has appointed General Santino Deng Wol as the new head of the army, Kiir’s spokesman said on Sunday, as part of a wider reshuffle within the government. Kiir and former rebel leader Riek Machar formed a government of national unity in February last year following a 2018 peace accord that ended a bloody civil war, but the oil-rich nation remains racked by violence. The director general of the security services and the deputy minister of defense were also replaced in the reshuffle, Kiir’s spokesman Ateny Wek told Reuters. “It was a routine reshuffle,” Wek said, adding that the president had also fired the minister for presidential affairs and replaced him with a former adviser. South Sudan erupted into civil war soon after securing independence from Sudan in 2011, leading to an estimated 400,000 deaths and one of the worst refugee crises on the continent since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Despite the formation of a government of national unity in 2020, implementation of the 2018 peace accord has stalled, and authorities have blocked humanitarian access to areas where conflict has restarted, a recent U.N. report said.
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