Month: February 2019

Senegal Awaits Election Results

Posted on by SeeAF

Vote counting has begun in Senegal after a peaceful day of voting in Sunday’s presidential election.

Polls closed at 6 p.m. local time and preliminary results are expected as soon as Monday or Tuesday, according to CENA.

After three weeks of campaigning, long lines of voters formed early Sunday to either support incumbent Macky Sall’s bid for re-election or replace him with one of his four challengers – Idrissa Seck, Ousmane Sonko, Madické Niang or Issa Sall.

The election process was smooth and there were no major disruptions in the election process, Doudou Ndir, president of Senegal’s electoral commission (CENA) told a press conference.

“Our observations show everything is proceeding in good conditions, peacefully, calmly,” Ndir said.

President Sall, 56, cast his ballot in his hometown of Fatick early Sunday. “I hope that at the end of this day, the Senegalese people will be the sole winner,” he said after voting.

“What we all have in common is our country, and we want a candidate who will work for it, for our Senegal,” Mbéne, an 18-year-old student who voted for the first time Sunday, told VOA Afrique after casting her ballot for Sall.

Though some will renew their support for Sall, some young voters are pledging their support to the youngest of the candidates, Ousmane Sanko, 44, who is promising drastic changes from the current system.

“The system has been in place for 60 years with the same men, the same heads, and we need to break from this,” Pape Amadou Diop, a student in Dakar, said after voting for Sonko, whom he calls the “perfect representation of hope in Senegal.”

Approximately 15,000 voting stations were expected to be open Sunday.  CENA chief Ndir said that by noon, about 30 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots.

A candidate must win more than 50 percent of Sunday’s vote to be declared Senegal’s president.  If no one wins an outright majority, then the top two contenders will face off in a run-off vote in March.
…

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Iran’s President Faces Calls to Resign over Economic Crisis

Posted on by SeeEA

As Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, a white-turbaned Shiite cleric at one commemoration targeted President Hassan Rouhani, a fellow clergyman, with this sign: “You who are the cause of inflation; we hope you won’t last until spring.”

Already lashed by criticism over his collapsing nuclear deal and renewed tensions with the U.S., the relatively moderate Rouhani faces anger from clerics, hard-line forces and an ever-growing disaffected public that now threatens his position.

Iranian presidents typically see their popularity erode during their second four-year terms, but analysts say Rouhani is particularly vulnerable because of the economic crisis assailing the country’s rial currency, which has hurt ordinary Iranians and emboldened critics to openly call for his ouster.

Though such a move only has happened once in the Islamic Republic’s four-decade history, the popular discontent heard on streets throughout Iran now could make it possible.

“I don’t care who is in the presidential palace: a cleric, a general or anybody else,” said Qassim Abhari, who sells hats and socks on the streets of Tehran. “We need someone who creates jobs and firmly pushes the brake pedal on rising prices.”

It’s been a long fall for Rouhani, who secured the 2015 nuclear deal after two years in office and won the praise of Iranians, who flooded the streets to celebrate it. Under the deal, Iran limited its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

But the benefits of the deal never reached much of the Iranian public. Even before President Donald Trump pulled America from the accord in May, uncertainty over its future caused the rial to crater, fueling sporadic, nationwide protests.

Now the rial is dropping again, down to 133,000 to $1. It had been 32,000 to the dollar at the time of the deal. On social media, hard-liners share price lists showing food staples like beans, rice and tomato paste rising as much as 238 percent.

Hard-liners stopped parliament speaker Ali Larijani, an ally of Rouhani, from addressing a crowd in Karaj, only 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tehran. Rouhani’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, typically collected, appeared visibly frustrated at times during a recent security conference in Munich.

Hassan Abbasi, a retired general in Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, which answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a speech after Karaj saying he believed people will spit on Rouhani, Larijani and Zarif in the streets over the nuclear deal after they leave office. He said they are “shivering” over the accord’s collapse.

“Mr. Hassan Rouhani, Mr. Zarif and Mr. Larijani, go to hell,” Abbasi said to applause.

Tension between hard-liners and more-moderate forces within Iran are nothing new. The Islamic Republic’s political structure muddles who wields power between paramilitary forces within the Guard and the country’s civilian government. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami faced similar pressures in his second term, which then gave way to hard-line populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But Khatami didn’t face the same grinding economic pressure, or an American president like Donald Trump, whose administration has taken a maximalist approach toward pressuring Tehran. Analysts say that only further weakens Rouhani’s hand.

“You, Mr. President, have only 15 to 20 percent of the power” within Iran’s government, the pro-Rouhani daily newspaper Jomhouri Eslami said in a January editorial. “You cannot run the country with this amount of power and be accountable for all its difficulties and problems.”

Rouhani himself seemed to acknowledge the pressure he faces during a visit to the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Monday.

“Presidential elections happen every four year,” he said. “When people voted for a particular viewpoint, all should go after that and support” it.

Nine hard-line lawmakers have put forward a measure to disqualify Rouhani as president. His dismissal would require two-thirds of parliament’s 290 members, but there is a precedent. In 1981, parliament disqualified the liberal Abolhassan Banisadr as president, and then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini dismissed him.

Iranian law also allows Rouhani to resign, and criminal charges could push him from his post. His brother, Hossein Fereidoun, is on trial over corruption charges that his supporters call politically motivated.

Mahmoud Vaezi, a spokesman for Rouhani, on Wednesday dismissed those pursuing impeachment as belonging to “a group in parliament that opposes everything.” However, they aren’t the only source of pressure.

Reformists, those who want to change Iran’s political system from the inside, have grown increasingly disenchanted with Rouhani over his inability to end the house arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. Rouhani ran for election in 2013 and 2017 promising to free the two leaders of the 2009 Green Movement.

Meanwhile, hard-line clerics have opposed his administration’s efforts to join international anti-money-laundering conventions, fearing that could cut off support to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and others. State television, long controlled by hard-liners, has played up speeches by military officials and increasingly airs segments glorifying those who fought in the 1980s war in Iraq.

“When Rouhani will not be in power, people will choose his alternative,” said hard-line lawmaker and cleric Mojtaba Zolnouri, who signed onto the Rouhani impeachment effort. “Whoever people choose, we welcome.”

Rouhani’s four-year term runs until 2021. But Tehran-based political-economic analyst Saeed Leilaz echoed the sentiments of many in saying the next few weeks could prove crucial to the embattled president. Some have suggested even ending the position of president and returning to a parliamentary system.

“In the spring, parallel with intensifying pressures and problems, Rouhani may resign or the (government’s) structure may change,” he said.
…

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Iran’s President Faces Calls to Resign over Economic Crisis

Posted on by SeeEA

As Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, a white-turbaned Shiite cleric at one commemoration targeted President Hassan Rouhani, a fellow clergyman, with this sign: “You who are the cause of inflation; we hope you won’t last until spring.”

Already lashed by criticism over his collapsing nuclear deal and renewed tensions with the U.S., the relatively moderate Rouhani faces anger from clerics, hard-line forces and an ever-growing disaffected public that now threatens his position.

Iranian presidents typically see their popularity erode during their second four-year terms, but analysts say Rouhani is particularly vulnerable because of the economic crisis assailing the country’s rial currency, which has hurt ordinary Iranians and emboldened critics to openly call for his ouster.

Though such a move only has happened once in the Islamic Republic’s four-decade history, the popular discontent heard on streets throughout Iran now could make it possible.

“I don’t care who is in the presidential palace: a cleric, a general or anybody else,” said Qassim Abhari, who sells hats and socks on the streets of Tehran. “We need someone who creates jobs and firmly pushes the brake pedal on rising prices.”

It’s been a long fall for Rouhani, who secured the 2015 nuclear deal after two years in office and won the praise of Iranians, who flooded the streets to celebrate it. Under the deal, Iran limited its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

But the benefits of the deal never reached much of the Iranian public. Even before President Donald Trump pulled America from the accord in May, uncertainty over its future caused the rial to crater, fueling sporadic, nationwide protests.

Now the rial is dropping again, down to 133,000 to $1. It had been 32,000 to the dollar at the time of the deal. On social media, hard-liners share price lists showing food staples like beans, rice and tomato paste rising as much as 238 percent.

Hard-liners stopped parliament speaker Ali Larijani, an ally of Rouhani, from addressing a crowd in Karaj, only 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of Tehran. Rouhani’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, typically collected, appeared visibly frustrated at times during a recent security conference in Munich.

Hassan Abbasi, a retired general in Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, which answers to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave a speech after Karaj saying he believed people will spit on Rouhani, Larijani and Zarif in the streets over the nuclear deal after they leave office. He said they are “shivering” over the accord’s collapse.

“Mr. Hassan Rouhani, Mr. Zarif and Mr. Larijani, go to hell,” Abbasi said to applause.

Tension between hard-liners and more-moderate forces within Iran are nothing new. The Islamic Republic’s political structure muddles who wields power between paramilitary forces within the Guard and the country’s civilian government. Reformist President Mohammad Khatami faced similar pressures in his second term, which then gave way to hard-line populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

But Khatami didn’t face the same grinding economic pressure, or an American president like Donald Trump, whose administration has taken a maximalist approach toward pressuring Tehran. Analysts say that only further weakens Rouhani’s hand.

“You, Mr. President, have only 15 to 20 percent of the power” within Iran’s government, the pro-Rouhani daily newspaper Jomhouri Eslami said in a January editorial. “You cannot run the country with this amount of power and be accountable for all its difficulties and problems.”

Rouhani himself seemed to acknowledge the pressure he faces during a visit to the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on Monday.

“Presidential elections happen every four year,” he said. “When people voted for a particular viewpoint, all should go after that and support” it.

Nine hard-line lawmakers have put forward a measure to disqualify Rouhani as president. His dismissal would require two-thirds of parliament’s 290 members, but there is a precedent. In 1981, parliament disqualified the liberal Abolhassan Banisadr as president, and then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini dismissed him.

Iranian law also allows Rouhani to resign, and criminal charges could push him from his post. His brother, Hossein Fereidoun, is on trial over corruption charges that his supporters call politically motivated.

Mahmoud Vaezi, a spokesman for Rouhani, on Wednesday dismissed those pursuing impeachment as belonging to “a group in parliament that opposes everything.” However, they aren’t the only source of pressure.

Reformists, those who want to change Iran’s political system from the inside, have grown increasingly disenchanted with Rouhani over his inability to end the house arrests of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi. Rouhani ran for election in 2013 and 2017 promising to free the two leaders of the 2009 Green Movement.

Meanwhile, hard-line clerics have opposed his administration’s efforts to join international anti-money-laundering conventions, fearing that could cut off support to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and others. State television, long controlled by hard-liners, has played up speeches by military officials and increasingly airs segments glorifying those who fought in the 1980s war in Iraq.

“When Rouhani will not be in power, people will choose his alternative,” said hard-line lawmaker and cleric Mojtaba Zolnouri, who signed onto the Rouhani impeachment effort. “Whoever people choose, we welcome.”

Rouhani’s four-year term runs until 2021. But Tehran-based political-economic analyst Saeed Leilaz echoed the sentiments of many in saying the next few weeks could prove crucial to the embattled president. Some have suggested even ending the position of president and returning to a parliamentary system.

“In the spring, parallel with intensifying pressures and problems, Rouhani may resign or the (government’s) structure may change,” he said.
…

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US: 4 Airstrikes in Somalia Kill 2 al-Shabab Fighters

Posted on by SeeAF

The United States military says it has killed two al-Shabab extremists in four airstrikes in Somalia.

A U.S. Africa command statement Sunday said the attacks eliminated checkpoints used by al-Shabaab to collect taxes to fund their violent campaign in Somalia.

The statement said two airstrikes on Saturday hit the Kunyow Barrow area, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of the capital, Mogadishu. Another strike was in the Awdeegle area, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Mogadishu and a fourth was near Janaale, about 75 kilometers (46 miles) southwest of Mogadishu.

The statement said no civilians were killed in the attacks.

With these four airstrikes, the U.S. military has carried out at least 16 such airstrikes this year in Somalia against al-Shabab, the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa.
…

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UN Pledging Conference Seeks Support For 19 Million Yemenis in Crisis

Posted on by SeeEA

A high-level pledging conference for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen this week will seek international support for 19 million people who are suffering from years of conflict and deprivation.  

In December, the U.N. asked for a record $4.2 billion for Yemen, the largest single country appeal ever launched.  By any measure, the situation in Yemen is catastrophic.  The United Nations calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

The U.N. human rights office reports nearly 18,200 civilians have been killed and injured since the beginning of the civil conflict between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in March 2015.  It says airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are responsible for two-thirds of these casualties.

The United Nations reports about 80 percent of the population, 24 million people, need humanitarian assistance and protection.  Jens Laerke is Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  He tells VOA the suffering of the civilian population has reached a scale not seen in living memory.

“It has really been a horrific year for millions and millions of people in Yemen who are literally balancing on the edge of starvation and, indeed, famine,” said Laerke. “And they need massive amounts of other kinds of aid in the health sector, water and sanitation, education for their children and so on and so forth.”  

The World Food Program reports it plans to help 12 million people a month in 2019.  This is a 50 percent increase over last year’s goal.   WFP says it needs $1.5 billion or nearly one third of the U.N. appeal to feed all these people.

While U.N. and private aid agencies are always short of cash, they still have managed to accomplish much.  For example, they have reduced the number of new cholera cases in Yemen from a historic high of one million to 370,000 last year.

Tens of thousands of children have died from malnutrition-related causes.  But the U.N. Children’s Fund, World Health Organization and partners have saved the lives of thousands of starving children through special nutrition programs.

U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres will convene the pledging conference, which is co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.
…

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UN Pledging Conference Seeks Support For 19 Million Yemenis in Crisis

Posted on by SeeEA

A high-level pledging conference for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen this week will seek international support for 19 million people who are suffering from years of conflict and deprivation.  

In December, the U.N. asked for a record $4.2 billion for Yemen, the largest single country appeal ever launched.  By any measure, the situation in Yemen is catastrophic.  The United Nations calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.

The U.N. human rights office reports nearly 18,200 civilians have been killed and injured since the beginning of the civil conflict between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels in March 2015.  It says airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition are responsible for two-thirds of these casualties.

The United Nations reports about 80 percent of the population, 24 million people, need humanitarian assistance and protection.  Jens Laerke is Spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  He tells VOA the suffering of the civilian population has reached a scale not seen in living memory.

“It has really been a horrific year for millions and millions of people in Yemen who are literally balancing on the edge of starvation and, indeed, famine,” said Laerke. “And they need massive amounts of other kinds of aid in the health sector, water and sanitation, education for their children and so on and so forth.”  

The World Food Program reports it plans to help 12 million people a month in 2019.  This is a 50 percent increase over last year’s goal.   WFP says it needs $1.5 billion or nearly one third of the U.N. appeal to feed all these people.

While U.N. and private aid agencies are always short of cash, they still have managed to accomplish much.  For example, they have reduced the number of new cholera cases in Yemen from a historic high of one million to 370,000 last year.

Tens of thousands of children have died from malnutrition-related causes.  But the U.N. Children’s Fund, World Health Organization and partners have saved the lives of thousands of starving children through special nutrition programs.

U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres will convene the pledging conference, which is co-hosted by Sweden and Switzerland.
…

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Will 2019 Be the Year of Euro-Skeptics?

Posted on by SeeEU

A poster at the National Rally’s headquarters outside Paris shows a smiling Marine Le Pen standing alongside Italy’s interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini. “Everywhere in Europe,” reads the tagline, “our ideas are coming to power.”

The message is more than aspirational. As campaigning heats up for May European Parliament elections, experts predict the two far-right leaders and those of other nationalist movements may score strongly, with potentially sweeping consequences for the European Union.

“Complacency will be very dangerous with these elections,” said analyst Susi Dennison, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, who estimates that “anti-European” parties could grab up to one-third or more of the vote. “The idea of change, that the political system is broken, is a very powerful one among European voters.”

Le Pen also sees a potential sea change, calling the upcoming vote a “historic turning point.”

“The European Union is dead,” the National Rally leader said during a recent interview with Anglophone journalists. “Long live Europe.”

If she proves right, the elections will consolidate a trend that has put Euro-skeptics into governments in Hungary, Italy, Austria and Poland, further weakening a union already shaken by internal divisions and Britain’s upcoming departure.

In France, the National Rally has rebounded from a stinging defeat in presidential and parliamentary elections two years ago, to become the country’s leading opposition force. Since taking control of the party her father founded in the 1970s, 50-year-old Le Pen has fundamentally revamped its pugnacious image and rhetoric — including a name tweak last year from its original moniker, the National Front.

From outsider to almost-mainstream

From once-shunned political outsider, the National Rally is now almost mainstream, surfing on the implosion of France’s center-right and center-left in 2017, and a shift in voter support to the political margins.

In a nod to its success, the conservative Les Republicains party has controversially borrowed some of its hardline rhetoric, notably on immigration.

Le Pen has also capitalized on the plummeting support for President Emmanuel Macron and his reformist agenda, seen with the weeks of “yellow vest” protests.

“Instead of offering an alternative to chaos,” she said of the president, “the French got both chaos and Macron.”

For the EU elections, she has tapped 23-year-old loyalist Jordan Bardella to head the party’s list and bolster its appeal to younger voters. Recent polls have shown the National Rally neck-and-neck with Macron’s Republic on the Move, although a survey released Friday found slipping support for the Le Pen’s party.

Still, it has traditionally fared well in EU Parliament elections, coming in first in the last 2014 vote, with nearly a quarter of the vote. Today, Le Pen is banking on a broader win.

“I think Europe is moving toward the return of nation-states, and we’re part of this great political movement supporting this,” she said. “Our goal is to turn the EU into a cooperation among nations, and not this kind of European super state.”

Eroding support for pro-EU parties

An EU Parliament forecast released last week appears to bolster her prediction. While parliament’s top two blocs, the Christian Democrats and Socialists will retain their primacy, it finds their overall share of membership and support is expected to erode.

Meanwhile, nationalist parties including Italy’s League and Le Pen’s National Rally are expected to grow sizably, with the latter predicted to gain six parliamentary seats to reach 21 in total.

Launching their European parliament campaign in Rome last October, Le Pen and Italy’s Salvini predicted a win by nationalist parties would bring “common sense” to Europe, and blasted key EU officials, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, as “enemies of the people.”  

Like other European populist leaders, both have sought counsel from Steve Bannon, an EU skeptic and former political advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, who founded a Brussels-based initiative called The Movement.

Europe’s populists are riding on citizen ambivalence and outright antipathy to a bloc many consider too soft on immigration and overly focused on bureaucracy. Recent Eurobarometer surveys show that while two-thirds of Europeans believe their country has benefited from being part of the EU — a 35-year high — only four in 10 have a positive image or trust in it.

A strong showing by euro-skeptic parties could have significant repercussions for the EU, she said, giving them greater influence and access to key posts, including in the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body.

“The challenge for EU institutions and pro-EU politicians going into this elections, is to find issues on which Europe can deliver that will mobilize voters” such as climate change, she added.

Exploiting weaknesses

Nationalist parties also have weaknesses that pro-European ones can exploit, Dennison said, including differences on how to handle immigration. And while some populist parties are calling for nothing less than the EU’s demise, others want to reform, not break it.

In France, the National Rally’s prospects may be complicated by the yellow vest protest movement. Some yellow vests are eyeing an EU Parliament run, but the movement is leaderless and disorganized, and the idea of turning grassroots action into a political force is controversial.

“The yellow vests present both a threat and an opportunity for Marine Le Pen,” said political scientist Jean Petaux, of Sciences-Po Bordeaux University, “They could offer her party a chance to enlarge its audience as the party that listens to their grievances.”

But a yellow vest list could steal votes from the National Rally, he added.  

In Le Pen’s favor is the traditionally poor turnout for EU elections in France, Petaux said, leading to a potentially significant protest vote.  

“When you have a low turnout,” he said, “it is usually those who are against who mobilize — not those who are for.”
…

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Will 2019 Be the Year of Euro-Skeptics?

Posted on by SeeEU

A poster at the National Rally’s headquarters outside Paris shows a smiling Marine Le Pen standing alongside Italy’s interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini. “Everywhere in Europe,” reads the tagline, “our ideas are coming to power.”

The message is more than aspirational. As campaigning heats up for May European Parliament elections, experts predict the two far-right leaders and those of other nationalist movements may score strongly, with potentially sweeping consequences for the European Union.

“Complacency will be very dangerous with these elections,” said analyst Susi Dennison, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, who estimates that “anti-European” parties could grab up to one-third or more of the vote. “The idea of change, that the political system is broken, is a very powerful one among European voters.”

Le Pen also sees a potential sea change, calling the upcoming vote a “historic turning point.”

“The European Union is dead,” the National Rally leader said during a recent interview with Anglophone journalists. “Long live Europe.”

If she proves right, the elections will consolidate a trend that has put Euro-skeptics into governments in Hungary, Italy, Austria and Poland, further weakening a union already shaken by internal divisions and Britain’s upcoming departure.

In France, the National Rally has rebounded from a stinging defeat in presidential and parliamentary elections two years ago, to become the country’s leading opposition force. Since taking control of the party her father founded in the 1970s, 50-year-old Le Pen has fundamentally revamped its pugnacious image and rhetoric — including a name tweak last year from its original moniker, the National Front.

From outsider to almost-mainstream

From once-shunned political outsider, the National Rally is now almost mainstream, surfing on the implosion of France’s center-right and center-left in 2017, and a shift in voter support to the political margins.

In a nod to its success, the conservative Les Republicains party has controversially borrowed some of its hardline rhetoric, notably on immigration.

Le Pen has also capitalized on the plummeting support for President Emmanuel Macron and his reformist agenda, seen with the weeks of “yellow vest” protests.

“Instead of offering an alternative to chaos,” she said of the president, “the French got both chaos and Macron.”

For the EU elections, she has tapped 23-year-old loyalist Jordan Bardella to head the party’s list and bolster its appeal to younger voters. Recent polls have shown the National Rally neck-and-neck with Macron’s Republic on the Move, although a survey released Friday found slipping support for the Le Pen’s party.

Still, it has traditionally fared well in EU Parliament elections, coming in first in the last 2014 vote, with nearly a quarter of the vote. Today, Le Pen is banking on a broader win.

“I think Europe is moving toward the return of nation-states, and we’re part of this great political movement supporting this,” she said. “Our goal is to turn the EU into a cooperation among nations, and not this kind of European super state.”

Eroding support for pro-EU parties

An EU Parliament forecast released last week appears to bolster her prediction. While parliament’s top two blocs, the Christian Democrats and Socialists will retain their primacy, it finds their overall share of membership and support is expected to erode.

Meanwhile, nationalist parties including Italy’s League and Le Pen’s National Rally are expected to grow sizably, with the latter predicted to gain six parliamentary seats to reach 21 in total.

Launching their European parliament campaign in Rome last October, Le Pen and Italy’s Salvini predicted a win by nationalist parties would bring “common sense” to Europe, and blasted key EU officials, including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, as “enemies of the people.”  

Like other European populist leaders, both have sought counsel from Steve Bannon, an EU skeptic and former political advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump, who founded a Brussels-based initiative called The Movement.

Europe’s populists are riding on citizen ambivalence and outright antipathy to a bloc many consider too soft on immigration and overly focused on bureaucracy. Recent Eurobarometer surveys show that while two-thirds of Europeans believe their country has benefited from being part of the EU — a 35-year high — only four in 10 have a positive image or trust in it.

A strong showing by euro-skeptic parties could have significant repercussions for the EU, she said, giving them greater influence and access to key posts, including in the European Commission, the bloc’s executive body.

“The challenge for EU institutions and pro-EU politicians going into this elections, is to find issues on which Europe can deliver that will mobilize voters” such as climate change, she added.

Exploiting weaknesses

Nationalist parties also have weaknesses that pro-European ones can exploit, Dennison said, including differences on how to handle immigration. And while some populist parties are calling for nothing less than the EU’s demise, others want to reform, not break it.

In France, the National Rally’s prospects may be complicated by the yellow vest protest movement. Some yellow vests are eyeing an EU Parliament run, but the movement is leaderless and disorganized, and the idea of turning grassroots action into a political force is controversial.

“The yellow vests present both a threat and an opportunity for Marine Le Pen,” said political scientist Jean Petaux, of Sciences-Po Bordeaux University, “They could offer her party a chance to enlarge its audience as the party that listens to their grievances.”

But a yellow vest list could steal votes from the National Rally, he added.  

In Le Pen’s favor is the traditionally poor turnout for EU elections in France, Petaux said, leading to a potentially significant protest vote.  

“When you have a low turnout,” he said, “it is usually those who are against who mobilize — not those who are for.”
…

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Pope Compares Child Sexual Abuse to Human Sacrifice

Posted on by SeeEU

Pope Francis has compared the sexual abuse of children to human sacrifice.

“I am reminded of the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings – frequently children – in pagan rites,” Francis said Sunday.  

He was speaking at the close of the summit of the church’s top bishops and leaders, called to design a plan on how to deal with the predatory priests who have sexually abused children and adults for decades.

AFP, the French news agency, reports that the bishops were given a “roadmap” on how to stop the predatory priests that included “drawing up mandatory codes of conduct for priests, training people to spot abuse, and informing police.”

Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference warned the gathered Catholic clergy and leaders that “We do not have forever, and we dare not fail” as they go back to  their dioceses and navigate dealing with reports of abuse.

“We have shown too little mercy,” Coleridge warned, “and therefore we will receive the same.”

Worldwide sexual abuse by priests

The reports of worldwide sexual abuse by priests have rocked the Roman Catholic Church.  

“We will do all in our power to make sure that the horrors of the past are not repeated,” Coleridge said.

On Saturday, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, in an extraordinary admission, said that “files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created.”

Sister Veronica Openibo, a Nigerian nun, addressed the group Saturday:  “We must acknowledge that our mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency have brought us to this disgraceful and scandalous place we find ourselves as a Church. We pause to pray, Lord have mercy on us.”

She told the summit; “Too often we want to keep silent until the storm has passed.  This storm will not pass by.  Our credibility is at stake.”
…

your ad here

Pope Compares Child Sexual Abuse to Human Sacrifice

Posted on by SeeEU

Pope Francis has compared the sexual abuse of children to human sacrifice.

“I am reminded of the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings – frequently children – in pagan rites,” Francis said Sunday.  

He was speaking at the close of the summit of the church’s top bishops and leaders, called to design a plan on how to deal with the predatory priests who have sexually abused children and adults for decades.

AFP, the French news agency, reports that the bishops were given a “roadmap” on how to stop the predatory priests that included “drawing up mandatory codes of conduct for priests, training people to spot abuse, and informing police.”

Mark Coleridge, president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference warned the gathered Catholic clergy and leaders that “We do not have forever, and we dare not fail” as they go back to  their dioceses and navigate dealing with reports of abuse.

“We have shown too little mercy,” Coleridge warned, “and therefore we will receive the same.”

Worldwide sexual abuse by priests

The reports of worldwide sexual abuse by priests have rocked the Roman Catholic Church.  

“We will do all in our power to make sure that the horrors of the past are not repeated,” Coleridge said.

On Saturday, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, in an extraordinary admission, said that “files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created.”

Sister Veronica Openibo, a Nigerian nun, addressed the group Saturday:  “We must acknowledge that our mediocrity, hypocrisy and complacency have brought us to this disgraceful and scandalous place we find ourselves as a Church. We pause to pray, Lord have mercy on us.”

She told the summit; “Too often we want to keep silent until the storm has passed.  This storm will not pass by.  Our credibility is at stake.”
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Portion of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue Named After Pakistan Founder

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States has a long tradition of recognizing foreign figures by naming streets after them. Often that’s done at the request of an immigrant community with a significant presence in the area. That’s the case along of stretch of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue in New York City, which has been renamed after the founder of modern Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. VOA reporter Aunshuman Apte attended the naming ceremony and has this report.
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Senegalese Head to Polls; President’s Re-Election Likely

Posted on by SeeAF

Senegalese voters headed to the polls Sunday for an election President Macky Sall is expected to win after strong economic growth in his first term, although rights groups criticize him for squeezing out rivals.

Senegal’s small fish-exporting economy expanded more than 6 percent last year, one of the highest rates in Africa, driven by an ambitious reform and development plan that included the construction of a new railway.

The 57-year-old told thousands gathered for his final rally in Dakar on Friday that he would deliver universal health care and better access to education in a second term.

Results due next month

About 6.5 million people are registered to vote at polling stations that opened at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. Official results are due Friday with a run-off for the top two March 24 if no one secures a majority.

After casting his vote in the president’s hometown of Fatick, pensioner Adama Sakho, 81, said he believed Sall would win in the first round, praising his social spending policies.

“I’m retired, and now in one month I receive the same amount of money I used to make in three months,” he said. “He has the hand of God. Everything he touches gets realized. And he brings luck, because it’s during his reign that we found oil and gas.”

There are hopes of an oil and gas boom in Senegal as energy majors develop previously untapped fields off its Atlantic coast.

Spending questioned

Despite Sall’s popularity, some citizens question whether a high-speed train, new motorways and a swanky conference center will benefit average citizens in the former French colony of 15 million people where the average income is less than $200 a month.

Many people do not have reliable water or power supplies.

University professor Bakary Manga, 43, said he would vote for opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko as he was disappointed in Sall’s first term.

“It was a big nonsense with him. The cost of his projects is excessive, we can do much better with much less,” he said at a polling station in Dakar.

Rivals sidelined

Rights groups have criticized the exclusion of two popular candidates from the race in the West African nation that has long been viewed as the region’s most stable democracy. It has seen peaceful transitions of power since independence in 1960.

Former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, son of former President Abdoulaye Wade who was in power from 2000 to 2012, were barred from running because of corruption convictions.

The former president himself said in a statement the vote was being rigged and told supporters of his son to boycott the poll.

The government has dismissed the criticism, promising a free and fair vote.

The remaining challengers are Sonko, a former tax inspector who is popular among young people, as well as third-time contender and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck. Lawyer Madicke Niang and IT professor Issa Sall are also running.

Sonko told supporters at his final rally on Thursday that he would congratulate Sall if the vote was fair.

“But if he steals the victory, I ask the youth to walk to the presidential palace and chase him out,” he said.

At least one person was killed this month in clashes between Sall’s backers and his opponents in the southeastern city of Tambacounda, but campaigning has been largely peaceful.
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Senegalese Head to Polls; President’s Re-Election Likely

Posted on by SeeAF

Senegalese voters headed to the polls Sunday for an election President Macky Sall is expected to win after strong economic growth in his first term, although rights groups criticize him for squeezing out rivals.

Senegal’s small fish-exporting economy expanded more than 6 percent last year, one of the highest rates in Africa, driven by an ambitious reform and development plan that included the construction of a new railway.

The 57-year-old told thousands gathered for his final rally in Dakar on Friday that he would deliver universal health care and better access to education in a second term.

Results due next month

About 6.5 million people are registered to vote at polling stations that opened at 8 a.m. (0800 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. Official results are due Friday with a run-off for the top two March 24 if no one secures a majority.

After casting his vote in the president’s hometown of Fatick, pensioner Adama Sakho, 81, said he believed Sall would win in the first round, praising his social spending policies.

“I’m retired, and now in one month I receive the same amount of money I used to make in three months,” he said. “He has the hand of God. Everything he touches gets realized. And he brings luck, because it’s during his reign that we found oil and gas.”

There are hopes of an oil and gas boom in Senegal as energy majors develop previously untapped fields off its Atlantic coast.

Spending questioned

Despite Sall’s popularity, some citizens question whether a high-speed train, new motorways and a swanky conference center will benefit average citizens in the former French colony of 15 million people where the average income is less than $200 a month.

Many people do not have reliable water or power supplies.

University professor Bakary Manga, 43, said he would vote for opposition candidate Ousmane Sonko as he was disappointed in Sall’s first term.

“It was a big nonsense with him. The cost of his projects is excessive, we can do much better with much less,” he said at a polling station in Dakar.

Rivals sidelined

Rights groups have criticized the exclusion of two popular candidates from the race in the West African nation that has long been viewed as the region’s most stable democracy. It has seen peaceful transitions of power since independence in 1960.

Former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall and Karim Wade, son of former President Abdoulaye Wade who was in power from 2000 to 2012, were barred from running because of corruption convictions.

The former president himself said in a statement the vote was being rigged and told supporters of his son to boycott the poll.

The government has dismissed the criticism, promising a free and fair vote.

The remaining challengers are Sonko, a former tax inspector who is popular among young people, as well as third-time contender and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck. Lawyer Madicke Niang and IT professor Issa Sall are also running.

Sonko told supporters at his final rally on Thursday that he would congratulate Sall if the vote was fair.

“But if he steals the victory, I ask the youth to walk to the presidential palace and chase him out,” he said.

At least one person was killed this month in clashes between Sall’s backers and his opponents in the southeastern city of Tambacounda, but campaigning has been largely peaceful.
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Kenya Ride-Hailing Company ‘Little Cab’ Expanding to Tanzania, Ghana

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenya’s ride-hailing company ‘Little Cab’ is expanding to Tanzania and Ghana. The company will start offering rides in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam next week and plans to launch in Accra by May. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Kenya Ride-Hailing Company ‘Little Cab’ Expanding to Tanzania, Ghana

Posted on by SeeAF

Kenya’s ride-hailing company ‘Little Cab’ is expanding to Tanzania and Ghana. The company will start offering rides in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam next week and plans to launch in Accra by May. VOA’s Mariama Diallo reports.
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Part of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue Named After Pakistan Founder

Posted on by SeeUS

The United States has a long tradition of recognizing foreign figures by naming streets after them. Often that’s done at the request of an immigrant community with a significant presence in the area. That’s the case along of stretch of Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue in New York City, which has been renamed after the founder of modern Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. VOA reporter Aunshuman Apte attended the naming ceremony and has this report.
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Report: Kushner Family Firm Pays $1.1B for 6,000 Apartments

Posted on by SeeUS

The real estate firm run by White House adviser Jared Kushner’s family has pulled off its biggest deal in more than a decade.

Kushner Cos. paid $1.1 billion for a portfolio of about 6,000 apartments in Maryland and Virginia that had been owned by Lone Star Funds, according to a story published Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

 

It marks Kushner Cos.’ most expensive purchase since paying $1.8 billion for a Manhattan skyscraper in 2007.

 

The debt taken on in the 2007 deal strained Kushner Cos.’ finances until last year when it sold the building to Brookfield Asset Management. The 41-story tower at 666 Fifth Ave. still serves as Kushner Cos. headquarters as part of a 99-year lease with Brookfield.

 

Kushner Cos.’ dealings have been drawing more scrutiny because of its connections to Jared Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law as well as a senior adviser. The company is run by Jared Kushner’s father, Charles.

 

Kushner Cos. didn’t respond to a request for comment Saturday from The Associated Press. The company previously has said that it has become more difficult to do business because of the heightened attention stemming from Jared Kushner’s links to Trump, whose own business interests have raised questions about potential conflicts with his duties in the Oval Office.

 

With its latest acquisition, Kushner Cos. now owns about 22,000 apartment units with plans to boost its portfolio to nearly 30,000 units, according to the Journal.
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Poland Party Leader Promises More Pricey Social Benefits

Posted on by SeeEU

Poland’s ruling party leader has pledged more social benefits for families with children and for the elderly as he opened the right-wing party’s campaign ahead of key elections this year.

Speaking at a party convention Saturday, Jaroslaw Kaczynski announced an upgrade to the generous social program of his Law and Justice party, a policy that has kept the party on top of the political polls since it won power in 2015.

But opinion polls show the party could lose to a united opposition in the European Parliament election in May and in a vote for Poland’s national parliament in the fall. 

Kaczynski, Poland’s most powerful politician, is also facing recent allegations of soliciting a bribe and unlawful participation in business negotiations.

He urged supporters to rally for the party ahead of the elections. His speech drew applause and chants of “Jaroslaw, Jaroslaw!” from party members.

But it also drew criticism from the opposition and economists about the high cost of his promises, at a time when Poland’s health care and education systems remain strapped.

Kaczynski promised to expand family benefits to cover every child, abolish taxes for young employees and raise payouts for retirees.He promised to restore bus connections among small towns and villages that were canceled years ago as unprofitable.

He said the decisions aim to improve “the quality of life, an increase in our freedom and equality” as Poland tries to catch up with richer Western Europe.

Prime Minister Premier Mateusz Morawiecki estimated the costs of the program at up to 40 billion zlotys (9 billion euros) a year, but said he knows how to finance it.
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Iceland Allows Killing of 2,130 Whales Over 5 Years

Posted on by SeeEU

Iceland’s whaling industry will be allowed to keep hunting whales for at least another five years, killing up to 2,130 baleen whales under a new quota issued by the government.

The five-year whaling policy was up for renewal when Fisheries Minister Kristjan Juliusson announced this week an annual quota of 209 fin whales and 217 minke whales for the next five years.

While many Icelanders support whale hunting, a growing number of businessmen and politicians are against it because of to the North Atlantic island nation’s dependence on tourism.

Whaling vs. tourism

Whaling, they say, is bad for business and poses a threat to the country’s reputation and the expanding international tourism that has become a mainstay of Iceland’s national economy.

The Icelandic Travel Industry Association issued a statement Friday saying the government was damaging the nation’s “great interests” and the country’s reputation to benefit a small whaling sector that is struggling to sell its products.

“Their market for whale meat is Japan, Norway and the Republic of Palau,” the tourism statement said. “Our market is the entire globe.”

Iceland’s Statistics Agency says tourism accounts for 8.6 percent of Iceland’s economic production. In 2016, tourism produced more revenue than Iceland’s fishing industry for the first time.

Quota never filled 

Iceland has four harpoon-equipped vessels, owned by three shipping companies reported to be running them at a loss or small profit. Last year, the industry killed five minke whales and 145 fin whales, according to the Directorate of Fisheries.

Since commercial whale hunting resumed in Iceland in 2006, whaling companies have never killed their full quota. As a result, it’s considered unlikely that all 2,130 whales will be killed under this policy.

The International Whaling Commission imposed a ban on commercial whaling in the 1980s because of dwindling stocks. Japan in December said it was pulling out of the IWC because of its disagreement with that policy. Iceland is still a member of the IWC.
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Somalia’s Oldest Federal Lawmaker Fatally Shot in Mogadishu

Posted on by SeeAF

A Somali federal parliamentary lawmaker was fatally shot Saturday in Mogadishu, security officials said.

Al-Shabab militants armed with pistols shot the lawmaker, Osman Ilmi Boqorre, as he was visiting his new house that is under construction in the Karan neighborhood north of Mogadishu, according to witnesses.

A statement released by Radio Andalus, the terror group’s official mouthpiece, said “Members of  our Mujahidiin shot and killed the longest-serving member of the parliament of the apostate government.” Al-Shabab is allied with al-Qaida.

Boqorre died before the first responders arrived, police say.

Boqorre, was the oldest member of the current Somali Parliament. He was a lieutenant colonel in the army and became the deputy speaker of the Parliament of the then Somali Transitional Government (TFG) in 2007, but he resigned for health-related reasons in 2010.

One of his colleagues in the Parliament, Dahir Amin Jessow, was among those who first received news of the killing, and told VOA that Boqorre was known as a peacemaker and negotiator.

“He was a peace-loving person, the oldest, and one of the very active members of the Parliament,” Jessow said.

Boqorre is the first lawmaker to be killed in Mogadishu this year.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the killing, but al-Shabab militants typically take credit for the assassinations of lawmakers, civil servants, other government workers and selective civil society activists.

In 2005, the group claimed responsibility for killing the late lawmaker’s son, Khadar Osman, in Mogadishu.

It’s the second high-profile assassination this week. On Wednesday, al-Shabab militants killed Deputy Attorney General Mohamed Abdirahman Mursal in Mogadishu.
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Somalia’s Oldest Federal Lawmaker Fatally Shot in Mogadishu

Posted on by SeeAF

A Somali federal parliamentary lawmaker was fatally shot Saturday in Mogadishu, security officials said.

Al-Shabab militants armed with pistols shot the lawmaker, Osman Ilmi Boqorre, as he was visiting his new house that is under construction in the Karan neighborhood north of Mogadishu, according to witnesses.

A statement released by Radio Andalus, the terror group’s official mouthpiece, said “Members of  our Mujahidiin shot and killed the longest-serving member of the parliament of the apostate government.” Al-Shabab is allied with al-Qaida.

Boqorre died before the first responders arrived, police say.

Boqorre, was the oldest member of the current Somali Parliament. He was a lieutenant colonel in the army and became the deputy speaker of the Parliament of the then Somali Transitional Government (TFG) in 2007, but he resigned for health-related reasons in 2010.

One of his colleagues in the Parliament, Dahir Amin Jessow, was among those who first received news of the killing, and told VOA that Boqorre was known as a peacemaker and negotiator.

“He was a peace-loving person, the oldest, and one of the very active members of the Parliament,” Jessow said.

Boqorre is the first lawmaker to be killed in Mogadishu this year.

No one has yet claimed responsibility for the killing, but al-Shabab militants typically take credit for the assassinations of lawmakers, civil servants, other government workers and selective civil society activists.

In 2005, the group claimed responsibility for killing the late lawmaker’s son, Khadar Osman, in Mogadishu.

It’s the second high-profile assassination this week. On Wednesday, al-Shabab militants killed Deputy Attorney General Mohamed Abdirahman Mursal in Mogadishu.
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US-Backed Syrian Forces Hand Over 150 IS Militants to Iraq

Posted on by SeeEA

Iraqi security officials say they have received custody of a second batch of 150 Iraqi Islamic State fighters from U.S.-backed forces in Syria.

 

Two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of media regulations, said the Syrian Democratic Forces handed over Iraqi nationals on Saturday night.

 

The fighters will be interrogated about their participation with the jihadist group, the officials said.

 

The SDF has told Iraqi authorities it has captured 650 Iraqi militants in the fighting for Baghouz, an IS-held village in eastern Syria, according to the officials.

 

On Thursday, the SDF handed over 150 militants, in the first significant transfer to Iraq.

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has said Iraq is also preparing to receive thousands of Iraqi women and children living in SDF camps in Syria.
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US-Backed Syrian Forces Hand Over 150 IS Militants to Iraq

Posted on by SeeEA

Iraqi security officials say they have received custody of a second batch of 150 Iraqi Islamic State fighters from U.S.-backed forces in Syria.

 

Two officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of media regulations, said the Syrian Democratic Forces handed over Iraqi nationals on Saturday night.

 

The fighters will be interrogated about their participation with the jihadist group, the officials said.

 

The SDF has told Iraqi authorities it has captured 650 Iraqi militants in the fighting for Baghouz, an IS-held village in eastern Syria, according to the officials.

 

On Thursday, the SDF handed over 150 militants, in the first significant transfer to Iraq.

 

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi has said Iraq is also preparing to receive thousands of Iraqi women and children living in SDF camps in Syria.
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Saudi Arabia Names Princess as New US Ambassador

Posted on by SeeEA

Saudi Arabia has replaced its ambassador to the United States, a royal decree announced Saturday, as the fallout over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder tests relations between the two allies.

Princess Reema bint Bandar was appointed the kingdom’s first woman envoy to Washington, replacing Prince Khalid bin Salman, who was named vice defense minister.

Prince Khalid is the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler who also serves as the defense minister.

The reshuffle comes as ties with Washington are under strain following Khashoggi’s murder last October in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

After initially denying they knew anything of Khashoggi’s disappearance, the Saudis finally acknowledged that a team killed him inside the consulate, but described it as a rogue operation.

U.S. lawmakers have threatened to take tougher action against Saudi Arabia over the brutal killing amid claims that the crown prince was personally responsible.

The Saudi government has strongly denied he had anything to do with the murder of Khashoggi who was a columnist with The Washington Post.

The killing refocused attention on a Saudi-led military coalition’s bombing campaign in Yemen, which is gripped by what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Earlier this month, the U.S. House voted overwhelmingly to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war effort in neighboring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump who has publicly thrown his support behind the crown prince.

U.S. lawmakers this month also said they were probing whether Trump was rushing to sell sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia to please corporate supporters who stand to profit handsomely.

The House of Representatives committee has voiced fears that Saudi Arabia could convert U.S. expertise into making a nuclear bomb, heightening already severe tensions with regional rival Iran.
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