Tunisia launches 'Yakfi' quit smoking campaign

December 29, 2017

The Ministry of Public Health in Tunisia has re-launched a program which it hopes will encourage its citizens to stop smoking.

First launched in 2016, the “Yakfi” campaign comes as part of the cooperation between the Ministry of Public Health, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

As part of “Yakfi”, the Arabic words for “enough”, a free phone number has been issued to help support those wishing to quit smoking.

Health Minister Imed Hammami told Shems FM that the campaign offers six weeks of support during the weaning period with ongoing monitoring of the goals and commitments.

The “Mobile Tobacco Cessation” which represents the end of smoking using smart phone apps will be applied through SMS interaction. “This action is the first axis of the project to promote health through modern technologies,” the ministry added.

According to Hammami, the proposal was presented to the government along with a pitch for an amendment to the anti-smoking law.

According to the ministry’s statement broadcasted by Mosaique FM, the new measures proposed will include a ban on the sale of cigarettes to those under 18, a ban on the sale of cigarettes near schools and hospitals and a total ban on smoking in cafes, restaurants and other public spaces.

Those who smoke in unauthorized places will be fined just over $20, double the previous fine of $10.

Annually more than 6,900 Tunisians die as a result of diseases linked to tobacco use, while more than 28,000 children and more than 205,9000 adults continue to use tobacco every day.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-tunisia-launches-yakfi-quit-smoking-campaign/.

Celebrating Berber new year marks shift in Algeria's identity politics

2018-01-08
By Lamine Ghanmi - Tunis

Algeria will become the first North African coun­try to celebrate the Ber­ber new year as a na­tional public holiday. The move signals a major shift in identity politics, which had been dominated by strife and tensions between the government in Algiers and most of the Berber-speaking population in the restive north-eastern Kabylie region.

Berber activists hailed Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s de­cision making the Berber new year day, Yennayer, a public holiday as the crowning achievement of a his­toric struggle and a victory against what they described as Algeria’s “cultural tyranny of Arabism and Arab Ba’athism.” The holiday will be on January 12 this year.

“Who would believe that under the leadership of this president, who had declared with an arro­gant and threatening tone that Tamazight will never be recognized as an official language, that this laguage would be enshrined in the constitution as a national and offi­cial language and Yennayer would be declared a national holiday and paid day off for all Algerians?” asked Ali Ait Djoudi, a veteran activist from the Berber Cultural Move­ment, in a message on social media.

Algerian writer Amin Zaoui said: “At last, Algerians are reconciling slowly with their history, their an­cestors and their identity.”

“There is a long way to climb the path of Lalla Dihya Kahena, Juba, Apulee, Massinissa and others,” he added, naming historical figures known for defense of Berber iden­tity and territory.

Algerian writer Kamel Daoud said: “The decision to make Yen­nayer a national holiday was to be hailed because it would help, over the long run, heal deep wounds and harvest fruits in the future.”

Analysts said Bouteflika an­nounced the recognition of the Berber holiday before the 12th an­niversary of the implementation of the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation to strengthen social and political stability ahead of the presidential election next year.

The charter, proposed by Boutef­lika to end the civil war by offering amnesty for most acts of violence committed in the conflict pitting Islamist jihadists and the military, was endorsed by a referendum in 2005 and implemented in February 2006.

The conflict broke out in Decem­ber 1991 after the army-backed gov­ernment scrapped elections radi­cal Islamists were poised to win. It claimed the lives of an estimated 200,000 people, mostly civilians killed by Islamists.

“The decision over Yennayer came in these moments of doubts and multiple crises. It reinforces the cohesion of the nation by putting an end to unnecessary misunderstand­ings that are the result of a govern­ance that lacked farsightedness and anticipation,” said Algerian writer Brahim Tazaghart.

It followed the recognition of the Berber language as an official and national language alongside Arabic.

“It is a historic and bold decision by President Bouteflika. It ends the dictatorship and obscurantism of the Ba’athist culture, which hurts us each day by brandishing its rac­ist concept of the Arab nation and spawning hatred within society and undermining the nation’s unity,” said Algerian MP Khaled Tazaghart from the Future Front party, an op­position group.

Language and culture issues go to the heart of Algeria’s identity. It has been a determining factor in rela­tions with other countries.

The French colonial authorities banned Arabic in primary schools in Algeria, dismissing it as a backward language. After independence, in 1962, nationalist leaders adopted an Arabisation policy to undo the lin­guistic legacy of 132 years of French occupation. Towards that end, they recruited thousands of teachers from Egypt and Syria to fill positions left by fleeing French teachers.

However, most of the Egyptian and Syrian teachers were members of the Muslim Brotherhood fleeing crackdowns by Arab national­ist leaders in Cairo and Damascus. Their massive presence in the edu­cation system sparked a backlash in parts of Algeria, especially in Berber-speaking areas, against what was perceived as Arab domination with claims that the Arab teachers had turned Algerian schools into “factories churning out fanatical Psalmists.”

The spread of Arabic influenced the Berbers for centuries, including from the 15th century and through the 17th century when Arabisation of Berbers was accelerated by waves of Andalusian refugees expelled from Spain.

Berbers maintained their tradi­tions, dialects and rituals even after accepting Islam as a religion, mainly in Morocco and Algeria. Their total number in the two countries is esti­mated at 28 million.

Gradually, Algeria has met the de­mands of advocates of Berber cul­ture and language.

A Berber uprising involving a school boycott in Kabylie region in 1995 by parents protesting that their children could speak but not write in their native language led Algerian officials to introduce the Tamazight language into primary education.

In 2002, the government recognized the language as a national one following a deadly protest. The lan­guage was recognized as a national and official language, on equal foot­ing with Arabic, in 2016.

Berber activists have called on the Algerian government to allocate funding to the promotion and the use of their language. Thousands took to the streets in December to back such a demand.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=86693.

Police clash with doctors protesting in Algiers

January 3, 2018

Algerian police prevented doctors from taking part in a protest outside the Mustafa Pasha Hospital in Algiers on Wednesday. The protesters’ demand include improved working conditions in the country’s hospitals and for the government to reconsider compulsory civil service.

The National Association of Independent Medical Practitioners organized the demonstration outside the hospital before the doctors tried to take their protest beyond the hospital grounds and into the streets. That is when they were blocked by the security forces.

A number of protesters were injured in the scuffles and arrested.

Over the past two years pharmacy, dental and medical students have taken part in a number of protests, sit-ins and hunger strikes demanding better services from the Ministry of Health and better prospects once they graduate. Many are forced to work in poor conditions with few employment rights and, despite promises from the Ministry to provide better services, the government has done little to improve the situation.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180103-police-clash-with-doctors-protesting-in-algiers/.

Algeria to introduce electronic elections in 2022

December 29, 2017

The Algerian Administration will be able to organize electronic elections as early as 2022, the interior ministry announced yesterday.

“We will be ready as an administration, to organize electronic elections, from the legislative elections of 2022,” Noureddine Bedoui said in an interview with Radio Algerie Internationale.

Bedoui further added that “2017 was the year of elections par excellence through the two important deadlines that were legislative and local”, he welcomed the “constitutional deadlines after disturbances in the past that have had negative results both nationally and internationally.”

However the election turnout since 2007 has been very poor with only a 30 per cent participation rate in some of the elections due to large distrust in the process and many instances of election fraud that have taken place.

In this light, the government is looking for ways to prevent the fraudulent process by adopting electronic elections. Regarding the criticism, according to Bedoui, measures adopted this year have allowed for a cleaner election and the removal of 1,300,000 names from the electorate owing to death or “multiple registrations”.

This year’s elections “were held in good conditions”, Bedoui said, adding that they allowed “the new constitutional values ??from the amended Constitution, namely democracy, freedom of expression, opinion and the press as well as the consolidation of the citizen’s place and all the legal conditions gathered through the revision of the electoral code.”

As well as the creation of the Municipal People’s Assemblies and Wilayas (APC / APW) in monitoring local elections, Bedoui added that more work is needed “in terms of support for new elected officials in terms of training and necessary instructions for local development and the creation of wealth on the basis of local potentialities”.

Bedoui praised the work done by the Independent High Electoral Monitoring Body (HIISE) this year and confirmed an evaluation of its work will take place to further improve the electoral system.

Algeria’s ruling National Liberation Front party won legislative elections held in May this year though with decreased support compared to previous years. The election was marred by claims of fraud and only 35 per cent of Algerians voted in the election as many had little faith in the ballot box aligning their affairs and believed the outcome of the vote had already been decided.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171229-algeria-to-introduce-electronic-elections-in-2022/.

Algeria sets Berber New Year as public holiday

December 28, 2017

The Berber New Year of Yennayer will be recognized as a national holiday in Algeria for the first time on 12 January, it was announced yesterday.

The Council of Ministers met yesterday with President of the Republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, and issued a statement announcing the new national holiday.

“By offering his best wishes to the Algerian people on the eve of the year 2018, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has announced his decision to devote Yennayer as a day off and paid as of January 12, the government being responsible for making the appropriate arrangements for this effect.”

The head of state “urged the government to spare no effort to generalize the teaching and use of Tamazight, in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the Constitution” and also instructed the government to accelerate the preparation of the draft law establishing an Algerian Academy of the Amazigh Language, according to the Council’s statement.

The idea behind this latest move is to strengthen “national unity and stability” at a time when the country faces threats from “multiple internal and regional challenges”, the President said.

In the last few weeks, Algeria’s Berber region has witnessed a number of protests after a proposed draft law making the Berber language compulsory in schools across the country was blocked by parliamentarians.

Tamazight was recognized as an official language of Algeria when the Constitution was amended in 2016.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20171228-algeria-sets-berber-new-year-as-public-holiday/.

Bahrain sentences six to death for 'assassination plot'

2017-12-25

DUBAI - Bahrain's top military court sentenced six men to death on Monday after convicting them of charges including plotting to assassinate the Gulf state's armed forces chief, state media reported.

It was the first official mention of any plot against the life of Field Marshal Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, who is a member of the ruling family, but the Bahrain News Agency gave no further details of when or where it was alleged to have taken place.

Tiny but strategic Bahrain has been gripped by unrest for years as its Sunni royal family has resisted demands from its Shiite majority for a constitutional monarchy with an elected prime minister.

A judicial source said that all six of those sentenced to death on Monday were Shiites.

BNA said that one of them was a serving soldier before his arrest and that all six were also stripped of their citizenship.

The court sentenced seven other defendants to seven-year jail terms and deprived them too of their citizenship. Five men were acquitted.

Only 10 of the defendants are in custody, BNA said. The other eight are on the run -- either inside Bahrain or in Iran or Iraq.

Since crushing Shiite-led street protests in 2011, Bahraini authorities have cracked down on all dissent, banning both religious and secular opposition parties and jailing hundreds.

Human rights watchdogs say that counter-terrorism legislation has been abused to prosecute many peaceful opposition figures.

The United States has criticized Bahrain for its human rights record but the kingdom holds a strategic position just across the Gulf from Iran and provides the home base for the US Fifth Fleet.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=86556.

Former Peruvian strongman released from clinic after pardon

January 05, 2018

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori left the clinic Thursday where he has been receiving treatment since his controversial pardon from a 25-year jail sentence. The 79-year-old former strongman departed in a wheelchair alongside his youngest son less than two weeks after President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski announced his release.

Dressed in jeans and a blue polo shirt, Fujimori waved to a crowd of supporters gathered outside the clinic before entering a black SUV. "We are very happy to welcome our father in this new chapter of life!" daughter Keiko Fujimori posted on Twitter along with a photo featuring the family.

The pardon sent thousands of Peruvians into the streets in protest and drew international condemnation. United Nations human rights experts called Fujimori's pardon an appalling "slap in the face" to the victims of human rights abuses that undermined the work of Peru's judiciary.

The pardon came three days after Kuczynski narrowly escaped impeachment following a vote in which 10 members of Fujimori's party unexpectedly abstained. Polls show a majority of Peruvians believe a behind-the-scene deal was struck between Kuczynski and Fujimori's lawmaker son.

Kuczynski's allies have denied any such quid pro quo took place. Fujimori was convicted in 2009 for his role in the killings of 25 people, including an 8-year-old boy, during his decade-long rule. He was also later found guilty of having had knowledge of the existence of death squads financed with public money that killed civilians accused of being Shining Path members.

Some Peruvians credit him with stabilizing the economy and defeating the country's Maoist guerrillas while others condemn him for permitting widespread human rights violations. Fujimori apologized to Peruvians from his hospital bed following his release.

"I have disappointed some compatriots," he said. "I ask them for forgiveness with all my heart." Fujimori's pardon and Kuczynski's near impeachment have thrown the nation with one of Latin America's fastest-growing economies into a new period of uncertainty. Kuczynski was already deeply unpopular before an opposition-led investigation revealed his private consulting firm had accepted $782,000 in payments from the Brazilian construction company at the center of the region's largest corruption scandal. The payments were made when Kuczynski was a high-ranking minister over a decade ago.

The former Wall Street banker repeatedly denied having had any knowledge of the transactions. Several key members of Kuczynski's government have resigned since the vote. Fujimori had requested a pardon since 2013, but authorities said he did not suffer from any grave, incurable illness. That changed on Christmas Eve when Kuczynski announced he was freeing Fujimori for "humanitarian reasons" after doctors determined he suffered from incurable and degenerative problems. Not details have been provided on exactly what condition Fujimori is facing.

Peruvian law says that no person convicted of murder or kidnapping can receive a presidential pardon except in the case of a terminal illness.

2 top officials quit Peru government amid political crisis

December 28, 2017

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Two senior officials resigned Wednesday from Peru's government, the latest in a wave of defections amid a political crisis in the South American country. Minister of Culture Salvador del Solar announced his resignation on Twitter without giving a reason for his decision, while presidential adviser Máximo San Roman said in a letter to embattled President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski that his recommendations were not being taken into consideration.

Their departures come days after the resignations of three members of parliament from the president's party and his minister of interior. Kuczynski only barely survived an impeachment vote by congress last week for alleged corruption, and he set off protests at home and abroad with a Christmas Eve pardon of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori in what many Peruvians viewed as a political payback.

Kuczynski said he granted a medical pardon to the ailing 79-year-old former president on humanitarian grounds. The action allows Fujimori to leave prison after serving less than half a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses, including killings of 25 people by the military, that took place during his administration in the 1990s.

Relatives and a lawyer for some of the victims called Wednesday for judicial authorities or the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to reverse the pardon for Fujimori, who issued an apology from his hospital bed for people "wronged" by his government.

"Fujimori killed my son, and now Kuczynski in a cowardly and cruel manner ends up killing the rest of the family," one of the relatives, Javier Roca, told reporters. Abstentions by lawmakers from a party led by a Fujimori son allowed Kuczynski to narrowly avoid being impeached late Thursday over a payment that his consulting firm received a decade ago from Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which has admitted bribing public officials throughout Latin America to win public works contracts.

Italy's famous cursing commander wants to be 5-Star lawmaker

January 04, 2018

ROME (AP) — As Italy's political parties scrambled to solidify coalitions and find candidates for the March 4 parliamentary election, the 5-Star Movement announced Thursday that one would-be lawmaker is the coast guard commander who famously cursed out the captain of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia.

The 5-Stars confirmed Thursday that Gregorio De Falco had nominated himself as a possible candidate. De Falco became a hero in Italy after recordings from the Jan. 13, 2012 Concordia disaster off Tuscany showed that he used colorful expletives to order Capt. Francesco Schettino to return to the doomed cruise ship to make sure all its passengers and crew had evacuated.

Schettino was later convicted of abandoning ship and other crimes related to the deaths of 32 people. The 5-Stars are the largest opposition party in parliament but have ruled out forming coalitions. Recent polls give Italy's center-right coalition the lead going into the election, with around 40 percent support. Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi and the head of the anti-immigrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, discussed strategy and platforms Wednesday ahead of a meeting next week.

Smaller parties, though, were still cobbling together alliances to put forward parliamentary candidates by the Jan. 29 deadline. Italy's new voting system seeks to encourage stability and coalition-building through the creation of colleges that field candidates, but it has posed problems for niche parties trying to go it alone.

On Thursday, longtime radical leader Emma Bonino announced an alliance of her own after denouncing as undemocratic the new law's requirement that new or small parties outside parliament get thousands of signatures before being allowed to field candidates. Bonino's new +Europe party found an ally in the small center-left Democratic Center party, and can skip the signature-gathering effort.

The deal salvaged the longtime alliance between the radicals and the ruling Democratic Party, which has seen factions splinter off in the year since former Premier Matteo Renzi lost a political gamble with a failed referendum. The infighting has contributed to the center-left's decreasing popularity in recent polls.

The 5-Stars, meanwhile, were having problems of their own after their online self-candidacy platform crashed. The 5-Star candidate for premier, Luigi Di Maio, said Thursday the greater-than-expected digital turnout was proof that the movement, which prides itself on its social media outreach, is the answer to political apathy in Italy.

He announced De Falco's candidacy with pride, adding that De Falco was joined by thousands of journalists, professors and celebrities who nominated themselves as potential 5-Star candidates. They will be now considered by the movement's leadership and then put to a vote by its members, part of the "direct democracy" the 5-Star Movement claims as its hallmark.

Germany's Merkel embarks on new talks to form government

January 07, 2018

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel embarked Sunday on talks with the center-left Social Democrats on forming a new government, with leaders stressing the need for speed as they attempt to break an impasse more than three months after the country's election.

Leaders aim to decide by Friday whether there's enough common ground to move on to formal coalition negotiations. Whatever the result, it will be a while yet before a new administration is in place to end what is already post-World War II Germany's longest effort to put together a new government.

WHY IS THERE AN IMPASSE?

Germany's Sept. 24 election produced a parliamentary majority for only two plausible coalitions: the outgoing alliance of Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union and its Bavaria-only sister, the Christian Social Union, with the Social Democrats; or an untried combination of the conservatives, the pro-business Free Democrats and the left-leaning Greens. The Social Democrats vowed after slumping to their worst post-war election result to go into opposition, so Merkel opened talks on the alternative coalition — which collapsed in November. The Social Democrats then reluctantly reconsidered their refusal to mull extending the "grand coalition" of Germany's biggest parties. Shortly before Christmas, Germany beat its previous record of 86 days — set in 2013 — for the time from an election to the swearing-in of a new government.

HOW MUCH LONGER?

If the parties decide this week that they're prepared to open formal coalition negotiations, that will require approval Jan. 21 by a congress of the Social Democrats. Party leader Martin Schulz, Merkel's defeated challenger in September, may face a tough job convincing members who so far are deeply skeptical of being junior partners in another "grand coalition." Those negotiations would take weeks. Further, Social Democrat leaders have promised to hold a ballot of the full party membership on any coalition deal — taking several more weeks.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

Possible stumbling blocks include migration: the conservatives want to maintain a block that bans migrants granted a status short of full asylum from bringing their closest relatives to Germany, while the Social Democrats want to end it. The two sides could also clash over the Social Democrats' call to reform the health insurance system and their differing ambitions for the European Union. Schulz recently advocated aiming for a federal "United States of Europe" by 2025, which goes too far for conservatives.

WHAT IF TALKS FAIL?

If the parties don't form a coalition, the only remaining options would be for Merkel's conservatives to lead an unprecedented minority government, or a new election. Schulz has said some form of support for a minority government is an option for his party, but Merkel has made clear she wants a coalition. Polls so far suggest that a new election would produce a similar result to the last one.

AND WHO WOULD DECIDE?

The road to either a minority government or a new election involves President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who so far has opposed a new vote. The German parliament can't dissolve itself and Merkel can't call a confidence vote as a caretaker chancellor. Steinmeier would first have to propose a chancellor to parliament, who must win support from a majority of all lawmakers to be elected. If that fails, parliament has 14 days to elect a candidate of its own choosing, again by an absolute majority. If that also fails, Steinmeier could choose to appoint a candidate who wins the most votes but falls short of a majority — or dissolve parliament. An election would then have to be held within 60 days.

German academy launches project to document Arab and Islamic heritage

January 3, 2018

The Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, Germany has launched a digital platform to document millions of books and manuscripts from the Arab and Islamic world, Al-Jazeera reported today.

The platform named “The Arab Library” was launched earlier this week, providing researchers and academics access to rare and original historical texts. The project is scheduled to run until 2036, with the possibility of its work being extended if demand exists.

A budget of €7.5 million ($9 million), funded by the German federal government and local authorities in various states, was allocated to the initiative, which is being supervised by Dr Freena Kalim, a professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Leipzig University.

“This project is a huge tool to help scientists and researchers in the field of Arabic studies and Islamic sciences,” Kalim said in a statement. “Arab literature has been inherited for about 1,400 years, and the culture of books in the Arab-Islamic civilization is rich, vibrant, diverse and unlike any other.”

The collection features literature, religious texts, encyclopedias, dictionaries, news briefings and books on poetry, travel and nature. Most of the library derives from the period between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries, one that was classified as a phase of decline of the Arab-Islamic culture after its golden age in Andalusia.

Whilst the entirety of all texts is not accessible, descriptions of the books, including their authors, time and place of publication, and notes made on the original copies are detailed. Additionally, all materials are presented in their native Arabic, alongside English and German translation.

Kalim emphasized that the material would shed more light on the social and political variables of people during the reign of the Mamluks and subsequently the Ottomans in Egypt, Syria and Anatolia.

She expressed hope that readers would connect the exhibits and their historical context, enriching the documented literature on the Arab world and even rewrite parts of history.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180103-german-academy-launches-project-to-document-arab-and-islamic-heritage/.

Press freedom on the agenda as Erdogan meets Macron in Paris

January 05, 2018

PARIS (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is traveling to Paris for talks with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, amid protests over press freedom and the deteriorating state of human rights in Turkey.

Erdogan is making his first trip to France since a failed coup in 2016 that was followed by strong repression. Around 50,000 people have been arrested since then and 110,000 others removed from public sector jobs.

About 30 activists of French watchdog Reporters without Borders staged a protest at the Turkish embassy on Friday, holding images journalists jailed in Turkey. Macron is expected to raise the question of press freedom with Erdogan. They are also set to discuss Turkish ties with the European Union as well as the Palestinian issue and the conflict in Syria and Iraq.

Severe storm batters western Europe; 1 dead, 23 injured

January 03, 2018

LONDON (AP) — A violent storm packing winds up to 100 mph (160 kph) battered parts of western Europe on Wednesday, derailing trains, toppling trees and halting flights. Authorities said one person was killed and at least 23 others were injured in France and Switzerland.

The high winds played havoc on transport, derailing trains in Switzerland and Germany and leaving hundreds of thousands of homes across France, Switzerland, Britain and Ireland without power. Officials said one skier was killed in the French Alps after being hit by a falling tree in Morillon in Haute-Savoie.

Eight people suffered mostly minor injuries when a train was blown off the tracks near Lenk, a town south of Bern, the Swiss capital, according to police. In western Germany, a train derailed near Luenen when it crashed into a tree that had fallen onto the tracks. No injuries were reported.

The storm forced the cancellation of flights at Zurich and Basel airports and toppled a truck on a Swiss highway. Thousands of households at Lake Zurich were left without power, and firefighters were called to help with toppled trees blocking streets and flooding due to heavy rain.

Swiss police say several people were stuck inside a cable car that halted in the ski resort of Pizol in the Swiss Alps. Klaus Nussbaumer, the head of the company that operates the cable cars, told AP that those trapped were later rescued to safety.

High winds prompted ski lifts to stop running at other Swiss resorts as well. In England, the storm brought hail and lightning. Overturned vehicles forced officials to close portions of three major highways. Some bridges were also shut down.

Extremely high tides caused the partial collapse of a harbor wall in Cornwall in southwestern England, bringing seawater flooding in. The country's main weather forecaster, the Met Office, says gusts reached 100 mph in Cumbria, 280 miles (450 kilometers) northwest of London, early Wednesday.

The storm battered northern France with winds surpassing 90 mph (145 kph) — some of the worst gusts to hit the country in years. Many people posted photos of destroyed cars, collapsed scaffolding and uprooted trees on social media.

France's national electricity provider says the storm left some 200,000 households without electricity, including 30,000 in the Paris region. In the Paris region, a falling tree hit a car and seriously injured one person, while another resident was seriously hurt falling from a building. In all, the Interior Ministry said 15 people in France were injured, with four in serious condition, following accidents caused by high winds.

Strong winds also caused delays at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, as extra precautions were taken to safely get travelers into aircraft. In Germany, highways near Duisburg and Juelich in the west were partially blocked because of toppled trees and flooding. The zoos in Munich and Augsburg in Bavaria closed for the day and the railway going up Germany's tallest mountain, the Zugspitze, was shut down because of the storm.

In neighboring Austria, a ski jumping practice in Innsbruck was cancelled due to the strong winds and snow.

Thomas Adamson in Paris and Frank Jordans and Kirsten Grieshaber, both in Berlin, contributed.

UK rail passengers face disruption in conductor dispute

January 08, 2018

LONDON (AP) — Rail passengers in some parts of England are facing travel disruptions this week after workers at five train companies supported strikes over the role of conductors responsible for safety on board.

The long-running dispute involves members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union and the companies. Strikes are set for Monday, Wednesday and Friday on South Western Railway, Arriva Rail North, Merseyrail and Greater Anglia, while the strike on Southern is Monday.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is being urged to convene a summit to resolve the dispute over plans to make train doors driver-operated only. Rail companies say this will be more efficient. Unions say this will hurt safety.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, says "It's a new year but it's the same old story for London's hard-pressed rail passengers."

UK's Northern Ireland minister quits as May shuffles Cabinet

January 08, 2018

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May is starting the new political year with a shake-up of her Cabinet. May is trying to bolster her authority ahead of a crucial new phase in Brexit negotiations on Britain's divorce from the European Union.

As Parliament returned Monday from its Christmas break, May was summoning ministers to 10 Downing St. to be moved, promoted or demoted. Several senior ministers are expected to stay, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

In the first announcement, Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire says he is resigning due to health reasons. His resignation comes amid a continuing political crisis in Northern Ireland, whose power-sharing administration has been suspended for a year amid a stalemate between the main Irish nationalist and British unionist parties.

UK's May plans Cabinet changes as Brexit enters new phase

January 07, 2018

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to shuffle her Cabinet as she tries to bolster her authority ahead of a crucial new phase in Brexit negotiations. May said she will re-jig government ranks "soon," with changes expected as early as Monday.

She did not indicate which ministers are set to lose their jobs. The Sunday Times reported that several senior ministers will stay in their posts, including Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis.

May's grip on power was weakened by her Conservative Party's poor showing in a June election, which saw it reduced to a minority government. She also lost a key Cabinet ally before Christmas, when deputy premier Damian Green was forced to resign for making misleading statements about pornography found on his office computer.

But the embattled British leader got a boost last month when the European Union agreed that talks on the U.K.'s departure had made enough progress to start discussing future trade relations. May told the BBC in an interview broadcast Sunday that she hoped to secure agreement with the EU on a post-Brexit transition period by March 31, and to draft a withdrawal agreement by the end of 2018.

Britain is due to leave the EU on March 29, 2019. May's chances of staying in power depend heavily on her ability to secure a smooth exit and a good free-trade deal with the bloc. May said she would remain in office "as long as people want me to serve," and hoped to lead her party into the next election, due by 2022.

"I'm not a quitter. I'm in this for the long term," May said.

Turkish Cypriots vote PM's party, set for coalition

2018-01-08

NICOSIA - The party of the prime minister of northern Cyprus, a statelet recognized only by Turkey, has won parliamentary elections but will need to form a coalition after falling short of a majority, results showed Monday.

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), established in the wake of Turkey's 1974 invasion of the island in response to an Athens-backed coup, voted Sunday in snap polls forced by tensions in the previous coalition.

The vote comes ahead of presidential polls later this month in the internationally recognized Greek-majority Republic of Cyprus, with peace efforts on hold until both sets of elections are over.

The National Unity Party (UBP) of prime minister Huseyin Ozgurgun came out on top with 36 percent of the vote, ahead of the socialist Republican Turkish Party (CTP) at 21 percent, Turkish Cypriot media reports said, based on an unofficial near complete count.

Projections show that this should give the UBP 21 seats, short of the 26 seats needed for a majority in the 50-member house.

Final results are due late Monday or early Tuesday. More than 190,500 people were registered to vote.

"The UBP has emerged has the biggest party by a wide margin," said Ozgurgun in a victory speech early Monday. "We are preparing for new days with the power the people have given to the UBP."

A coalition with the CTP -- whose vote plunged in these polls -- is unlikely and the UBP may team up with smaller parties like the Democrat Party (DP) and the Rebirth Party (YDP) to muster the seats.

Unlike the socialist CTP, these parties including the UBP are not fans of negotiations with the Greek Cypriots to unify the island, preferring a two state solution.

The People's Party (HP) -- a new party that has expressed skepticism over negotiations to reunify the island -- polled well on 17 percent and was on course to win nine seats.

President Mustafa Akinci, whose dovish Communal Democracy Party (TDP) was set to win only three seats, will want broad backing at home as he seeks to push once more for a federal solution to the Cyprus problem and convince his Greek Cypriot counterparts he means business.

The election in the northern third of Cyprus comes six months after efforts to reunify the island collapsed at a United Nations-hosted peace summit in Switzerland over several sticking points including the withdrawal of Turkey's 45,000 troops.

On January 28, the Republic of Cyprus is set to hold a presidential election in which conservative incumbent Nicos Anastasiades is the frontrunner.

Anastasiades has campaigned on a pro-peace ticket, vowing to attempt to revive talks with Akinci, despite the souring of their relationship after two years of tough and ultimately fruitless negotiations.

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=86691.

New Austrian leader rejects talk of eastern EU alliance

January 05, 2018

SEGGAUBERG, Austria (AP) — Austria's new chancellor on Friday rejected suggestions that his government will align broadly with eastern nations that have clashed with the European Union over migrants and other issues.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz leads a coalition with the traditionally euroskeptic Freedom Party that took office just before Christmas. Both Kurz' conservative People's Party and the Freedom Party have taken a hard line against migration.

The position has generated speculation that Austria could move closer to the Visegrad group of Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia than its western EU allies. Kurz, who at 31 is Europe's youngest leader, warned Friday against "over-interpreting things."

"There are measures and initiatives where we have goodwill in western European countries," he told reporters after a meeting of the new Cabinet. "There are others where we will perhaps get applause from the Visegrad countries, and still others where we agree with all other 27 EU member states."

Kurz plans to visit Paris and Berlin in coming weeks. He said he expects a "good exchange" with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stressing that "Germany is our biggest neighbor, our most important economic partner."

Of French President Emmanuel Macron, who has championed efforts to reform the EU, Kurz said: "It is clearly positive for all of us in the European Union that there is a French president who aspires to change something in the European Union."

Kurz called for an EU that is strong on "big questions" such as border security but leaves many policy decisions to countries and regions. Austria will hold the EU's rotating presidency in the second half of this year, when the bloc should be finalizing terms of Britain's departure.

"I very much hope that we succeed in organizing an orderly departure by the British," Kurz said, arguing that a failure to do so would hurt both sides.

In small breakthrough, Koreas will meet for talks on Tuesday

January 05, 2018

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas will sit down for their first formal talks in more than two years next week to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their abysmal ties, Seoul officials said Friday. While a positive sign after last year's threats of nuclear war, the Koreas have a long history of failing to move past their deep animosity.

The announcement came hours after the United States said it will delay annual military exercises with South Korea until after the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, next month. The exercises infuriate North Korea, which claims they are an invasion rehearsal, although South Korea and the United States have repeatedly said they are defensive in nature.

On Friday morning, North Korea sent a message saying it would accept South Korea's offer to meet at the border village of Panmunjom next Tuesday to discuss Olympic cooperation and how to improve overall ties, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles North Korean matters. Panmunjom is where a North Korean soldier dashed across the border into the South in November. He is recovering after being shot five times by his former comrades.

Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said he expects the two Koreas will use a recently restored cross-border communication channel to try to determine who will head their respective delegations next week.

Any dialogue between the Koreas is seen as a positive step. But critics say the North's abrupt push to improve ties may be a tactic to divide Seoul and Washington and weaken international pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang.

In his New Year's address Monday, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was willing to send a delegation to the Winter Olympics but he also said he has a "nuclear button" on his desk to fire atomic weapons at the United States. President Donald Trump quickly responded that he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" of his own.

Past breakthroughs to ease Korean tensions have often ended with renewed animosities. It's likely the North will refrain from provocations during the Games. But tensions could return afterward because the North has no intention of abandoning its weapons programs and the United States will not ease its pressure on the country, analysts say.

The Trump government on Thursday said its springtime military drills with South Korea will be held from March 8-18 following the Feb. 9-25 Olympic Games. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted the delay was a practical necessity to accommodate the Olympics, not a political gesture.

The White House said Trump approved the postponement in consultation with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who said he suggested the drills' delay to the United States. Moon, a liberal, has been pushing to improve strained ties and restore stalled cooperation projects with North Korea since his inauguration in May, though he joined U.S.-led international efforts to apply more pressure and sanctions on the North.

Moon's government wants North Korea to take part in the Winter Olympics. But North Korea is not strong in winter sports and none of its athletes have been qualified to compete in the Games. It needs to acquire additional quotas by the International Olympic Committee to come to South Korea. Baik said North Korea is expected to hold talks with IOC officials next week.

The Trump administration has said all options are on the table to end the North Korean nuclear standoff, including military measures, but Moon has repeatedly said there cannot be another war on the Korean Peninsula. Critics say these differences may have led Kim to think he can drive a wedge between Seoul and Washington as a way to weaken international pressure on the country.

The United States stations about 30,000 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War that ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. North Korea has cited the U.S. military presence and its regular drills with South Korea as proof of American hostility that compels it to pursue nuclear weapons.

Last year, North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful nuclear test and test-launched three intercontinental ballistic missiles as part of its push to possess functioning nuclear missiles capable of striking the U.S. mainland. The repeated weapons tests earned the North toughened U.N. sanctions, and Kim and Trump exchanged threats of nuclear war and crude personal insults.

Iran FM warns neighbors, says they seeking unrest in Iran

January 08, 2018

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's foreign minister on Monday warned neighboring countries over fomenting insecurity in Iran in a reference to anti-government protests that have roiled the country over the past two weeks.

The remarks by Mohammad Javad Zarif at a security conference in Tehran echoed the Iranian authorities' stance, which alleges that foreign powers — including regional rival Saudi Arabia — stirred up unrest linked to the protests.

"Some countries tried to misuse the recent incidents," Zarif said without blaming any specific country, and added that "no country can create a secure environment for itself at the expense of creating insecurity among its neighbors."

"Such efforts" will only backfire, the official IRNA news agency quoted Zarif as saying. The anti-government demonstrations first broke out in Mashhad, Iran's second-largest city, on Dec. 28 and later spread to several other cities and towns. The protests were the largest seen in Iran since the disputed 2009 presidential election. They were sparked by a hike in food prices amid soaring unemployment but some demonstrators later called for the government's overthrow and chanted against the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

At least 21 people were killed and hundreds arrested. Large pro-government rallies were held in response, and officials have blamed the anti-government unrest on foreign meddling. In the past few days, Iranian authorities said the protests are waning and on Sunday, Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed the nation and its security forces had ended the wave of unrest.

The powerful Guard blamed the unrest on the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, as well as an exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, and supporters of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Zarif also mentioned an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council on Friday. The United States had called the meeting, portraying Iranian protests as a human rights issue that could spill over into an international problem.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said the session had put Iran on notice that "the world will be watching" its actions but envoys from several other countries expressed reservations whether the Council was the right forum for the issue.

Zarif on Monday depicted the session as a fiasco and evidence that the Trump administration is "isolated at the international level." The world "witnessed that (all other) members of the UN Security Council spoke about preventing the meddling in Iran's internal affairs," he said.

Zarif also warned that the Islamic State group is still active and a threat in the region and beyond, despite the destruction of its self-proclaimed "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq and called for a "complete crush" of the militant group.

Also Monday, Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani said despite the abuse of the protests by outsiders, the authorities should heed the message of the people. "People rightfully say: 'See us, listen to our words,'" Rouhani said.

He stressed that his policy of economic reform is the "right" way forward and urged for the lifting of bans on messaging apps, including the popular Telegram messaging service, that were shut down during the protests.

Strength of Iran protests uncertain after a week of unrest

January 04, 2018

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The strength of protests shaking Iran was unclear on Thursday after a week of unrest that killed at least 21 people, with fewer reports of demonstrations as government supporters again took to the streets.

It wasn't immediately clear if the drop in reports of new demonstrations challenging Iran's theocratic government meant the protests are subsiding or that the authorities' blocking of social media apps has stopped protesters from offering new images of rallies.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration acknowledged the speed and breadth of the protests took both it and the Iranian government by surprise. The past week's protests have been the largest since the disputed 2009 presidential election, which ended in bloodshed. While many Iranians denounce the violence that has accompanied some demonstrations, they echo the protesters' frustration over the weak economy and official corruption.

Thousands rallied on Thursday in support of the government in various towns and cities, including in the northeastern city of Mashhad, where the protests began last week and extended to other cities. State television repeatedly broadcast nationalistic songs and described the pro-government rallies as an "answer to rioters and supporters to the riot." That appeared to be a reference to President Donald Trump who tweeted in support to anti-government rallies.

The TV also broadcast footage of similar pro-government gatherings Thursday in the cities of Shiraz, Isfahan, Ardabil, Birjand and Yasuj. In a letter Wednesday to United Nations officials, Iranian Ambassador Gholamali Khoshroo complained that Washington was intervening "in a grotesque way in Iran's internal affairs." He said Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were personally stirring up trouble.

"The president and vice-president of the United States, in their numerous absurd tweets, incited Iranians to engage in disruptive acts," the ambassador wrote to the U.N. Security Council president and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Trump's U.N. envoy, Ambassador Nikki Haley, has called for an emergency Security Council meeting on Iran, saying the U.N. needed to speak out in support of the protesters. As yet, no meeting has been scheduled.

Late Wednesday, senior Trump administration officials acknowledged their surprise that the protests took hold so quickly. "This was not on our radar," said one official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

The officials said they believed conservative opponents of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate within Iran's clerically overseen government, started the demonstrations in Mashhad, but quickly lost control of them. That largely mirrors analysts' beliefs.

The officials also said internet suppression by Iranian authorities made it difficult for protesters to publish their videos, with an upload sometimes taking the entire day. They said the U.S. government is still looking at its options at helping open up the internet, though no decision has been taken yet.

Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Washington and Jennifer Peltz at the United Nations contributed to this report.