Rashida Tlaib - First Muslim woman elected into US Congress

AUG. 8, 2018

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Former Michigan state legislator, Rashida Tlaib, won the Democratic primary on Tuesday for the US House seat to represent Michigan's 13th Congressional District and potentially first Muslim woman to become US Congresswoman.

Rashida Tlaib, a 42-year-old mother of two children, and a daughter of two Palestinian immigrants, was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1976. She later went on to study politics and subsequently law.

Tlaib ran a progressive anti-establishment campaign, focusing on environmental protections and opposing tax cuts for big corporations.

She also discussed the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

The campaign raised over $1 million, which gained 33.6% of the vote, as opposed to her rival, Detroit Council President Brenda Jones, who only took 28.5% of the vote.

Following the win, Tlaib described her combination of emotions as a "happy chaos."

She added that "it has been amazing to interact with families at polling locations. I feel very much supported."

Tlaib will represent the 13th Congressional District, which is the only congressional district entirely within one county. She is the second Muslim to serve in the Michigan State House of Representatives, after James Karoub, and the second Muslim woman to serve in a state legislature nationwide after Jamilah Nasheed from Missouri House of Representatives.

Since there are no Republican candidates contesting for the House seat, Tlaib will enter Congress unopposed, following a special election on November 6, 2018, when she will officially replace John James Conyers, the current US Representative for Michigan.

It is almost certain that Rashida Tlaib will enter into Congress and become the first Muslim Palestinian-American US congresswoman in the nation's history.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.com/Content.aspx?id=780641.

Women in Kuwait granted full political rights

August 3, 2018

Kuwait has become one of the first country in the Middle East to give full political rights to women. Gulf news agencies reported that the oil rich state has granted full suffrage after decades of campaigning by women’s rights campaigners.

Praising Kuwait’s progressive move, regional media commented on the leading role women have been playing in driving the country’s overall development across all sectors, including public works, social services, economy and politics.

Opportunities for women are now said to exist in all areas of society with many high profile jobs overlooking men in favor of women.

The journey for full political rights has been a long one but the course had been set during the 90’s when women are said to have played a major role in coordinating resistance against Saddam Hussain’s invasion of the Gulf state in August 1990.

Ever since, women have overcome one hurdle after another to obtain equality; a rarity in the region dominated by powerful men. Dr. Rasha Al Sabah was one of the pioneers. She held the position of the first under-secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education in 1993. Others like Nabila Al Mulla followed in her step. She was appointed as the first Kuwaiti ambassador to Zimbabwe and South Africa in 1993. Mulla was then appointed in 2003 as the permanent representative at the United Nations to become the first Arab Muslim ambassadress to the global organisation.

In Kuwait women have bucked the trend and taken senior roles in several municipal, national and international positions that are normally the preserve of men only. They have achieved successes in many fields, proving that they represent half of the community and cannot be marginalized.

The progress has continued and more recently women have been appointed as ministers in several areas including the Minister of State for Housing Affairs which went to Dr. Jenan Bushahri in 2017. A similar rise to the top saw Hind Barak Al Subaih being appointed as minister of social and labour affairs and minister of state for planning and development.

Source: Middle East Monitor.
Link: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180803-women-in-kuwait-granted-full-political-rights/.

Saudi Arabia orders Canadian envoy to leave over criticism

August 06, 2018

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia on Monday ordered the Canadian ambassador to leave the ultraconservative kingdom within 24 hours after his nation criticized the recent arrest of women's rights activists.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry also said it would freeze "all new business" between the kingdom and Canada. Some 10 percent of Canadian crude oil imports come from Saudi Arabia. "Any further step from the Canadian side in that direction will be considered as acknowledgment of our right to interfere in the Canadian domestic affairs," the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in an extraordinarily aggressive statement. "Canada and all other nations need to know that they can't claim to be more concerned than the kingdom over its own citizens."

It wasn't immediately clear if Ambassador Dennis Horak was in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia said it would recall its ambassador to Canada as well. Marie-Pier Baril, a spokeswoman for Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, said Canada was "seriously concerned" by Saudi Arabia's actions.

"Canada will always stand up for the protection of human rights, very much including women's rights, and freedom of expression around the world," she said in a statement. "Our government will never hesitate to promote these values and believes that this dialogue is critical to international diplomacy."

The dispute appears centered around tweets by Canadian diplomats calling on the kingdom to "immediately release" women's rights activists recently detained by the kingdom. Among those recently arrested is Samar Badawi, whose brother Raif Badawi was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and later sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for criticizing clerics. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, is now living in Canada.

Freeland tweeted about the arrests on Thursday. "Very alarmed to learn that Samar Badawi, Raif Badawi's sister, has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia," she wrote. "Canada stands together with the Badawi family in this difficult time, and we continue to strongly call for the release of both Raif and Samar Badawi."

Saudi Arabia ended in June its long practice of not allowing women to drive automobiles in the Sunni kingdom. However, supporters of women's rights were arrested just weeks before the ban was lifted, signaling that only King Salman and his powerful son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will decide the pace of change.

Saudi women still need permission from male guardians to travel abroad or marry. The diplomatic dispute with Canada may be part of that assertive foreign policy pushed by Crown Prince Mohammed under his father. Germany similarly has found itself targeted by the kingdom in recent months over comments by its officials on the Saudi-led war in Yemen.

It isn't immediately clear what new business could be affected between the two countries. Bilateral trade between the two nations reached $3 billion in 2016, with tanks and fighting vehicles among the top Canadian exports to the kingdom, according to government statistics.

Saudi Arabia in recent years has expelled Iran's ambassador over attacks on its diplomatic posts following its 2016 execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Spain takes more African migrants despite signs of tension

August 09, 2018

ALGECIRAS, Spain (AP) — A rescue boat carrying 87 African migrants who were saved in the Mediterranean Sea docked Thursday at the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, but without the welcome offered to previous groups as the political mood in Spain began showing signs of tension about a spike in migrant arrivals.

The boat operated by Spanish aid group Proactiva Open Arms brought what it said were mostly Sudanese war refugees, including 12 minors, picked up off the Libyan coast on Aug. 2. Spain allowed the boat to come after other, geographically closer, European Union countries refused to let it dock amid continuing tension among EU governments about how best to respond to the wave of migrants crossing from Africa.

Spain's new center-left Socialist government made fair treatment for migrants one of its headline policies after coming to power two months ago. In June, it announced measures to "put people's rights first" in the country's migration policies. Among other things, it took the first steps toward extending public health care to foreigners without residence permits.

That same month, it accepted the Aquarius rescue ship with 630 migrants on board after Malta and Italy turned it away. Authorities gave those migrants who arrived in Valencia a special entry permit into Spain of 45 days for humanitarian reasons. A further 60 who arrived on a rescue ship in Barcelona last month were given a 30-day permit while they decided what to do. Their paperwork was also fast-tracked.

But those who arrived in Algeciras on Thursday will get no such special treatment. They will be processed, the government said, like any other migrants rescued at sea: held by police for 72 hours at a migrant camp, given a medical check-up, identified and detained while they await asylum or are given an expulsion order.

The government official overseeing immigration, Magdalena Valerio, said earlier this week there would be no extra money for migrant policies before the end of the year. The Spanish Network for Immigration and Refugee Help, a non-governmental organization, accused the government of abruptly "changing course" in its immigration policies and "discriminating" against the new arrivals.

"We'd like Spain to remain a safe haven and be a bulwark against the populism of (Italian Interior Minister Matteo) Salvini and (French far-right nationalist leader Marine) Le Pen," the organization's president, Daniel Mendez, told Spanish news agency Europa Press.

Critics of the new government's perceived softer approach toward migrants said its policies had backfired, by attracting ever higher numbers, and the government is increasingly wary of that criticism.

The U.N. Migration Agency says almost 24,000 refugees and other migrants have arrived in Spain by sea this year — nearly three times the number last year. The agency says Spain has become the most popular European destination for Mediterranean migrants, with just over 40 percent of the total, after Libya and Italy began cracking down. Most come on overcrowded smugglers' boats from Tunisia and Morocco.

Opposition leader Pablo Casado has targeted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's immigration policies. "What Spaniards are looking for is a party which says clearly that we can't give documents to everyone, and Spain can't take in millions of Africans," Casado said last month.

Such criticism has left Sanchez politically exposed when he heads a minority government with just 84 of the 350 seats in the lower house of parliament. It has also fueled fears that populism may spread further in the EU. Far-right parties have joined the governments in Italy and Austria and made gains elsewhere.

Residents from the region around Algeciras expressed concern about the latest arrivals. "With so much unemployment we do not need extra expenses," Manuel Ruiz said. "The refugees, because they are not cared for properly, they start stealing to live and this causes all sorts of problems." He added: "We have to give them all the aid we can, but it has to be balanced."

Jose Lopez Vicente feared a backlash. "I think the European Union should take more of an interest in this situation. If not, the population will become racist, even if they are not." Sanchez, the prime minister, says his government and EU officials are in talks with Morocco, from where traffickers take the migrants across the Mediterranean, and with the migrants' countries of origin on how to stem the flow.

Elsewhere in the Mediterranean on Thursday, a boat carrying migrants capsized off the Turkish coast, killing seven children and two women, Turkey's state-run news agency said. Many migrants continue to attempt to reach the Greek islands from the Turkish coast, hoping to eventually move to more prosperous European Union countries.

Barry Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Donovan Torres in Algeciras, and Suzan Fraser from Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Digging up Franco: Spain divided over dictator's legacy

August 05, 2018

MADRID (AP) — Even in his grave, the 20th-century dictator who ruled Spain with an iron fist keeps dividing the country. Spain's new center-left government says removing the embalmed body of Gen. Francisco Franco from a glorifying mausoleum will be the first among many symbolic moves aimed at coming to terms with the country's troubled history.

Critics of the government and Franco's descendants are pushing back, vowing to preserve the memory of a regime they claim should be credited for "modernizing Spain." Banning the foundation that preserves the legacy of Franco is precisely what should be done instead, says Fernando Martinez, the official appointed to oversee the government's efforts to unearth and identify the 114,000-or-so victims of the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and the four decades of dictatorship that followed under Franco, who died in 1975.

"Exhuming the body of the dictator will begin healing the wounds of this country. But that task will only be completed when the last ditch with a mass grave in this country has been opened," Martinez told The Associated Press, speaking at the Ministry of Justice in Madrid, where his new Directorate General for Historic Memory is being formed.

Martinez says creating an up-to-date census of anonymous burials in ditches across the country will be among the most pressing tasks for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's new government. Other moves include re-opening an office to help victims' relatives — an office closed under Spain's previous conservative government — setting up a new system for reparation payments and turning Franco's current burial place into a museum against fascism.

"We are going to accelerate and make up for lost time, it's a question of democratic dignity," says Martinez, who was appointed in July after Sanchez ousted conservative Mariano Rajoy with a no-confidence vote in June.

Three U.N-sponsored missions to Spain since 2013 had criticized authorities for lacking a national plan to search for missing people, for poor coordination on exhumations and for outdated maps of graves. They also raised concerns about the inaction of Spanish courts in prosecuting some of the period's darkest crimes.

But a panel of U.N. rights experts just recently praised the authorities' move for "placing the right to truth at the top of the political agenda" by leading the efforts to search for those disappeared as well as for vowing to create a Truth Commission to investigate crimes that occurred under Franco up until his death.

"This decision represents a fundamental step toward the realization of the right to truth for all victims of serious human rights violations," the rapporteurs wrote. The government wants to adopt the changes by amending the 2007 Historic Memory Law, which fell short of addressing the demands of survivors and victims' relatives when Rajoy's conservative government eliminated its budgets for exhumations and reparations.

Emilio Silva, president of the Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory, or ARMH, says the new government should use its executive powers to remove Franco from the Valley of the Fallen — a macabre mausoleum 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Madrid. He also wants the government to dig up all the graves of Franco's victims, rather than kicking off a grand political showdown between conservative and progressive voices in parliament.

"They fear a legal backlash," Silva said of the government. But he called digging up unmarked graves and compensating the relatives of identified victims "very basic, human things. There shouldn't be any need to discuss them."

With a towering 150-meter (500-foot) tall cross that can be seen from miles away, the somber neoclassic-style mausoleum and basilica of the Valley of the Fallen were built by Franco as a tribute to the dead during his so-called "glorious crusade" in overthrowing Spain's democratic government.

Some 34,000 people from both sides of the fratricidal war are buried at the site, most of them never identified, along with the remains of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the fascist Spanish Falange party. Franco's tomb, a simple granite slate with only his name engraved, presides over the altar of the basilica. Fresh flowers are always on display.

Public events supporting the Franco regime were outlawed in 2007, but the grandiose site remains a popular pilgrimage destination for those nostalgic for the dictatorship. Activists say the whole place exudes a totalitarian air and is an insult to the memory of the victims. They are also angry at the decrepit state of the remains, with water leaks that have turned the crypts into "piles of bones," according to an expert's assessment in 2011.

Martinez says the projected revision of the law will include a proposal to remove symbols celebrating the dictatorship and will rebrand the Valley into a monument for reconciliation and a museum that tells about the abuses during its construction, including the use of political prisoners as forced laborers.

But the government, which failed to exhume Franco by July as promised, is facing a myriad of obstacles, including its weak position in parliament. Hundreds of people nostalgic for Francoism have staged protests at the Valley, and conservative parties are accusing Sanchez's administration of reopening a chapter they consider closed instead of focusing on 21st-century problems.

Meanwhile, descendants of Franco's family are refusing to cooperate with authorities, mounting a legal case against plans to exhume the dictator and refusing to take his remains to the family sepulchral vault in Galicia. With their refusal, authorities are faced with the dilemma of what to do with Franco's remains.

Digging Franco up, Martinez said, aims to "consolidate our democracy," which was peacefully instituted in the late 70s upon the death of the dictator. Martinez refused to venture a date for the Franco exhumation. But even if it succeeds, Sanchez's government will face the politically sensitive task of outlawing the National Francisco Franco Foundation, which up to 2003 was receiving public funding for safeguarding documents from the 1939-1975 regime.

The Franco Foundation did not respond to AP's requests for comment, but in recent statements online, officials said any attempt to ban them would be against Spain's Constitution, which protects freedom of speech. Its president, retired Gen. Juan Chicharro, wrote that the foundation must defend itself from "the staggered outlawing of everyone who doesn't bend to the totalitarian demands" of the Spanish left.

ARMH's Silva said "banning the foundation does not limit their freedom to express their ideas," it just restricts their access to public funding. Martinez believes the issue is not about free speech but about protecting Spain's democracy.

"Every foundation justifying Francoism has no space in democracy, the same way it wouldn't by supporting fascism or a Nazi ideology, because these are ideologies that go against democratic values and liberties," he said. "Those of us in favor of democracy have a mandate to defend democracy."

Portugal says major wildfire will take days to put out

August 08, 2018

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — A major wildfire blackening hills in Portugal's southern Algarve region likely will take several more days to bring under control, the country's prime minister said Wednesday. Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that efforts to control the fire that broke out Friday were being hampered by gusting winds, the region's deep ravines and the numerous plantations where combustible eucalyptus is grown for paper pulp.

Costa spoke after visiting the headquarters of the Portuguese Civil Protection Agency, the government body that is coordinating the emergency response to the fire. The Civil Protection Agency said almost 1,300 firefighters from across Portugal were assigned to the blaze, the most since it started. Public TV network RTP said more than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) have burned in the fire.

The prime minister is aware of potential political repercussions from major wildfires; the deaths of 109 people in blazes last year almost brought down his government. Costa acknowledged that much more work was needed to prevent catastrophic fires, including diversifying the vegetation in Portugal's forests and establishing fire breaks.

High clouds of black smoke have towered for days over the Algarve region, a top European vacation destination. While winds have made the firefighting effort more difficult, crew working overnight kept flames from reaching the town of Silves, a popular tourist spot and home to about 6,000 people.

The torrid weather that has hung over much of Europe for weeks also was subsiding, with a high of 31 degrees Celsius (88 F) forecast for the Algarve on Wednesday. Along with ground crews, 13 aircraft and more than 380 vehicles were battling the blaze.

In neighboring Spain, 27 aircraft were helping some 700 firefighters put out a fire near Valencia. Radio broadcaster Cadena SER said nearly 2,900 hectares have been burned.

Wildfires torment Portugal, Spain; French, Dutch feel heat

August 07, 2018

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Firefighters and anxious residents braced Tuesday for a fifth straight night of battling a major wildfire that is racing across tinder-dry forested hills in southern Portugal. The blaze is sending high plumes of smoke across the Algarve region's famous beaches and bringing criticism of authorities for failing to halt the flames.

A strong seasonal wind from the north known as a "nortada" was driving the fire south toward Silves, a town of about 6,000 people, after it narrowly missed the smaller town of Monchique. Several hundred people were evacuated, and 29 were hurt, one seriously, officials said.

Almost 1,200 firefighters supported by 16 aircraft and 358 vehicles were deployed around Monchique, a town of 2,000 people about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Lisbon, where the blaze came within 500 meters (yards) of the local fire station.

An unknown number of homes — believed to number in the dozens, according to local reports — in the forested hills have burned down. With so many resources deployed, many residents asked why the fire was still burning, especially after 95 percent of it was under control on Monday.

Firefighters also publicly questioned the wisdom of the strategy to counter the flames, with some claiming poor organization was thwarting the operation. Monchique was identified as a high risk area months ago.

Firefighting is coordinated by the Civil Protection Agency, a government body overseen by the Ministry for the Interior, which oversees national defense. The National Association of Professional Firemen and the Professional Firemen's Trade Union issued a joint statement saying that the government's recent reorganization of firefighting capabilities need to be reassessed and rethought. The organizations asked for a "very urgent" meeting with the Minister of the Interior.

The minister, Eduardo Cabrita, told reporters authorities were switching coordination of the Monchique fire from the local Civil Protection Agency to the department's national operational command in Lisbon.

He declined to criticize the firefighting operation, saying the effort had been "notable." Portugal beefed up its wildfire response over the winter after 109 people died last year in forest blazes amid a severe drought.

Vitor Vaz Pinto, the Civil Protection Agency's district commander, said the weather forecast around Monchique was "unfavorable," with a gusting wind from the north, known as a "nortada." Temperatures were forecast to reach 35 C (95 F) — normal for August in southern Portugal.

The Iberian peninsula endured some record heat last weekend, with temperatures exceeding 45 C (113 F), which parched large areas. Spanish emergency services said a wildfire Tuesday near Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast, was almost under control after two dozen aircraft were brought in. The blaze forced the evacuation of around 2,500 people.

The high temperatures moved northward to France. The hottest weather was expected in central and northeastern France, with temperatures that could reach 40 C (104 F). Dutch authorities evacuated four campsites as a brush fire swept through parched countryside in the eastern Netherlands, where temperatures were in the mid-30s C (90s F). The regional security service said that firefighters from three provinces were battling the blaze Tuesday in Wateren, 135 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Amsterdam.