2 Peru governor candidates win despite drug probes

October 06, 2014

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Two gubernatorial candidates under investigation in Peru for drug trafficking-related crimes have won election and two face runoffs after a nationwide vote for mayors, governors and municipal councils, according to unofficial results on Monday.

Hundreds of candidates suspected of ties to drug trafficking were on the ballot Sunday in what authorities called the Andean nation's most violent campaign since 2000. According to unofficial results compiled by the Ipsos-Apoyo polling firm, the winners included Manuel Gambini, a former coca grower in the Amazon state of Ucayali. As a mayor, Gambini promoted planting of cocoa beans and other alternatives to the crop that yields cocaine, winning praise from the U.S. Agency for International Development and a trip to Miami to showcase his efforts.

But an Aug. 29 judicial order launching an investigation of Gambini says he amassed a fortune and extensive land holdings with a small mayor's salary. Gambini calls the allegations lies propagated by his political foes.

Also victorious was Gilmer Horna in the northern state of Amazonas. The owner of a chain of chicken restaurants, he is under investigation for possible money laundering. One of every three Peruvian voters lives in a region where candidates were investigation, on trial or previously convicted of drug-related crimes. Peru's state attorney for drug enforcement, Sona Medina, said her office had identified 700 such candidates.

It was too early to say how many won office Sunday. Medina did not release her list, and official electoral results remained incomplete Monday. Electoral authorities reported more than 100 incidents of election-day violence, including the destruction of ballot boxes, temporary seizures of polling stations, threats to elections officials and destruction of vehicles.

"We haven't had situations of this magnitude in Peru for some time," said Gerardo Tavara, secretary general of the citizen watchdog group Transparencia. Not since the Shining Path insurgency, which was all but eliminated in the 1990s, has the country seen this level of political murder and death threats, he said. "Hit men are being hired to assassinate candidates."

Two mayoral candidates were slain in gangland-style killings during the campaign, both in cocaine-trafficking corridors, and on Friday, two police officers were shot and killed in an ambush blamed on drug-funded rebels in the Apurimac and Ene river valley, the world's top cocaine-producing region.

Peruvian law allows convicted criminals to run for office as long as they have been rehabilitated by court order. More than 1,300 candidates convicted of crimes — including rape and graft — were on Sunday's ballot, and two governors jailed under preventative detention pending possible corruption trials were re-elected, according to unofficial results.

One of the re-elected governors jailed in corruption probes is Gregorio Santos, a foe of expanding Latin America's biggest gold mining project in his home state of Cajamarca. Most locals oppose the project, which is majority-owned by U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corp.

In Peru's capital, former two-time Mayor Luis Castaneda easily defeated the incumbent, Susana Villaran, who finished third, according to the unofficial count.

Investigative researcher Carlos Neyra contributed to this report.

Cuba rejects plans for first mosque

02 October 2014 Thursday

Cuba's communist government has turned down a plan to open a mosque in the capital Cuba.

Pedro Lazo Torres, the leader of Havana’s Muslim community, revealed that his joint efforts with Turkey's Religious Affairs Foundation (TDV) to open a mosque in Havana was rejected.

Torres expressed his dismay at the decision, noting that Russia was granted permission to build an Orthodox church in the country but 4,000 Muslims in Cuba still have no official place of worship.

Cuban Muslims have until now had to make do with performing congregational prayers in Torres's living room.

In April, TDV assistant manager Mustafa Tutkun sought permission to begin work on a mosque, which was to be designed after the famous Ortakoy mosque in Istanbul.

The plan was part of a wider project by the TDV in building mosques for Muslims who live in the Caribbean.

A similar project in Haiti is due to be complete by the end of this year.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145533/cuba-rejects-plans-for-first-mosque.

Neves passes Silva in polls on eve of Brazil election

05 October 2014 Sunday

Brazilian presidential hopeful Aecio Neves is heading into Sunday's election with a slight edge over environmentalist Marina Silva in the race to advance to an expected runoff against the incumbent, three new polls showed on Saturday.

But on the eve of the vote, it remained unclear who President Dilma Rousseff's adversary would be in a likely second-round vote later in the month, since the gap between Neves and Silva was within the polls' margin of error, setting the stage for Brazil's tightest election in decades.

Just a few months ago, many political analysts were predicting that Rousseff would cruise to re-election despite a weak economy and simmering discontent with the high cost of living and bad public services that triggered massive street protests a year ago.

The campaign was upended in August, when Silva was thrust into the race after her Brazilian Socialist Party's original candidate died in a plane crash. A popular anti-establishment figure, Silva quickly surged in the polls and at one point looked poised to end the leftist Workers' Party's 12-year grip on power in Latin America's largest country.

But an aggressive media blitz by the Rousseff campaign eroded Silva's popularity with questions about her ability to govern Brazil's unruly democracy without the backing of traditional parties. The Rousseff campaign also portrayed Silva as a serial flip-flopper backed by a greedy financial elite determined to undo popular social welfare programs.

Neves, a pro-business senator and former state governor from the centrist Brazilian Social Democracy Party, has risen steadily in the polls as Silva's support deflated. He performed well in the last television debate on Thursday, calmly hammering Rousseff over a multimillion-dollar corruption scandal at state-run oil company Petrobras.

Silva, who has looked frail in the home stretch of the campaign, shrugged off Saturday's polls.

"The Brazilian people have decided this election will go to a second round. We are sure we will be there," she told reporters in Sao Paulo.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of valid votes on Sunday, the race will be decided in a runoff on Oct. 26 between the top two vote-getters.

ROUSSEFF FAVORED IN RUNOFF

Whoever clinches second place on Sunday faces an uphill battle to unseat Rousseff in a runoff. Saturday's polls, by the Datafolha, Ibope and MDA polling firms, showed Rousseff with a 6 to 10 percentage-point advantage over Neves in a second round. The polls also showed Rousseff beating Silva in a runoff.

First-round support for Rousseff held steady at 40 percent in all three polls, while Neves gained between 3 and 5 percentage points and Silva dropped between 2 and 4 percentage points, bumping her into third place for the first time.

If spoiled and blank ballots are excluded, Ibope showed Rousseff getting 46 percent of valid votes in Sunday's first round, 4 percentage points short of outright victory, and Neves with 27 percent and Silva with 24 percent.

MDA, which surveyed 2,002 voters on Thursday and Friday, projects that the election is most likely to be decided in a runoff between Rousseff and Neves because his rejection figures have declined markedly while Silva's negatives have risen.

Brazil's electoral authority said it might take longer than usual to call Sunday's vote, given the tight race for runner-up.

"This is an exciting election and the first since 1989 where we see the polling firms unable to make a solid prediction," Jose Antonio Dias Toffoli, president of Brazil's electoral court, told Reuters.

The MDA poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Ibope polled 3,010 voters between Thursday and Saturday and Datafolha surveyed 18,116 respondents on Friday and Saturday. Both polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/145675/neves-passes-silva-in-polls-on-eve-of-brazil-election.

Zimbabwe to develop renewable energy policy

03 October 2014 Friday

Zimbabwe is seeking to develop a renewable energy policy to provide the sector with guidelines and a roadmap for creating a more conducive environment for attracting investment.

"The policy is set to address all the gaps, such as incentives for increased uptake and investment in renewable energy and legislation, just to mention a few," Gloria Magombo, CEO of the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA), told Anadolu Agency.

Magombo said her organization was working to develop the policy in coordination with the Ministry of Energy and Power Development.

"The terms of reference have been finalized and ZERA is set to fund the project," she said.

"ZERA intends to initiate a consultative process to develop a renewable energy policy; we're going to involve a number of stakeholders," added Magombo.

"We have put up funds for the process and expect in a few weeks to go to tender for the new policy development," she noted. "We also intend to learn from our South African counterparts to develop the policy."

ZERA, mandated with regulating the country's energy sector, is also registering all the country's renewable energy service providers in order to compile a database and facilitate the formation of a renewable energy association.

An Energy Ministry spokesperson confirmed that the ministry was in the process of developing a renewable energy policy with other stakeholders.

The spokesman declined to elaborate further.

Fragmented

Magombo dismissed the country's current energy policy – set in 2012 – as "fragmented."

According to Magombo, gaps in Zimbabwe's current energy policy include a lack of a separate renewable energy policy; a need for energy management regulations; and a lack of clean energy funding mechanisms and procurement framework for Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Magombo maintains that the introduction of a separate renewable energy policy would help propel the issue to a new level.

"The renewable energy policy is expected to address most of the challenges and issues in the clean energy sector," she said.

According to ZERA, the country has significant quantities of clean energy resources that can be tapped for sustainable economic growth.

"ZERA is promoting the use of ethanol, as it is a sustainable, clean and renewable fuel for cooking," said Magombo.

ZERA has also developed a Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff (REFIT) scheme, which has yet to be implemented.

REFIT mandates power utilities operating on the national grid with purchasing electricity from renewable energy sources at a pre-determined price with a view to stimulating investment in the sector.

"The feed-in tariffs were developed for renewable energy technologies applicable to Zimbabwe, such as solar PV, small hydro, biomass, bagasse and biogas," said Magombo.

"REFIT is meant to promote renewable energy projects up to a maximum capacity of ten megawatts," she added.

Zimbabwe's current economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Socio-Economic Sustainable Transformation (ZIMASSET), which was developed in 2013, sets renewable and energy efficiency targets.

It aims to increase the use of renewable energy resources by 300 megawatts by 2018 and to substitute 20 percent of the country's petrol imports with bio-fuels by 2015.

ZIMASSET also seeks to substitute 5 percent of the country's diesel imports with bio-diesel by 2020.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145607/zimbabwe-to-develop-renewable-energy-policy.

Moscow bans Islamic sacrifice ritual for Eid

02 October 2014 Thursday

Muslims in the Russian capital Moscow have been denied the right to celebrate the upcoming Eid al-Adhu (Feast of the Sacrifice) Islamic holiday after local authorities banned them from carrying out the traditional slaughter ritual.

The second of the two Eid holidays in the Islamic calender, Muslims typically celebrate the occasion by slaughtering a lamb, a cow or a camel and distributing its meat to relatives, neighbors and the poor.

However, a spokesman for the city's inter-regional cooperation, national policy and religious organizations department, told Interfax on Wednesday that the sale and slaughter of sacrificial animals will be banned in Moscow during the holiday.

Muslims will be allowed to fulfill the religious rite in villages outside of the main city, he added.

A recent influx of migrant workers in Moscow from mainly Muslim parts of Russia, such as the northern Caucasus and central Asia, have brought to light new issues in the city, amid increasing tensions between migrants and the city's Slavic community.

Currently, there are only four official mosques in Moscow, which is insufficient to cope with the increase of Muslims arriving in the city.

Muslims in Moscow in recent years have had to resort to praying their Eid prayers in public squares with prior permission from the local authorities.

In total, around 23 million Muslims live in Russia, making it the country's second largest religion with 15% of the overall population of 145 million.

Source: World Bulletin.
Link: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/145548/moscow-bans-islamic-sacrifice-ritual-for-eid.

Violent protests as Kurds seek help against IS

October 08, 2014

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Kurdish protesters clashed with police in Turkey leaving at least 14 people dead and scores injured Tuesday as demonstrators in Brussels forced their way into the European Parliament, part of Europe-wide demonstrations against the Islamic State group's advance on a town on the Syrian-Turkish border.

Turkey's private Dogan news agency reported 8 dead in the eastern city of Diyarbakir and that the other victims died in cities in the east as police used water cannon and tear gas to disperse protesters who burned cars and damaged businesses.

The activists are demanding more help for the besieged Kurdish forces struggling to hold onto the Syrian town of Kobani. Some European countries are arming the Kurds, and the American-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the Islamic extremists, but protesters say it isn't enough.

A demonstrator in Cyprus urged the coalition to "hit the jihadists harder" so that Kurdish forces can hold the town. Tensions are especially high in Turkey, where Kurds have fought a 3-decade-long battle for autonomy and where Syria's violence has taken an especially heavy toll.

Protests were reported in cities across Turkey on Tuesday, after Islamic State fighters backed by tanks and artillery engaged in heavy street battles with the town's Kurdish defenders. Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse demonstrators in Istanbul and in the desert town of Kucuk Kenderciler, near Kobani on the Turkish side of the border. One person in Istanbul was hospitalized after being hit in the head by a gas canister, Dogan reported.

Some protesters shouted "Murderer ISIS!" and accused Turkey's government of collaborating with the Islamic militants. Authorities declared a curfew in six towns in the southeastern province of Mardin, the Anadolu Agency reported.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds live elsewhere in Europe, and mobilized quickly via social networks to stage protests after the advance on Kobani. Some European Kurds have gone to the Mideast recently to join Kurdish forces.

In Brussels on Tuesday, about 50 protesters smashed a glass door and pushed past police to get into the European Parliament. Once inside, some protesters were received by Parliament President Martin Schulz, who promised to discuss the Kurds' plight with NATO and EU leaders.

In Germany, home to Western Europe's largest Kurdish population, about 600 people demonstrated in Berlin on Tuesday, according to police. Hundreds demonstrated in other German cities. Austria, too, saw protests.

Kurds peacefully occupied the Dutch Parliament for several hours Monday night, and met Tuesday with legislators to press for more Dutch action against the insurgents, according to local media. The Netherlands has sent six F-16 fighter jets to conduct airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq, but says it does not see a mandate for striking in Syria.

France, too, is firing airstrikes on Islamic State positions in Iraq but not in Syria, wary of implications on international efforts against President Bashar Assad. "We don't understand why France is acting in Kurdistan in Iraq and not Kurdistan in Syria," said Fidan Unlubayir of the Federation of Kurdish Associations of France.

Kurds protested overnight at the French Parliament and plan another protest Tuesday. Kurds also staged impromptu protests against the Islamic State fighters in Helsinki, Oslo and Stockholm. On Monday, protesters at the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus urged the international coalition to provide heavy weaponry to Kurdish fighters and forge a military cooperation pact with the Kurdish group YPG.

Angela Charlton reported from Paris. Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Raf Casert in Brussels, Geir Moulson in Berlin, Jari Tanner in Tallinn and Mike Corder in The Hague contributed to this report.

Anti-austerity protests: Spain, Germany, Portugal

June 1, 2013

By HAROLD HECKLE
Associated Press

MADRID — Anti-austerity protesters on Saturday took to the streets of dozens of European cities, including Madrid, Frankfurt and Lisbon, to express their anger at government cuts they say are making the financial crisis worse by stifling growth and increasing unemployment.

Thousands marched peacefully toward Madrid's central Neptuno fountain near Parliament, chanting "Government, resign."

Around 15,000 people gathered outside the International Monetary Fund's headquarters in Lisbon shouting "IMF, out of here."

Many protesters were carrying banners saying, "No more cuts" and "Screw the Troika," a reference to the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the three-member group that bailed out the governments of Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus.

The bailout loans were given on the understanding that governments enact stringent austerity measures to rein in their heavily indebted finances.

Spain came perilously close to needing a sovereign bailout last year and was forced to negotiate a 40 billion euro ($52 billion) loan for its stricken banking system when its borrowing costs soared.

The country has been in recession for most of the past four years and has a record 27.2 percent unemployment rate. The percentage is twice that high for Spaniards under 25 years old.

Spain has since seen almost daily protests by people angry over money-saving cuts and reforms in the education and health sectors while failing banks received billions.

Spain's central and regional governments claim the cuts are needed to help the country reduce its swollen deficit to within agreed upon European Union limits.

"It's obvious that the intention of those governing us is not to take a single step back," said Madrid fireman Eduardo Oliva, 43. "So, it's in our hands, in all European citizens' hands, to demand change. Otherwise life's going to become impossible for us."

Portugal pledged to cut its debt in return for a 78 billion euro ($101 billion) bailout two years ago, but tax hikes and pay cuts have contributed to a sharp economic downturn. The country is forecast to post a third straight year of recession in 2013 while unemployment has climbed to 17.7 percent and is forecast to keep on rising.

Also Saturday, German police and thousands of anti-capitalist protesters engaged in a standoff near the headquarters of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

Police in Germany's financial capital said about 7,000 protesters refused to move after officers encircled a group of about 200-300 people because they refused to remove face masks they were wearing.

Organizers of the "Blockupy" protest said up to 20,000 people had demonstrated against the ECB's role in pushing European countries to cut government spending as part of efforts to reduce public debt.

Frankfurt police spokesman Erich Mueller said officers had used pepper spray and batons to stop some protesters from breaking through police lines.

Other protests Saturday took place in European cities including Barcelona, Brussels, Bilbao and Valencia.

"Like so many people, I'm really upset at the behavior of our governments because they have totally caved in just to prop up the banks," said Jesus Alonso, 63, in Madrid.

Source: The Seattle Times.
Link: http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2021101561_apeuspainfinancialcrisis.html.