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Italy’s Premier Meloni gets domestic, European boost from EU election win

Italy’s Premier Meloni gets domestic, European boost from EU election win
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, leader of the far-right party Brothers of Italy, casts her ballot on the EU election at a polling station in Rome on June 8, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 10 June 2024
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Italy’s Premier Meloni gets domestic, European boost from EU election win

Italy’s Premier Meloni gets domestic, European boost from EU election win
  • Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party confirmed its status as the country’s most popular party
  • The party is projected to get at least 23 seats in the European Parliament, up from six after the 2019 elections
Updated 10 June 2024
AP
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ROME: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party won European elections in Italy with a strong 28 percent of the votes, boosting her leadership at home and consolidating her kingmaker role in Europe.

Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party confirmed its status as the country’s most popular party, even improving its performance from the 26 percent it won in the 2022 general elections, according to projections by state broadcaster RAI based on almost 70 percent of votes counted.
The victory in Italy’s voting for European Parliament representatives provides a boost for Meloni, after almost two years in power, mainly at the expense of her governing partners in Rome.
In particular, Matteo Salvini’s hard-right League emerged as one of the biggest losers in the EU vote. After finishing first in the 2019 EU election, with more than 34 percent of the vote, the League got just 8.5 percent this time, behind its once junior ally, Forza Italia, which was over 9 percent.
For the opposition, the main center-left Democratic Party got 24.5 percent, followed by the populist Five Star Movement, which received only 10.5 percent, a seven-point decrease from the 2019 election.
Meloni, who personalized her electoral campaign betting on her personal “brand,” has now positioned herself as one of the most powerful figures in the EU, where far-right parties made major gains, dealing stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
“I’m proud that we are heading to the G7 and to Europe with the strongest government of all,” Meloni said, commenting on the electoral results at her party’s headquarters early Monday.
She called the outcome “extraordinary” and pledged to use it as “fuel” for the future.
Despite its solid popular support, Meloni’s conservative government needs a strong mandate to deal with the challenges ahead, especially given the fragile state of Italy’s public finances and the prospect of a difficult budget for 2025.
“I think that Meloni gets out of these elections stronger, first of all because this is a government that has not lost consensus, which is quite unique in Europe,” said Giovanni Orsina, director of the school of government at LUISS university in Rome.
“Secondly, with the growth of far-right parties, Meloni is in a pivotal position between the far right and the European People’s Party,” he added.
Based on the latest projections, Meloni’s party will get from 23 to 25 seats in the European Parliament, up from six after the 2019 elections, when it was only a minor opposition party.

Topics: EU Election 2024 Georgia Meloni Brothers of Italy party

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‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade

‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade
Updated 15 September 2024
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‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade

‘Things might improve’: Young Kashmiris set for first local elections in decade
  • Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018
  • Unemployment is about 18%, nearly double India’s average
Updated 15 September 2024
Sanjay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Nasir Khuehami and his family have never participated in a mainstream election in Jammu and Kashmir, but he is currently campaigning to mobilize others to take part in next week’s vote — the first in a decade and taking place in a new political setting after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region of its autonomy in 2019.

Polling will be held in stages between Sept.18 and Oct. 1 to elect a local assembly — a truncated government with a chief minister, who will serve as the region’s top official, and a council of ministers — instead of remaining under the direct rule of New Delhi.

The result will be announced on Oct. 8.

“I don’t care which regional party wins, what matters is that the people of Kashmir should have someone who is their own,” Khuehami told Arab News.

The 26-year-old national convenor of the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association is visiting different districts of the valley to mobilize students ahead of the vote.

“For the last 10 years there have been no elections in Jammu and Kashmir. In the last five years, after the abrogation of special status, even democracy was suspended, and it is bureaucrats who run the region. There has been no accountability,” he said.

“When we compare these bureaucrats with our own elected leaders, we find that our representatives are accountable, they listen to us, and they understand us ... This accessibility we miss now.”

Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party brought down a coalition government, forcing the assembly to dissolve. A year later, Modi’s government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, which granted the region its semi-autonomy, and downgraded it to a federally controlled territory.

Indian officials have repeatedly said that the move was aimed at tackling separatism and bringing economic development to the region, but Khuehami said people on the ground have yet to witness it.

“All the development agenda has fallen flat,” he said. “How many development activities took place, how many universities were created, how many exams were canceled? This is the reality.” He added that he was hopeful that, after the election, “things might improve.”

Ummar Jamal, a 23-year-old law student from the University of Kashmir was also looking forward to the vote, even though the powers of its elected administration will be limited, as the region is now a union territory.

“There was a sense of despondency after the abrogation of Article 370. I believe people are celebrating the election process (now). They are enjoying the celebration of democracy. I hope that after elections our representatives will be better placed to address our issues,” he said.

“Unemployment is very high. Why are the youth coming out in large numbers to campaign and vote? Somehow, they feel the public representatives may get these unemployment issues addressed.”

Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir is part of the larger Kashmiri territory, which has been the subject of international dispute since the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent into Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Both countries claim Kashmir in full and rule in part. Indian-controlled Kashmir has, for decades, witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.

The two main regional parties — the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party — are going to challenge Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. The Congress, India’s main opposition party, is in alliance with the NC.

“There is a strong sense of anti-BJP sentiment because people feel that the BJP is trying to alter the regional identity. Youngsters are supporting the regional parties like NC and PDP which are speaking the language of the people and expressing their aspirations,” said Tariq Mir, 33, a PR manager and writer based in Srinagar, Kashmir’s largest city.

“The main issue is the question of the Kashmiri identity ... People want a peaceful life with dignity.”

But they also seek new prospects, as unemployment in the region stands at around 18 percent — nearly double India’s average.

Aqib Manzoor, a law student at Central University of Kashmir, said that while many hope for the restoration of the region’s statehood, the creation of jobs in the private sector, tackling corruption, and giving them more freedom of expression are also key issues.

“Though hopes remain very high, time will tell whether these issues and concerns of youngsters will be addressed, or just remain unaddressed like in the past, when the state assembly had enough powers to bring real changes on the ground,” he said.

“The center and all parties should prepare to seize the new opportunity for the future of a prosperous state that addresses the concerns and aspirations of (those who are) the future of the nation.”

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies
Updated 15 September 2024
AP
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China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies

China is raising its retirement age, now among the youngest in the world’s major economies
  • The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs
  • The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work
Updated 15 September 2024
AP

BEIJING: Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world’s major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced.
The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work.
“We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia who studies China’s population and its ties to the economy.
The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950’s, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said.

Elderly people rest at a park in Fuyang in eastern China's Anhui province on September 13, 2024. (AFP)

The policy will be implemented starting in January, according to the announcement from China’s legislature. The change will take effect progressively based on people’s birthdates.
For example, a man born in January 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 7 months in August 2032, according to a chart released along with the policy. A man born in May 1971 could retire at the age of 61 years and 8 months in January 2033.
Demographic pressures made the move long overdue, experts say. By the end of 2023, China counted nearly 300 million people over the age of 60. By 2035, that figure is projected to be 400 million, larger than the population of the US The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had previously projected that the public pension fund will run out of money by that year.
Pressure on social benefits such as pensions and social security is hardly a China-specific problem. The US also faces the issue as analysis shows that currently, the Social Security fund won’t be able to pay out full benefits to people by 2033.
“This is happening everywhere,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But in China with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger.”
That is on top of fewer births, as younger people opt out of having children, citing high costs. In 2022, China’s National Bureau of Statistics reported that for the first time the country had 850,000 fewer people at the end of the year than the previous year , a turning point from population growth to decline. In 2023, the population shrank further, by 2 million people.

Elderly people chat outside a restaurant along a street in Beijing on March 16, 2023. (AFP)

What that means is that the burden of funding elderly people’s pensions will be divided among a smaller group of younger workers, as pension payments are largely funded by deductions from people who are currently working.
Researchers measure that pressure by looking at a number called the dependency ratio, which counts the number of people over the age of 65 compared to the number of workers under 65. That number was 21.8 percent in 2022, according to government statistics, meaning that roughly five workers would support one retiree. The percentage is expected to rise, meaning fewer workers will be shouldering the burden of one retiree.
The necessary course correction will cause short-term pain, experts say, coming at a time of already high youth unemployment and a soft economy.
A 52-year-old Beijing resident, who gave his family name as Lu and will now retire at age 61 instead of 60, was positive about the change. “I view this as a good thing, because our society’s getting older, and in developed countries, the retirement age is higher,” he said.
Li Bin, 35, who works in the event planning industry, said she was a bit sad.
“It’s three years less of play time. I had originally planned to travel around after retirement,” she said. But she said it was better than expected because the retirement age was only raised three years for women in white-collar jobs.
Some of the comments on social media when the policy review was announced earlier in the week reflected anxiety.
But of the 13,000 comments on the Xinhua news post announcing the news, only a few dozen were visible, suggesting that many others had been censored.
 

Topics: China retirement age population

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NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia

NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia
Updated 15 September 2024
AP
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NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia

NATO military committee chair, others back Ukraine’s use of long range weapons to strike back at Russia
  • “Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself," Admiral Rob Bauer said during a meeting of the committee
  • The comment came as some of Ukraine’s major donors continue to put waver on the issue
Updated 15 September 2024
AP

PRAGUE: The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage — reflecting the beliefs of a number of US allies — even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons.
“Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Admiral Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by US Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Bauer, of Netherlands, also added that nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine. But, standing next to him at a press briefing, Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, made it clear his nation places no such weapons restrictions on Kyiv.
“We believe that the Ukrainians should decide themselves how to use it,” Řehka said.
Their comments came as US President Joe Biden is weighing whether to allow Ukraine to use American-provided long-range weapons to hit deep into Russia. And they hint at the divisions over the issue.
Biden met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday, after this week’s visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats, who came under fresh pressure to loosen weapons restrictions. US officials familiar with discussions said they believed Starmer was seeking Biden’s approval to allow Ukraine to use British Storm Shadow missiles for expanded strikes in Russia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with Admiral Rob Bauer, chairman of NATO's military committee, in Kyiv on March 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS)

Biden’s approval may be needed because Storm Shadow components are made in the US The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to share the status of private conversations, said they believed Biden would be amenable, but there has been no decision announced yet.
Providing additional support and training for Ukraine was a key topic at the NATO chiefs’ meeting, but it wasn’t clear Saturday if the debate over the US restrictions was discussed.
Many of the European nations have been vigorously supportive of Ukraine in part because they worry about being the next victim of an empowered Russia.
At the opening of the meeting, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel broadly urged the military chiefs gathered in the room to be ”bold and open in articulating your assessments and recommendations. The rounder and the softer they are, the less they will be understood by the political level.”
The allies, he said, must “take the right steps and the right decisions to protect our countries and our way of life.”
The military leaders routinely develop plans and recommendations that are then sent to the civilian NATO defense secretaries for discussion and then on to the nations’ leaders in the alliance.
The US allows Ukraine to use American-provided weapons in cross-border strikes to counter attacks by Russian forces. But it doesn’t allow Kyiv to fire long-range missiles, such as the ATACMS, deep into Russia. The US has argued that Ukraine has drones that can strike far and should use ATACMS judiciously because they only have a limited number.
Ukraine has increased its pleas with Washington to lift the restrictions, particularly as winter looms and Kyiv worries about Russian gains during the colder months.
“You want to weaken the enemy that attacks you in order to not only fight the arrows that come your way, but also attack the archer that is, as we see, very often operating from Russia proper into Ukraine,” said Bauer. “So militarily, there’s a good reason to do that, to weaken the enemy, to weaken its logistic lines, fuel, ammunition that comes to the front. That is what you want to stop, if at all possible.”
Brown, for his part, told reporters traveling with him to the meeting that the US policy on long-range weapons remains in place.
But, he added, “by the same token, what we want to do is — regardless of that policy — we want to continue to make Ukraine successful with the capabilities that have been provided” by the US and other nations in the coalition, as well as the weapons Kyiv has been able to build itself.
“They’ve proven themselves fairly effective in building out uncrewed aerial vehicles, in building out drones,” Brown told reporters traveling with him to meetings in Europe.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made similar points, arguing that one weapons system won’t determine success in the war.
“There are a number of things that go into the overall equation as to whether or not you know you want to provide one capability or another,” Austin said Friday. “There is no silver bullet when it comes to things like this.”
He also noted that Ukraine has already been able to strike inside Russia with its own internally produced systems, including drones.

Topics: Russian-Ukraine conflict NATO Admiral Rod Bauer

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Venezuela says it arrested 6 foreigners allegedly involved in a plot to kill President Maduro

Venezuela says it arrested 6 foreigners allegedly involved in a plot to kill President Maduro
Updated 15 September 2024
AP
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Venezuela says it arrested 6 foreigners allegedly involved in a plot to kill President Maduro

Venezuela says it arrested 6 foreigners allegedly involved in a plot to kill President Maduro
  • The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation’s powerful interior minister
Updated 15 September 2024
AP

BOGOTA, Colombia: Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation’s powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.
The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain’s embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.
The US State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a US military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional US citizens detained in Venezuela.”
“Any claims of US involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.
The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the US government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.
Earlier this week, Spain’s parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.
Tensions between Venezuela’s government and the US have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.
Venezuela’s Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52 percent of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80 percent of the nation’s voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
Despite international condemnation over the election’s lack of transparency, Venezuela’s supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela’s attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.
Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the US is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.
The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the US government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the US government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to US prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid US Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.

Topics: Venezuela Nicolas Maduro Diosdado Cabello

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Boeing strike could drag on as workers push for higher wages, union leader says

Boeing strike could drag on as workers push for higher wages, union leader says
Updated 15 September 2024
Reuters
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Boeing strike could drag on as workers push for higher wages, union leader says

Boeing strike could drag on as workers push for higher wages, union leader says
  • More than 30,000 workers who produce Boeing’s top-selling 737 MAX and other jets began a strike on Friday
  • Negotiators from both sides are due to return to the bargaining table next week, in talks overseen by US federal mediators
Updated 15 September 2024
Reuters

SEATTLE: A strike at Boeing “could go on for a while” as workers are confident they can get bigger wage increases and an improved pension, union leader Jon Holden said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) on Saturday.
More than 30,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), who produce Boeing’s top-selling 737 MAX and other jets in the Seattle and Portland, began a strike on Friday after overwhelmingly voting down a new contract.
Boeing and union negotiators are due to return to the bargaining table next week, in talks overseen by US federal mediators, after more than 94 percent of workers voted to reject an initial contract offer that Holden had endorsed.
Holden said the priorities for his members were a bigger wage increase and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension scheme that the IAM lost during a previous round of negotiations with Boeing a decade ago.
“We have the most leverage and the most power at the most opportune time that we’ve ever had in our history, and our members are expecting us to use it,” Holden told NPR.
“I know that our members are confident. They’re standing shoulder to shoulder and they’re ready. So it (the strike) could go on for a while.”
The initial deal included a 25 percent pay rise spread over four years and a commitment by Boeing to build its next commercial jet in the Seattle region, if the plane program was launched within the four-year period of the contract.
Union members, venting frustration at years of stagnant wages and rising living costs, said removal of a performance bonus in the Boeing offer would erode half of the headline salary increase.
Boeing’s stock fell 3.7 percent on Friday. It has tumbled almost 40 percent so far this year, slashing the company’s market value by roughly $58 billion
A long strike could further damage Boeing’s finances, already groaning due to a $60 billion debt pile. A lengthy pause on plane production would also weigh on airlines that fly Boeing jets and suppliers that manufacture parts.

Topics: Boeing International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) 737 MAX

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