Workers call off protest that grounded flights at Kenya’s main airport

Update Workers call off protest that grounded flights at Kenya’s main airport
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People walk at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport ahead of a strike by Kenya airports union workers to protest against a proposed deal for India’s Adani Group in Nairobi, Kenya on Sept. 10, 2024. (Reuters)
Update Workers call off protest that grounded flights at Kenya’s main airport
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Passengers wait for their flights during a strike by Kenya airports union workers to protest against a proposed deal for India’s Adani Group ADEL.NS, to lease Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) for 30 years, in Nairobi, on Sept. 11, 2024. (Reuters)
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Updated 01 October 2024
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Workers call off protest that grounded flights at Kenya’s main airport

Workers call off protest that grounded flights at Kenya’s main airport
  • The decision came after a day-long talks between the union leaders and the government
  • The union wrote on X that a return to work agreement had been signed

NAIROBI: Kenya’s airport workers’ union has called off a strike that grounded flights in the country’s main airport on Wednesday over awarding the contract for its modernization and operations to an Indian firm.
The decision came after a day-long talks between the union leaders and the government.
The workers were protesting a build-and-operate agreement between the Kenyan government and India’s Adani Group that would see the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport modernized, and an additional runway and terminal constructed, in exchange for the group running the airport for 30 years.
The union wrote on X that a return to work agreement had been signed and the union’s secretary general Moss Ndiema told journalists and workers that the union would be involved in every discussion moving forward.

 


“We have not accepted Adani,” he said.
Transport Minister Davis Chirchir told journalists that the government would protect the interests of Kenyan citizens during the quest to upgrade and modernize the main airport.
Hundreds of workers at Kenya’s main international airport demonstrated on Wednesday as planes remained grounded, with hundreds of passengers stranded at the airport.
Kenya Airport Workers Union, in announcing the strike, had said that the deal would lead to job losses and “inferior terms and conditions of service” for those who will remain.
Kenya Airways on Wednesday announced there would be flight delays and possible cancelations because of the ongoing strike at the airport, which serves Nairobi.
The strike affected local flights coming from the port city of Mombasa and the lake city of Kisumu, where delays have been reported by local media.
At the main airport, police officers had taken up security check-in roles with long lines seen outside the departure terminals and worried passengers unable to confirm if their flights would depart as scheduled.
The Kenya Airports Authority said in a statement that it was “engaging relevant parties to normalize operations” and urged passengers to contact their respective airlines to confirm flight status.
The Central Organization of Trade Unions’ secretary-general, Francis Atwoli, told journalists at the airport that the strike would have been averted had the government listened to the workers.
“This was a very simple matter where the assurance to workers in writing that our members will not lose jobs and their jobs will remain protected by the government and as is required by law and that assurance alone, we wouldn’t have been here,” he said.
Last week, airport workers had threatened to go on strike, but the plans were called off pending discussions with the government.
The spotting of unknown people moving around with airport officials taking notes and photographs raised concerns that the Indian firm officials were readying for the deal, local media outlets reported last week.
The High Court on Monday temporarily halted the implementation of the deal until a case filed by the Law Society and the Kenya Human Rights Commission is heard.

 


Former US president Jimmy Carter turns 100

Former US president Jimmy Carter turns 100
Updated 5 sec ago
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Former US president Jimmy Carter turns 100

Former US president Jimmy Carter turns 100
  • No longer regularly appearing in public, the Democratic ex-president will spend his birthday in the home he and his late wife Rosalynn had built in Plains in the 1960s
  • President Joe Biden, in a video posted on his official X account, hailed Carter as a “beloved friend” and “one of the most influential statesmen” in US history

PLAINS, United States: Jimmy Carter celebrated his 100th birthday on Tuesday — the first ever US president to reach the century mark and another extraordinary milestone for the one-time peanut farmer who found his way to the White House.
Carter’s longevity — he began hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia, more than 19 months ago — has defied all expectations.
No longer regularly appearing in public, the Democratic ex-president will spend his birthday in the home he and his late wife Rosalynn had built in Plains in the 1960s.
It will include a lunch with some 20 members of his extended family, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
President Joe Biden, in a video posted on his official X account, hailed Carter as a “beloved friend” and “one of the most influential statesmen” in US history.
“Your hopeful vision of our country, your commitment to a better world and your unwavering belief in the power of human goodness continues to be a guiding light for all of us,” he said.
First Lady Jill Biden’s office said a display would be set up on the White House lawn with the message “Happy Birthday President Carter.”
Beyond serving as president for a single term from 1977 to 1981, Carter worked as a global mediator, rights activist and elder statesman, founding the well-respected Carter Center in 1982 to pursue his vision of world diplomacy.
His presidency included the 1978 Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt, establishment of diplomatic relations with China following a rapprochement initiated by president Richard Nixon, and return of control of the Panama Canal to Panama.
But his administration hit numerous snags, including the Iran hostage crisis and a renewed oil crisis in 1979-1980, which saw Ronald Regan sweep into power in a landslide.
“We are thrilled that the president from this little town is going to be the only president to ever live to be 100 years old,” Jill Stuckey, superintendent of the National Park Service’s Jimmy Carter historical site and longtime family friend, told AFP.
She spoke from Plains High School, where Carter graduated in 1941 and which now serves as the visitor center for the national park that features sites from his early life, including the nearby peanut farm where he grew up.
On Tuesday, the school will hold an evening concert and also a naturalization ceremony for 100 new US citizens.
A devout Baptist and self-described “born-again” Christian, Carter is remembered for a moralistic streak, but also his civility, admired even by detractors across the aisle.
“Healthy habits and his faith are a lot of the reasons why he is still with it today,” Stuckey said, referencing Carter’s penchant for fresh food and exercise.
According to family, Carter remains keenly interested in politics and was highly motivated to make it to 100 and to vote in the November election for fellow Democrat Kamala Harris.
“He will be voting by mail-in ballot,” Stuckey told AFP, adding “he’s always been very politically active, and nothing has changed with that respect.”
In Plains, like in many rural places with strong evangelical Christian leanings, far more yard signs support Republican Donald Trump than Harris.
But it is also not uncommon to see a sign celebrating Carter’s centennial birthday next to one supporting Trump.
Carl Lowell, who has lived in Plains since infancy, said he tries not to get involved in politics because it is “so divisive” right now.
Like most residents of Plains, the 59-year-old retired firefighter is linked to Carter in various ways — he says his grandfather helped build the Carters’ house and that he himself even went dove hunting with him once.
“Jimmy’s a good man, he’s a godly man, and that’s what people like about him,” he said.


Filipino workers in Lebanon urge Manila to speed up repatriation

Filipino workers in Lebanon urge Manila to speed up repatriation
Updated 35 min 2 sec ago
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Filipino workers in Lebanon urge Manila to speed up repatriation

Filipino workers in Lebanon urge Manila to speed up repatriation
  • Around 11,000 Philippine nationals live and work in Lebanon
  • Many say they are struggling to get their country’s help to leave

MANILA: Filipino workers in Lebanon are urging the Philippine government to fast-track their repatriation in the wake of deadly Israeli attacks escalating in the region.

Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people across Lebanon in a series of attacks that began with pagers exploding at shops and hospitals around the country in mid-September, followed by a relentless bombing campaign that targeted densely populated areas.

The Philippine government has placed Lebanon under its “Alert Level 3,” which calls on over 11,000 Filipinos living and working there to voluntarily return home.

But many say they are struggling to leave. Joanna Concepcion, president of Migrante International, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers, said that more than 100 Filipinos the organization has been in touch with have expressed “urgent concern” for their safety.

“This time, the situation is worrying them and they feel there is nowhere safe anymore. They feel that Israel can target anywhere, anytime,” Concepcion told Arab News.

“They are urgently appealing to the Philippine government for rescue and repatriation assistance. They are worried about the bombings and the explosions coming closer to their homes, in their communities. So they are worried for their safety, they are worried for their life and not being able to go back home safely to their families.”

Some Filipinos in Lebanon are facing legal difficulties, including permission from employers and official clearance to leave, as the Lebanese government suspended certain operations in the wake of Israeli attacks.

While Venacio Legaspi, an assistant secretary at the Department of Migrant Workers, said “we are doing what we can for their orderly and safe repatriation,” Filipino workers are urging Manila to make their repatriation mandatory, as Israeli forces escalate their assault on Lebanon.

“We all hope and pray our government will make it mandatory so our employers cannot refuse,” Rachel, whose name has been changed for her safety, told Arab News.

“We don’t know if we’ll still be alive tomorrow. It used to be that only south Lebanon was being bombed. It’s different now, even here in Beirut … I want to return home. But like other OFWs here, as long as the repatriation is not mandatory, we will not be able to go home because our employers won’t let us leave until we finish our contract.”

Maria, whose name has also been changed, faces a similar situation. After moving last year to Yarzeh, a town southeast of Beirut, the 29-year-old is bound by her contract, under which her boss paid $6,000 for her trip to Lebanon.

“I would like to be picked up here so that I can go home … I don’t have the money to pay my boss for what he spent on my way here. I even asked the embassy for help, but they won’t come here to pick me up,” she said.

“It’s very dangerous when we go out … We were so afraid that we could hardly sleep because the whole house was shaking from the explosions.”

Since last November, as fears of an escalation grew, the Philippines has been urging its citizens in Lebanon to leave the country.

However, some who answered the calls have not heard back from their government, even over a month after signing up for the repatriation process.

“When will they act? When some people have already died here?” Filipino worker Christine Lao said at a press conference hosted by Migrante International on Sunday.

“I call on all government agencies to pay attention to us … After being here for so long, we never considered returning home, but now it has become a matter of life and death. We can no longer hold back.”


Trudeau set to survive second confidence motion in Canada parliament

Trudeau set to survive second confidence motion in Canada parliament
Updated 39 min 24 sec ago
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Trudeau set to survive second confidence motion in Canada parliament

Trudeau set to survive second confidence motion in Canada parliament
  • Trudeau easily brushed off a move by the official opposition Conservative Party to bring him down last Thursday
  • The right-of-center Conservatives quickly proposed another confidence motion

OTTAWA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to survive a second parliamentary confidence motion in less than a week on Tuesday after opposition parties vowed to keep his minority Liberal government alive for now.
Trudeau, facing increasing voter fatigue after almost nine years in power, easily brushed off a move by the official opposition Conservative Party to bring him down last Thursday.
The right-of-center Conservatives quickly proposed another confidence motion, which the House of Commons is due to vote on at around 3.30 p.m. ET (1930 GMT) on Tuesday.
The Conservatives, who have a big lead in the polls ahead of an election that must be held by end-October 2025, need the backing of every single opposition legislator to succeed.
But the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which wants independence for the province of Quebec, said last week it would back Trudeau until at least the end of this month in return for boosting seniors’ pensions.
Even if the Bloc does turn against Trudeau, he could still be saved by the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP).
A Nanos poll released on Sept 27 showed the Conservatives on 42 percent public support, far ahead of the NDP on 22 percent and the Liberals on 21 percent. Given this would result in a huge Conservative victory if replicated in an election, the NDP could be tempted to keep Trudeau in power, in the hope its own fortunes might recover.


Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls as Modi promises statehood

Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls as Modi promises statehood
Updated 01 October 2024
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Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls as Modi promises statehood

Kashmir votes in final round of regional polls as Modi promises statehood
  • Modi’s government scrapped Kashmir’s autonomy and statehood in 2019
  • He promised to restore it during election campaign in the region last month

NEW DELHI: Voters in Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir went to the polls on Tuesday in the final round of local elections, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to restore the region’s statehood.

Modi’s government brought Kashmir under New Delhi’s direct control in 2019, after it repealed Article 370 of the Constitution — which granted the region its semi-autonomy — and downgraded it from a state to a federally administrated territory.

The three-phase polls that started last month are the first in this political setting.

The election has been held in three stages from Sept. 18 to choose a 90-member local assembly. The result will be announced next week.

Over 9 million Kashmiris were registered to vote. In the first phase, the turnout was over 61 percent, and in the second, 57 percent — relatively high for the region traditionally known for boycotting elections.

“The motivation is that the people want their statehood back,” Subhash Chandra Sharma, and advocate in Jammu, which was the last area to cast ballot votes, told Arab News.

“There is a strong resentment among the people that Article 370 was wrongly abrogated. Jammu people are feeling the pinch of losing the special constitutional status.”

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. The Indian-controlled region is predominantly Muslim and has for decades witnessed outbreaks of separatist insurgencies to resist control from the government in New Delhi.

After the scrapping of Kashmir’s autonomy and statehood, a series of administrative changes followed, with the Indian government removing protections on land and jobs for the local population, which many likened to attempts at demographically altering the region.

The promise to restore the statehood was given by Modi last month as he visited Kashmir’s main city, Srinagar, to campaign for his party in the local election. He said he has pledged in parliament that “Jammu and Kashmir will again be a state” and that only his Bharatiya Janata Party “will fulfill this commitment.”

Kashmir has been without a local government since 2018 when Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party brought down a coalition government elected in 2014, forcing the assembly to dissolve.

“So far, as the voting is concerned, I feel the BJP will not perform well in the Kashmir region and even in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region their performance would go down,” Sharma said.

Qazi Insha Shakeel, a homemaker, also from Jammu, said that people “feel the loss” of their region’s special status and statehood.

“If we elect our leader, then that leader without power would be meaningless,” she told Arab News. “Statehood is important to restore the power of the elected representatives so that they can address our grievances.”

For others, like Aijaz Ahmad, a business professional from Srinagar, the election also meant a chance for the regain part of its agency.

“(To) vote is the only option for us to save our dignity,” he said.

“Without statehood, our elected representatives are powerless, and this election will hold no meaning.”


Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218

Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218
Updated 01 October 2024
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Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218

Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218
  • Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season
  • More than 300 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year

KAVRE, Nepal: Survivors of the monsoon floods that ravaged Nepal at the weekend criticized the government on Tuesday for inadequate relief efforts during a disaster that killed at least 218 people.
Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change is making them worse.
Entire neighborhoods in the capital Katmandu were inundated at the weekend, along with villages in remote pockets of the Himalayan country that were still awaiting relief efforts.
“There is no road, so no one has come,” Mira KC, who lives in a village in Kavre district to Katmandu’s east, said.
“Even if they do, those who died are dead already and the damage is done. All they will do is offer condolences, what will they do?”
The floods disproportionately hit Katmandu’s poorest residents living in haphazard slums along the banks of the Bagmati river and its tributaries, which run through the city.
Slum resident Man Kumar Rana Magar, 49, said that authorities had provided shelter for him and his neighbors at a school after their homes were inundated.
However, he said they had been forced to leave before they were ready to return to their homes when the school reopened for classes.
“We are so close to the seat of the government. If they cannot take care of the poor this close, what will they do about others?” he said.
At least 218 people were killed in the floods, with another 27 still missing, according to Nepal’s home ministry. More than 4,000 others were rescued.
Nepal’s weather bureau said preliminary data showed 240 millimeters (9.4 inches) of rain fell in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, the biggest single-day downpour in more than two decades.
Experts said authorities did not prepare adequately for the disaster despite forecasts of intense storms.
“Precautions that should have been taken were ignored,” climate expert Arun Bhakta Shrestha, of Katmandu-based think tank International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, said.
Nepali disaster management expert Man Bahadur Thapa said gaps in coordination and resources had also hindered the rescue process.
“We could have saved a lot more lives if we prepared and built the capacity of our responders,” he said.
Home ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari said authorities had been “working relentlessly since the disaster began and all our resources are at work.”
Monsoon rains bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides across South Asia every year.
Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity.
More than 300 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year.