Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12

Azali Assoumani delivers a speech during the opening event of the African Union's conference on reparations in Accra, Ghana, November 14, 2023. (REUTERS)
Azali Assoumani delivers a speech during the opening event of the African Union's conference on reparations in Accra, Ghana, November 14, 2023. (REUTERS)
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Updated 13 October 2024
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Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12

Comoros to hold parliamentary elections on Jan. 12
  • “We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen,” Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party, who stood against Assoumani in the last election, said

MORONI: Comoros will hold elections to its 33-seat parliament on Jan. 12, according to a decree published on Saturday.
Opposition parties have said they will boycott the poll. The Indian Ocean archipelago, with a population of about 800,000, last had parliamentary polls in January 2020.
In January, incumbent President Azali Assoumani was reelected for another five-year term, but the opposition rejected the results, alleging instances of ballot stuffing and of voting being ended before the official closing time.
The government denied the claims.
“We are not ready to take part in legislative elections until we know what is going to happen,” Salim Issa Abdillah, leader of the opposition JUWA party, who stood against Assoumani in the last election, said.
“We do not trust Azali Assoumani because no matter what commitments he makes, he will not respect them.”
Orange, another opposition party, has also said it will not participate in the poll because the president had re-appointed the current head of the electoral body, Idrissa Said, whom they accuse of favoring the ruling Convention for the Renewal of the Comoros party.
Said denies the allegations.
Assoumani’s opponents suspect him of wanting to prepare his eldest son, Nour El-Fath, to replace him in 2029 when his current term ends.
Assoumani has been ruling Comoros since 1999 when he came to power through a coup. He has since won three elections.

 


Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia
Updated 13 sec ago
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Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia

Indonesia minister says hopeful of deal soon on transfer of Bali nine members to Australia
JAKARTA: There were still many things to discuss on repatriating the five remaining members of the ‘Bali Nine’ drug ring to Australia and hopefully an understanding can be reached soon, Indonesia’s senior minister on legal affairs Yusril Ihza Mahendra said.
The announcement was made after the minister met with Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“Hopefully we could find an understanding,” Yusril said, adding that he hoped to resolve the matter this month.
Indonesia has no regulations regarding transfer of prisoners, but the deal was initiated by President Prabowo Subianto’s good intentions, Yusril said.
Yusril said Indonesia would respect any decision taken by the country of origin of the prisoners, including an amnesty, adding that this was a transfer of prisoners and not an exchange.
Last month, Law Minister Supratman Andi Agtas said Indonesia had agreed in principle to transfer the five prisoners, who are currently serving life sentences, after Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese raised the issue with Prabowo.
Supratman had said Jakarta was seeking the repatriation of Indonesian prisoners held in Australia as part of the deal.
The Bali Nine were arrested in 2005 as they attempted to smuggle heroin out of the Indonesian resort island.
Two of the group’s ringleaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in 2015, and Australia recalled its ambassador in protest.
One of the members was released from prison in 2018, and another died of cancer the same year.
Indonesia last month agreed to repatriate Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine woman on death row for drug trafficking, to serve the rest of her sentence in her home country.
France has also asked for the repatriation of a prisoner from Indonesia, Supratman said last month.

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’
Updated 23 min 3 sec ago
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Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’

Ukraine says full NATO membership ‘only real guarantee of security’
  • ‘We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine… is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO’

KYIV: Ukraine on Tuesday called for “full” NATO membership as the only guarantee of security in the face of the Russian invasion, ahead of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.
“We are convinced that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is Ukraine’s full membership in NATO,” the foreign ministry in Kyiv said in a statement.


US Senate approves promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal

US Senate approves promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal
Updated 03 December 2024
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US Senate approves promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal

US Senate approves promotion of general involved in Afghanistan withdrawal
  • Donahue commanded 82nd Airborne Division, was last American soldier to leave Afghanistan as US forces evacuated in Aug. 2021
  • President-elect Trump has said he would ask for the resignation of every senior official “who touched the Afghanistan calamity”

WASHINGTON: The US Senate on Monday confirmed the promotion of Army Lt. Gen. Christopher Donahue, who had been a commander in Afghanistan during the US withdrawal, after it was briefly blocked by a Republican senator.
Senator Markwayne Mullin had placed a hold on Donahue’s nomination to become a four-star general and the top commander of the US Army in Europe.
President-elect Donald Trump and his allies have decried the 2021 US military withdrawal from Afghanistan and vowed to go after those responsible for it. During his successful campaign for re-election, Trump said in August he would ask for the resignation of every senior official “who touched the Afghanistan calamity.”
Donahue was confirmed on Monday by unanimous consent, part of many military promotions approved as a group. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Donahue commanded the military’s 82nd Airborne Division during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and was the last American soldier to leave the country as US forces evacuated in August 2021.
While the image of Donahue, carrying his rifle down by his side as he boarded the final C-17 transport flight out of Afghanistan, has become synonymous with the chaotic withdrawal, he is seen in the military as one of the most talented army commanders.
Under Senate rules, one lawmaker can hold up nominations even if the other 99 all want them to move quickly.


UN warns global drought carries $300 billion annual cost

UN warns global drought carries $300 billion annual cost
Updated 03 December 2024
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UN warns global drought carries $300 billion annual cost

UN warns global drought carries $300 billion annual cost
  • Drought projected to affect 75% of the world’s population by 2050, a UN report cautioned
  • The UN urged investment in ‘nature-based solutions’ to cut the price of dessication and benefit the environment

RIYADH: Drought costs the world more than $300 billion each year, the United Nations warned Tuesday in a report published on the second day of international talks on desertification in Saudi Arabia.
Fuelled by “human destruction of the environment,” drought is projected to affect 75 percent of the world’s population by 2050, the report cautioned.
It said the crisis has already exceeded $307 billion in costs annually around the globe.
The warning coincides with a 12-day meeting in Riyadh for the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) under the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), seeking to protect and restore land and respond to drought amid ongoing climate change.
The UN urged investment in “nature-based solutions” such as “reforestation, grazing management, and the management, restoration and conservation of watersheds” to cut the price of dessication and benefit the environment.
Marked by devastating droughts in Ecuador, Brazil, Namibia, Malawi and nations bordering the Mediterranean, which sparked fires and produced water and food shortages, 2024 is on course to be the hottest year since records began.
“The economic cost of drought extends beyond immediate agricultural losses. It affects entire supply chains, reduces GDP, impacts livelihoods, and leads to hunger, unemployment, migration, and long-term human security challenges,” Kaveh Madani, a co-author of the UN report, said.
“Managing our land and water resources in a sustainable way is essential to stimulate economic growth and strengthen the resilience of communities trapped in cycles of drought,” Andrea Meza Murillo, a senior UNCCD official, said.
“As talks for a landmark COP decision on drought are underway, the report calls on world leaders to recognize the outsized, and preventable, costs of drought, and to leverage proactive and nature-based solutions to secure human development within planetary boundaries,” she added.


Life demanded for killer in femicide that outraged Italy

Life demanded for killer in femicide that outraged Italy
Updated 03 December 2024
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Life demanded for killer in femicide that outraged Italy

Life demanded for killer in femicide that outraged Italy
  • Prosecutors have asked for life in prison for Filippo Turetta for killing Giulia Cecchettin in November last year
  • Cecchettin was stabbed at least 75 times in a shocking murder that prompted protests over violence against women across Italy

ROME: A student who admitted murdering his ex-girlfriend in a brutal case that sparked outrage and soul searching in Italy will be sentenced Tuesday.
Prosecutors have asked for life in prison for Filippo Turetta, 22, for killing Giulia Cecchettin in November last year, just days before she was due to graduate from the University of Padua.
Cecchettin, also 22, was stabbed at least 75 times in a shocking murder that prompted protests over violence against women across Italy.
Turetta’s lawyer Giovanni Caruso has called the request for life imprisonment excessive, saying his client was “not Pablo Escobar,” the notorious Colombian drug baron.
When the trial opened in Venice in September, he warned against a “media trial” and last week insisted there were no “aggravating circumstances” such as cruelty, or premeditation.
But prosecutor Andrea Petroni said Turetta acted with “particular brutality,” attacking Cecchettin before fleeing with her in his car.
Her body was found a week after she went missing in a gully near Lake Barcis north of Venice.
Turetta was arrested a day later near Leipzig in Germany after his car ran out of petrol.
Giulia’s father, Gino Cecchettin, refused to comment on the potential sentence.
“I’m already dead inside... for me nothing will change. I will never see Giulia again,” he told RAI public radio last week.
“The only thing I can do... is to ensure there are as few possible cases like Giulia’s, that there are fewer parents who have to mourn a dead daughter.”
Cecchettin’s murder is one of a string of femicides that have made headlines in Italy in recent years, but it struck a nerve, pushing the issue to the forefront of public discourse.
At her funeral last year, thousands of people turned out to pay their respects and her father implored men to “challenge the culture that tends to minimize violence by men who appear normal.”
Giulia’s sister, Elena, called for a cultural revolution, urging sympathizers to “burn everything” – a message since scrawled on walls and protest banners, often alongside the phrase “Patriarchy kills.”
Out of 276 murders recorded by Italy’s interior ministry so far this year, 100 of the victims were women – 88 killed by someone close to them, the vast majority by a partner or ex.
This compares to 110 out of 310 murders in the same period last year, with 90 killed by someone close to them. In 2022, 106 women were killed by someone close to them, and 107 in 2021.
Cecchettin’s family has set up a foundation in her name, pressing for better education, more support for women facing violence and greater efforts to encourage equality and respect.
Last month, thousands of people marched through Rome and the Sicilian capital Palermo to mark an international day against femicide, many of them walking in Cecchettin’s name.
While denouncing historic discrimination against women and a lack of policies such as sex education in schools, some of the campaigners accused Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government in particular of failing women.
Education Minister Giuseppe Valditara sparked an uproar last month by saying that “male domination no longer exists” in law in Italy, and linking violence against women to illegal immigration.
Elena Cecchettin hit back that her sister, a biomedical engineering student, was killed by a “young white Italian.”
Meloni, Italy’s first woman prime minister, said last week that legislation was not lacking in Italy, but that “the challenge remains above all cultural.”
The leader of the far-right Brothers of Italy party also made a link with illegal immigration – even though official figures from 2022 show that 94 percent of Italian female murder victims were killed by Italians.