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Iran said this Tuesday that it will resume uranium enrichment at an underground facility south of the capital. The EU immediately voiced its concern over this latest decision by Tehran which risks further weakening the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that Iran had accepted in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

One of the restrictions in the 2015 accord meant Iran agreed to suspend all enrichment at the Frodow plant in the mountains near the city of Qom in return for a lifting of international sanctions.

However, in May of this year the US pulled out of the agreement, and reinstated crippling sanctions against Tehran.

That move saw Iran suspend its own commitments to the accord with this latest announcement officially cutting it off from the deal.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouahani announced on Tuesday that “starting from tomorrow (Wednesday), we will begin injecting (uranium hexafluoride) gas at Fordo,” during a speech broadcast on state television.

Nuclear enrichment

Under the terms of the agreement, Rouhani noted that Iran had retained more than 1,000 centrifuges at the plant which had been running empty since the deal was struck.

Tehran added that the resumption of enrichment at Fordow would be carried out transparently and under the surveillance of inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA.

Reactions

Earlier in the month, Paris had said it feared further nuclear escalation from Iran following its refusal to speak to US President Donald Trump during this years UN Annual General Assembly in New York.

In response to Rouhani’s latest announcement, France is urging Iran to reverse its decision.

“The announcements by Iran go against the Vienna agreement,” stressed France’s foreign ministry in a statement. It added that it was “deeply worried” by Iran’s latest steps and would await reports from the IAEA on developments on the Iranian side.

Russia, with long-time ties to Iran, also expressed concern, but added it understands Tehran's concerns over the “unprecedented and illegal sanctions” imposed by Washington.

The European Union also voiced its concern, noting it was becoming “increasingly difficult” to save the 2015 accord.

However Rouhani maintains that Iran remains committed to saving the 2015 agreement, despite the phased suspension of some of its commitments.

“We are committed to all the behind-the-scenes negotiations we have with some countriesfor a solution . . . over the next two months we will negotiate more.

source : http://en.rfi.fr/americas/20191105-iran-says-it-will-resume-uranium-enrichment-despite-2015-accord


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Public grievances range from corruption, anti-austerity measures, and electoral irregularities. The reasons for the mass mobilisations may differ, but the response by those in power are becoming alarmingly similar.

In far too many countries, the response has been to shut down the space for people to organise and to persecute those calling for change.

The new civic space watchlist by the CIVICUS Monitor shines a spotlight on Hong Kong, Colombia, Egypt, Guinea and Kazakhstan where there are escalating rights violations against activists, journalists and civil society groups.

In particular, this shortlist profiles a sample of countries where there are serious and ongoing attacks against the freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression and association.

In Hong Kong, there has been a continued deterioration of civic space since millions of people took to the streets on 9th June 2019 to protest against a proposed extradition bill, which would allow individuals, including foreigners, to be sent to mainland China to face trial in courts controlled by the Chinese Communist Party.

In response to weekly protests, human rights groups have documented excessive and unlawful force by security forces against protesters with impunity, including the use of truncheons, pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets. Journalists have also been targeted.

More than 1,300 people have been arrested in the context of the mass protest and some activists have also been attacked by pro Beijing mobs.

In Egypt, recent anti-government protests resulted in mass arrests and the use of excessive force by the authorities. Thousands of people have been arrested since the protests started in September, including journalists, human rights lawyers and activists. Many of those arrested have been charged on dubious grounds of using social media to spread false news, aiding terrorist groups and for participating in unauthorised protests.

The crackdown has also expanded to target the political opposition and anyone deemed to be connected to protests dating all the way back to 2011.

In Guinea, tensions have been on the rise since Guinea's ruling party made a public call to change the constitution, which could abolish presidential term limits. The West African country is set for 2020 presidential elections and the current president, Alpha Condé, is not eligible under the current 2010 constitution.

During three days of protests in October against the proposed constitutional changes, at least nine people were killed and several protesters and protest leaders arrested. According to human rights organisations in Guinea, the plans for a new Constitution may destabilise the country and lead to renewed violence.

Since presidential elections this past June in Kazakhstan, human rights abuses have hit a new high in the former Soviet state. Post-election protests have seen police and special forces detain several thousand peaceful protesters, often with excessive force.

In addition, the authorities have obstructed the work of journalists and electoral observers, as well as periodically blocking access to social media and messenger applications. The repression has cast a shadow on the elections and the beginning of Tokayev's period in office.

Colombia is the fifth country on the Monitor Watchlist, which remains one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a human rights defender. Dozens of community leaders have been killed this year as well as 7 political candidates running for local office in an election campaign marked by violence. Impunity for such crimes has been the rule.

The country is further backsliding into violence as post-conflict communities are left vulnerable to dissident armed groups and commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announce their intentions to take up arms again, nearly three years after the historic peace accord with the Colombian government was signed.

While protests flare in all regions of the world, it is of utmost importance that people are able to freely express dissent without authorities using excessive force against them. Instead of using violence against protesters and restricting fundamental freedoms, governments should seek solutions by listening to the grievances of ordinary citizens and dissenting voices

source : globalissues.

 


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But the entrepreneur, who is co-owner of the ethical South African nursery Shoots and Roots, which doesn't use chemical fertiliser or herbicides, was doing it for a good cause.

The #runningtreecampaign — a fundraising effort by the non-profit Township Farmers which Sokomani started with children's rights activist Ondela Manjezi — was raising funds to plant some 2,000 indigenous trees in the former apartheid black housing area of Kayaltishea. In addition to planting trees, Township Farmers also educates school kids about gardening their own vegetables and how to plant and take care of trees.

Sokomani grew up in Kayaltishea an area known for the distinctive white, beach sand — in which you can still find seashells — which serves as soil. It's an environment in which only indigenous plants can flourish.

Under apartheid these areas received little or no services, and had no green spaces. And many still lack this. It was only thanks to a teacher who taught him and his classmates about the importance of the environment, recycling and growing your own food that Sokomani pursued studies and eventually a career in horticulture.

"There was nothing. There was not even a culture of planting trees. The main thing that people strived for was to get a job and to feed their families," he tells IPS.

So Sokomani and his friends and colleagues hit the pavement, completed the Cape Town marathon and raised the money for the indigenous trees. They have already started planting them in schools in Kayaltishea — starting with Sokomani's alma mater, Zola Senior Secondary School.

Dotted around the schools are now wild olive, sand olive and silver oak trees, among others.

Making a business out of land restoration

The 34-year-old Sokomani, who was elected as a youth ambassador leading restoration initiatives by the 4th African Forest Landscape Restoration (AFR100), has just returned from Ghana's capital, Accra, where the annual meeting concluded this week.

His attendance at AFR100, a project where African countries have committed to restore over 111 million hectares of degraded land by 2030, was important. As an entrepreneur Sokomani was there to show other African youth how to create viable business opportunities within the land restoration space.

Shoots and Roots has a number large clients in South Africa, regularly providing 150,000 to 200,000 indigenous trees to single clients in one order, and with a capacity to grow one million trees.

"We are missing something. We are missing the youth being actively involved in the management side of things," Sokomani pointed out.

The AFR100 Secretariat at the African Union's development agency, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), coordinates restoration activities on the continent, with support from the initiative's technical partners, including the Center for International Forestry ResearchUnited Nations Environment and World Resources Institute (WRI), among others.

Land degradation remains a threat to global security, according to the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification, with two-thirds of Africa comprising desert or drylands. UNCCD figures show that in 2019 some 45 million people across Africa, mostly from East and Southern Africa, are food insecure.

Aside from restored land providing food security, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reportreleased in August states that better land management can help combat global warming and limit the release of greenhouse gases. The report authors recommended vigorous action to halt soil damage and desertification.

Engaging the energy and innovation of Africa's youth

But many believe that without engaging the youth in these activities, success may not be possible.

"We have to engage young people meaningfully, invest in them. We need to harness their energy or get out of the way. Are we ready for these young people?" Wanjira Mathai, co-chair of the World Resources Institute's Global Restoration Council and the current Chair of of the Wangari Maathai Foundation, told the meeting. Mathai's mother was the late Wangari Maathai — the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and an environmentalist and human rights activist.

Speaking to IPS, Mathai said that youth were an "incredibly important demographic in this restoration movement" as they were Africa's largest demographic. Some 60 percent of Africa's population is under the age of 25.

"If you don't work with youth, who are you working with because they are after all the majority.

"Restoration and many environmental initiatives are very slow and deep because they take time, it takes 30 years for some trees to mature and that is fast in our tropics, it could be even longer — 90 years in Scandinavia. The generation that is actually going to deliver a lot of these ambitions and ambitious commitments that are being made today are the youth," Mathai told IPS.

She said young people "want to be involved in entrepreneurship ventures many of them are environmentalists but we have not created spaces for them, we only often think they are too young".

Mathai said that it was not obvious to many nations that the youth should be involved in land restoration and environmental efforts and that new and innovative ways needed to be explored to support youth engagement.

"What we know for sure is that if we leave them out, we leave them out at our own peril because they are energetic, they think differently and they are operating on a completely different level of consciousness that is needed especially for this decade that 2013 is end of a lot of different ambitious targets," Mathai told IPS.

According to the African Development Bank, 420 million of the continent's youth aged 15 to 35 are unemployed.

Creating jobs by financing entrepreneurs

This challenge can be solved if the youth venture into agroforestry, says Honorine Uwase Hirwa, founder Rwanda's Youth Forest Landscape Restoration initiative, which has trained more than 15,000 young Rwandans to plant trees.

"There's an opportunity especially on this restoration movement, one can establish a tree nursery, one can plant fruit trees and sell the fruit, there is a lot of opportunity when it comes to restoration it's a matters of empowering them with knowledge and making it easy for them to access the finance," she told IPS.

Sokomani agrees.

As a South African in the Western Cape province, where only 4,9 percent of agricultural land is owned by the black population, for Sokomani it was particularly hard to succeed in a business that requires land.

But Sokomani has not received bank or grant funding for his business and instead was able to make a success of the business, thanks to the involvement of a business partner and former client, Carl Pretorius.

But he tells IPS, "you won't get anywhere unless you have a passion for trees…it's all about the passion and what you do".

Land restoration more than planting trees

"Forest landscape restoration is more than just planting trees," Mamadou Diakhite, Sustainable Land and Water Management (SLWM) team leader at NEPAD, told the meeting.

Later, he told IPS why this had to be differentiated: "We had to  make this statement loud and clear because their some papers now including scientific papers that are being written and disseminated that portray and show AFR100 initiative as only planning trees, fencing them and preventing communities and people to access it which is the exact opposite, that's is why we say that restoration is beyond only tree planting. It is more about agro forestry and agro ecology systems."

Mathai concurred: "Sometimes there are agro forestry which are food production and trees and sometimes they are purely for food production. It is about understanding the landscape, the mosaic of the landscape and then maintaining the integrity of the landscape as a whole. The reason you hear us mentioning that all the time is to remind ourselves that landscapes occur in mosaics."

Horticulture — a business opportunity right in front of you

For Sokomani, the type of trees planted remains important. He said that while we often hear about large, bold initiatives of forests of trees being planted in a single day, he questioned the types of trees planted.

"If we don't create entrepreneurial opportunities through the establishment of nurseries that are growing trees and, in some areas, grasslands and bulbs and plants that actually thrive in those areas, we are really going to be messing up," the horticulturist said.

He said he heard of land restoration efforts where the Chinese Popular, a non-indigenous tree, was being used. "You can't restore degraded land with exotic species."

He said indigenous trees should also be grown and propagated among local communities and the resultant horticultural enterprises could also prevent migration of local populations to larger cities.

"For the youth out there in Africa, Asia and South Africa, I always say it is very easy to start a horticulture business because your initial inputs are right in front of you. You can get seeds from a tree, from your block or from a forest, you can do division, you can do many other propagation techniques that you actually just start your business," he said.

Sokomani said that if someone didn't study horticulture like he did it would require a little bit of effort to learn the techniques, but he insisted that he didn't believe in the myth of "green fingers" and anyone could learn to propagate and grown plants.

This weekend the horticulturist/marathon runner will slip into on running shoes and participate in one of South Africa's well-known races - the Soweto marathon. This time though, he will be doing it without a tree strapped to his back.

"Let's start today, because we really don't have time when it comes to mitigating

climate change.

source : http://www.globalissues.org/news/2019/11/01/25807


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NEW DELHI/AYODHYA, India (Reuters) - India’s Supreme Court on Saturday awarded a bitterly disputed religious site to Hindus, dealing a defeat to Muslims who also claim the land that has sparked some of the bloodiest riots in the history of independent India.

 

The ruling in the dispute between Hindu and Muslim groups paves the way for the construction of a Hindu temple on the site in the northern town of Ayodhya, a proposal long supported by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu-nationalist party.

Representatives of the Muslim group involved in the case criticised the judgment as unfair and said it was likely to seek a review of the verdict.

In 1992 a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque on the site, triggering riots in which about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed across the country.

Court battles over the ownership of the site followed.

 

Jubilant Hindus, who have long campaigned for a temple to be built on the ruins of the mosque, set off fire crackers in celebration in Ayodhya.

Thousands of paramilitary force members and police were deployed in Ayodhya and other sensitive areas across India and there were no immediate reports of unrest.

“This verdict shouldn’t be seen as a win or loss for anybody,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter.

“May peace and harmony prevail!”

Still, the verdict is likely to be viewed as win for the Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its backers.

 

It comes months after Modi’s government stripped the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir region of its special status as a state, delivering on yet another election promise to its largely Hindu support base.

Neelanjan Sircar, an assistant professor at Ashoka University near New Delhi, said the court ruling would benefit the BJP, which won re-election in May, but a slowing economy would ultimately take centre stage for voters.

“In the short term, there will be a boost for the BJP,” said Sircar. “These things don’t work forever . Ram Temple isn’t going to put food on the table.”

Hindus believe the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, a physical incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu, and say the site was holy for Hindus long before the Muslim Mughals, India’s most prominent Islamic rulers, built the Babri mosque there in 1528.

‘MILESTONE’

The five-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, reached a unanimous judgment to hand over the plot of just 2.77 acres (1.1 hectares), or about the size of a soccer field, to the Hindu group.

 

The court also directed that another plot of 5 acres (2 hectare) in Ayodhya be provided to the Muslim group that contested the case.

Modi’s party hailed the ruling as a “milestone.”

“I welcome the court decision and appeal to all religious groups to accept the decision,” Home Minister Amit Shah, who is also president of the BJP, said on Twitter.

The Sunni Muslim group involved in the case said it would likely file a review petition, which could trigger another protracted legal battle.

“This is not a justice,” said the group’s lawyer, Zafaryab Jilani.

Muslim organisations appealed for calm.

 

The Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh - the parent organisation of Modi’s party - had already decided against any celebrations to avoid provoking sectarian violence between India’s majority Hindus and Muslims, who constitute 14% of its 1.3 billion people.

Restrictions were placed on gatherings in some places and internet services were suspended. Elsewhere, police monitored social media to curb rumours.

Streets in Ayodhya were largely deserted and security personnel patrolled the main road to Lucknow, the capital of the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

Ayodhya residents were glued to their televisions and mobile phones for news of the ruling, which delighted Hindus when it came.

“Everyone should come together to ensure that the construction work begins at the site without any delay,” roadside vendor Jitan Singh said over the chants of “Jai Shri Ram” (hail Lord Ram) from fellow shop-keepers.

source : https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-religion-temple/indian-court-gives-disputed-religious-site-to-hindus-idUSKBN1XJ034?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews


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The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday announced a $4,5 million U.S. Navy contract modification for support of F-35 aircraft systems under the low-rate initial production.

The cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive-firm, firm-fixed-price modification to the previously awarded contract covers establish organic depot level repair capabilities for F-35 systems under the low-rate initial production (LRIP) Lot 11 non-annualized sustainment contract in support of the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and non-Department of Defense (DoD) participants.

Systems included are: common components, conventional controls, surfaces and edges, electrical/mechanical activation, firewall shutoff valve, radar, wing flap actuator system, hydraulic power generation system, arresting gear, standby flight display, fuel system, exterior lighting, gun system control unit, filter modules, thermal management system fan, alternating current contactor module and rudder pedals.

 
 
 

Work is expected to be completed in March 2023.

What’s more, in mid-October, the Defense Department and Lockheed Martin have reached a tentative agreement on the next lot of F-35s, with options for a multi-year buy worth about $34 billion for 478 aircraft total, including foreign partners and customers.

The agreement covers production Lot 12, with options for Lots 13 and 14. The first lot will include 157 aircraft, according to a Pentagon statement. The “framework” of the deal would lower the cost of an F-35A to $80 million in Lot 13, a year earlier than initially planned. Under Lot 11, the aircraft cost $89.2 million each.

The Air Force’s fiscal year 2020 budget pays for the 48 F-35As in Lot 11, according to Project On Government Oversight.

source : defence-blog


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A day after increasingly tense clashes between police and protesters in Hong Kong, the U.S. State Department called on both sides to "exercise restraint" and seek "dialogue."

"‎We condemn violence on all sides, extend our sympathies to victims of violence regardless of their political inclinations, and call for all parties — police and protesters — to exercise restraint," said State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus in a statement issued late Monday.

"The increased polarization within Hong Kong society underscores the need for a broad-based and sincere dialogue between the government, protesters, and citizenry writ large. The United States urges the Hong Kong government to build on its dialogue with the Hong Kong public and begin efforts to address the underlying concerns driving the protests. We also urge the protesters to respond to efforts at dialogue," Ortagus added.

The statement comes as Reuters reports that riot police fired tear gas at a university campus on Tuesday and protesters blocked streets and subway stations to disrupt commuter railway services.

As NPR's Bill Chappell reported, Monday "was perhaps the most violent day in roughly five months of protests over Hong Kong's relationship with Beijing."

On Monday, a Hong police officer shot an unarmed protester at point-blank range as he held another protester in a head lock. Hong Kong police said the officer acted in self-defense.

Another man was set on fire after an angry exchange with protesters in a different part of the city. The incident caused Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to label the protesters as "the people's enemy" who were "destroying society." She said that about 60 people were injured in Monday's violence.

Lam said she would "spare no effort" to bring the protests to an end.

source : https://www.npr.org/2019/11/11/778403552/with-escalating-violence-in-hong-kong-u-s-urges-both-sides-to-exercise-restraint?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=world


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President Evo Morales of Bolivia, who came to power more than a decade ago as part of a leftist wave sweeping Latin America, resigned Sunday after unrelenting protests by an infuriated population that accused him of undermining democracy to extend his rule.

Morales and his vice president, Álvaro García Linera, who also resigned, said in a national address that they were stepping down in an effort to stop the bloodshed that has spread across the country in recent weeks. But they admitted no wrongdoing and instead insisted that they were victims of a coup.

“The coup has been consummated,” García said.

Morales was once widely popular and stayed in the presidency longer than any other current head of state in Latin America. He was the first indigenous president in a country that had been led by a tiny elite of European descent for centuries, and he shepherded Bolivia through an era of economic growth and shrinking inequality, winning support from Bolivians who saw him as their first true representative in the capital.

“I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that the fight does not end here,” Morales said Sunday. “The poor, the social movements, will continue in this fight for equality and peace.”

“It hurts a lot,” he added.

Morales’ reluctance to give up power — first bending the country’s laws to stand for a fourth election, then insisting that he won despite widespread concerns about fraud — left him besieged by protests, abandoned by allies and unable to count on the police and the armed forces, which sided with the protesters and demanded he resign.

As the country slipped into deeper turmoil over the weekend, protesters voiced their fear of Bolivia’s trajectory under Morales.

“This is not Cuba. This is not Venezuela!” they chanted in La Paz, Bolivia’s main city, over the weekend. “This is Bolivia, and Bolivia will be respected.”

Carlos Mesa, the former president who came second in last month’s election, celebrated Morales’ resignation, which he characterized as “the end of tyranny.”

It remained unclear Sunday night who would take power as several officials in the line of succession had resigned. Morales’ resignation statement was expected to be read in Congress on Monday.

Mexico’s foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, said on Twitter on Sunday night that his country would offer Morales asylum if he sought it. Late Sunday, Morales said in a statement on Twitter that the police were seeking to arrest him “illegally” and that “violent groups” had assaulted his home.

Morales’ departure is a milestone in the spasms of unrest that have roiled Latin America in recent months. Several leaders in the region have been bedeviled by street protests, acts of vandalism and deepening political polarization — dynamics exacerbated by underperforming economies and rising outrage over inequality.

As it became clear that the military would turn on him, Morales flew with García and a small number of aides from La Paz to Chimoré, in the state of Cochabamba. It was unclear whether Morales intended to leave Bolivia or stay in that area, which is home to coca leaf growers and has been a stronghold of support.

 

Morales’ increasing grip on the country had been worrying critics — and many supporters — for years.

In 2016, he had asked voters to do away with the two-term limit established in the 2009 constitution, which was drafted and approved during the president’s first term. Voters narrowly rejected the proposal in a referendum — which, under Bolivian law, was supposed to have been binding.

But Morales found a workaround. The Constitutional Court, which is packed with his loyalists, held that term limits constricted human rights, giving Morales the right to run for office indefinitely.

The beginning of the end for Morales came Friday night, when a smattering of small police units made dramatic pronouncements that they were breaking from the government and joining protesters angry over suspicions that the Oct. 20 presidential election had been rigged.

Morales appeared intent on weathering the storm until his generals abandoned him Sunday. During his presidency, Morales went to great lengths to make the armed forces an integral part of his political movement, mindful of the country’s long history of coups.

Christoph Harig, a research fellow at the University of the Federal Armed Forces, Hamburg, Germany, who studies the relationship between the military and civilian leaders in Latin America, said Morales’ ouster did not constitute an “old-school coup in which the military aims to take power itself.”

But he said the sequence of events that led to the president’s resignation was “not the sign of a healthy democracy” and added to the recent events in Latin American in which military leaders have been dragged into political disputes.

“It once more reinforces the military’s position as final arbiter in political crises,” he said, predicting that it would “further fuel polarization.”

Police officers in La Paz were among the first to join the revolt. Initially, many took to the streets with bandannas or surgical masks covering their faces, apparently fearful of being identified. But as their ranks grew, many shed the masks and used bullhorns to address protesters.

“Our duty will always be the defense of the people,” a female officer said through tears in a televised address. “The police are with the people!”

By Sunday, the rebellion had spread to the military.

Shortly before Morales went on national television to announce his resignation, the commander of Bolivia’s armed forces, Gen. Williams Kaliman, said the military chiefs believed he should step down to restore “peace and stability and for the good of our Bolivia.”

When Bolivians went to the polls in October, many expressed hope that the president would suffer the first electoral loss since his landslide victory in 2005. Graffiti denouncing Morales as a “dictator” was ubiquitous in the capital.

The opposition felt victorious when initial results showed that Morales had failed to carve out the 10-percentage-point margin needed for an outright win and would have to face a runoff. That scenario was potentially ruinous for Morales because other opposition candidates had endorsed the runner-up, Mesa.

Without explaining why, election officials stopped releasing information on the vote count for 24 hours. The evening after the election, they announced a stunning update: Morales had won outright, with enough votes to avoid a second round.

Opposition leaders and international observers cried foul, saying that Morales’ turn of fortune defied credulity. Angry mobs attacked election buildings around the country, setting some on fire.

In subsequent days, large demonstrations and strikes paralyzed much of the country. Morales defended his electoral triumph as rightful and called on supporters to take to the streets in a show of force. Many have, including bands that have roughed up people protesting the government.

Morales’ standing grew precarious Sunday after the Organization of American States, which monitored the election, issued a preliminary report that outlined irregularities and said the vote should be annulled.

In response, Morales called for a new election in an extraordinary concession. But it did not appease demonstrators and opposition leaders, who renewed calls for him to step down.

The president’s hold on power grew more tenuous as the day wore on. Leading figures in his party resigned, and the military launched operations that appeared intended to protect protesters from armed bands of Morales supporters.

Morales, a member of the Aymara indigenous people, rose to prominence as a union leader for coca leaf growers. On his watch, the country’s power structure was transformed. Women today hold nearly half the seats in Congress, and indigenous people hold more sway than ever.

His first term also coincided with a commodities boom that allowed him and other leftist leaders in Latin America to lift millions out of poverty through subsidies and political patronage. One of the poorest nations in the world, Bolivia used proceeds from natural gas exports to turbocharge its economy.

His party, the Movement for Socialism, has long been the country’s dominant political force, controlling both houses of Congress. Opponents struggled to compete with Morales because of his enormous support, but they also faced enormous personal risk. Morales has unleashed allies in the judiciary against political rivals, many of whom have landed in jail or gone into exile.

Raúl Madrid, a professor of government and Latin American politics at the University of Texas at Austin who studies Bolivia closely, said Morales came to feel indispensable.

“I think he views himself as the savior of Bolivia, as a representative of the marginalized people of Bolivia, especially indigenous people,” he said.

Madrid said that if Morales had stepped down after his second or third term, he would have walked away with a commendable legacy. Yet, he added, the president’s decision to try to remain in power was unsurprising.

“From the beginning, he was not interested in grooming a successor that could have threatened him from within,” Madrid said. “These populist leaders who try to hold on to power at all cost end up undermining their legacy, and people remember them as dictators or would-be dictators.”

Leftist leaders in Latin America, including President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Argentina’s incoming president, Alberto Fernández, and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil condemned Morales’ ouster as a coup.

“It’s unfortunate that Latin America has a financial elite that does not know how to abide by democracy and the social inclusion of the poorest people,” da Silva said.

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far-right president, said he was pleased to see Morales go.

“The word ‘coup’ is used a lot when the left loses,” he told the newspaper O

Globo. “When they win, it’s legitimate. When they lose, it’s a coup.

source :  seattletimes


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I have a confession to make: in the more than two years that we are now running this blog, Russell and I have actually never met in person! Russell has links with the Netherlands; and, even worse, I was in London twice during the last 5 months alone. But the closest that we came to meeting was during a recent episode of TRT World’s ‘Roundtable’ on Brexit, in which we both appeared – but in my case only via Skype. While Russell and I clearly need to work on our relationship, both of us appearing in the same programme also made me think about the role of experts in contemporary society. According to the Oxford online dictionary an expert is “A person who is very knowledgeable about or skilful in a particular area.” Experts have gained an important role in society. They, for instance, are a key source of information for EU institutions and other administrative and political bodies. And although Michael Gove (in)famously claimed that people “have had enough of experts”, those same experts are continuously asked to comment on contemporary developments – both Russell and I have regularly been asked to comment on Brexit in media at local, regional, national and international level.

Discussing the same topic during the same television programme creates an acute sense of awareness of your role as an expert. People expect us to say and write knowledgeable stuff, but maybe when it comes to Brexit we are also slowly running out of ammunition. Brexit is, of course, an unprecedented development. States and territories have left the EU and its predecessors before, or have left member-states and thus became non-members by default (Algeria became independent from France in 1962; Greenland, in 1985, and Saint Barthélemy, in 2012, withdrew to become so-called overseas countries and territories of the EU). And, let’s not forget, other countries decided to refrain from membership or withdrew their applications, such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Yet, his is the first time ever that a prominent member state is leaving the EU. Perhaps Brexit is not that much of a surprise given that Britain has always been an ‘awkward partner’, but it is difficult to predict what Brexit really means. Brexit means Brexit, right?

But what will Brexit actually look like and what will be its consequences? Even we ‘experts’ don’t know anymore. Consider the many options that are now on the table, some which many people had not expected at all. There’s the EU-UK deal with the (in)famous ‘backstop’, which currently doesn’t receive enough support from either parliament nor the people on the street. Theresa May’s Plan B seems to be Plan A turned on its back, with the EU not willing to budge. And then there’s the no-deal Brexit scenario, which all but a few hard Brexiteers – those are among the Brexiteers with a “special place in hell” – seem to want to avoid. Even a no-Brexit scenario, although not very likely, is not completely of the table, certainly since calls for a second referendum or a general election are still out there.

And then there’s the post-Brexit world. Even in a scenario where the EU and the UK agree to a deal after all, this is only the first step in setting up their future relationship. What will that relationship look like? And will the EU27 remain as unified as they currently are when having to negotiate a trade deal with the UK? We are charting new territory here. Experts answering these questions should perhaps say that we do not always know either. Mind you, I am not bored of Brexit and can surely speculate about it based on what I do know. But we should also not be afraid to admit that we don’t know everything.

source : https://www.e-ir.info/2019/03/20/an-expert-perspective-on-brexit-means-brexit/

 


news

The Chinese government is operating more than 250 suspected concentration and labor camps to detain Muslims in the nation’s northwest, according to a new satellite imagery analysis released Tuesday by a U.S.-based human rights group.

The mass detention of mostly ethnic Uighur or Turkic minorities and other Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province has generated international criticism over the past year, but the new data presented Tuesday put the number of detained — as well as the number of detainee camps — far higher than previously reported.

The rights group known as the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement claimed more than 3 million people are being held against their will in some 0 concentration camps and 75 labor camps, all viewable on satellite imagery through the Google Earth.

 

Organization founder and President Salih Hudayar dismissed claims by Chinese officials that most detainees were released earlier this year and that the camps are legal “re-education centers” designed to deradicalize potential terrorists and separatists in Xinjiang.

China is not only re-educating these people but subjecting them to torture, subjecting them to forced starvation, forced medication, rape and there have been reports of organ harvesting,” said Mr. Hudayar, who cited a report by the U.S. government-funded Radio Free Asia that at least 150 people had died at one camp over the past six months.



He compared the Chinese government’s activities in Xinjiang, which human rights activists call “Chinese occupied East Turkistan,” to Nazi Germany’s rounding up of Jews at the start of World War II.

“[This] is a very dire situation getting close to what happened in the early 1940s, prior to the official Holocaust of the Jewish people,” Mr. Hudayar said.

The situation is a source of tension between Washington and Beijing. During a news conference in September, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell said that people in Xinjiang were being detained by Chinese authorities “arbitrarily for simple expressions of cultural and religious identity.”

“For example, possessing books on Islam and Uighur culture, reciting the Quran at a funeral, or even wearing religious attire will get you to negative attention from the [Chinese] government,” Mr. Stilwell said.

He made the comments a day after Chinese officials had denounced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for saying Beijing is trying to “erase” Muslim culture from China.

China’s repressive campaign in Xinjiang is not about terrorism,” Mr. Pompeo had said in remarks to regional foreign ministers. “[It’s] about China’s attempt to erase its own citizens’ Muslim faith and 

source : washingtontimes


news

Colin Kaepernick will finally get a chance Saturday to show his stuff again to NFL teams — after nearly a three-year wait.

On a practice field near Atlanta, the 32-year-old free agent quarterback will have about two hours to demonstrate his skills.
At least 11 teams will send personnel to watch the league-arranged workout at the Atlanta Falcons' practice facility in Flowery Branch, Georgia, the NFL said Thursday. Other teams can review the workout on video the NFL will provide.
As of Thursday, the teams that said they were sending personnel were Arizona, Atlanta, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Miami, New England, New York Giants, New York Jets, Tampa Bay and Washington, the NFL said.
 
 
The closed session will begin at 3 p.m. ET, a source with direct knowledge told CNN. The timeline:
• Interview, 3:15 p.m.
• Measurements, stretching and warmups
• Timing and testing, 3:50 p.m. That include sprints and a strength test
• Quarterback drills, 4:15 p.m.
The NFL said former coach Hue Jackson will lead the workout.
Of the teams committed to the workout and interview session, most, and probably all, will send directors of player personnel and scouts who rate NFL players. Those are the people who would typically evaluate a back-up player — in this case a second- or third-string quarterback.
Kaepernick, who claimed the NFL and its teams colluded to keep him from playing following his refusal to stand during the National Anthem, tweeted Tuesday he's ready.
"I've been in shape and ready for this for 3 years, can't wait to see the head coaches and GMs on Saturday."

news

Hong Kong's democrats scored a landslide majority in district council elections, which saw a record turnout after six months of anti-government protests, increasing pressure on the city's embattled leader on Monday to listen to pro-democracy calls.

Sunday's elections marked a rare weekend lull in the unrest that has rocked the financial hub. Democratic candidates across the city of 7.4 million people secured nearly 90% of the 452 district council seats, broadcaster RTHK reported, despite a strongly resourced and mobilised pro-establishment opposition.

Hong Kong's pro-Beijing chief executive Carrie Lam said in a statement the government respected the results and wished "the peaceful, safe and orderly situation to continue".

"There are various analyses and interpretations in the community in relation to the results, and quite a few are of the view that the results reflect people's dissatisfaction with the current situation and the deep-seated problems in society," she said.

The government would "listen to the opinions of members of the public humbly and seriously reflect", Lam said.

source 


news

Bloomberg) -- Welcome to the Brussels Edition, Bloomberg’s daily briefing on what matters most in the heart of the European Union. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every weekday morning.

As Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission prepares to pass the torch to Ursula von der Leyen’s team, global commerce is about to lose one of its more successful champions — Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom. In an era of extraordinary political turmoil, venom and unpredictability, she deployed her ordinariness with civility and consistency to deliver blockbuster market-opening agreements that will chart the bloc’s course for decades. The 51-year-old Swede is stepping down after delivering billions in tariff cuts right under U.S. President Donald Trump’s protectionist nose. Her successor, Ireland’s Phil Hogan, has big shoes to fill. 

What’s Happening

Steak Stakes | U.S. cattle farmers will move a step closer today to gaining significantly greater access to the EU beef market. The European Parliament is due to vote on giving the U.S. almost 80% of the EU’s annual quota on hormone-free beef after the bloc persuaded Australia, Argentina and Uruguay — the main suppliers — to cede chunks of the import allotment.

New Era | Von der Leyen, who takes office on Dec. 1, vowed to shift the EU’s focus to geopolitics over the next five years, promised sweeping legislative proposals in areas from climate change to AI. In her keynote policy speech, the incoming Commission chief also defended NATO, in a direct rebuff to Emmanuel Macron. Here are the key actions she pledged. 

Tech Probe | France’s plans to tax digital giants may take a hit next week when the U.S. announces the findings of its investigation into the levy. The probe is expected to lay out Washington’s justification for retaliatory tariffs to force Paris to abandon a tax against what are mostly U.S. tech giants. 

Storage Rules | Can Amazon be faulted for storing third-party products that violate trademark rules? In a dispute at the EU’s top court, cosmetics giant Coty says both Amazon and the seller are liable. A non-binding opinion today could provide clues on the judges’ thinking and show whether there could be wider repercussions for companies with similar warehouses.

In Case You Missed It

Car Woes | British automakers called on the next government to deliver a “ world-beating Brexit trade deal” to bolster competitiveness and safeguard jobs. Their pleas come after they’ve spent more than 500 million pounds preparing for Brexit, with Nissan warning that tariffs on exports to the EU would most likely render its U.K. operations unviable.

Tory Landslide | Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party is on track to win its biggest majority in more than three decades, according to the most hotly anticipated poll of the general election campaign. In areas that opposed Brexit, the poll suggested the Conservatives still had sufficient support to hold their seats.

China Challenge | Angela Merkel said Europe should set up an agency that certifies components for the region’s 5G wireless networks to address safety concerns over equipment from Chinese suppliers, but spoke out against an outright ban for vendors like Huawei. Her call comes as EU nations are due by year-end to agree on bloc-wide measures to mitigate such risks.

Who Pays? | Banks across Europe would be hurt by stricter rules on sovereign debt proposed by the German finance minister and some may need to change their holdings significantly. That’s according to a study on who’ll suffer most if Olaf Scholz’s banking plans are implemented. Euro-area finance ministers are hoping to agree on a way forward next week.

Chart of the Day

While Europe’s equity benchmark is set to record its best annual gain since 2009, it’s been left in the dust by the top stock market worldwide: Greece. The country’s shares have climbed 45% this year, rising from a low base after a decade of crisis. As Greek stocks get out of the doldrums, fund managers may start looking at the market again.

Today’s Agenda

All times CET.

9:30 a.m. ECJ advocate general will give opinion concerning Amazon liability in certain trademark violations 12 p.m. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to meet Macron in Paris 12 p.m. ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling: “On the Record” with TU Dortmund journalists 12:30 p.m. Health Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis to unveil a “Country Health Profiles” report Competitiveness ministers meet in Brussels to discuss a sustainable space economy Antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager delivers keynote speech at a trade union conference in Copenhagen EU lawmakers will vote on resolutions on climate emergency and the crisis of the WTO appellate body EU lawmakers will vote on EU/U.S. agreement on allocation of share for high-quality beef imports 

Like the Brussels Edition?

Don’t keep it to yourself. Colleagues and friends can sign up here. We also publish the Brexit Bulletin, a daily briefing on the latest on the U.K.’s departure from the EU. 

For even more: Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access for full global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.

How are we doing? We want to hear what you think about this newsletter. Let our Brussels bureau chief know.

--With assistance from Stephanie Bodoni and Ni Chrysoloras.

To contact the authors of this story: Viktoria Dendrinou in Brussels at vdendrinou@bloomberg.netJonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Vidya N Root at vroot@bloomberg.net, Chris Reiter

source : https://news.yahoo.com/eu-anti-trump-trade-champion-061209292.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZmVlZHNwb3QuY29tL2luZmluaXRlcnNzLnBocD9mb2xsb3dmZWVkaWQ9NzMwNjAzJnE9c2l0ZTpodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55YWhvby5jb20lMkZuZXdzJTJGd29ybGQlMkZyc3M&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAABdwmgHNLfuPKHIx74l7VNpL1eLT9awUZWbdq3CLCmlwWljKXQVD0vCPr5CE3vmLeWAE_c1KM-kyY-tMVkTgVrwmlhjPebravPEcqjUyrfH2e7En_JljTFyYajTb0iZa58B1Ymm96tZINqaA6p8O2q4bRH38vqU2DKrhb9ILgUE5


news

برای گرفتن گواهینامه و آیین نامه رانندگی  باید مراحلی را حتما طی کنیم که شامل :

ثبت نام در یک آموزشگاه رانندگی 

ثبت نام برای گذراندن مراحل اخذ گواهینامه از جمله رانندگی در شهر است .

با چه خودرویی میتوان رانندگی کرد ؟

برای رانندگی با خودروی دنده ای فقط میتوان رانندگی کرد اصلا انتطار این را نداشته باشید که بتوانید با خودروی bmw رانندگی کنید .

 

برای رانندگی باید ساعتهایی را با خودروی دنده ای بگذرانید که البته در ایران و چند کشور دیگر اینچنین میباشد .

 

هرچند برای داشتن اطلاعات بیشتر باید به سایت زیر وارد شده پس میتوانید بر روی لینک زیر کلیک کنید .

 

اولین کسی که در ایران قربانی تصادف اتومبیل شد، درویش خان نوازنده و استاد تار بود که در سال ۱۳۰۵ درگذشت؛ و اولین افسر آزمایش رانندگی که نام و امضاء او در پای اوراق رانندگان زمان قاجاریه وجود دارد به زبان فرانسه نوشته شده‌است شخصی بنام مسیوکلین بود که بعد از وی این سمت به ناصرخان انشاء اولین متخصص نظمیه محول شد. همچنین اولین آیین‌نامه رانندگی در زمان وستد اهل سوئدی تهیه وتنظیم گردید. وی در سال ۱۲۹۱ ه‍.ش ریاست نظمیه را به عهده داشت و حدود ۱۰ سال در این پست باقی ماند. از کارهای وی، ترجمه، تنظیم نظامنامه و آیین‌نامه قید شده‌است که راننده هنگام روز در شهر و اماکن پرجمعیت ضمن حرکت از سمت راست باید با سرعت ۱۵ کیلومتر در ساعت و در خارج شهر ۲۵ کیلومتر در ساعت و شب‌ها با ساعتی ۱۰ کیلومتر براند یا اینکه در موقع نزدیک شدن به حیوانات از قبیل اسب و قاطر که طبعاً از صدای ماشین وحشت دارند از سرعت اتومبیل خود بکاهند و آرام حرکت کنند تا باعث وحشت و رم کردن حیوانات نشوند. اولین چراغ‌های راهنمایی و رانندگی در سال‌های دهه ۳۰ در تقاطع‌های سپه (امام خمینی فعلی) ولی عصر، پل امیر بهادر، باغ ملی دروازه شمیران، گمرک و امیریه نصب گردید ولی پیش‌از نصب این چراغها، چراغ‌های راهنمایی به صورت کوله پشتی بودند که دارای دو چراغ قرمز، سبز و کلیدی در جهت خاموش و روشن کردن آن‌ها بود که کوله پشتی در پشت مأمور قرار می‌گرفت و کلید آن روی سینه سمت چپ قرار داشت این چراغها کار می‌کرد و مأمور با پشت کردن به طرف رانندگان اتومبیل آنان را متوقف یا دستور حرکت به آنان می‌دادند. بالاخره در سال‌های ۳۹ و ۴۰ چهارراه دارای چراغ خودکار گردید. نخستین راننده زن در ایران شخصی بنام خانم هِلِن شَه بَنده بود که در سال ۱۳۱۹ موفق به گرفتن گواهینامه گردید و در مطبوعات آن زمان دربارهٔ این اتفاق مقاله نوشتند و بالاخره در سال ۱۳۰۰ هجری شمسی در اداره پلیس شعبه‌ای بنام شعبه آلات ناقله در خیابان باب همایون (درب اندرون سابق) تأسیس گردید و با ۱۰ نفر مأمور که از بین پاسبان‌ها انتخاب شده بودند کار کنترل عبور و مرور اتومبیل‌ها را به عهده گرفتند و علامت مشخصه آن‌ها یا دیگر افراد پلیس بازوبند سفیدی بود که به بازوی چپ خود می‌بستند. ریاست این شعبه به شخصی بنام فتح ا… خان بهنام که در حقیقت اولین رئیس راهنمایی و رانندگی محسوب می‌شد و دارای درجه نایب اولی برابر ستوان یکم بود واگذار گردید.

منبع : wikipedia


news

This is politics in a climate of fear and intimidation: Inconspicuous offices with no campaign posters and multiple security cameras. No canvassing after dark. Death threats.

LEEDS, England — The campaign office is deliberately inconspicuous — tucked above a salon through an unmarked doorway in a 1970s-era shopping center. There are no campaign posters in the windows. Two cameras are trained on the entrance. The door frame was recently reinforced.

They are necessary precautions, said Rachel Reeves, the Labour candidate who has represented this area of Leeds in Parliament since 2010 and uses the space as both her constituency office and now as her campaign headquarters.

The death threats, abuse on social media and graffiti calling for “traitor” lawmakers to be hanged have changed her approach ahead of Britain’s upcoming general election.This is the new reality, she and other lawmakers say, in a campaign environment that has become remarkably nasty, particularly for women, who face a torrent of abuse and threats often laced with misogyny. And it is happening across the political spectrum.

“I do think it’s a very different atmosphere and environment now compared to the first two times I stood,” Ms. Reeves said. “People are a lot angrier and there’s a lot more polarization, particularly

around the Brexit issue.”

source : https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/world/europe/britain-election-women-threats.html


news

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