ATHENS: Greek police fired teargas at protesters outside parliament in Athens on Monday, as lawmakers voted on a new set of bailout measures prescribed by the country’s international lenders in exchange for fresh bailout loans.
More than 10,000 people had rallied outside parliament when a group of protesters hurled petrol bombs and stones at police who had formed a cordon outside parliament. Police responded with teargas.
Strikes on Monday crippled public transport in Athens and hit air traffic ahead of a parliamentary vote on controversial reforms demanded by Greece’s creditors, including curbs on industrial action.
Apart from introducing much larger quorums on unions to call a strike, the 100-odd reforms also provide for the foreclosure and online auction of properties belonging to bad debt holders.
Both measures are fiercely opposed by leftists and trade unions.
The government insists that the changes only affect the local chapters of unions, and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras angrily rejected criticism that his leftist administration was out to limit strikes.
“It’s a shameless lie (to claim) that this government is enforcing demands by creditors and industrialists to deregulate the labor market,” Tsipras told parliament.
“Strikes are neither abolished nor threatened by this government,” he said.
Debt-laden Greece has received three multi-billion-euro bailouts since 2010.
The third rescue program, currently financially supported by EU states but not the International Monetary Fund, runs to August 2018 and Athens then hopes to fully return to market financing.
“Today’s vote will be crucial to speed up the country’s exit from the bailout in seven months,” Tsipras said.
Monday’s strike, called by a slew of unions, caused havoc in Athens, with the shutdown of public transport leading to huge traffic jams.
State employees were also asked to strike by their union Adedy while air traffic controllers staged a work stoppage, disrupting flights.
Greece has seen around 50 strikes since 2010 following austerity measures imposed by creditors in return for multi-billion-euro bailouts run by the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.
Unions say that the creditors’ demand to change the 36-year-old industrial action law is only the first step in ongoing EU-IMF efforts to limit strikes.
“You are starting to tear apart the right to strike,” Communist party leader Dimitris Koutsoubas told the government in the parliament debate.
After Monday’s vote in parliament, Athens will wait for European finance ministers to approve the latest tranche of a third bailout program totalling 4.5 billion euros ($5.5 billion).
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Greek police fire teargas at protesters as strikes hit Greece over move to curb industrial action
Greek police fire teargas at protesters as strikes hit Greece over move to curb industrial action
N Korean leader’s daughter fuels succession speculation with mausoleum visit
SEOUL: The North Korean leader’s daughter Kim Ju Ae has made her first public visit to a mausoleum housing her grandfather and great-grandfather, state media images showed Friday, further solidifying her place as likely next in line to run the nuclear-armed dictatorship.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their so-called “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.
Current leader Kim Jong Un is the third in line to rule in the world’s only communist monarchy, following his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The two men — dubbed “eternal leaders” in state propaganda — are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un had visited the palace, accompanied by top officials. Images released by the agency showed daughter Ju Ae alongside him.
South Korea’s spy agency said last year she was now understood to be the next in line to rule North Korea after she accompanied her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing.
- ‘Presented as Kim’s successor’ -
And Cheong Seong-chang at Seoul’s Sejong Institute said he expected her to soon be “formally confirmed as the next successor both domestically and internationally.”
Cheong, author of a book on the Kim leadership, said her placement in the center of the front row during her visit to the place — a place typically reserved for her father — was especially notable.
It could be “interpreted as reporting to the ‘eternal leaders’ Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that she is being presented as his successor,” he said.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a visit to the North in 2013.
Analysts have suggested that she could be elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the North Korean ruling party, at a landmark congress due to be held in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, footage showed Ju Ae accompanying her parents at New Year celebrations in Pyongyang.
While first lady Ri Sol Ju kept a low profile, state TV showed Ju Ae placing one hand on the North Korean leader’s face and kissing him on the cheek — a rare public display of affection which drew headlines in South Korea.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their so-called “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.
Current leader Kim Jong Un is the third in line to rule in the world’s only communist monarchy, following his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The two men — dubbed “eternal leaders” in state propaganda — are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un had visited the palace, accompanied by top officials. Images released by the agency showed daughter Ju Ae alongside him.
South Korea’s spy agency said last year she was now understood to be the next in line to rule North Korea after she accompanied her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing.
- ‘Presented as Kim’s successor’ -
And Cheong Seong-chang at Seoul’s Sejong Institute said he expected her to soon be “formally confirmed as the next successor both domestically and internationally.”
Cheong, author of a book on the Kim leadership, said her placement in the center of the front row during her visit to the place — a place typically reserved for her father — was especially notable.
It could be “interpreted as reporting to the ‘eternal leaders’ Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that she is being presented as his successor,” he said.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a visit to the North in 2013.
Analysts have suggested that she could be elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the North Korean ruling party, at a landmark congress due to be held in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, footage showed Ju Ae accompanying her parents at New Year celebrations in Pyongyang.
While first lady Ri Sol Ju kept a low profile, state TV showed Ju Ae placing one hand on the North Korean leader’s face and kissing him on the cheek — a rare public display of affection which drew headlines in South Korea.
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