TUNIS: Tunisia’s ruling party has suspended Prime Minister Youssef Chahed in the latest escalation of a row with the president’s son that has paralyzed key decisions on the troubled economy.
The North African country is often portrayed as the lone success story of the Arab Spring of 2011 but more than seven years after the ouster of longtime strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali it is still battling high inflation and unemployment and sometimes violent social unrest.
Nidaa Tounes announced Chahed’s referral to its disciplinary committee late on Friday after he delivered a stinging attack on infighting within the party that he said was restricting his government’s ability to revive the economy.
“Secondary political conflicts.. have disrupted the work of the government, holding it back and blocking the reform process and the decisions necessary to achieve economic growth,” he said in a televised address to a policy conference.
The ruling party is led by President Beji Caid Essebsi’s son Hafedh, who has been battling to oust the premier for months.
The power struggle previously came to a head in July, when the president himself called on Chahed to resign.
The move received the backing of the powerful UGTT trade union confederation, which opposes the program of austerity budgets and privatizations of state enterprises championed by the prime minister.
But Chahed was saved by the Ennahdha party, the second largest in parliament, which said it was important for Tunisia’s stability that the prime minister remain in post.
Chahed, who took office in August 2016, is the seventh prime minister since the revolution and already the longest serving. He also has the ear of Western donors.
The premier has since been preparing for any new moves against him, by forming his own separate grouping within Nida Tounes.
He can count on the backing of around 40 lawmakers — nearly half of the party’s parliamentary bloc.
The deepening rift within the ruling party comes as the government faces a mid-October deadline to unveil a 2019 budget.
Inflation, which is projected to average 7.8 percent this year, and unemployment, which has remained stubbornly over 15 percent, helped stoke an outbreak of violent unrest in January.
But analysts expressed concern that political considerations might prompt the abandonment of any tough or potentially unpopular new policy initiatives to tackle them.
“The country is completely absorbed by short-term political manoeuvring by the personal ambitions of one person or another, to the detriment of pressing economic decisions, social priorities and structural reform,” said political scientist Hamza Meddeb.
Analyst Selim Kharrat warned that the infighting could result in a “budget stripped of any initiative to tackle inflation or youth unemployment.”
Tunisia ruling party suspends PM as rift deepens
Tunisia ruling party suspends PM as rift deepens
- Nidaa Tounes announced Chahed’s referral to its disciplinary committee late on Friday after he delivered a stinging attack on infighting within the party.
- Inflation, which is projected to average 7.8 percent this year, and unemployment, which has remained stubbornly over 15 percent, helped stoke an outbreak of violent unrest in January.
Iraq hangs 11 convicted of ‘terrorism’: security, health sources
- Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president
- A security source in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province told AFP that 11 “terrorists from the Daesh group” were executed by hanging at a prison in Nasiriyah
NASIRIYAH, Iraq: Iraqi authorities have executed at least 11 people convicted of “terrorism” this week, security and health sources said Wednesday, with rights group Amnesty International condemning an “alarming lack of transparency.”
Under Iraqi law, terrorism and murder offenses are punishable by death, and execution decrees must be signed by the president.
A security source in Iraq’s southern Dhi Qar province told AFP that 11 “terrorists from the Daesh group” were executed by hanging at a prison in the city of Nasiriyah, “under the supervision of a justice ministry team.”
A local medical source confirmed that the health department had received the bodies of 11 executed people.
They were hanged on Monday “under Article 4 of the anti-terrorism law,” the source added, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
All 11 were from Salahaddin province and the bodies of seven had been returned to their families, the medical official said.
Iraqi courts have handed down hundreds of death and life sentences in recent years for people convicted of membership in “a terrorist group,” an offense that carries capital punishment regardless of whether the defendant had been an active fighter.
Iraq has been criticized for trials denounced by rights groups as hasty, with confessions sometimes obtained under torture.
Amnesty in a statement on Wednesday condemned the latest hangings for “overly broad and vague terrorism charges.”
It said a total of 13 men were executed on Monday, including 11 who had been “convicted on the basis of their affiliation to the so-called Daesh armed group.”
The two others, arrested in 2008, “were convicted of terrorism-related offenses under the Penal Code after a grossly unfair trial,” Amnesty said citing their lawyer.
Biden says Israel must allow aid to Palestinians ‘without delay’
- “We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it,” Biden said
- “Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay“
WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that new humanitarian aid be allowed to immediately reach Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as key US ally Israel fights Hamas there.
“We’re going to immediately secure that aid and surge it... including food, medical supplies, clean water,” Biden said after signing a massive military aid bill for Israel and Ukraine, which also included $1 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza.
“Israel must make sure all this aid reaches the Palestinians in Gaza without delay,” he said.
US-Israel relations have been strained by Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to send troops into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where 1.5 million people are sheltering, many in makeshift encampments.
“This bill significantly — significantly — increases humanitarian assistance we’re sending to the innocent people of Gaza who are suffering badly,” Biden said.
“They’re suffering the consequences of this war that Hamas started, and we’ve been working intently for months to get as much aid to Gaza as possible.”
Israel hits Lebanese border towns with 14 missiles
- Hezbollah targets Israeli settlements in retaliation for Hanin civilian deaths
- Hezbollah said it attacked the Shomera settlement with dozens of Katyusha rockets
BEIRUT: Clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces escalated sharply on Wednesday, the 200th day of conflict in southern Lebanon’s border area.
Israeli airstrikes created a ring of fire around Lebanese border towns, with at least 14 missiles hitting the area.
In the past two days, military activity in the border region has increased, with Hezbollah targeting areas in northern Acre for the first time in the conflict.
On Wednesday, Israeli strikes hit the outskirts of Aita Al-Shaab, Ramya, Jabal Balat, and Khallet Warda.
The Israeli military said it had destroyed a missile launching pad in Tair Harfa, and targeted Hezbollah infrastructure in Marqaba and Aita Al-Shaab.
Israeli artillery also struck areas of Kafar Shuba and Shehin “to eliminate a potential threat.”
Hezbollah also stepped up its operations, saying this was in retaliation for the “horrific massacre committed by the Israeli enemy in the town of Hanin, causing casualties and injuries among innocent civilians.”
A woman in her 50s and a 12-year-old girl, both members of the same family, were killed in the Israeli airstrike. Six other people were injured.
Hezbollah said it attacked the Shomera settlement with dozens of Katyusha rockets.
The group said it also targeted Israeli troops in Horsh Natawa, and struck the Al-Raheb site with artillery.
It also claimed to have killed and wounded Israeli soldiers in an attack on the Avivim settlement.
Israeli news outlets said that a rocket-propelled grenade hit a house in the settlement, setting the dwelling ablaze.
Hezbollah’s military media said that in the past 200 days of fighting with Israel, 1,998 operations had been carried out from Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq, including 1,637 staged by Hezbollah.
Egypt denies any discussions with Israel over Rafah offensive
- Egypt reiterates opposition to any move on Rafah
- Warnings tell of expected losses and negative repercussions
CAIRO: Egypt has denied any discussions with Israel regarding an offensive in the Palestinian city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Diaa Rashwan, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, has refuted what has been claimed in one of the major American newspapers: that Egypt has discussed with the Israeli side its plans for an offensive in Rafah.
Rashwan has affirmed the Egyptian stance — announced several times by its political leadership — of complete opposition to the operation, which it is thought will lead to further massacres, massive human losses, and widespread destruction.
He added that Egypt’s repeated warnings have reached the Israeli side, from all channels, since Israel proposed carrying out a military operation in Rafah. These warnings tell of expected losses and the negative repercussions on the stability of the entire region.
Rashwan added that while Israel is contemplating its operation — which Egypt and most of the world and its international institutions stand against — Egyptian efforts since the beginning of the Israeli aggression had focused on reaching a ceasefire agreement and the exchange of prisoners and detainees.
He said Egypt was seeking the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, especially the north and Gaza City, and the evacuation of wounded and sick people for treatment outside the area.
Egypt has repeatedly opposed the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and is warning against any military operation in Rafah.
UAE announces $544m for repairs after record rains
- Wednesday's announcement comes more than a week after the unprecedented deluge lashed the desert country
- “The situation was unprecedented in its severity but we are a country that learns from every experience,” Sheikh Mohammed said
DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates announced $544 million to repair the homes of Emirati families on Wednesday after last week’s record rains caused widespread flooding and brought the Gulf state to a standstill.
“We learned great lessons in dealing with severe rains,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum after a cabinet meeting, adding that ministers approved “two billion dirhams to deal with damage to the homes of citizens.”
Wednesday’s announcement comes more than a week after the unprecedented deluge lashed the desert country, where it turned streets into rivers and hobbled Dubai airport, the world’s busiest for international passengers.
“A ministerial committee was assigned to follow up on this file... and disburse compensation in cooperation with the rest of the federal and local authorities,” said Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the ruler of Dubai, which was one of the worst hit of the UAE’s seven sheikhdoms.
The rainfall was the UAE’s heaviest since records began 75 years ago.
Cabinet ministers also formed a second committee to log infrastructure damage and propose solutions, Sheikh Mohammed said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
“The situation was unprecedented in its severity but we are a country that learns from every experience,” he said.
The storm, which dumped up to two years’ worth of rain on the UAE, had subsided by last Wednesday.
But Dubai faced severe disruption for days later, with water-clogged roads and flooded homes.
Dubai airport canceled 2,155 flights, diverted 115 and did not return to full capacity until Tuesday.
