France gears up for May Day protests, in first test for newly reelected Macron

The CGT will call on workers to keep pressure on Macron in the streets and with strikes after the May Day rallies as well. (File/AFP)
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Updated 30 April 2022
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France gears up for May Day protests, in first test for newly reelected Macron

  • His current government put together price caps on gas and electricity price increases and he has promised further steps
  • Many backed Macron both times not because they agreed with his platform but to block far-right candidate Marine Le Pen from being elected

PARIS: Like quite a few on the left, 60-year-old nurse assistant Isabelle-Touria Boumhi says backing either Emmanuel Macron or Marine Le Pen in France’s presidential runoff last Sunday would have been choosing “between the plague and cholera.”
She did not vote. Instead, she is preparing to take part in May Day protests this coming Sunday.
And, in what could foreshadow what a newly re-elected Macron may expect when he presses ahead with pro-business reforms, including a plan to push back retirement age, Boumhi says she will take to the streets as often as needed to block this.
“It’s the only path we have left to obtain something,” said the single mother, who, with a gross salary of just under 2,000 euros ($2,107) that she needs to house and feed her and her 22-year-old daughter, who is a student, must count every cent.
“I used to allow myself something extra once in a while, but now, once I’ve paid the electricity bill, the rent ... I would struggle to go on holidays.”
The cost of living was the main theme in the presidential election campaign and looks set to be equally prominent ahead of June legislative elections that Macron’s party and its allies must win if he is to be able to implement his policies.
His current government put together price caps on gas and electricity price increases and he has promised further steps, including increasing pensions, to try and protect consumers’ purchasing power amid a steep rise in prices.
But inflation reached a new high of 5.4 percent in April, while growth stalled in the first quarter, giving fodder to opponents and to street protests.

‘ANGER’
Boumhi last year started to receive a 228 euros monthly bonus on top of her salary, as part of government steps to improve the fate of health care workers, but she says that has not quelled her anger nor been enough to allow her to live more comfortably.
She will march on Sunday for salary increases and to push Macron to drop plans to raise the retirement age to 65 from 62. “If we don’t obtain anything, things could escalate,” she said. “There is a lot of built-up anger.”
Philippe Martinez, the head of the hard-line CGT union, will also be in the May Day rallies on Sunday.
And he has quite a few messages for the government.
“The government has got to deal with the purchasing power problem by raising wages,” Martinez told Reuters in an interview.
Macron “cannot repeat what he did in 2017, when he considered that all those who had voted for him agreed with his program,” said Martinez, stressing that many backed Macron both times not because they agreed with his platform but to block far-right candidate Marine Le Pen from being elected.
The CGT will call on workers to keep pressure on Macron in the streets and with strikes after the May Day rallies as well, he said, stressing that “if there is no pressure on the president, he will consider he has free reins to carry on anti-social reforms.”
And even the more moderate Laurent Berger, from the CFDT union, urged Macron in a tribune in Le Monde to listen to workers’ demands or face tough street protests. ($1 = 0.9492 euros)


Karabakh rebels say negotiating their troops’ withdrawal

Updated 17 sec ago
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Karabakh rebels say negotiating their troops’ withdrawal

YEREVAN: Nagorno-Karabakh separatists said Friday they were negotiating their troops’ withdrawal from the disputed enclave after Azerbaijan reclaimed control in a lightning offensive.
“Negotiations are underway with the Azerbaijani side under the auspices of Russian peacekeepers to organize the withdrawal process of troops and to ensure the return to their homes of the citizens displaced by military aggression,” the separatists said in a statement.
Separatists and Azerbaijani officials conducted an initial round of Russian-mediated “reintegration” talks on Thursday that ended with an agreement to meet again soon.
The separatists have pledged to lay down their arms as part of a cease-fire deal aimed at ending Azerbaijan’s one-day offensive into the ethnically-Armenian region.
Civilians in the area — estimated at up to 120,000 people — report suffering from a shortage of electricity and basic utilities.
International pressure has mounted on Azerbaijan to re-open the region’s only road leading to Armenia so that supplies and people can move in and out.
The separatist statement said the sides were also discussing “the procedure for citizens’ entry to and exit from” Nagorno-Karabakh.

Ukraine missile strike hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, kills 1 serviceman

Updated 16 min 13 sec ago
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Ukraine missile strike hits Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters, kills 1 serviceman

  • Photos and video showed large plumes of smoke over the building in Sevastopol in annexed Crimea
  • The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said no one was injured outside the burning headquarters

KYIV: Ukraine carried out a fiery missile strike Friday on the main headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, killing one serviceman, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Photos and video showed large plumes of smoke over the building in Sevastopol in annexed Crimea.
The Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said no one was injured outside the burning headquarters, and he didn’t provide information on other casualties. Firefighters battled the blaze, and more emergency forces were being brought in, an indication the fire could be massive.
Sevastopol residents said they heard explosions in the skies and saw smoke, Russian news outlets reported. Images circulated in Ukrainian Telegram channels showed clouds of smoke over the seafront. The Associated Press could not immediately verify the videos.
A stream of ambulances arrived at the fleet’s headquarters, and shrapnel was scattered hundreds of meters (yards) around, the Tass news agency reported.
The Defense Ministry said five missiles were shot down by Russian air defense systems responding to the attack on Sevastopol. It was not immediately clear if the headquarters was hit in a direct strike or by debris from an intercepted missile.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an official with the Crimean administration, said one cruise missile downed near Bakhchysarai, about 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) inland, sparked a grass fire.
Razvozhayev said civilian infrastructure wasn’t damaged but did not mention the impact on the fleet headquarters.
He initially warned Sevastopol residents that another attack was possible and urged them not to leave buildings or go to the city center. He later said there was no longer any threat of an air strike but reiterated calls not to go to the central part of the city, saying roads were closed and unspecified “special efforts” were underway.
Police asked residents to leave the central part of the city, Tass said.
Ukrainian officials, who have claimed responsibility for a series of other recent attacks on Crimea, didn’t immediately announce Kyiv launched the strike.
The attack comes a day after Russian missiles and artillery pounded cities across Ukraine, killing at least five people as President Volodymyr Zelensky met with President Joe Biden and congressional leaders in Washington with an additional $24 billion aid package being considered.
The port city of Sevastopol serves as the main base for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. A Ukrainian drone hit the fleet’s headquarters in July 2022, injuring six people and causing minor damage to the building.
Last week, the Russian-installed authorities in the city accused Ukraine of attacking a strategic shipyard in the city, damaging two ships undergoing repairs and causing a fire at the facility.
The Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 in an act that most of the world considered illegal, has been a frequent target since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than 18 months ago. The attack on the shipyard was the biggest in weeks.
In other developments, ongoing shelling in the southern Kherson region killed one man and injured another, said regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin.
“Kherson has been restless since the morning,” he said on Telegram.
Russian shelling sparked fires in a residential building and a garage.
In Kharkiv, regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov said over 14 settlements came under attack. A house was damaged and a fire broke out in Vovchansk, in Chuguyiv district. There were no casualties, the governor said.


Indonesia sends 200 cabin crew to support Saudi Vision 2030 aviation goals

Updated 57 min 51 sec ago
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Indonesia sends 200 cabin crew to support Saudi Vision 2030 aviation goals

  • Indonesian pilots and flight attendants have jobs with Saudia, flyadeal and Flynas
  • Jakarta’s manpower minister says deployment expected to strengthen Saudi-Indonesian ties

JAKARTA: Indonesian pilots and flight attendants are going to support Saudi Arabia’s aviation goals under Vision 2030, the manpower minister has said, as she sent off more than 220 cabin crew to join the Kingdom’s airlines.

Saudi Arabia has been investing heavily in the aviation sector and in March announced the creation of a new national airline, Riyadh Air, as it moves to compete with regional transport and travel hubs.

Indonesia’s Manpower Minister Ida Fauziya met 224 cabin crew who had secured jobs with Saudia, flyadeal and Flynas during a send-off ceremony in Jakarta on Thursday evening, and said that their deployment is in line with the Kingdom’s efforts to boost the tourism sector.

“You all have an important role in supporting Saudi Arabia’s vision,” she told the participants, as quoted in a statement released by the ministry.

“This will bring a positive contribution in strengthening relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia.”

Data from the Indonesian embassy’s labor attache in Riyadh shows that 300 cabin crew from the country are already working in Saudi Arabia.

The manpower minister said that demand for Indonesian workers is high as they have an “excellent reputation in the world of international aviation.”

Earlier this month — for the fifth consecutive year — the Southeast Asian nation’s flag carrier Garuda Indonesia received the World’s Best Cabin Crew award from British-based consultancy Skytrax, which runs annual airline and airport rankings.


India to reserve one-third of parliament seats for women

Updated 22 September 2023
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India to reserve one-third of parliament seats for women

  • New law paves the way for higher number of female representatives across the country
  • But the legislation is unlikely to be implemented before 2029, says constitutional lawyer

NEW DELHI: Billed as a landmark decision, India’s parliament has passed legislation that guarantees parliamentary seats for women lawmakers, although it is expected to take years before the law comes into force.

The Lok Sabha, or the lower house of India’s parliament, approved the law on Wednesday, and the upper house, or the Rajya Sabha, passed it unanimously on Thursday evening — more than two decades after a parliamentary proposal was submitted to give greater representation to women.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took to social media after the passage of the bill and welcomed it as “a defining moment” in India’s democratic journey.

“With the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women’s Empowerment Reservation Bill) in Parliament, we usher in an era of stronger representation and empowerment for the women of India,” he said. “This is not merely legislation; it is a tribute to the countless women who have made our nation.”

The law reserves a third of seats for women in the lower house of parliament and state assemblies. It does not apply to the upper house of Parliament, as its members are chosen by state legislatures.

However, the new legislation will only come into effect after India conducts a census and then redraws the boundaries of parliamentary constituencies. No date has yet been announced for completing the census that was scheduled to be held in 2021 but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The amendment provides that reservation will be implemented after new seats are created by delimitation after a fresh census,” Sanjay Hegde, constitutional lawyer from the Supreme Court, told Arab News on Friday.

“The census could not be done in 2021 due to COVID and may be done in 2025 or later. Compiled data may be available much later, after the census, and based on such data fresh delimitation has to be worked out. If the census is postponed, the entire cycle can be kicked further down the road to take effect in 2029 or 2034 polls or even later.”

The new law was welcomed by several women activists but the absence of a definite timeline made them wonder about the level of commitment to greater female representation in parliament.

“They passed it with the caveat that they can’t be implemented without the census and without the delimitation,” said Maimoon Mollah, president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association, the largest women’s organization in India.

“We don’t know when that is going to happen.”

For Kavita Krishnan, a Delhi-based activist, the most disappointing part was that the rule would not apply in next year’s polls.

“In the next election there is not going to be any women reservation,” she said.

“Basically, they are indefinitely postponing this thing.”


Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir free key Muslim cleric after years of house arrest

Updated 22 September 2023
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Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir free key Muslim cleric after years of house arrest

  • Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was spearheading protests against Indian rule in disputed region
  • Farooq was detained ahead of India revoking Kashmir’s special status in 2019 

SRINAGAR: Indian authorities released a key Muslim cleric after four years of house arrest and allowed him to lead Friday prayers in Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir, according to mosque authorities.
Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has been spearheading protests against Indian rule in the disputed region. He was detained ahead of India revoking Kashmir’s special status in 2019 and throwing the Himalayan territory into political uncertainty.
The 2019 decision stripped the region of statehood, its separate constitution and inherited protections on land and jobs.
“Senior police officials visited the residence of Mirwaiz on Thursday to inform him that the authorities have decided to release him from house detention and allow him to go to Jamia Masjid for Friday prayers,” the mosque management committee said in a statement.

Senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq (C) released after four years of house arrest, arrives to deliver the friday sermon at Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar on September 22, 2023. (AFP)

Kashmiri separatist leaders, many of them either under house arrest or in police detention, have vowed to continue their struggle and refuse to participate in any dialogue. They want New Delhi to accept Kashmir as a disputed region, release political prisoners, revoke harsh emergency laws and announce a plan for Kashmir’s demilitarization.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan since British colonialists granted them independence in 1947 and both claim the region in its entirety. They have fought two wars over its control.

Kashmiri Muslim devotees pray while senior separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq released after four years of house arrest, delivers the friday sermon at Jamia Masjid in downtown Srinagar on September 22, 2023. (AFP)