BERLIN: One month away from a national election, Germany’s Social Democrats are struggling in their efforts to narrow a yawning gap in support behind Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.
The left-leaning Social Democratic Party (SPD) is languishing on around 24 percent support, polls show, far behind Merkel’s conservatives bloc, on some 38 percent. Germans go to the polls on Sept. 24.
The SPD is having difficulty in differentiating itself from the conservatives, with whom it rules as junior partner in a ‘grand coalition’ — an alliance the party wants to avoid repeating, but which polls suggest is the only partnership that can guarantee a majority.
“We need to get more emotional, to fight and force Merkel to speak in clear terms so that the differences become clear,” SPD Labor Minister Andrea Nahles told business daily Handelsblatt.
Nahles accused Merkel, who is campaigning for a fourth term on a platform of economic stability, of trying to cruise through the election without staking out clear positions.
Last year, Germany’s refugee crisis threatened Merkel. But with the migrant flow now stemmed and unemployment at a record low, she is able to project herself as an anchor of stability in an uncertain world.
Trying to rock her, SPD leader Martin Schulz has grown increasingly critical of Merkel this week, accusing her of blocking his party’s efforts in the ruling coalition to win better pay for temporary workers and improve workers’ rights.
On Thursday, Schulz takes his campaign to Essen, in the heart of the Ruhr area of North Rhine-Westphalia that was at the center of Germany’s post-war ‘economic miracle’ but which is now a rust-belt.
Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia has traditionally been an SPD stronghold but the party lost there in a state election in May — one of three regional votes Merkel’s conservatives won earlier this year.
Schulz, 61, led the SPD to a brief poll surge after the party selected him as leader at the start of the year. But the revival quickly fizzled as his campaign for ‘social justice’ failed to gain traction.
A former European Parliament president, he cannot match the clout of Merkel, 63, gained in 12 years of experience as leader of Europe’s biggest economy.
Searching for another point of difference, Schulz pledged on Tuesday to have US nuclear weapons withdrawn from German territory if, against the odds, he defeats Merkel.
“Schulz’s election campaign is jumping around so many areas that it is impossible to discern a theme,” the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote in an editorial.
Striking a defeatist note, Schulz said earlier this month he wanted to stay on as SPD leader even if his party loses the election.
‘Let’s get emotional,’ says Germany’s Social Democrats, struggling to oust Merkel
‘Let’s get emotional,’ says Germany’s Social Democrats, struggling to oust Merkel
Elections in two Indian states test of Prime Minister Modi’s popularity
- Millions are voting in elections in Maharashtra, western industrial hub and mineral-rich eastern province of Jharkhand
- Election surveys on the eve of polling put the opposition alliance comprising Congress party and two others ahead of the BJP
NEW DELHI: Millions of people are voting in state elections in Maharashtra, India’s western industrial hub, and the mineral-rich eastern province of Jharkhand on Wednesday, in a test of the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party and its regional partners.
Politically significant Maharashtra is India’s wealthiest state and home to the financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai. It is currently ruled by a coalition of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and a Hindu nationalist ally. An opposition alliance, including the Congress party, is in power in eastern Jharkhand state.
Modi has held big rallies in the two states. The challenge comes barely four months after his party suffered a setback and returned to power in national elections for a third term without a parliamentary majority. He formed the government with the help of regional partners.
Modi, in a post on social platform X ahead of the state elections, wrote: “On this occasion, I appeal to all the youth and women voters to vote in large numbers.”
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a political analyst who wrote a Modi biography, said a reversal in these state elections would negatively impact Modi’s leadership style.
“It will have repercussions for the BJP in coming elections in Delhi and Bihar states next year,” he said.
Votes in the two states will be counted on Saturday.
After suffering a setback in national elections, the BJP regained momentum in October as it won Haryana state elections, where pollsters had predicted an easy victory for the opposition Congress party.
Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party won a consolation victory in alliance with the regional National Conference party in local elections in India’s insurgency-wracked Jammu and Kashmir after a 10-year gap.
The BJP is trying to wrest power from the Congress party and its allies in Jharkhand, a state rich in iron ore, coal and other minerals.
The BJP’s use of slogans like “If you divide, then you will die” and “If we are united, then we are safe” to attract Hindu votes has prompted opposition parties to accuse the BJP of trying to polarize the voters along Hindu-Muslim religious lines.
Hindus constitute nearly 80 percent and Muslims 11.5 percent of Maharashtra state’s estimated 131 million people.
Mukhopadhyay saw a tendency from top BJP leaders to communalize the elections, saying, “It shows the growing desperation of the party, and it looks like their reading is they are not doing very well in Maharashtra and Jharkhand states.”
Election surveys on the eve of polling put the opposition alliance comprising the Congress party and two truncated regional groups, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress party, ahead of the BJP and its allies currently governing the state. The Congress party defeated the BJP and its allies in the June national elections by winning 30 out of 48 seats in the state. The BJP and its regional partners won 17 seats.
The Congress party and its allies hope to capitalize on the simmering disaffection with high youth unemployment, inflation and low crop prices during the BJP’s rule.
The BJP hopes to attract women voters with a scheme that provides 1,500 rupees ($18) a month to over 20 million women aged 21-65 whose annual family income is less than 250,000 ($3,010). If the Congress party is voted to power in the state, it has promised women double that amount and free transportation in government buses.
UN moves to unlock stuck climate financing for Afghanistan
- UN agencies drawing up proposals for climate projects
- Initial projects expected to be worth around $19 million
KABUL/BAKU: United Nations agencies are trying to unlock key climate financing for Afghanistan, one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to climate change which has not received approval for any fresh such funds since the 2021 Taliban takeover, two UN officials told Reuters.
Plagued by drought and deadly floods, Afghanistan has been unable to access UN climate funds due to political and procedural issues since the former insurgents came to power.
But with the population growing more desperate as climate woes stack up, UN agencies are hoping to unseal project financing for the fragile country to boost its resilience.
If successful, this would be the first time new international climate finance would flow into the arid, mountainous nation in three years.
“There are no climate skeptics in Afghanistan,” said Dick Trenchard, UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) country director for Afghanistan. “You see the impact of climate change and its environmental effects everywhere you go.”
Two UN agencies are currently drawing together proposals they hope to submit next year to shore up nearly $19 million in financing from the UN’s Global Environment Facility (GEF), part of the financial mechanism of the 2015 UN Paris Agreement on climate change.
These include the FAO, which hopes to get support for a project costing $10 million that would improve rangeland, forest and watershed management across up to four provinces in Afghanistan, while avoiding giving money directly to Taliban authorities.
That’s according to diplomatic sources, who say that the world’s 20 major economies have reached a consensus — but a fragile one.
The UN Development Program, meanwhile, hopes to secure $8.9 million to improve the resilience of rural communities where livelihoods are threatened by increasingly erratic weather patterns, the agency told Reuters. If that goes ahead, it plans to seek another $20 million project.
“We’re in conversations with the GEF, the Green Climate Fund, the Adaptation Fund — all these major climate financing bodies — to reopen the pipeline and get resources into the country, again, bypassing the de facto authorities,” said Stephen Rodriques, UNDP resident representative for Afghanistan.
National governments often work alongside accredited agencies to implement projects that have received UN climate funds. But because the Taliban government is not recognized by UN member states, UN agencies would both make the request and serve as the on-the-ground partner to carry out the project.
A Taliban administration spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment.
FLOODS, DROUGHT
“If one of the countries most impacted by climate change in the world cannot have access to (international climate funds), it means something isn’t working,” Rodriques said, adding that any funds should come alongside continued dialogue on human and women’s rights.
Flash floods have killed hundreds in Afghanistan this year, and the heavily agriculture-dependent country suffered through one of the worst droughts in decades that ended last year. Many subsistence farmers, who make up much of the population, face deepening food insecurity in one of the world’s poorest countries.
The FAO and UNDP will need to receive initial approvals by the GEF secretariat before they can submit their full proposals for a final decision from the GEF Council, which comprises representatives from 32 member states.
If the agencies get that first green light, Trenchard said, they would aim to submit their proposals in early 2025.
We “are awaiting guidance as to whether it would be possible to proceed,” Trenchard said.
No foreign capital has formally recognized the Taliban government, and many of its members are subject to sanctions. The United States has frozen billions in central bank funds since the former insurgents took over and barred girls and women over the age of 12 from schools and universities.
Many human rights activists have condemned the Taliban’s policies and some have questioned whether interaction with the Taliban and funnelling funds into the country could undermine foreign governments’ calls for a reversal on women’s rights restrictions.
The Taliban says it respects women’s rights in accordance with its interpretation of Islamic law.
Countries mired in conflict and its aftermath say they have struggled to access private investment, as they are seen as too risky. That means UN funds are even more critical to their populations, many of whom have been displaced by war and weather.
Taliban members are attending the ongoing annual UN climate negotiations COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan as observers for the first time, Reuters has reported.
The Taliban’s presence could build trust between Afghanistan and international donors, said Abdulhadi Achakzai, founder of the Afghanistan climate nonprofit Environmental Protection Trainings and Development Organization, on the sidelines of COP29.
“It will be a safer world for the future to include Afghanistan officially in the agenda,” he said. “We see this is an opportunity. There are funds for Afghanistan, we just need to secure it.”
Singer Liam Payne’s funeral to be held Wednesday: UK media
Payne was found dead on October 16 after falling from the balcony of his third-floor room at the Casa Sur Hotel in the Argentinian capital.
His death, aged 31, prompted a global outpouring of grief from family, former bandmates, fans and others, with thousands gathering in cities around the world to offer their condolences.
Payne’s family, friends and other One Direction members were expected to attend the private funeral in southern England on Wednesday afternoon, multiple media outlets reported.
He shot to stardom alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan after the band were formed on hit UK talent show “The X Factor” in 2010.
Payne had spoken publicly about struggles with substance abuse and coping with fame from an early age.
He died from “multiple traumas” and “internal and external haemorrhaging” after the fall from the hotel, a post-mortem examination found.
Hotel staff had called emergency services twice to report a guest “overwhelmed by drugs and alcohol” who was “destroying” a hotel room.
Myanmar led world in land mine victims in 2023: monitor
- Myanmar’s military has been repeatedly accused of atrocities and war crimes during decades of internal conflict
BANGKOK: Landmines and unexploded munitions claimed more victims in Myanmar than in any other country last year, a monitor said on Wednesday, warning the true toll could be double or triple its estimate of 1,000 people killed or wounded.
Decades of sporadic conflict between the military and ethnic rebel groups have left the Southeast Asian country littered with deadly land mines and munitions.
But the military’s ouster of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government in 2021 has turbocharged conflict in the country and birthed dozens of newer “People’s Defense Forces” (PDFs) now battling to topple the military.
Anti-personnel mines and explosive remnants of war killed or wounded 1,003 people in Myanmar in 2023, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) said on Wednesday.
There were 933 land mine casualties in Syria, 651 in Afghanistan and 580 in Ukraine, the ICBL said in its latest Landmine Monitor report.
With conflict and other restrictions in Myanmar making ground surveys impossible, the true casualty figure was likely far higher than reported, said Yeshua Moser-Puangsuwan of the ICBL.
“How many more? Double? Triple? Quite possibly... There’s no medical surveillance system in the country that can provide official data in any manner or form,” he told a press conference in Bangkok.
“No armed group in Myanmar, not the military, not any of the ethnic armed groups, not the PDFs have provided us with any data on the number of casualties they have.”
“And we know from anecdotal evidence that it’s massive.”
Myanmar is not a signatory to the United Nations convention that prohibits the use, stockpiling or development of anti-personnel mines.
The ICBL said there had been a “significant increase” of anti-personnel mines use by the military in recent years, including around infrastructure like mobile phone towers and energy pipelines.
Such infrastructure is often targeted by opponents of the military.
Myanmar’s military has been repeatedly accused of atrocities and war crimes during decades of internal conflict.
The ICBL said it had seen evidence of junta troops forcing civilians to walk in front of its units to “clear” mine-affected areas.
It said it had reviewed photos that indicated supplies of anti-personnel mines manufactured by Myanmar were captured by the military’s opponents every month between January 2022 and September 2024, “in virtually every part of the country.”
More than three million people have been displaced in Myanmar by the post-coup conflict, according to the United Nations.
All sides in the fighting were using land mines “indiscriminately,” the UN children’s agency said in April.
Rebel groups have told AFP they also lay mines in some areas under their control.
The ICBL said at least 5,757 people had been casualties of land mines and explosive remnants of war across the world last year, 1,983 of whom were killed.
Civilians made up 84 percent of all recorded casualties, it said.
Last year’s figures are considerably higher than 2022, when the ICBL recorded at least 4,710 casualties including 1,661 fatalities.
Suicide car bombing at a security post in northwestern Pakistan kills 11 people, officials say
- A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, has claimed responsibility for the attack
- The attack, one of the deadliest in recent months, happened Tuesday evening in Bannu, a district in restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
PESHAWAR: A suicide bomber detonated his explosive-laden vehicle at a security post in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 11 security forces and wounding several others, four intelligence and security officials said Wednesday.
The attack, one of the deadliest in recent months, happened Tuesday evening in Bannu, a district in restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
A breakaway faction of the Pakistani Taliban, known as the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement. There was no immediate comment by the government, but the security and intelligence officials said security personnel were carrying out an operation targeting those who orchestrated the attack.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
Pakistan has witnessed a steady increase in violence since November 2022, when the Pakistani Taliban ended a monthslong ceasefire with the government in Islamabad.
The Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, are a separate group but are allies of the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan emboldened the TTP, whose top leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.
In December 2023, a suicide bomber targeted a police station’s main gate in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in northwestern Pakistan, killing 23 troops.
Tuesday’s attack happened in Bannu while the country’s political and military leadership was meeting in Islamabad to discuss how to respond to the surge in militant violence.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday approved a “comprehensive military operation” against separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army, in southwestern Balochistan province. The order came following a Nov. 9 suicide attack by the group at a train station that killed 26 people in Quetta, the capital of the province.
In recent months. violence has also surged in northwest Pakistan, where security forces often target TTP and the Gul Bahadur group.
Abdullah Khan, a senior defense analyst and managing director of the Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, said over 900 security forces have been killed in militant attacks in Pakistan since 2022, when TTP ended the ceasefire with the government.
“TTP and other groups have expanded their operations, showing they are getting more recruits, money and weapons,” Khan said. He said there is a need for political stability in the country to defeat the insurgents.
Pakistan has experienced a political crisis since 2022, when then-Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament. He was arrested and imprisoned in 2023. Since then, his supporters have been rallying to demand his release.
